Yesterday, I wrote about how Denny’s offered a free Grand Slam breakfast to anybody who came in on Tuesday, February 4.
Today I learned that not only did the promotion create a flood of business… it also generated hundreds of phone calls.
Why?
Because nobody believed the breakfast was going to really be free. Manager Sam Kaul had answered more than 100 calls by 9:15 a.m. He says:
“Free freaks people out,” Kaul said as he shuffled in customers who had to wait about 20 minutes for a seat. “They call and say, ‘What’s the catch?’”
And this brings up a very important point about making free offers.
That is, you should always give a good reason why.
Obviously, Denny’s offer of a free breakfast sounded too good to be true. Many people didn’t believe it.
They could have easily side-stepped this by offering a believable reason why they were offering the free meal.
For instance: They could have said they were doing it to help people out in hard times — and win back customers.
Or they could have said:
We want to prove to you what a great value Denny’s is. Here, your dollar goes further.
Our Grand Slam breakfast has two pancakes, two eggs, two pieces of bacon, and two sausage links, all for only $5.99 — the same as what you might pay at any old fast-food joint.
And on Tuesday, you can try our Grand Slam breakfast absolutely free. No strings attached.
This is just off the top of my head.
Whenever you’re offering something for free, give a reason — any reason — why you’re doing it, and chances are you’ll have more people taking you up on your offer.
-Ryan M. Healy
{ 1 trackback }
{ 6 comments }
Yeah. I saw an article in the Rocky Mountain News about this offer. Indeed, they said it “hit one out of the park.” But I didn’t understand at all why Denny’s would be excited about giving away 8 hours worth of income while increasing expenses throughout that period. It made no sense to me at all. And, as far as I could see, Denny’s itself gave absolutely no reason for the offer.
One customer seemed to catch a reason . . . similar to what you highlighted in your proposed copy, Ryan:
But that was what the customers had to come up with.
@John Food always tastes better when it’s free!
Seems like Denny’s may have missed a big opportunity with their free meal. I guess they might have earned some inertia by getting people in the door and people thinking about them… but wasted much of their effort.
@John – Interesting that the customers were forced to speculate why in the world Denny’s would give away a free meal. :-)
Apparently, Denny’s was thinking they might break even on the offer if people ordered a beverage with the meal.
Still, they could have done MUCH better had they given a reason why and devised a way to get people to come back.
@Stephen – I agree: They created inertia, but they didn’t leverage it properly.
What Denny’s did on Tuesday was an extra-generous form of “sampling.” It’s the most effective marketing strategy to bring back consumers who left a brand, or get new customers to try it, says David Vinjamuri, marketing professor at New York University. “In a recession, you try to add value, and sampling does just that.” http://tinyurl.com/am5ym8
I think it was a fabulous idea. Denny’s has dropped off the radar for many. Now that people are pinching their pennies I think it’s a great time for Denny’s to slip their brand name and competitive advantage (low-budget dining) into the forefront of everyone’s minds.
Tho, I agree with Ryan that they could’ve gotten a lot more VAVOOM out of the promotion by giving out coupons to get more returning customers.
In some markets, free actually depresses response. For example, would you respond to a “free consult” to a brain surgeon’s office?
Interesting that customers couldn’t figure out why Denny’s would offer free food- um, because people will buy brinks, they might bring friends who order other meals, they might like the meal and come back later… not rocket science!
What kills me is people calling- why would Denny’s advertise free meals if they weren’t really offering them? Were people expecting them to say on the phone that the ad wasn’t true?
I guess it really is hard to underestimate people.
As for the brain surgeon, yes I would expect a free consult. How much should it cost for that? Most attorneys offer a free consult to see if your case is something they might take, so why should it be different for surgeons?
Comments on this entry are closed.