Think Like Domino’s – Become a Tech-Focused Brand

Keeping your guests engaged in 2017 and beyond means having the right technology to provide a seamless digital customer experience. These days, it’s said that you need to be more than a restaurant, you also need to be a technology company. There are steps your restaurant can take to enter the technology realm and provide the digital experiences that will compel guests to choose your brand.

Domino’s Pizza® has earned its reputation as a technology company by innovating the way it connects with its customers. In 2010, a change in leadership brought forward a tech-minded philosophy, and the results speak for themselves. Domino’s same store sales grew by 12 percent in 2015 alone, and the stock price has grown from $3.15 in late 2008 to $177.94 as of the writing of this article, so it’s safe to say its technology investments are paying off!

So what does Domino’s Pizza do so well? Here are three critical elements of Domino’s digital-focused guest engagement strategy that you can follow:

1. A mobile platform: There’s a common misconception that a brand’s mobile strategy should start and end with its native app. However, an app-exclusive mobile strategy hinders your ability to connect with a large portion of your smartphone-wielding guests. According to Forrester Research, U.S. consumers spend 80 percent of their time on just five applications, so it is unlikely that your guests are using yours on a regular basis. Domino’s Pizza implemented several ways for its customers to engage with the brand via mobile. This includes ordering via SMS or Twitter and using a mobile-responsive guest webpage.

While your brand may not have all of this functionality, you can still follow this general principle. There are numerous ways in which guests can engage with your brand via mobile without using your app, and accommodating them in the mobile space will only increase regular consumer activity.

2. Integrated sales channels: Would you make your guests order online with one mobile app and collect loyalty points with a completely different application? Some restaurants have done this, and it can cause guests to become disengaged with your brand. As we just discussed, it’s hard enough for a guest to download and use your mobile app, so the likelihood that they’ll use two are extremely low.

Moreover, a fractured sales channel ecosystem creates an inefficient guest experience and increases the risk of lost data. If you aren’t collecting pertinent information every time your guests engage with your brand, you aren’t building the best possible customer profile. Domino’s Pizza has mastered integration at every digital touchpoint. Guests enjoy a more efficient user experience and Domino’s ensures that data is properly collected and utilized in future marketing initiatives.

3. A data-rich loyalty program: Learning more about your guests allows you to increase relevancy, build efficiency, and inspire loyalty. A line in a 2016 advertising spot reveals that Domino’s Pizza has 34 million possible pizza combinations. In addition, Domino’s has millions of customers and its mission is to streamline the ordering process so orders only take a couple of seconds. According to a Nation’s Restaurant News article titled “How Domino’s Became a Tech Company,” when Domino’s CEO J. Patrick Doyle took over in 2010, he told his software engineers to “make it so a customer could order a pizza while waiting at a stoplight.”

Learning customer preferences and leveraging that information to present relevant offers and menu options significantly speeds up the ordering process. It also allows you to send offers and messages that better resonate with your guests. Every time your guests engage with your brand, they’re giving you lots of data. When you adapt to a technology mindset, you’ll get the most out of this information.

We discussed this topic in greater detail in a recent webinar titled “Why Domino’s Pizza® is Thriving as a Technology Company (and How You Can Too!)” Click here to view this webinar on demand.