The challenge
Owner Joel could not see whether any marketing program worked, or how well.
He wanted to move budget to whatever brought in customers at the lowest cost, but had no basis to reallocate.
The solution
1. Test campaign: Start with a single location
Joel started with Adentro (formerly Zenreach) at one location, with ads promoting "The Best Happy Hour in Lakeland." Campaigns at the other locations followed.
2. Walk-Through Rate™: Count who walked in
Walk-Through Rate™ matched ad exposure to subsequent restaurant visits, so Joel could calculate cost per customer and return.
Return on ad spend was estimated from the $29 average customer spend, not from transaction-level POS matchback.
The results
- 245 new customers, in one month from a first test campaign
- $29 average customer spend, per customer, used to estimate return
- 6x+ estimated return on ad spend, based on the $29 average customer spend rather than transaction-level POS matchback
Following the test, Ovation ran campaigns at its other locations, and Adentro grew to more than 60% of Joel's total marketing budget.