Quick-serve restaurants (QSRs) have always been a part of the American dining culture, but the pandemic gave them an extra push into the limelight. Service options like mobile-oriented delivery and takeout, enhanced loyalty plays, and digital in-store experiences have always been prominent since the pandemic began. As we see more indoor dining options open up, QSRs need to rethink their strategies to stay on top.
What can QSR marketers do to make sure they’re staying relevant? We conducted a survey to find out. Here are the key findings that illustrate consumer dining preferences and tendencies in today’s world and what that means for QSR marketing:
Survey highlights
- Localized creative drives consumer loyalty — 64% of consumers say they have a stronger sense of loyalty to restaurants that localize creative content to their specific region or current events.
- Personalization performs best in driving sales — 45% of consumers say that personalized offers/discounts would entice them to increase the amount they spend on a food order and visit more often; as compared to 32% for loyalty programs and 23% for a greater variety of menu items.
- Additionally, 59% of consumers say that restaurants currently do a good job at personalizing advertising to them.
- Dining in is back in style — 82% of consumers responded that they are currently comfortable dining indoors following shutdowns driven by COVID-19.
- Only 12% of consumers say they plan to eat out at quick-serve restaurants less post-pandemic, while 62% say they will eat out at QSRs the same amount, suggesting QSRs can now viably build marketing plans for both takeout and dine-in options.
- Restaurant apps and loyalty programs gain momentum — 52% of consumers said they have downloaded a new restaurant app in the last six months, suggesting that owned marketing content through restaurant apps is a viable option to gain long-term customer loyalty.
- 45% have enrolled in a restaurant/food chain loyalty or rewards program in the last six months.
- Provocative brand marketing drives sales — 63% said they are more likely to dine at a restaurant that does interesting brand marketing.
- Email communications > social — 45% of consumers said that email was the most relevant platform for content and news from QSRs, whereas 30% say Facebook, 15% say Instagram, and only 4% said Twitter.
Creative Automation for Quick-Serve Restaurants
When it comes to QSR marketing, localization and personalization reign supreme. To keep up with these content needs, manual production falls flat. Updating files individually is simply too slow and cumbersome. What QSR brands need instead is an automated solution. Develop all the creative variety you need for every audience with the help of Celtra. The platform makes it easy to produce creative content at scale without sacrificing on quality.
To learn more about Celtra, check out this video.