About Highlands Coffee

As a prominent coffee chain in Vietnam, Highlands Coffee, with the ambition of spreading the heritage of Vietnamese coffee and enhancing community value, has now expanded widely with over 600 stores nationwide and a large customer base.

Challenge

However, to maintain its position against competitors, Highlands Coffee consistently employs special strategies to transform regular buyers into loyal customers.

Coffee has long been a distinctive cultural aspect of the Vietnamese people. According to the F&B market report in Vietnam conducted by iPOS, by the end of 2022, Vietnam had around 338,600 coffee shops, experiencing high and consistent growth over a span of 7 years (2016-2022).

The F&B market, especially coffee, continues to be an “enticing slice of the pie,” but also filled with competition for businesses, especially in the context of an economically challenging market. How to attract and retain customers remains a concern for many businesses, including beloved and favored coffee/drink brands in Vietnam, exemplified by Highlands Coffee.

Solution

In reality, most consumers enjoy going to restaurants and coffee shops to indulge in good food, experience beautiful spaces, convenience, and cleanliness. Particularly, they feel more delighted when they can use discounts to lower the cost of their orders. According to a survey conducted by iPOS on the consumption behavior of diners, involving 3940 Vietnamese individuals, a staggering 70.1% of them prefer various forms of promotions.

That’s why the Voucher Drop approach is always noted by F&B brands to be implemented in marketing campaigns, aiming to incentivize customers to make purchases and boost sales figures.

However, in the face of increasingly intense competition, strategies involving price discounts and incentives for food and beverage ordering apps have raised concerns about costs for businesses in the challenging economic market context. Moreover, the traditional Voucher Drop campaign through SMS also places a heavier burden on F&B brands, especially ones like Highlands Coffee, in terms of expenses. This approach also doesn’t yield much effectiveness due to its monotony and lack of emotional value for customers.

To address the cost issue and revamp the way Vouchers are distributed to customers, Highlands Coffee has partnered with the PangoCDP team to deploy a Voucher Drop campaign through the Master Channel, in this case, Zalo.

Highlands Coffee and the New Approach to Voucher Drop Campaign through The Master Channel

Why did Highlands Coffee choose to distribute Vouchers through the Master Channel?

The concept of the Master Channel was initiated by the PangoCDP team and TS. Dinh Mong Kha, encompassing methods and tools that help businesses establish a “primary” interaction channel with customers. When compared to the Omni Channel concept, investing in the Master Channel means focusing resources on a primary channel to create better customer experiences at lower costs. The Master Channel is built upon customer data and integrated with Super Apps (MoMo, Zalo, etc.).

The advantages that businesses gain through Voucher Drop Campaign on the Master Channel are:

• Multifaceted, Personalized, and Emotionally Rich Message: The message is conveyed in a colorful, personalized, and emotionally engaging manner, stimulating customers’ desire to use the Voucher and potentially share it with family and friends if the Voucher is appealing enough to them.
• Customizable Brand Persona: The message can be customized to reflect the unique personality and identity of the brand.
• Cost Optimization: Sending messages through platforms like Zalo, using features such as Zalo ZNS Templates or Zalo Follower, comes at a very low cost, and even broadcast messages might be free. This helps optimize expenses.
• Automated Expiry Reminders: Automatic reminders can be sent to customers as their Vouchers approach their expiration dates.
• Easy Online Redemption and Transactions: Customers can easily search for stores to redeem their Vouchers online. Additionally, they can place orders and make payments within a single application.
• Comprehensive and Real-time Reporting: Businesses receive complete, real-time reports detailing the number of Vouchers distributed, the number of recipients who provided information and redeemed Vouchers, the locations where they were redeemed, etc. This aids businesses in swiftly understanding customer behaviors and campaign outcomes.

With PangoCDP, Vouchers Drop Campaign through the Master Channel can also be integrated with various other objectives depending on each business’s needs.

How did Highlands Coffee implement the Voucher distribution campaign through the Master Channel?

In the initial phase of the Voucher Drop campaign, Highlands Coffee recognized the advantage of having a large following on Zalo Official Account (OA) and utilized Zalo Broadcast messages to send exclusive Vouchers to this customer group. This was done to increase interaction rates and stimulate customer shopping needs.

In this approach, customers receive a message introducing the discount program along with a link to receive the Voucher from Highlands Coffee’s Zalo OA. Upon confirming some basic information via the Pango Form, customers receive a personalized Voucher code through a message to avail discounted items at Highlands Coffee stores.

The collected information is automatically segmented based on the PangoCDP platform. This allows Highlands Coffee to effectively re-engage and deliver personalized messages to each customer group.

Result

Voucher Drop campaign on the Master Channel have helped Highlands Coffee achieve a high conversion rate and, most importantly, optimize their marketing costs.

In the fiercely competitive beverage/coffee business market, innovative Voucher distribution methods through technology platforms like the Master Channel will help businesses establish sustainable advantages and effectively retain customers in the current context.