LongHorn Steakhouse – Year in Review Email Case Study

01 | SITUATION

LongHorn Steakhouse is known for their expertly crafted steak made for steak lovers, by steak lovers. This casual dining steakhouse has a following of loyal guests and email subscribers that keep coming back for crave worthy flavors. This gives LongHorn a wealth of customer data, such as past purchaser data, that they can tap into to connect with their audience more deeply.

02 | CHALLENGE

HOW CAN WE BEST USE PAST PURCHASE DATA TO CREATE MORE ENGAGING AND PERSONALIZED MESSAGES FOR LOYAL GUESTS?

At year end 2022, the LongHorn team identified a lot of rich data on some of their most loyal customers. The team wanted to use brand data such as number of steaks grilled in a year, to send a fun Year in Review email. The challenge was finding ways to take the data a step further to give more personalized statistics to LongHorn’s top guests.

03 | INSIGHTS & APPROACH

BRAND SUPERFANS ENJOY BEING RECOGNIZED BY THEIR FAVORITE BRANDS FOR THEIR LOYALTY

Past purchaser data can unlock ways to allow for targeting and recognition of guests in the eClub who are loyal to a specific steak cut. This sparked the idea of creating a Year in Review email deployment that speaks to a general LongHorn email audience, as well as personalized emails to LongHorn’s most loyal guests customized to show recognition of their order habits.

This would allow the brand to promote the cuts they know their guests love and drive smart conversions.

04 | SOLUTION

PERSONALIZE A YEAR IN REVIEW EMAIL THAT TARGETS LONGHORN SUPER FANS

Using past purchase data, we were able to segment and target those who fell into the top 10% of orderers of 6 core steak cuts. By using personalization in this email send, we were able to drive engagement while simultaneously increasing conversions such as online orders and gift card purchases. This allowed loyal guests to reminisce about the flavors, cuts and experiences that kept them coming back this last year and, every time, the craving calls. 

On social, there was dedicated creative for each of the 6 cuts that anyone could share on their personal account. Email helped to increase social engagement through driving guests to the social posts and encouraged them to share their “badge of honor.” 

By personalizing and speaking directly to the top 10% of loyal guests, we were able to better connect to them through the flavors and cuts that lead them back to LongHorn, every time.

05 | RESULTS

The personalized emails showed positive results and were a big success story for the brand. The brand deployed 104,418 personalized deployments that also saw click rate and conversion lifts well above average.