By Matt Plapp
Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a new weekly series of PMQ-exclusive articles about pizzeria marketing from Matt Plapp, CEO of America’s Best Restaurants and Dryver Powered by Repeat Returns.
Last week, I wrote about how to stop renting your customers’ attention by building a database. I then showed you two case studies that proved the validity of email marketing in increasing sales.
Now it’s time to dig into how to build the database for your pizzeria. Today, we’ll cover the following:
1. What customer data should be gathered, and why
2. What carrot you should dangle to excite the customer—a.k.a. your offer
3. Last but not least, the ask (the sales pitch by your team)
Before we dig into the three items above, I want to tell you a story. Last week, I covered three places where you could gather customer data: in-store, online and through social media. I also covered how all three are not all created equal. In-store data dwarfs anything else you can do, yet it’s typically the least used.
Related: Matt Plapp’s 3-2-1 Strategy: How to gain massive attention for your pizzeria
This story is about when I worked in a pizzeria for three months. It was the fall of 2022, and I was stumped. I could not figure out why our clients’ in-store marketing campaigns failed. Getting customer data through their website was easy. Acquiring new customers through Facebook and Instagram proved simple for us as well. But the mystery was in-store. The few customers who had success gaining opt-ins from inside their four walls had amazing results, but not many were dominating in the way I thought they would or should.
What was I missing? Then it hit me: I needed to work in a restaurant and experience it firsthand. I reached out to one of our clients with a text that confused him: “Michael, I want to work in your restaurant three days per week for the next few months. Is that possible?”
That text triggered a phone call from him, and within a few minutes, he had a new part-time employee, and I had a job in a Rapid Fired Pizza store in Florence, Kentucky.
I learned a ton in those shifts, but none more important than this story. I was folding pizza boxes as I watched a customer pay his bill. This was a fast-casual pizzeria, so the cash register was at the end of the counter. I witnessed an interaction that went like this:
Employee: “Do you want to scan the QR code?”
Customer: “Why? What happens?”
Employee: “I don’t know—some marketing thing.”
Customer (who looked very confused): “I’ll pass.”
After the customer left, I asked the young man if I could cash out the next customer. “I want to try something out,” I told him. My interaction went like this:
Me: “I see that you didn’t order one of our dessert pizzas. Have you had one? Would you like one for free?” (I asked two questions back to back before they could answer; it’s a sales-language hack.)
Customer: “I’ve never had one. And, of course, I’ll take a free one.”
Me: “Great, it’s simple. Pull out your phone, open your camera and scan this QR code. It’s going to open up Facebook Messenger….Yep, there it is. Now answer these five questions really fast, and you’ll be enrolled in our VIP program. That’s it! In a few hours, you’ll get a message with four amazing offers, including that free dessert pizza for your next visit.”
Customer: “No way, that’s awesome. Thank you so much.”
Me: “You’re welcome. If I’m working when you come in next, let me know how great it was.”
The customer (extending his hand for a fist bump): “You rock!”
This conversation took about 30 seconds. At this point, the employee looked at me in amazement. “They get four offers, including a free dessert pizza? I didn’t know that. Wow, that was so cool.”
Related: Matt Plapp: Why getting customers’ attention is easier than ever for pizzerias
That’s when I knew the problem: Excitement, understanding and buy-in were all missing. The employee had no idea about the program; he’d never been properly trained. And I can already hear you saying, “But, Matt, we have so much going on. How can we train like that?”
I don’t accept that answer. Your employees are trained in preparing the food, washing their hands, etc. Your marketing should be no different. Marketing is what keeps your lights on!
Those three months were eye-opening for me. Although I’d worked in and around restaurants for 20 years and been involved with most tasks, waiting on customers and preparing food were new to me. It was eye-opening, to say the least, and it gave me some of the intel that I needed.
Now that you know I’m not just a marketing talking head, let’s discuss some tactical know-how addressing the three points listed above.
1. Gathering Data
First, what information do you think you should gather? In a perfect world, you would have a piece of technology that would allow you to get the following data:
- Customer’s first and last name
- Customer frequency—this lets you know if they are new, frequent or lost customers
- Customer’s email
- Customer’s cell phone number
- Customer’s birthday
My business coach taught me many years ago to go for every piece of data you can get on the front end. I would rather have all of the information above from 80 customers than a simple email address from 100. The fact is, if you ask correctly, then customers will volunteer whatever you ask for.
At a bare minimum, you want the customer’s name and email. Why their name? It allows you to personalize your marketing.
2. The Offer
Now that you know what data you will gather, you’d better have a strong call to action. I want you to think of it as an offer that customers feel stupid saying no to. “Hey, Matt, scan here for a free soft drink with a pizza purchase on your next visit” is not a strong call to action. “Hey, Matt, scan here for a 100% FREE Pizza on your next visit” is a very strong offer.
And before you start yelling again, “Matt, I can’t afford that,” I’d argue that you can’t afford not to give an insanely good offer. A customer’s contact information is worth 100 times more than the one-time free offer you give them. You’re not simply trying to drive visit No. 1; you’re trying to gain their membership in your marketing program to drive visits No. 2 to 100! So stop being cheap and put an offer in front of your customers that is impossible to pass up.
3. The Ask
Last but not least, the ask. It’s pretty simple for your website and social media. The website and social media ask should simply be a pop-up that clearly states the offer and gives users a button to click to take them to an easy form to fill out in exchange for the irresistible offer. There needs to be a solid graphic in both places that captivates the eye and reinforces the offer.
The in-store ask is much more complicated. First, your employees must have tested the program. They need to go through the exact process your customers will go through and use the offer themselves. It would help if you encouraged them to send it to their family and friends and ask for feedback: “Dad, could you do me a favor and test this new marketing program we’re launching? You’ll get a free pizza.” This will not only arm your team with the knowledge of how the program works but also warm up their sales skills with an easy audience.
Next, train your team to ask everyone. Just like they wash their hands before preparing food, they should ask every customer who walks through your door—not “How are you doing?” but “Are you a member of our Pi Society?” Employees may not care how the customer is “doing,” but you care if they return to your restaurant repeatedly.
Once your employees are trained on asking, arm them with a simple two-line sales pitch, like the one I used above for Rapid Fired Pizza. Part of the question needs to be about the process of the program, what to do, and what’s going to happen next. And your employees need to be excited, which is why the offer needs to rock! Who wouldn’t be excited to give someone a free pizza?
There you go: That is how to gain customer data. Next week, we will dig into the messaging of a marketing program like this one. We’ll cover the copy that should be in your emails, texts and ads.
In the meantime, do me a favor. If you’re enjoying these articles, send me a text at 859-743-2408. That’s my cell number. It’s not an automated marketing program; it’s just me. And don’t worry—I don’t spam or sell people anything. I just love having genuine marketing conversations. Plus, when you text me, I’ll mail you one of my books, Restaurant Marketing That Works, for free.
See what I did there?
My name is Matt Plapp. I’m the CEO of Restaurant Marketing That Works. I’ve worked with thousands of restaurants since 2008 when I started this company, and over the next 12 months, we will help 2,500-plus restaurants with their marketing. This is the fifth article in a new weekly column for PMQ to help restaurant owners understand the gold mine we have to market in 2024—and beyond.
