ShopAdvisor Survey Exposes Gaps in Advertising and Promotion Strategies for QSR and Fast Casual Restaurants

ShopAdvisor, Inc., reported today the results of a survey conducted with dozens of QSR and fast-casual restaurant owner/operators from across the county. The survey revealed the respondents’ most popular advertising and promotion channels, their assessment of their effectiveness, and plans for 2020. Among the most interesting findings were:

• Almost all employ an omnichannel approach, spanning traditional media — newspapers, radio and television, direct mail — and new media — digital, mobile, social — channels.

• The vast majority — nearly 75% — still rely predominantly on traditional methods and channels. But less than 50% rate these channels as providing excellent results.

• Digital channels, particularly mobile, are still underutilized when compared to traditional channels, but are seen as an area for more investment.

• Tracking and measuring effectiveness is still an area for improvement with more than 30% reporting that they have no measurement programs in place. 

“The results of this survey are eye-opening. We think it reveals a significant and likely widening gap between how restaurants spend to create awareness and attract customers versus how the consumer is actually finding them,” said Jeff Papows, CEO of ShopAdvisor. “All consumers, particularly the younger demographics — GenXers, Millennials, and GenZers — all rely on their smartphones for everything. This is increasingly true for finding places to eat, obtaining special offers, placing orders and scheduling pick-up or deliveries. With research predicting that by the end of 2019, mobile advertising will account for 72% of all U.S. digital ad spending, those restaurants that increase their digital promotion spending — particularly mobile — have the opportunity to set themselves apart and grow their market share with these audiences.” 

A myriad of studies shows that smartphone usage is at an all-time high and growing. For example, “more than three out of four consumers use their mobile devices as an integral part of their shopping and dining experiences” according to Quora Creative. With this, the majority of the consumers are targetable via their smartphones for mobile ads and relevant promos from QSR and fast-casual restaurants. This shift in consumer behavior underscores the urgency for owner/operators to invest more in mobile than any other channel. 

By implementing a mobile proximity marketing strategy, owner/operators gain the ability to target consumers more effectively and build brand loyalty not just for the duration of a singular campaign, but for years to come. Furthermore, mobile proximity campaigns provide many more ways to measure their effectiveness, including engaged audience demographics, most popular offers and times of the day, foot traffic and sales lift analysis. These campaigns can also deliver invaluable information for building long-term, opt-in relationships with customers through gained information including email addresses, mobile numbers, and device IDs; which enable re-targeting customers with personalized mobile ads; emails that promote restaurants and showcase meal deals; new location openings, and more.  

EVOS Restaurants is a prime example of how effective a mobile campaign be for a QSR restaurant. In 2019 ShopAdvisor worked with EVOS Restaurants on a six-week mobile marketing campaign across four locations in Florida. The campaign included rich media creatives (mobile ads and landing pages) that engaged diners on mobile devices, which provided information on the restaurant’s offers, special deals and directions to the nearest EVOS Restaurants location. ShopAdvisor also managed the campaign from concept to completion and continually fine-tuned ad delivery to ensure maximum impressions and engagement while decreasing overall cost per engagement over time. The campaign yielded a 9% lift in sales and increased web site visits by over 110%.

Click here to view the data from the survey, and take a deeper dive into the information gathered and other eye-opening statistics that showcase important trends in omnichannel marketing for QSR and fast-casual restaurants.

About ShopAdvisor

ShopAdvisor enables agencies, brands, retailers, and restaurants to power mobile, and other digital shopping experiences that drive consumers’ path to purchase in brick-and-mortar locations. ShopAdvisor’s end-to-end solution spans audience and geographic targeting which includes rich media creative design and delivery, campaign execution, management and optimization, and post-campaign analysis.