Dunkin’: Driving consistent incremental returns

The goal

Dunkin’ wanted to drive traffic into its restaurants by both bringing in new customers as well as increasing the frequency of purchases from existing customers. The Dunkin’ team wanted a solution that they could implement quickly and had the flexibility to help drive sales at any point during the fiscal quarter.

The results

Through ongoing national campaigns, Cardlytics continues to drive significant traffic to Dunkin’ locations with consistently strong incremental returns. Dunkin’ has steadily increased their investment with Cardlytics each quarter and has yet to reach a point of maximum scale. The strong results have been confirmed by Nielsen Sales Lift Measurement—the industry gold standard for third-party validation.

We highly value Cardlytics’ consistent incremental return, which is a testament to the size and scale of the platform. Cardlytics is one of our strongest performing partners to drive customers into our restaurants.”

Justin Unger, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Dunkin’

How it worked

Dunkin’ was looking for a fast and flexible solution to help drive traffic into restaurants, both by winning new customers and re-engaging lapsed customers. Dunkin’ ultimately chose Cardlytics for their quick implementation and the flexibility to start campaigns at any point during the fiscal quarter.

Cardlytics worked with Dunkin’ to identify their most-likely-to-return customers based on past purchase behavior across the category, looking at both Dunkin’ and its competitors. Using these insights as the foundation for precisely targeted campaigns, Cardlytics engaged these customers with relevant cash-back offers via their online banking channels, driving them to Dunkin’ for their selection of satisfying beverages and baked goods.

The campaign resulted in significant restaurant traffic and incremental returns for Dunkin’, thanks to Cardlytics’ insight into 50% of card swipes in the US through deep partnerships with top banks. “We highly value Cardlytics’ consistent incremental return, which is a testament to the size and scale of the platform,” said Justin Unger, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Dunkin’.

Following the pilot’s success, Dunkin’ expanded to ongoing, large scale national campaigns with Cardlytics. Even as Dunkin’ has grown its investment with Cardlytics, the organization has not yet reached the point of maximum scale. The Cardlytics platform does not experience diminishing returns. Each dollar Dunkin’ spent continues to work as hard as the first until the scale is maximized.

We see a lot of sales data from our own restaurants, but Cardlytics can see how customers spend across the restaurant industry. And they can help us act on those insights to increase our share of that spend.”

As a next step, Dunkin’ looks forward to leveraging Cardlytics’ wealth of purchase insights to expand targeting segments and find new ways to efficiently and effectively drive traffic. This includes applying actionable insights into how Dunkin’ customers spend money on food outside their locations to deepen loyalty and further grow market share. “We see a lot of sales data from our own restaurants, but Cardlytics can see how customers spend across the restaurant industry,” said Justin Unger, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Dunkin’. “And they can help us act on those insights to increase our share of that spend.”

‍