Latest / Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360 / #399: Church’s Texas Chicken: Launching the REAL REWARDS Program and Developing a True Omnichannel Experience

Transcript

#399: Church’s Texas Chicken: Launching the REAL REWARDS Program and Developing a True Omnichannel Experience · Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon and welcome to another episode of the Loyalty360 Leaders in Customer Loyalty series.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: I'm Ryan Massey, director of Client Relations at Loyalty360.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Jessica Wu McConnell, vice President Digital Loyalty at Church's Texas Chicken.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Jessica brings years of digital marketing experience to bear as she shares with us Church's tasty new loyalty program, with topics ranging from the omni-channel experience to adapting to changes.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: We're excited to hear about what Church's is doing and glad to have Jessica with us today.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, jessica.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Of course I'm happy to be here.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Thanks for inviting me.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Can you give us a short introduction to Church's Texas Chicken and tell us about your role with the company and your experience in customer loyalty?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: So Church's Texas Chicken has been serving in my opinion, the best, most flavorful fried chicken for over 70 years now.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: So my role at Church's is to make sure that we have the easiest, fastest, most convenient and rewarding ways for our guests to enjoy Church's.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: I joined the brand a little over a year ago and we were full steam ahead on accelerating our digital loyalty capabilities at that time.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Since then, we've made a lot of progress.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: The team has launched our first-party online app ordering capabilities.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: We have first-party delivery ordering available now for our guests.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: We have new custom app and web experiences and, of course, our all-new Church's Real Rewards program.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: So it's been an action-packed first year at Church's.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Can you tell us about the new church's Real Rewards program Briefly?
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: How does it work?
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: How are customers engaged to join?
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Well, it all started with a ton of research.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: We wanted to make sure that we really understood what our guests were looking for out of a rewards program.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: You know we weren't first to this party so we had to make sure that we brought it and we surveyed our guests, we interviewed them.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: There was already brand and consumer research happening to understand what would they really find value in.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: So that was sort of the first step that we took and one of the insights, which should be no surprise, is that they wanted free chicken.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: So our sign-up offer is a free two-piece leg and thigh or three-piece tender with their first purchase as a rewards member.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: We wanted it to be substantial and compelling and competitive in the space.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: So from there we also learned that they wanted variety, a lot of different choices.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: We went with a familiar structure of, you know, for every dollar spent you get 10 points.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: You can exchange those points for different free menu items.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: But we wanted pretty much our entire menu to be available in the rewards program.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: So you'll see, you know, it starts off at 250 points that can be exchanged for a free side drink or dessert.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: It ranges to, you know, chicken only options, combos, all the way up to 16 pieces of chicken for 2,500 points.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: So very robust, a lot of options for our rewards members to choose from.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: A couple of other insights from our consumer research 50% of our customers are cash, so we knew we wanted the program to be very inclusive.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Brands are, you know, going all digital in some cases, but for us, our members can participate for in-store ordering, online or app ordering.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: And one other insight I'll leave you with is we have a really big family business and it's not, you know, it's multi-generational, multicultural families looking to make that dollar stretch even further.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: So Church's provides that affordable abundance of real food.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Our rewards program is just another layer on top of that and we wanted to ensure that we were having family-sized offerings within the rewards program so that 16 pieces of chicken that you can get for free in the program is enough to feed the family.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: And that's what we wanted and feel is a competitive edge for the program.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: That's terrific.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: The rewards program is part of the brand's overall digital strategy, which includes a redesigned custom mobile app and an enhanced online ordering experience.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Can you tell us more about Church's approach to developing a true Omnchannel experience to encourage guest engagement?
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, well, you know, obviously these are big missing pieces in our omni-channel experience.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: So now that we've gotten them into place, it's all about giving our guests, you know, the best convenience, that frictionless experience, whether it's digitally or in-store, having those connecting points, it's digitally or in store, having those connecting points.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: And so, again, you know, the rewards program, our digital ordering experiences.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Those are just foundational pieces to have in place to meet our guests where they are.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: What that does for us now is it also unlocks the ability to learn more about them, to see their behaviors, their preferences, understand what matters to them.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: And that's that next step of elevating that omni-channel experience as we start thinking about how we leverage customer data to deliver more personalized messages, rewards and offers that matter to them.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: So we're really kind of at the beginning of this very exciting journey of elevating our omni-channel experience.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: But also, you know, we've shorted up and have all these, all the right touch points in place.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Excellent.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: You mentioned free chicken.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Along with rolling out the rewards program, Church's Texas Chicken also launched an initiative that will allow 500 Church's guests to win free chicken for a year simply by signing up for real rewards.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: How do initiatives like this increase guest engagement with your brand and further strengthen customer loyalty?
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Well, as I mentioned, we're not first to this party, so we wanted to have another way to create excitement, create buzz, still true to the vision of wanting to reward our guests as much as we can.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: They've been waiting a little while for this program, so adding this activation on top of the the program itself is a way that we can.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: They've been waiting a little while for this program, so adding this activation on top of the program itself is a way that we can create that excitement, create acquisition and also, through the fulfillment of the reward the free chicken for a year start driving that frequency engagement with the program, with the winners as well.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: So, all in all, we feel very excited to have this activation live.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Anyone who signs up before September 4th is automatically entered to win, so plugging that in here as well and, yeah, we think it's just a very exciting way to celebrate and launch the program.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Awesome.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: During recent Loyalty360 advisory board discussions and in most of our brand surveys, we noticed a big challenge with understanding and keeping up with technology.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Especially as platforms and functions converge, brands sometimes pick products that don't deliver as promised, causing extra integration challenges.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Have you seen this in your role at churches and, if so, how are you addressing it and what results have you noticed?
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Boy have I, not just at churches but across multiple brands doing very similar work, and it is so foundational to make sure you pick the right technology partners and platforms.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: It is a requirement in that decision-making process that you know they integrate well with existing platforms, that they have proven technology, and so that was a lens that I took with the team here as we were going through this journey of selecting our vendor partners and making sure that we were set up for success.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: And it's not really.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: It's not just the sort of guest-facing technology you know the loyalty program platform, the e-commerce platform but how it integrates with our in-store systems, our POS, our KDS.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: It's all part of making sure that we give the guests the best experience, and so the integration to the POS making sure that our cashiers and team members are getting the orders accurate, on time and fresh is also part of that process.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: So looking for sort of the tried and true stable, robust integrations with technology platforms was critical to this process and, at the same time, balancing that with knowing that they have a robust digital roadmap or product roadmap, so that they're innovating and growing and giving us more opportunities to grow in this space as well that's great insight.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: At this year's Loyalty Expo, there was a lot of discussion about training both internal and external stakeholders on the value of customer loyalty programs and how they can empower organizations that prioritize them.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: However, there's a struggle to keep teams updated on evolving landscape of customer loyalty, with technology and metrics becoming more complex.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: How does churches handle these challenges?
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: How do you believe your rewards program and guest engagement initiatives will adapt to changes in an increasingly competitive marketplace as customers evolve?
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: That is a good question.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: We spent the past year developing a very robust training and communications plan for all of this.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: So it wasn't just about the weeks or months leading up to the launch to make sure that the word was out.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: It was a very cross-functional, organizational-wide plan that thought through from the inside out, from our executive team to our front counters.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: You know, one of the most important ways to ensure the success of this program and that our guests understand it and are you know the promise of the program is being fulfilled is making sure that our team members are fully trained and understand how the program works, how to talk about the program and how to execute it.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: So we had, you know, multiple, multiple rounds of training.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: We even put an incentive contest around training completion.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Usually it's all around you know signups and once you launch you want to get all those signups.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: But we had a two-phase you know incentive contest so that we can generate excitement with our team members, you know, at those front counters and incentivize their education and understanding of the program.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: And we actually achieved the highest completion rate of training you know curriculum in the platform at churches, with real awards.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: So it was really exciting to see how that came to life.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, just being able to communicate whenever possible internally, creating that excitement and engagement, getting into the hearts and minds of our internal cross-functional teams to not only, you know, support and be all hands on deck with this initiative, but for them to feel a part of it and excited for it too.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: So you know it was.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: It was a long bring them along the journey and ultimately, by the time we launched, you know we celebrated, we had a launch party and having making it fun.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Right, it's, it's, it's an exciting thing.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: So it's not just all work trying to get something done, it's really working together and being able to celebrate together what we've accomplished.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Well, congratulations on that success.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Are there other loyalty programs that you admire or are loyal to?
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: From a customer loyalty perspective, what do you like about their offerings, and are there any elements in those programs you'd like to see implemented at Church's Rewards?
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Well, I really look to airlines and hotel industry programs because I worked at a hotel company previously and to see how robust those experiences and programs and capabilities are.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: It makes me think that you know we've advanced a lot in the QS our restaurant industry when it comes to technology and loyalty programs.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: We have a lot of opportunity just seeing, you know, where other industries like Airlines and hotels are today.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: So when I think about that, it's it's the experiential member benefits that I would love to draw inspiration from preferred seating, priority boarding, access to hotel amenities, status tiers All of these member benefits that are experiential, are areas that I would want to take inspiration from and understand.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: How do we bring that into QSR and restaurant loyalty programs?
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: What can Loyalty360 do to help support you and Church's Texas Chicken with your customer loyalty efforts?
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: What resources do you seek?
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think, continuing to share learnings across our industry from other brands.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: It's so hard when you're just in it and you're kind of on the grind and you're focused on, you know, accomplishing your goals within the organization, but to be able to look outside the organization and take some learnings and best practices and incorporate them into your own roadmap, that is something I think is really valuable about what Loyalty360 provides and the content that's provided as well.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Terrific.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: The plan is to continue to do so.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Great.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Well, this has been terrific.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: These are wonderful responses.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: As promised, this is the quick fire question round.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: We've got 10 simple questions here, just to get your insight.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Just one word or phrase, and we'll just go down through it.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Okay we'll just go down through it, okay.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: What word or short phrase do you use to inspire others?
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: I would say one that has stuck with me for many years now is you know, seek to understand before seeking to be understood.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: I almost always assume I don't know what I don't know.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: So you know, whenever I'm in a conversation or I question something, my instinct is let me ask questions first before I make a judgment call.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: What is your least favorite word that others use?
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Can't, which I know is probably like, but I'm a problem solver, I don't like to use the word can't.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I always think there's some way forward, some way forward path forward.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: So yeah, can't is my no, no word.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: What excites you?
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I mean people like this.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: This past year has been so incredible.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: It was a ton of work and it was so worth it to be working with the people that I'm working with.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: They make it fun, they make it exciting when there's so much to do.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: To be able to laugh and enjoy the journey together is so important, and then to be able to see the impact of that once it's all out there is so important.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: So it's very fulfilling for me to have great people that I'm working with and to be able to make an impact.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: What do you find tiresome at home or work?
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Clutter.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: My mind is cluttered enough as it is, so I don't need my surroundings to be cluttered as well.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: What is your favorite menu item at Church's Texas Chicken?
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: I have to give a shout out to our new tender wraps.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I love them Crispy chicken tender with some creamy, refreshing coleslaw wrapped in a tortilla.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Hopefully this is making people out there salivate.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: It is delicious.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: What book do you like to recommend to your colleagues?
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, so this I bet you can guess based off of my previous response, but an oldie but a goodie is the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: That one has really stuck with me through the years.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: So I don't know that I have the skill set for this, but I've always been super fascinated by photojournalism.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Just being able to tell a story through imagery is so compelling to me.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: So if I had the skills, I would love to do that.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: What do you enjoy doing that you don't get to do too often?
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I would say more adventurous travel.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I've done a lot of travel in the US, a little bit internationally, but to be able to explore different cultures, that is something I would love to do more of.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Who inspired you to become the person you are today.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: My mom.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: She's just such a strong woman.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: You know she immigrated here from Taiwan not knowing the English language.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: She built so many opportunities for me and my family to be able to sit here and talk with you.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: You know, I attribute all that to my mom just being a really strong, amazing woman in my life.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: So I have to say that.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: And how do you want to be remembered by your friends and family?
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Just as a loving and caring person who makes them happy.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Simple as that.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Terrific Well, Jessica, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: We appreciate it and look forward to hearing more in 2024.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: And thank you to everyone else for listening.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Make sure to check back for additional episodes of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series.