#MarketingExcellenceAwards highlight: KFC SG spins out gamification features to drive app usage

Claiming the gold for Excellence in Gamification and bronze for Excellence in Event Marketing (Virtual) at Marketing Excellence Awards was KFC Singapore. KFC Singapore has been serving Singaporeans with its delivery service that is available via online web and mobile ordering since 2005.  Almost 85% of its delivery orders are now digitally transacted and this number is still increasing.

In 2018 November, KFC introduced its first pmni ordering app which allowed fans to order digitally for not only delivery, but also for dine in and takeaway. This mode of ordering enabled guests to enjoy the benefits of pre-ordering their food and picking it up at designated time. With this launch, KFC has also implemented many programmes to encourage the usage of this easy mode of ordering.

Challenge

Unfortunately, adoption remained pretty low as Singaporeans still stood in queue or ordered from the self-service kiosk at the restaurants. Since the start of Covid-19 in February 2020 with Covid-19, Singapore witnessed a massive digital transformation.

During the circuit breaker period where dining in at eateries was closed, meal delivery or takeaway became the key channels. In order to minimise contact, many consumers turned to online ordering for their food and many brands also scrambled to setup online ordering platform. Hence, the team saw an exponential increase in app download and usage. KFC experienced the same with increased usage of its app for takeaway. Usage performance for KFC app in April and May were high with transactions via the app exceeded 125,000 for both months.

However, this trend did not continue when circuit breaker was lifted. With more choices available for dining in and takeaway and many F&B brands aggressively fighting for a share of the consumer wallet, KFC sales saw a dip in June and July. With slower sales performance, KFC also witnessed a drop in the number of active app users by 32% from May and App transaction.

 In an environment where consumers are more tech-savvy than ever, the reduction in usage rate for KFC App therefore became a worrying sign – leading to a challenge for the marketing team.

Solution

The team was tasked to come up with ideas to improve all the metrics around KFC App including online sales, app usage, app download, and new user account registration and usage frequency to build KFC app stickiness among new and existing users. With a bigger user base, KFC hoped to use the app to communicate more with users and stay top of mind.

The team identified the rationale and pain points for consumers when it came to downloading a brand's app. Consumers tended to download a brand’s app when they perceive significant benefits, such as convenience and App exclusive deals. Consumers might choose to give up engaging a brand on app if the app benefit is attached to a heavy commitment upfront, such as purchase required before they could enjoy a discount. Even with attractive app exclusive deals, the shine wears off very quickly.

With the insights of convenience, superb benefits, and attractive deals, the team took on gamification within the KFC App to lure the crowd.

KFC Singapore knew from the start that this game had to be extremely simple with irresistible prizes. And in times where everyone is feeling the pressure of Covid-19, the team wanted to bring joy to everyone by making them a winner because it feels good to win, and winning gets even better when there are cash and delicious fried chicken.

Therefore, the solution was the “KFC Spin & Sure Win” execution as the first “Free to Play” game by a fast food brand. The concept of the Spin & Sure Win allowed consumers to click and spin a digital wheel on KFC App and win a prize without making any prior purchase with KFC as long as the user is a registered member on the KFC App or Web.

Every spin will land at a slice on the wheel which comes with a prize that includes cash, vouchers, food items or food discounts. To make this game irresistible, effortless and addictive, there were 3 important components.

1) Remove purchase barrier to make it easy to participate – hence, no purchase is required to play the game

2) Attractive prizes as a hook to get consumers EXCITED and want to play the game – daily SG$1000 cash and vouchers plus unlimited food prizes.

3) Easy and SEAMLESS redemption process when making claims to their prize – direct credit of game prizes into customer’s e-wallet for them to redeem within the App.

This “Spin & Sure Win” gamification tied in fun, value and sales. The free for all to play and the ‘sure win’ mechanics attracted consumers  and the driver to sales was essentially the free food prizes and food discounts.

Execution

Gamification on KFC app was built to attract new users and to add excitement for existing users. All the tactics within the app journey aimed to bring new users through the app ordering process, in hopes to convert them into KFC users even after the campaign.

As for existing app users, the game acts as a refreshing element to increase App usage. Aside from the attractive prizes that brought users back daily, KFC Singapore want to build app usage and stickiness for consumption too.

Redemption of food prizes were limited to three days upon winning, and for dine-in and takeaway only, driving urgency to visit KFC restaurants.

The time limitation set on the food prizes redemption also helped drive up the frequency of visits to KFC restaurants as many winners find it waste to give up on their prizes and will make an effort to redeem the gift. As KFC already has a sizeable base of 700k users on the app, the team need to reach a wider audience to win new users.

While it is most apt to deploy digital media to launch this gamification, we believe the extension to offline media such as TV and Radio will help us to reach a wider audience who loves the excitement of a “Spin N sure Win”. KFC Singapore partnered with Mediacorp and produced simple TVC spots to reach general audiences and grocery buyers.

As the first “Free to Play” game from KFC, many media outlets and KOLs also shared news about the game to create buzz during the first week of the campaign. Together with digital and social advertisements running throughout the campaign period, the Spin & Sure Win game successfully attracted more than 190,000 players.

On all the digital communications, a link to KFC App was attached to bring users to the game with just a click of a button. Digital and social advertisements were also refreshed weekly to showcase different prizes to attract more new users and to remind acquired users to take their daily spin.

To convert existing customers into app users, in-store communications were decked up to steer them online, such as menu board takeover, Kiosk screen saver, tabletop stickers, and store front posters.

A QR code directing users to KFC app was part of the artwork design and users could easily scan and play the game while they were in KFC restaurants. The rationale is simple: Why not win some free snacks since you are already at KFC?

As reminder of this game to app users, pop-up banners, app notifications, and EDMs were also actively used to engage them and lead them to play the game. To ensure the game is not missed when someone pops up their KFC app, the team created a sticky icon with a direct link to the game. So, there was absolutely no way anyone could miss the game when they opened up their KFC app.

Results

Thanks to the hype created, many of KFC Singapore’s current users fell in love with the game. And, many non-users were also attracted to the game and willingly registered to get their own KFC accounts. With such positive vibes, the Spin & Sure Win game we saw a total of almost 38,000 downloads in August, which is 26% higher than July and 42% higher than in August 2019.

There was a whopping 117% increase in new user registrations and more than 60,000 new accounts were created. A post review of the game revealed a total of 195,000 players were engaged with the game. The total completed game plays exceeded 920,000 with each player playing up to an average of 4.7 times within the month itself.