Kwik Trip exploits e-mail marketing

Kwik Trip, the US-based convenience store chain, tells Convenience Store News how it is using electronic marketing to maximum effect.

Kwik Trip, the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based convenience store chain, is actively using e-mail marketing and its e-mail recipients as a source of information and is seeing solid growth in subscribers, according to Convenience Store News.

The company’s subscriber list - around 50,000 members - grows approximately 5% per month, without a dedicated marketing push encouraging signups, according to Brenda Waldera, marketing project manager for Kwik Trip.

The chain does promote its e-mail coupon programme on its web site as well as through posts on its Facebook and Twitter profiles. It is also promoted on store signage and in-store advertisements.

The list also grows directly through the chain’s competitions. When customers register for a chance to win and provide their e-mail address either online or in stores, they automatically give Kwik Trip permission to market to them, Waldera explains.

When customers sign up to receive the e-mail coupons, they are asked various types of demographic questions, and future subscribers are also asked whether or not they would like to become part of the chain’s Customer Advisory Panel, a group of subscribers who are also e-mailed surveys asking about their opinions on the chain’s various products.

About 60% of the members on its subscription list participate in the surveys, and upon completion, can earn a coupon good at the chain’s stores, says Waldera.

The survey list enables Kwik Trip to glean more qualitative data than a traditional consumer focus group, as surveys can be sent out to 3,000 people for their opinions, while a focus group may be limited to 20 people, Waldera says.

In a recent survey, Kwik Trip asked coffee customers their thoughts on a new coffee cup design, and sent them an image of the new graphics. It also conducted an e-mail survey when it was developing a label for its private label sports drink line, Kwik Ade.

“We surveyed athletes at the University of Wisconsin at Lacrosse, and sent the graphic design of the logo to between 3,000 and 5,000 people,” reports Waldera.

For further information on electronic marketing visit: csnews.com