PostcardPerfect.com/blog

Most fast food places use the back of their receipts to get you to take a survey, but I thought the Quiznos approach was kind of interesting. Observe:

If you visit the website, you get ten changes to win. TEN! Wow!

Of course, if there is only one winner per day, and everyone gets ten chances - then the odds of winning didn’t really change, did they? Very tricky, Quiznos.

But wait, maybe they did. What about the poor suckers that call to do the survey? They only get one entry into the contest. There’s a cost saving measure if I’ve ever seen one. I’m sure the online survey is much cheaper to administer. Again, well played, Quiznos.

I was going to end the post there, but I decided to do some investigative journalism (just for you), so I took both surveys (and not-so-coincidentally got 11 chances to win).

Last time I took an online survey I was very unimpressed. This one didn’t do much better. It was kind of entertaining though. Here are, without further ado, my top 5 questions / screens.

5) Surprise, I didn’t win.

4) Despite asking the date I visited (two weeks ago), they wanted to know if I had purchased specific items “today.” I was tempted to say no across the board, but I decided to cut them some slack.

3) They nailed it. I come to Quiznos for the visual enjoyment…

2) I’m not very health conscience. Do they really have to rub it in three times?

1) And my favorite question: “Why not?” There was nothing proceeding it. I was just instructed to think about my recent visit.

The phone survey was kind of clumsy as well. It took about 6 minutes and “using my touch tone phone,” I had to type in half the info from my receipt before I could start. There were many of the same questions, but it was definitely shorter. My favorite part was in the middle of the survey when they said:

“Tell us why or why not you enjoyed your visit so that we can improve.” Then, with no warning: beep - it was recording.

My answer? “I liked watching my meal being made.”

——-
No long surveys : subscribe in a reader

PS. The new site is finally up. Go check it out.

I saw this posted at one of my local Wendy’s restaurants yesterday.

I’m very interested to see how many people an event like this draws. I’ve seen signs for Bingo at other locations in the past - so it has to be at least mildly successful.

Why don’t I just go and see for myself? Well, because it was a week ago. Wendy’s should probably take down the signs.

——-
It’s like getting a free prize in your reader: subscribe

Four business hours after I submitted my complaint, I received the following response from Qdoba customer service:

Hello David,

Thank you for your participation in the online survey and I apologize for this unfortunate experience. This was our first attempt at something like this and we had much to learn. Thank you for your patience with us through our learning curve. We did have some problems getting the Free Entree’s uploaded as we wanted.

I have confirmed your Loyalty Account information and assured you the credit you were owed for a Free Entree. I also added another Free Entree to your account in appreciation for your time. One of the issues we ran into is that there was no way to verify the accuracy of the Loyalty Card numbers entered and some that came through did not direct us to a recognized account. We will figure a better way to implement this for the next time. Until then, I appreciate this message from you and your patience with this process.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Thank you again-

Sincerely,
Qdoba Web Administrator

I think a name at the bottom (instead of “Qdoba Web Administrator”) would have been nice - but overall I’m happy. They scored points by:

1) Getting back to me quickly
2) Sending a conversational response (instead of a canned answer)
3) Giving me more than I was owed

Take note; this is how customer service on the web should be done. A fast, sincere, and personal response goes a long way.

A couple weeks ago Qdoba sent me an offer for a free burrito in exchange for taking a survey. I wrote about the survey here.

Today I tired to use my free burrito (that was apparently loaded onto my customer loyalty card) - but it wasn’t there. The employees knew nothing about the promotion and so ended up paying for my meal. Needless to say, my perception of the company (which I just read is owned by Jack in the Box) continues decline. It’s unfortunate, the food is pretty good.

Anyway, I just submitted the story via the feedback form on their website. We’ll see if/what kind of response I get. The way I see it, it could go four ways. If I had to place odds, here’s what I’d go with:

1) I don’t hear anything back. (40%)
2) I get a response that (politely) tells me tough luck. (10%)
3) They credit my account for one burrito. (30%)
4) They credit me for more than one burrito to make up for the trouble. (20%)

Any guesses?

I got an e-mail from Qdoba Mexican Grill today. They offered me a free burrito to take their five minute survey. You can’t really argue with that - so I clicked the link and got to work earning my meal.

First, the good (or at least interesting) part. Question three:

I thought it was kind of cool that they asked about the name in a qualitative way. Someone is going to read all the answers. I hope that they get some good feedback.

So what did I write? I thought you’d never ask.

“I don’t really like it. I think it’s kind of clumsy to read and say.”

People have said the same about my blog, but that’s neither here nor there. My point was that it doesn’t really roll off the tung. And, call me ignorant, but I don’t know what poblano is - so it doesn’t add anything to the name. Well…it adds extra syllables, but that’s it.

This post wasn’t about my response though, it was about Qdobas survey techniques. Here’s where I bite the hand that’s going to feed me.

I liked that question, but it was downhill from there. The next six questions were as follows (paraphrases - all refer to the Chicken Poblano Pesto Burrito):

1) Have you ever tried the it?
2) If not, why?
3) How many times in the last 50 days have you ordered it?
4) The last time you had it, how satisfied were you?
5) Describe it as you would when talking to a friend.
6) In the next 50 days, how many times will you likely order it?

I answered “no” to the first one, so why did I have to answer questions 3-5? Couldn’t they use the magic of the web to jump me to the next relevant question? Also, if the burrito already exists on the menu, why are they asking about the name? Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask about future names?

So overall I wasn’t very impressed with the survey. It didn’t seem very well thought out and came off as unprofessional (when I finished, I was sent to QuestionPro’s homepage…not Qdoba’s). Aside from the amusement I got from the name question, I’d say the only redeeming quality was that I earned a free burrito.

Maybe I’ll try the Chicken Poblano Pesto Burrito.
Nah..

I stumbled upon an article talking about building a better fast food drive thru. The most interesting part, I thought, was the disparity between what customers reported to value (based on a survey) and the action items the industry were taking to make improvements.

It turns out, there are some gaps.

“Speed of service,” for example, is the top priority for the fast food industry. Amazingly, customers rank it as fourth in importance. Also, notice “wireless payment options,” an initiative 31% of the industry is scrambling to implement. See it on the customer’s list anywhere? Me neither.

I think it’s a common problem. Businesses get sidetracked doing what they THINK their customers want instead of what they KNOW their customers want. I’m sure untold sums of money have been wasted this way. I’ve personally been guilty, and I know I’m not the only one.

The bottom line is this: Want to improve your offering? Ask your customers what they want. It may be something completely different (and cheaper or easier) than you thought.

Again, I digress to blogging about my favorite fast food restaurant.

Wendy’s has a problem. It’s their value menu (officially called the Super Value Menu). See, when the SVM was introduced in 1989, everything on it was $.99. It worked great for a while because it’s a nice “under a buck” number and the products on it could be profitably sold for that price.

<inflation enters stage left>

Over the years though, prices continued to climb and the margins on the SVM products decreased. Most companies battle inflation by increasing their own prices. However, adding 3 cents a year would have been looked at as petty. That, and “the $1.02 menu” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Wendy’s held its ground for a long time, but something eventually had to give.

Although some franchisees have raised prices, many have gone another route. They’ve been slowly downgrading the items on the value menu. A large drink turned to a medium, and then to a small. Then one day, they created a new smaller size - the “value size.”

Anyway, this post was prompted by the most recent change at one of the Wendy’s I visit. The total of my order was higher than normal so I asked what changed. Apparently, the small fries that I used to get for $.99 went up $.20. The value menu now offers a “value fries.”

I asked the man behind the counter how big the value size was. He told me it was tiny and that I didn’t want it. So, I stuck with the small (living large, right?).

Later, I asked a woman behind the counter to see the two boxes side by side. It turns out, the value size is a lot smaller. She gave me the samples. Here’s a picture:

Anyway, it’s a predicament every company goes though. Nobody likes price increases, but economically it doesn’t make sense to offer the same deal forever. There are really only two ways to deal with it: raise prices or decrease what is given for the price.

Tomorrow: handling inflation in a way that’s least likely to annoy your customers

I’m always pleasantly surprised when a routine customer service interaction is uniquely carried out. This was the conversation I had at the drive thru of a Taco Bell last night:

Hello. How are you tonight?
Umm..good, thanks.
Great, what can I get you?
I just need three crunchy tacos.
All right, and would you like anything to drink with that? Maybe a large Pepsi?
No, that’s OK.
OK, then your total is $2.55 and you can pull up to the first window.

I thought the greeting and the up-sell pitch were both well done. I guess it felt more like a conversation instead a routine transaction.

It didn’t cost The Bell anything, and it left me with positive feeling about their customer service. What’s not to like?

It just goes to show that little things can really make a difference. Break the mold and your customers will notice.

Beginning this month, Wendy’s will allow dine-in customers to purchase a Frosty with the rest of their meal and pick it up before leaving.

According to a recent press release, customers will pay for the popular frozen dessert while ordering their food and receive a “Frosty-To-Go” certificate. After eating, they can bypass the line at the counter and redeem the the certificate for the dessert that they ordered.

The nations 3rd largest burger chain has been testing the concept in hometown Columbus, OH since October. “We’ve seen a sizable increase in dine-in Frosty sales,” said franchise owner Robert Felt. “Apparently, customers appreciate not watching their desert melt while they eat their lunch.”

Wow. Forget on table advertising. Wendy’s has redeemed themselves.

Well, they would if tried this. I actually just made it up.
I think it could work though…

It’s that time. That’s right; time to reach deep into the mail bag and answer reader questions. Here’s the one question posed in response to the last post. My old friend Dave Zimmerman wrote:

Would you be willing to elaborate on the difference, in your mind, between ads on the table in a restaurant and ads on the floor of a supermarket? What makes one surface appropriate and the other inappropriate?

The beautiful part of this question is that there is no right answer. I mean, it’s all opinion. That said, here’s mine:

I love the ones on the supermarket floor because they seem much better justified - both in terms of marketing effectiveness and in consumer unobtrusiveness. Here’s three things they do that the ones on tables don’t.

1) Influence at time of purchase
Supermarket shoppers are about to buy. Diners have already made their decision. Consequently, the floor ads are perfectly timed, but table ads are too little too late.

2) Provide help in decision making
Every aisle has thousands of products. Shoppers are trying to decide if they should purchase product A,B,C,D, or E. The floor advertising can assist with the decision. On the other hand, once I sit down for lunch, the only choice I’m making is whether to eat the burger or fries first.

3) Don’t annoy me
Walking on an ad doesn’t bother me. Eating on one does. There’s nothing scientific about this reason - it’s just a gut response. The point though is that while I don’t represent everyone - I’m sure others feel the same way. And if an ad annoys customers, it’s probably a bad thing.

Let that be a lesson to anyone thinking about asking a question. I may answer.