Shake Shack, a series that began as a single burger stand near New York’s Flatiron constructing, has grown to over 450 locations within the U.S. and around the globe. The company refreshes the menu and customer experience with recent limited-time offers (LTOs) and drive-thru ordering for guests. Behind all these changes is a detailed reference to customers supported by measurement and analytics tools.
When Shake Shack introduced a White Truffle Burger and White Truffle ‘Shroom Burger as a recent LTO, they listened closely to customers.
“The development of this stuff was based on the positive response we received from our guests a few prior LTO, our Black Truffle Burger,” said Charlie Frankievich, director consumer insights and analytics for Shake Shack. “Our guests responded equally as well to our White Truffle Burger and White Truffle ‘Shroom Burger. There is serious power in hearing and reacting to your guest feedback – our teams emphasize that approach day-after-day in our Shacks and kitchens.”
Measuring customer experiences
Shake Shack implemented quite a few customer experience (CX) and brand research tools from experience management company Qualtrics to gather real-time feedback from customers and measure brand performance against competitors.
The brand measures experience through QR codes and personalized, digital survey links that customers can click on in an effort to share feedback. Shake Shack can use this feedback to watch and measure key performance indicators.
“Our teams manage guest data and feedback through multiple systems including internal and external technology, allowing for aggregate processing and faster insights,” said Frankievich. “We connect brand research, guest behavior and customer experience data to create a 360-degree view of what our guests are saying about Shake Shack, how we’re delivering on those expectations, and what meaning for guest behavior and likelihood to recommend Shake Shack as a restaurant of selection.”
Likelihood to Recommend is a key metric
With this 360-degree view, Shake Shack can act on guests’ behaviors and feedback at any stage of the customer journey. However, they’re focused on one key metric above others, Likelihood to Recommend (LTR). Another necessary metric, Net Promoter Score (NPS), is an consequence of the LTR metric.
The brand uses LTR to “pressure test” changes it makes to the guest’s experience, from product packaging to digital pickup and other procedures. A positive change in any of those areas will get customers to return.
“From all our research, we all know a positive guest experience drives incremental visitation,” said Frankievich. “New guests with a positive first experience at Shake Shack are 40%-60% more more likely to revisit in the subsequent six months in comparison with guests who had a negative experience.”
Shake Shack also knows from customer feedback that high-quality ingredients and a “feel-good experience” are brand strengths. When customers mention these values in feedback, they’re thrice more more likely to have visited Shake Shack within the previous three months in comparison with those that don’t agree with those claims.
“Establishing a strong guest experience and delivering on the ‘feel-good’ experience expected from guests proceed to be probably the most effective strategy for engaging our core guests,” Frankievich said.
Drive-thru to higher customer experience
Shake Shack began as a single hot dog cart, in 2000, run out of the kitchen of restauranteur Danny Meyer’s Eleven Madison Park restaurant. Meyer helped create the Madison Square Park Conservancy, which developed the long-running original Shake Shack contained in the park in 2004.
A drive-thru would have been impractical at the unique location, however the chain has now expanded to 32 states and over 150 international locations amid rapid expansion within the last decade. Drive-thru ordering is a very important a part of breaking into recent markets and strengthening existing ones with added sales.
“Domestically, we’re expanding our reach in core markets across the country, pushing heavily into our drive-thru business,” said Frankievich. “This creates brand recent location and engagement opportunities to satisfy our guests where they most prefer to order Shake Shack.”
Because drive-thrus are a more moderen channel for the brand, Shake Shack continues “to study how guests behave on this channel in comparison with our other channels and [is] adjusting our approach to best meet those needs,” Frankievich explained.
Frankievich added, “Enlightened hospitality has been a cornerstone of the Shake Shack success formula for the reason that very first Shack in Madison Square Park. Our experience measurement program is the quantification of those pillars and enables our teams to effectively manage the standard of the experience across our growing Shack base.”
Dig deeper: Using AI to enhance customer experience and customer journey orchestration
Read the total article here
