Chipotle is bringing back its Summer of Extras campaign with more features to bolster engagement | Photo courtesy of Chipotle
For several quarters now, Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright has teased a more personalized loyalty program that includes deeper engagement along the “consumer journey.” In April, that new-and-improved Chipotle Rewards program was formally launched, including features like “Rewards on Repeat.”
The program’s unofficial launch party will run from June 1 through Aug. 31 with the return of Chipotle’s Summer of Extras campaign, featuring new gamified rewards designed to drive frequency, engagement and social sharing among the 22-plus million active members. During a recent interview, Chief Strategy and Technology Office Curt Garner said the Summer of Extras debut last summer was so successful, it informed many of the new features in the enhanced program.
“Some things we really liked that we put into the new rewards program, particularly around leaderboards and gamification,” he said. “A lot of rewards programs feel like transaction engines. We wanted this to feel like a platform for engagement.”
Last year’s Summer of Extras program generated 6.4 million activations, more than $12 million in incremental sales and nearly 38 million earned social impressions.
Garner said this year, the brand is especially focused on engaging its superfans to drive even higher metrics, and for good reason. New data from Toast and Resy finds that up to 50% of a restaurant’s volume can come from just 7% of guests, while moving a customer into a loyalty program shifts their return rate from a 7% baseline to nearly 30%.
“Our superfans have amplified their experience on social media, posting their leaderboard results, challenging friends. It wasn’t about transactions as much as it was having shareable moments,” Garner said. “We want people to use their rewards but we don’t want them to bank them. We want them to get rewarded for their affinity and share it.”
How Summer of Extras plans to further tap into the superfan opportunity this year is through simplified monthly streak-based rewards that can earn free entrées. There are also new restaurant-level rankings so fans can see how they stack up locally, statewide and nationally.
“Last year we did leaderboards at the state level and it became a buzzworthy and shareable moment,” Garner said. “People often talk about ‘their Chipotle’ and that notion of tapping into their ownership of their restaurant will be fun.”
Beyond the competitive and interactive leaderboard feature, Summer of Extras will also include more streaks and challenges, along with new badges and side quests. All of the new features tie into the idea of taking a summer road trip, Garner said.
“We’re tapping into the zeitgeist and this sense of adventure and doing it alongside Chipotle as you travel from state to state,” he said.
Matching the digital and physical experiences
Competitions and adventures aside, the enhanced Rewards program was ultimately created to achieve that stated goal of being a bigger part of the consumer journey.
“Chipotle was founded on the notion of customization, speed and value. It was very unique at the time,” Garner said. “Customers were walking down a line and we’re creating something unique as they go. That was pre-digital — hyper customization and personalization. Since (digital) that has been our North Star, to make the rest of the platforms as personalized.”
It’s worked so far; Garner said digital is the largest comping part of the business, driven mostly by digital order-ahead.
“We also see rewards members comping higher than non-rewards members,” he said. “A lot of data is telling us that as we make our platforms more personalized and engaging, people are activating more and their affinity is growing.”
There’s much more to come, as well. Chipotle just named Arlie Sisson as its first chief digital officer to accelerate its technology and innovation efforts, for instance. Most recently, Sisson served as senior vice president, global head of digital, commercial services at Hyatt Hotels, where she led a global organization across product, design, engineering, loyalty, analytics, digital strategy and more.
“People aren’t necessarily comparing their Chipotle (digital) experience with other restaurant brands, but rather with the best rewards programs, which is why I’m excited to bring Arlie in from Hyatt. It’s a bit of an arms race for who can do it best and she’ll be able to look at our business through the lens of hospitality overall, not just restaurant hospitality,” Garner said.
Garner believes Chipotle has a unique advantage in such an “arms race.”
“If customization is your core, it’s a great on-ramp to personalized digital experiences because it’s what customers are already expecting from the brand,” he said. “We’re not going to stand still on this. We’ll continue to evolve and build upon the momentum we’ve got. This is really working for us, so we’re going to do more of it.”
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