Introduction
Incorporating a new digital channel into a traditional brick and mortar business presents numerous challenges. A large global retailer set a goal to grow their mobile ordering channel by 30%. While the initial launch of the mobile ordering app showed promising growth, the company faced obstacles in three crucial areas: store execution, marketing, and feature prioritization. To achieve the desired growth, the company needed to focus on product innovation, personalized marketing, and operational improvements.

Building Capability
To address the challenges across operations, marketing, and product development, a strong feedback loop was established, engaging store operations and customers. Operational team members were encouraged to provide feedback, including photos, videos, verbal, and written inputs, which were reviewed on a regular cadence. Live customer interviews conducted across multiple states shed light on inconveniences within the digital technology and execution.

Getting the Right Feedback and Alignment|
The continuous feedback loop enabled the identification of key change management activities within the company. These activities included creating appropriate wayfinding signage, upgrading POS and printer equipment, and enhancing the handoff plane experience with sticky receipts. Additionally, an emerging technology testing plan was formulated to create personalized experiences at the handoff plane and streamline customer notifications throughout the operational processes.

Personalized Marketing
Leveraging existing mobile, text, and email capabilities, the marketing team sought to target customers more effectively. They used new and lapsed user reports, matched users to existing purchasing profiles, and developed personalized marketing campaigns to win-back lapsed users and engage new ones.

Product Development Prioritization
In product development, the team faced numerous requests, making it challenging to determine priorities. Drawing insights from customer, operational, and marketing feedback, they could now prioritize feature development and gain alignment across multiple departments. The “must-have” features list centered around menu customization, favoriting, and wait time algorithms, which were identified to have the most significant impact on both customer and operational experiences.

Results
Through the implementation of the 3-prong strategy, the global retailer experienced notable improvements in their mobile ordering channel:

• Product Innovation
  The introduction of personalized features, streamlined handoff processes, and customer notifications significantly improved the digital experience for customers.
  
  
• Personalized Marketing
  Targeted marketing efforts resulted in increased engagement and loyalty, as lapsed users were won back and new users were effectively engaged.
  
  
• Operational Improvements
  With better operational execution, customers experienced a frictionless ordering process, leading to increased satisfaction and usage of the mobile ordering channel.

Conclusion
By addressing store execution, marketing, and feature prioritization through a 3-prong strategy of product innovation, personalized marketing, and operational improvements, the global retailer successfully achieved their goal of growing their mobile ordering channel by 30%. The feedback loop and continuous improvement initiatives helped the company create a seamless digital experience, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive overall business growth.