Dive Brief:
- Dunkin’ is doubling the rate at which loyalty customers earn points, lowering the threshold at which they can redeem points and adding a tier for high-frequency customers, the brand announced Thursday.
- Dunkin’ Rewards, formerly DD Perks, is now available nationwide, with a slate of special rewards available until Oct. 31.
- The revamp was driven by customer feedback and will offer more food and beverage rewards and additional flexibility. Customers can also choose how to use their points, the company said.
Dive Insight:
Dunkin’ Rewards is based on a points-per-dollar system, with customers receiving 10 loyalty points for every dollar spent, as opposed to five points under the company’s previous system. Simultaneously, the company has lowered the threshold at which customers can begin redeeming their points from 200 to 150 points, meaning customers need only spend $15 instead of $40 at Dunkin’ to begin earning rewards. Existing loyalty members will be automatically enrolled in Dunkin’ rewards and given 150 points.
Dunkin’ is incentivizing customer engagement by giving its points an expiration date: if customers go six months without visiting a Dunkin’, the points expire. Dunkin’ rewards members who visit the chain 12 times or more in a single month are eligible for “Boosted Status,” which offers more rewards for three months. Boosted Status members can extend their enrollment by visiting 12 times each month.
With loyalty programs increasingly ubiquitous, a number of major brands have recently overhauled or added to their rewards and loyalty programs. The strategies pursued by restaurants have ranged from simple increases in rewards to subscription plans for popular items, increasing personalization and the creation of markets for loyalty tokens.
Panera, for instance, increased customer choice in rewards in September, just a few months after adding a drinks subscription program. Taco Bell trialed a taco subscription program to evident success over the winter. Chipotle added challenges and gamified elements last fall, while Sweetgreen followed suit in June.
Burger chains like McDonald’s and Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. launched nationwide loyalty programs in the last year and a half. In one of the latest changes, Starbucks added NFTs and a secondary marketplace to boost customer engagement and offer exclusive rewards. Another recent innovation is the launch of co-branded credit cards, like that offered by BurgerFi and Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza and Wings in partnership with Visa.
Dunkin’s revamp may help it compete for customer dollars, as rewards programs tend to boost frequency and ticket size. According to then-president of Dunkin’ North America, Scott Murphy, the company’s loyalty program had 5.4 million active customers in Q3 2020, the last quarter before Inspire Brands took Dunkin’ private again. Starbucks had 27.4 million active Starbucks Rewards members as of last quarter, and Panera’s MyPanera program has reached 48 million total members.
