Chili's – Training Servers About Foursquare in 8 Words

Another national chain has hopped onto the Foursquare band wagon with a national special. But instead of just $1 off, you get something for free. And instead of having to be mayor, you just have to check in. And instead of coffee for one, you get chips and salsa for everyone. And the smartest part of the entire special is how Chili’s handled the need to train every server they have across over 800+ locations. They simply added 8 words to the special that told server’s how to log the coupon, “Chili’s servers, use coupon code #23 to redeem.” One of the most annoying aspects about using a Foursquare special is sometimes having to explain what Foursquare actually is to the employee. This removes that barrier in large part. As soon as you see the look of bewilderment on the face of your Chili’s server, you can jump straight to the “it says to use coupon code #23.” Done. Starbucks offered the first national Foursquare special, where the mayor of any of their chains could get one dollar off their recently relaunched frappuccino drink. It was a somewhat limited offer, but gained them lots of buzz for being the first of it’s kind. More and more people have also been wondering what the real value of offering a special to only one customer per store might be and when Foursquare and other social networks will transition into a loyalty program for all customers. This is a great step in that direction, incorporating more than just the mayor. Judging by the fact that Foursquare is 5 times larger than it’s main competitor, Gowalla, and growing 75% faster, we suspect to see more national chains moving in this direction. (via @TristanWalker) ]]>