Problem
sweetgreen, the fast-casual restaurant chain famous for its salads and grain bowls, wanted to encourage customers to order food for delivery through the sweetgreen app instead of third-party delivery services.
10%
Campaign Conversion Rate
Strategy
sweetgreen partnered with Braze, using our native Promotion Code feature to easily deliver order discount codes through SMS.
Results
sweetgreen added 10k+ subscribers to its SMS channel and drove 10% conversion rates.
sweetgreen’s protein-based salads and hearty grain bowls are hugely popular with lunch and dinner crowds at the company’s 100 restaurants, located in eight states across the country. The fast-casual chain’s fans eagerly await seasonal launches of new bowls like Summer Corn and Miso Eggplant, often choosing to order online to save time and avoid long lines during pickup.
When the company launched delivery through its app, it chose the Braze platform’s native Promotion Codes solution to send SMS messages with discount codes to encourage customers to order through the app versus other delivery services.
Changing Customer Behavior with Discounts Delivered at the Right Place and Time
sweetgreen was looking at new ways to connect with customers, but hadn’t fully explored the benefits of the SMS channel. The launch of its app presented the perfect opportunity to communicate more effectively with customers while driving traffic to the app. sweetgreen previously had a partnership with a delivery service, but once the app launched, the company hoped to own the delivery relationship.
To entice customers to order through the app instead of outside delivery services, sweetgreen wanted to share discount codes. But generating codes was often a lengthy process, and generic discount codes had to be closely monitored to mitigate abuse.
Channels Utilized
With SMS and Braze Promotion Codes, sweetgreen had an easy setup for delivering discount codes through SMS. sweetgreen’s marketing team simply uploaded a CSV file of promotion codes to Braze. The unique codes—which are easier to manage than generic codes— are dynamically pulled into each SMS message delivered to sweetgreen customers.
When customers downloaded the app and opted in to SMS, sweetgreen first sent welcome emails inviting customers to order via the app. Customers who didn’t respond to that invitation received a promo code for $2 off an in-app order.
“Braze has greatly improved our ability to leverage channel communications tailored to our customers’ preferences. The ability to quickly set up cohesive, multi-step, and multi-channel journeys has significantly reduced our campaign launch time and accelerated speed to optimization.”
Kenneth Lee
Manager of CRM Operations at sweetgreen
sweetgreen Results: Increase in SMS Subscribers, Shorter Campaign Launch Time
By reaching customers via a new channel and offering unique promo codes, sweetgreen successfully engaged with customers in a more direct and high-impression way. The company added 10k+ new subscribers to its SMS channel through the app promotion, reduced campaign launch time, and drove 10% order rates.
10%
Conversion Rate for Customers who Received the Promo Code
10k+
New SMS Subscribers
Final Thoughts
Sometimes, if you want to change customers’ behaviors, you have to give them a bit of incentive. For sweetgreen, SMS and unique Braze Promotion Codes created that right time and place, reaching customers in a way that encourages deeper, more direct connections as well as reducing the risk associated with generic codes. The campaign worked so well that sweetgreen is considering SMS channel promotions to alert customers about new menu items.