Capturing the Mobile Customer

Consumers are bombarded with digital messages today, so c-stores must find ways to stand out

By Tammy Mastroberte

CAPTURING a customer’s attention, and actually maintaining that attention over time, is harder than ever before in today’s noisy and distracting world. But one advantage retailers have is that most people are never very far from their mobile devices, even when traveling. Convenience store retailers that capitalize on this by providing a compelling mobile experience will win both consumer dollars and loyalty.

“Mobile is the primary way we interact with our guests,” Mike Templeton, director of digital experience and guest loyalty at Casey’s General Stores Inc., based in Ankeny, Iowa, and operating more than 2,200 convenience stores in 16 states, told Convenience Store News. “The Casey’s app is our starting point. From there, guests can decide how they want to interact with our brand — push notifications, messages within the app, text messages and email, too.” Mobile apps are a big piece of the puzzle for many retailers, but the mobile experience goes beyond just having an app for customers to download and use, according to Kevin Rice, executive vice president of growth, restaurant and convenience for Bounteous (formerly Hathway), a digital consulting company based in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

“People think, ‘I have a mobile app so check that box and we are done,’ but mobile is more of a customer behavior,” he explained. “It’s the way a customer interacts with your brand and is not static. It’s not a single tech. Consumers are mobile and c-store retailers need to reach them where they are.”

Looking at the total mobile experience of a consumer — which can cover discovery of products, searching or redeeming coupons or deals, finding the nearest store location, placing orders for pickup or delivery, and more — there are various possibilities to connecting across mobile channels. This includes a mobile app, mobile website, SMS or text messaging, email viewed on a mobile device, push notifications from an app, kiosks, and even car dashboard systems like Apple's CarPlay.

But no matter what ways a c-store chooses to interact with its mobile customers, consistency is key, according to Lori Stout, vice president of marketing at Punchh, a loyalty and reward program provider based in San Mateo, Calif.

rience a customer has with the brand across all the different channels, including at the pump,” she noted.

At Casey’s, which works with Punchh, consistency is at the core of the mobile experience it creates for customers, and it starts with determining the right message for every customer, and then “immersing them in that across whatever channels they prefer,” said Templeton. “We personalize that messaging so that they see consistent offers at the top of the app, in email, and through the reminders we share.”

Mapping out a strategy is also important, and that strategy should be unique to a c-store’s brand by highlighting or capitalizing on its strengths, according to Rice at Bounteous. For example, if a brand has a strong foodservice offering, or a unique car wash offer, that should be “leaned into digitally,” he said.

Customer feedback can also point retailers in the right direction of meeting needs.

“Casey’s spends a lot of time talking to our guests about what they’re looking for in a convenience experience,” said Templeton. “That helps drive our roadmap and what we decide to build. If the guest isn’t interested, it’s all for nothing. When you get the experience right, traffic and engagement will follow.”

Convenience retailers also need to realize that creating a mobile experience is not a one-time expense. It’s an ongoing line item, and the retailers that are doing it right make sure this is part of their yearly budget.

“Investments in technology are an ongoing concern, not a single investment,” noted Templeton. “It’s not pay $1 million for this project and then I’m done. Brands who are successful in mobile, like Starbucks who started investing in digital technology back in 2007 and 2008, are still investing millions a year because it’s an endless amount of work to be done.”

Make It Simple

Creating a simple and easy-to-navigate experience on a mobile app, mobile website or online loyalty program is something today’s consumers expect when it comes to interacting with brands. Whether it’s logging into an account, redeeming a coupon or placing an order, having too many steps or a clumsy experience will deter consumer interaction.

“Something as simple as letting them login to your app or account with their Apple, Facebook or Google sign-in so they don’t have to remember another password goes a long way,” suggested Stout. “With an app, you can offer the

Casey’s loyalty program and app use what the company calls a “re-order flow” that anticipates when a customer might be ready to order.

ability to store payment information, so they can earn, redeem loyalty points and pay with a single scan. It needs to be easy to use.”

Simplicity often trumps other bells and whistles like rewards or discounts, which is evident for Wingstop, based in Addison, Texas, and operating more than 1,400 locations in the United States. The company does not offer a loyalty program, but provides a simple and seamless mobile experience through an app and mobile website, according to Rice.

“Their digital experience is about convenience and making it easy to order and get your wings however you want them,” he explained. “You can order food, pick it up or have it delivered, and they make the process so easy that 62 percent of their transactions come from digital channels.”

For those offering mobile apps or websites, retailers need to avoid “feature overload” with too many options or distractions, Rice added, noting that the user experience must be easy to navigate.

“It’s function over form, and if you look at the restaurant industry, there is a big investment in experience, the design and how people interact and navigate apps and websites,” he said, pointing out how fast-casual restaurant chain Shake Shack spent a lot of time to make its mobile apps and sites easy to use. “It’s almost fun to navigate and place your order, and they won a Webby award for the best mobile app in the entire food and drink category.”

Ways to Engage

There are so many options to engage with customers via mobile in today’s world, and many c-store retailers start with the creation of a mobile website and app. In fact, 19 percent of shoppers choose to shop at a store because it has a great mobile app, according to the Inmar Intelligence 2022 Shopper Experience Survey.

Additionally, 29 percent of respondents indicated they use retailer apps every week, and another 13 percent reported using the app constantly to build a list or check for deals. But app space on a consumer’s phone is prime real estate, and retailers need to give consumers a reason to download and keep the app. phones is growing more by the day,” said Jeff Hoover, director of c-store data insights at Newton, Mass.-based Paytronix, which provides customer engagement solutions and loyalty programs for restaurants, retail chains and c-stores. “If there isn’t a real utility to using the app, it will quickly be deleted.”

Creating a strong “value exchange” where customers benefit from having the app or joining a loyalty program with an app attached to it is the way to win space on a consumer’s device. This can include saving them time, money, or access to something they would not get without it, said Rice.

“It could be access to special products, limited-time offers, or even priority on how quickly I get my order or can get gas at the pump — as we are seeing priority loyalty drivethru lanes for restaurants now,” he noted. “C-stores must have a strong value proposition that gives something to customers in exchange for the interaction.”

“The fight for real estate on consumers’ phones is growing more by the day. If there isn’t a real utility to using the app, it will quickly be deleted.”

— Jeff Hoover, Paytronix

One way c-stores are keeping consumers engaged is through gamification where loyalty members or app users can participate in challenges to complete tasks, sweepstakes or giveaways. Some retailers are offering VIP tiers, badges or experiences based on interaction with the brand. This also creates reasons for repeat visits and purchases.

“Everyone wants to be treated like a VIP and unlocking those experiences and exclusivity as they shop more with you vs. your competitors is a way to create engagement,” recommended Stout.

There are some retailers offering actual video games inside an app leveraging gaming tiers, challenges and leaderboards to engage customers and reward them. At Dutch Bros Coffee, a drive-thru coffee chain based in Grants Pass, Ore., which operates 538 locations in 12 states, customers get rewarded with digital stickers as they make purchases. They can collect the stickers and build a collection while also earning discounts and rewards, noted Rice.

“Using sweepstakes, contests and challenges are a way to keep customers engaged, but they have to be contextually relevant,” he said. “Starbucks, for example, will say if you purchase three times in the next seven days, then you get XYZ, and they base the challenge off purchase data so if I already purchase three times a week, then my challenge would be four times.”

Another way to engage customers and encourage repeat visits is through geofencing or text messaging. Whether they are in the area of a store or onsite, geofence messaging can encourage both visits and purchases, and can be done within an app or via SMS.

“Geofence messaging is a great way to target guests with a message when they come within a certain radius of a store location,” said Hoover. “This can be a great way to target them with a gas discount or remind them of an existing offer they have in their account.”

When a guest is actually onsite, either at the pump or in the store, push notifications from the app or text messaging can be helpful to get them to make an additional purchase or take advantage of a special in the store. This type of messaging can also be used to thank guests for visiting and retarget them with another offer to get them to come back, he noted.

In fact, 62 percent of shoppers said they would like a store to send mobile notifications in anticipation of their trip, according to the Inmar Intelligence 2022 Shopper Experience Survey.

“Our customers integrate SMS and push notifications with a loyalty program, and we tell them to segment the database so they are sending the right offers to the right guest on the right channel, whether it's SMS, push notifications or email,” said Stout.

Get Personal

When interacting with guests via mobile, personalization is key — especially when targeting them with coupons and offers. Gathering the data on what they purchase, who they are and what they want can facilitate this process, whether through a loyalty program, mobile website ordering or a mobile app.

“You don’t want to offer a vegetarian a special on a cheeseburger,” Stout pointed out. “That is why loyalty programs are the heartbeat of engagement because you can track what a customer is buying from you and it gives you those breadcrumbs of data to make your messaging more powerful.”

The best way to offer relevant coupons, specials and content is through capturing customer data, and the more retailers engage with customers digitally, the more data they can capture to learn about them and the products they are interested in and will act on.

“If I’m logged in digitally, you will know when I make a purchase, when I do it, how often and what products I buy,” said Rice. “This will help you understand what other products I’m likely to purchase, and you can use all this information to market to me in a personalized way.”

In the Inmar Intelligence 2022 Shopper Experience Survey, 44 percent of respondents said their top driver for app usage is searching for deals and rewards. If those deals are not relevant to them, retailers will quickly lose the customer’s interest and the potential for increased visits and sales, said Omar Benguerah, general manager of retail marketing solutions at Aki Technologies, a data and technology enabled service company owned by Inmar Intelligence and based in San Francisco.

“Today, personalization is key,” Benguerah noted. “Understand who the shopper is, what he is planning to do, and then provide the customized deals and products he would most likely want.”

At Casey’s, the retailer’s loyalty program and app use what the company calls a “re-order flow” that anticipates when a customer might be ready to order or visit next and actually prompts them with their latest order, said Templeton.

“We’ll even individualize the creative, so the visuals we’re showing are images of their favorite pizzas,” he explained. “That’s what it takes to maintain attention and engagement in a world full of marketing.”

Casey’s dedicates time to understand customers using both “quantitative and qualitative research,” and spending a lot of time digging into the data and advanced analytics it captures to make decisions moving forward on how to interact with customers.

“We can segment by frequency, purchase behavior, digital entertainment and more,” Templeton said. “That enables our team to put the right promotions in market to encourage the outcomes we are seeking.”

In today’s noisy world, convenience stores are not just competing with other convenience stores — the competition for customer attention and dollars spans much wider, especially digital attention. Creating a successful mobile experience must take into account everyone a c-store is competing with in the digital world.

“Consumers have so many options to choose from today, you can’t afford to get mobile wrong,” Templeton told CSNews. “The expectation for mobile experience isn’t just what your immediate competitors are doing. Your guests are using Netflix, Walmart and Uber, too. That is who you’re being evaluated against.”

C-stores’ goal is to be both relevant and engaging with a mobile customer no matter what the situation is, and the stakes for a captivating experience continue to rise each day.

“The last best experience is now the new expectation for the next,” Templeton said. CSN