Steak N' Shake Workplace Marketing Email - 2018

Steak N' Shake needed a creative way to build up business around a handful of locations that were struggling to bring in lunch and dinner business. The company's usual tactic of sending mailers, valpak and other physical at-home marketing tactics were less effective for these locations which were in commercial rather than residential areas.

PaydayPERX to the rescue! PaydayPERX has build an entire business around creating brand ambassadors in the workplace, and designed a simple 1-off incentive program to reach thousands of small and midsize businesses within a mile of the targeted stores. We combined this email with a 1-week calling campaign, highly effective because it was the gatekeepers, not the executives, we wanted to talk to.

Outcomes

This was one of the most successful campaigns Steak N'Shake ran in 2018 in terms of Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). Printing and mailing costs were greatly reduced by building the campaign specifically around the targeted stores and delivering after the office had opted in, rather than before; the email cost very little and the calling campaign was highly effective at ensuring participation. A follow-up survey was also included which collected great feedback from the workplaces that participated.

The 12% improvement quarter-over-quarter averaged for these locations was all the more impressive because negative trend was the selection factor for inclusion in the campaign; the expectation was simply to slow the rate of decline.