Loyalty Without Guesswork: Using Data to Power Smarter Guest Engagement
- James McGreggor
- May 29
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Introduction
Loyalty in the quick service restaurant (QSR) space has long been associated with points and perks—but in today’s hyper-digital world, that’s no longer enough. True loyalty comes from understanding customers deeply and delivering value with intention. This article explores how data—when used thoughtfully—can empower QSRs to engage guests more meaningfully and sustainably.
Scenario
Since COVID-19, the QSR landscape has transformed. Foot traffic decreased. Delivery surged. In-store interactions—once the foundation of loyalty-building—gave way to mobile apps and third-party platforms. Brands that historically relied on in-person service had to find new ways to keep customers loyal—without a handshake or a smile at the counter.
Chick-fil-A, known for its commitment to quality, hospitality, and operational excellence, took early steps in reimagining customer engagement. Even without formal data, the shift was visible—drive-thru lines grew exponentially at a time when other restaurants were seeing traffic decline. Their approach underscored a simple truth: when service and care remain intentional, loyalty can thrive—even at a distance.
In a 2024 interview, Steve Robinson, former Chief Marketing Officer of Chick-fil-A, emphasized the company's focus on building relationships over transactions:
"If we're going to have positive influence on people, we're going to focus on building relationships, not transactions."
The Challenge
For most QSRs, data exists—but it’s often fragmented, incomplete, or redundant. The tools and systems in place weren’t designed to support real-time, multi-channel engagement or AI-driven insight. As a result, it’s difficult to create the kinds of consistent, personalized experiences that drive lasting loyalty.
To truly understand the customer journey, QSRs need to collect and unify data from multiple sources, including:
Customer profile data: name, address, birthday, selected preferences
Order history: past orders, locations, item types, order values, frequency, time of day, and method (in-store, app, web, delivery)
Support interactions: feedback, complaints, and resolution data
Loyalty activity: points earned and redeemed, redemption patterns, and reward preferences
Engagement behavior: app usage, feature interaction, navigation patterns, and frequency by platform
Customer sentiment: inferred from reviews, surveys, and engagement tone
Marketing engagement: outreach history, campaign performance, and user-level response
Survey data: direct feedback from customers and external respondent panels
Additional insights can be unlocked by expanding engagement surfaces—interactive touchpoints, gamified experiences, or AI-driven tools. But without a unified ecosystem, these insights remain underutilized.
That said, having access to data is only one part of the equation. Visualizing it on dashboards is another—but even that’s not enough. For data to be truly useful, it must be:
precise, accurate, timely, contextual, well-timed, and appropriately weighted.
Even with those attributes, the real value comes from storytelling. You must be able to identify patterns—whether through human analysis or AI—and map out customer journeys: where they enter, where they exit, and what influences their decisions along the way.
The Opportunity
The business opportunity is clear: turn every customer interaction—online or offline—into a data point that informs smarter, more human engagement. Instead of generic campaigns, QSRs can create contextual micro-engagements based on real behavior, preferences, and sentiment. This enables brands to:
Improve guest retention and repeat visits
Increase average order value through smarter upsells
Build more accurate customer segments for targeting
Reduce campaign waste and tech stack costs
Create consistent experiences across physical and digital channels
In short, data can become the backbone of a loyalty strategy that isn’t just reactive—but predictive, relevant, and lasting.
Market Signals: Why External Engagement Matters “74% of consumers expect online experiences to match the service quality of in-person interactions.” “63% prefer mobile for exploring brands and products.” “66% say they'll leave a brand if personalization is lacking—yet 31% stay loyal because of it.” — Sources: TELUS Digital, HubSpot, Emarsys (2024)
The Approach
To evolve from disconnected tools to a living, breathing data ecosystem, QSRs should consider a five-phase approach:
Set Up: Create a charter, build a cross-functional team, and define a clear data collection strategy. Focus on what matters most for personalization, loyalty, and operational efficiency.
Establish a Baseline: Audit your environments. Tag and weigh the data you have—customer profile data, order history, engagement behaviors, app usage, sentiment, support tickets, loyalty redemption patterns, etc.
Assess & Understand: Begin cleaning and connecting data across systems. Focus on quality over quantity. Clarify what data adds real value—and what just adds noise.
Design & Test: Move from tactical fixes to architectural thinking. Optimize what you can now, but also plan for scale. Consider how systems interoperate, the cost of data redundancy, API strategy, temporary data staging, and long-term architecture. Make design decisions that balance intelligence, speed, and cost-efficiency.
Monitor, Control, and Repeat: Use the improved data ecosystem to enable better marketing, smarter service, and operational insights. Continue refining systems and human workflows based on evolving goals, new data, and customer feedback.
As one advisor put it: “This isn't just a data problem—it's a design, psychology, and operations challenge...”
Things to Consider or Watch Out For
Interdisciplinary Strategy Is Critical: This isn’t just about engineering or dashboards. Bring in specialists in UX design, behavioral psychology, marketing strategy, loyalty, and customer success to help shape meaningful interactions.
Invest in Change Management: Teams will need time and clarity to adopt new tools and processes. Communicate early, explain the "why," and include store operators, marketing teams, and frontline staff in the journey. Early buy-in leads to smoother implementation.
Don’t Overload Internal Teams: Your core staff already manage operations. Tasking them with transformation work can backfire. The most successful QSRs bring in a strategic partner to craft the vision, steer execution, and advise on resourcing—reducing internal friction and accelerating outcomes.
Security Isn’t Optional: As data merges and flows between systems, ensure you’re reassessing risk. Data that was once harmless can become PII (personally identifiable information) when combined. Secure every endpoint—especially internal connections.
"There’s no question we are in an AI and data revolution, which means that we’re in a customer revolution and a business revolution. But it’s not as simple as taking all of your data and training a model with it." — Clara Shih
Wrapping Up
In a market that changes weekly, QSR leaders need more than data—they need clarity, agility, and cross-functional insight. Success requires experts who understand not only the psychology of consumer behavior but also the complexity of modern digital systems. These pragmatic-futurists help you move beyond fragmented tools and build connected experiences that drive both performance and loyalty.
If your goal is to thoughtfully engage customers and build loyalty that lasts, then your systems and information strategy must be just as intentional. Start with clarity. Build with purpose. And partner with those who know how to turn insight into meaningful action.
Partner With Us
At Blue Forge Digital, we blend data science, UX design, and Lean process improvement to build solutions that help QSRs turn marketing data into intelligence. Let's work together, to transform your customer loyalty and experience.
References
Robinson, Steve. “Secrets Behind Chick-fil-A's 35 Years of Marketing.” Strategy and Leadership Podcast, 21 Aug. 2023.Apple Podcasts
Shih, Clara. “There’s no question we are in an AI and data revolution...” Salesforce, 2024, www.salesforce.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-quotes. Accessed May 29th, 2025
TELUS Digital. “Digital Customer Experience Stats 2024.” www.telusdigital.com/insights/digital-experience/article/digital-customer-experience-stats-2024. Accessed May 29th, 2025
HubSpot. “Marketing Statistics Every Team Needs To Grow In 2025.” www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics. Accessed May 29th, 2025
Emarsys. “Customer Engagement Statistics.” www.emarsys.com/learn/blog/customer-engagement-statistics. Accessed May 29th, 2025