[THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY BLANK FOR PAGINATION BACK OF COVER DO NOT PRINT] Email Marketing System Program Guide 0 November, 2010
Table of Contents SECTION PAGE Email Marketing Overview 1-2 - Contact Guide - Background 1 1 - Why is Email Marketing Important? 1 - About Subscriber Lists 2 - Three Keys to Building a Strong Program Basic Program 3-10 - Summary 3 - In Depth 3 8 - Bird s Eye View of the Program 9 Custom Program 9-10 FAQs 11 Email Marketing System Program Guide 0 November, 2010
[THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY BLANK FOR PAGINATION BACK OF TOC DO NOT PRINT] Email Marketing System Program Guide 0 November, 2010
Email Marketing Overview CONTACTS GUIDE Name Role Purpose Contact Dave Gonynor Michelle Ziolko CEO, That's Biz RTP Account Manager, That s Biz Primary contact: - email selection interface - email notification - custom program - signup/questions Secondary contact: - email selection interface - email notification - custom program - signup/questions 248-855-7810 dgonynor@thatsbiz.com 248-802-7132 mziolko@thatsbiz.com Amy Lucas Marketing Manager, Round Table Pizza, Inc. General program questions 925-969-4024 alucas@roundtablepizza.com Slice Helpdesk Round Table Pizza, Inc. Slice access problems 866-327-2430 BACKGROUND Each day, guests sign up at www.roundtablepizza.com to receive the latest offers and news from Round Table Pizza. These guests sign up for a specific Round Table location. Each location, in turn, has a list of guests that includes email address and name. This program is designed to help franchisees put that list to good use. The RTAF-funded portion of the program ( basic program ) allows franchisees to select emails from a suite of pre-determined options. The custom portion of the program ( custom program ) allows franchisees to customize their own offers using Round Table Pizza designs for a bulk price negotiated especially for Round Table owners. WHY IS EMAIL MARKETING IMPORTANT? In these difficult times, we are continually searching for ways to market value and quality to guests in order to build their loyalty and increase visits. Communicating offers and product news by email is a strategy that provides an inexpensive means of driving traffic, particularly to the value-based consumer. The urgency around this effort stems from the following: We must take advantage of inexpensive marketing opportunities Digital media is becoming increasingly relevant to the pizza consumer Many of our competitors are aggressively marketing in the email space. We must have a presence as a brand in this channel so we do not lose visits due to our silence. Email Marketing System Program Guide 1 November, 2010
ABOUT SUBSCRIBER LISTS If you have not been actively engaged in email marketing, your subscriber list will be limited to those guests who have signed up at Round Table s main website over the last six months. For most restaurants, this list will be from 50-100 subscribers. Therefore, initially, you should not expect to see a high number of email redemptions. Although a franchisee s list starts small, using this initial list well is the first step to building a strong program, and of course, a larger list. By watering the seedling, you will develop a healthy and impactful email program. If you are already participating in email marketing, please contact Amy Lucas at 925-969-4024 to discuss options for consolidating your existing list of subscribers. THREE KEYS TO BUILDING A STRONG PROGRAM Treat Your Subscribers Right Once a guest opts out, they cannot opt back in with the same email address. This helps to protect the list from SPAM complaints. However, this also means that great guest service around email coupon redemption is critical. Staff should always be informed about what email offers are valid at the restaurant. If a guest has a single negative experience, he or she is not likely to be driven back to the restaurant by email marketing. That means there is no room for a learning curve. Restaurant staff must be well-versed in the email offers that are being sent for the restaurant. Keep Your List Healthy Ongoing participation ensures subscribers regularly receive emails. This is critical because when guests sign up and do not receive regular emails, they forget they have signed up and lose interest or report emails as SPAM. For this reason, email industry practices are strict with respect to email frequency. The minimum frequency necessary to keep subscribers engaged is once a month. The RTAF-funded portion of the program provides the minimum. However, franchisees can layer additional frequency with the customized program. Build the Subscriber List Franchisees should use LSM tactics to build their restaurants local lists. This might be as simple as mentioning the program to visiting guests or a more aggressive local store marketing effort. Franchisees enrolling in the customized portion of the program will have access to in-store sign-up tools. Email Marketing System Program Guide 2 November, 2010
Basic Program SUMMARY The program enables franchisees to email their subscribers once per month There is no cost to the franchisee During an enrollment period, a notification email is sent to the primary principal who can log on to SLICE and select from a suite of pre-created emails If the franchisee does not make a selection, the default email for that month will be sent The franchisee is automatically opted into the program, but can opt out of future emails, if desired IN DEPTH Step 1 Notification Email Once a month, the primary principal (and only the primary principal) will receive a notification email. This email will invite him or her to log onto SLICE and make email promotion selections. Email Marketing System Program Guide 3 November, 2010
Step 2 Log On to SLICE Follow the instructions in the email and log in by going to SLICE Toolbox, Marketing, Email Step 3 Make Your Selection Each month, locations will be set to the default option. If desired, select another email from the dropdown menu for each individual location. All locations for a single franchisee should appear in this area. If you opt your location out of participating, the location will disappear from this area until you opt back in. (See instructions below.) View Each Promotion You can preview the details of each email and associated coupon by clicking Click here to view promotion. Email Marketing System Program Guide 4 November, 2010
Default vs. Alternative Offers Each month, there will be a default offer and a few alternative offers that franchisees can choose from. The default offers are the four offers most widely accepted by the system. These four offers will cycle, repeating 3 times in a 12 month period. Month 1 Default = $5 Dollars off Any Large or XL Specialty Pizza Month 2 Default = 15% off Your Order Month 3 Default = $16.99 Large Specialty Pizza Month 4 Default = $4 off Any XL Pizza/$3 Off Any Large/$2 Off Any Medium Month 5 Default = $5 Dollars off Any Large or XL Specialty Pizza The alternative offers are additional choices that franchisees can elect to send to their subscribers. The alternative offers may be more aggressive, reflect a media promotion, etc. Regardless of what the alternative offers are, franchisees can be confident in knowing one of the four default offers will always be an option. Step 4 Confirm Your Selections and Log Out Review selections and confirm on this page. Following confirmation, you will be re-directed to the main tool. Be sure to log out. Email Marketing System Program Guide 5 November, 2010
Step 5 Communicate Email Selections to Your Restaurant It is the franchisee s responsibility to be a proactive participant and communicate email choices within their organization. Franchisees will always be able to preview the email and coupon with disclaimers in advance of making a selection. This information should be shared by the franchisee with restaurant staff to ensure excellent guest service. Below is an example of both an email that appears in the guest s inbox, as well as the coupon that is accessible through a link. EMAIL Email Marketing System Program Guide 6 November, 2010
COUPON The coupon is required for redemption. The email itself is not the coupon; however, a guest may mistakenly bring that in. Restaurant staff should use their best guest service judgment in such a scenario. Selection Window Franchisees have approximately a one-week window to make their selections from the time they receive the email notification. When the selection period is up, the system will capture the promotional choices and those emails will be sent to email subscribers at a pre-determined date that is designed to maximize results. Outside of the selection period, you will not be able to access the application. Instead, you will see the following page: Email Marketing System Program Guide 7 November, 2010
Ability to Opt Out of Program Franchisees have the opportunity to opt out during any selection window. To opt out, click on the link at the bottom of the tool s main page (as shown below). Choose which restaurant you want to opt out of the program by selecting yes from the drop-down menu (as shown below). Your restaurant will remain opted out until you revisit this page and change the yes back to no. Once you have opted out, the restaurant will no longer appear on the main page of the tool. Email Marketing System Program Guide 8 November, 2010
BIRD S EYE VIEW OF THE PROGRAM Guest s View: I go to roundtablepizza.com and provide my information, including my nearest restaurant, to sign up for emails I instantly receive an email through which I confirm my enrollment Upon confirmation, I instantly receive a welcome email that thanks me for signing up I receive ongoing deals and product news from this Round Table Pizza location that drive me to the restaurant Every email I receive has participating location information on it so I know where the coupon is valid Primary Principal s View: I, the primary principal, receive a notification email each month stating that the enrollment period to select emails is open I follow the link on the notification email to access the selection tool via SLICE Available to me are a default offer and a few alternative offers The default offer is one of four offers that are widely accepted I browse these options and select the offer that is most relevant to my restaurants If I do not make a selection within an allotted time, my subscribers will receive the default offer unique for that particular month I must inform my staff on the offer choice that is made and share visuals of the selected emails If I want further customization, I can sign up with the vendor to create my own custom emails. I am able to take advantage of discounted pricing that is available through the vendor. Custom Program SUMMARY Franchisees can email their guests more frequently and customize their own offers and schedule through services provided by the same email vendor that runs the basic program. The following pricing has been negotiated for Round Table Pizza franchisees: $60 per month for the first location $23 per month for additional locations receiving the same email The vendor will create a custom email for a franchisee using a library of templates and assets designed by Round Table. The price includes two blasts per month. In-store sign up processing and materials and a customer feedback tool are also included in the price. We highly recommend running this service in addition to the basic service. This will allow franchisees to more effectively build their list, email to their guests more frequently, and address their particular sales needs. Email Marketing System Program Guide 9 November, 2010
For more information about the customized program or to enroll, contact: Dave Gonynor Thatsbiz www.thatsbiz.com O: 248-855-7810 M: 248-252-6364 F: 248-920-0721 dgonynor@thatsbiz.com Email Marketing System Program Guide 10 November, 2010
FAQs Where did my initial list come from? The initial list comes from the corporate website. At that site, guests can sign up to receive email offers from the restaurant of their choice. The customer then becomes part of the email list database for that store. I am currently sending emails using another vendor. What do I do? If you are sending emails with another email vendor, you can continue to do so and still be part of the basic program. However, you will not able to merge the subscriber lists from the two different email vendors. It is too difficult to manage the database when two vendors are involved. If you wish to change to the system vendor, you can migrate your old subscriber list to the new vendor and make full use of the program. Can I use the basic program to customize the monthly emails according to my needs? No. In order to keep costs low, the monthly options provided by RTAF are stock offers and cannot be customized (i.e. expiration date, creative images, copy, disclaimers, etc.). We will make every effort to establish these details so that they are a viable option for everyone and franchisees can preview everything in advance. However, you can customize additional email blasts to your specifications if you sign up for the custom program with the vendor. The cost will be low due to the level of business the vendor will be receiving from us. Is it wise to repeat four default offers over and over again? Our experience shows that four offers over four months is a minimally acceptable level of variety. We do recommend adding further variety by taking advantage of the alternative monthly options and a customized program. Should I do a customized program concurrent with the basic program? Absolutely. There is good reason to email your guests more frequently than once per month. The more local relevance you can offer your guests, the more effective your campaigns will be. Can I conduct my own list building efforts? Yes, you can list build in a variety of ways. One of them is through in-store sign-ups. If you are signed up for the custom program with the system vendor, they can provide all of the materials and database entry services you need to accomplish this. Can I assign someone else in my organization to receive the notification email? Yes, however, the franchisee of record must also receive the notification email. Simply contact the vendor to ask that an email address be included in the notification process. Following notification, anyone with the appropriate level of SLICE access to the franchisee s restaurants will be able to access the tool through SLICE. Email Marketing System Program Guide 11 November, 2010