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Donatos Pizza Doubles Reward Program Engagement With Marigold Loyalty Rewards Program
Donatos, a family-owned pizza business that has served customers in the Midwest for six decades, needed to update its loyalty program.
Until the past decade, the company relied heavily on an email marketing strategy limited to a one-size-fits-all approach focused on an aggressive discount structure that eroded any potential net sales the success of the program could achieve. It had no ability to segment customers, personalize campaigns, or build a relationship beyond transactional communications.
So Donatos launched a new loyalty program powered by Cheetah Digital by Marigold. It replaced the original points-for-free pizza model with one designed to collect zero-party data combined with order history and preference data. The result was an ability to know customer-specific details like favorite menu items, dietary preferences, and other data that led to offering on-demand rewards customized to each account.
The new platform also included a new way for customers to earn points. Today's customers earn three points for every dollar they spend. They can also earn bonus points for completing fun tasks like trying new menu items and participating in social media holidays such as National Pizza Day.
Donatos also introduced another new element to the rewards program with a badge system to help recognize and reinforce desired behaviors. Customers would earn badges for completing tasks such as online ordering, trying new menu items, and donating to causes.
It also added location and member specific offers for even great customization. Members near stores that needed some extra support were given specialized offers designed to build frequency. Lower-frequency customers would get “bounceback” offers good for double points or deeper discounts to increase purchasing cadence. And high-frequency members would be rewarded with special, exclusive experiences.
Taken together, these steps quickly surpassed Donatos’ performance goals. In 2022 alone, Donatos added nearly 135k new members to its loyalty program. By February 2023, membership engagement hit an all-time high of 51.4%, a YoY improvement of 23%.
Donatos has also experienced success in several other areas, including:
- An increase from 8% of members earning and using their earned rewards to 19%, with an average of 3 million points per month redeemed for on-demand rewards.
- 10% of active members are responsible for 31.5% of the company's total net sales.
- 98k+ transactions attributed to on-demand rewards.