Using social media to amplify the voice of the customer at taco bell

Using Social Media to Amplify the Voice of the

Customer at Taco Bell

Linda AshbrookTaco Bell Consumer Insights

May 16, 2011

The first Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell in 1962

Taco Bell has almost 50 years of development experience

• Food trends• Chefs• Competitive audits• Internal wisdom• Customer input

Competition is fierce

“Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music - combined.”

-- Fast Food Nation

We need more

customer input sooner

It’s time to organize around the customer

Customer Loyalty

6,502,851 fans

Customer Service

Customer Insights

“We lived on farms, then we lived in cities, and now we're going to live on the internet!”

-- The Social Network (2010)

Why Social Media?

With so much competition for our customer’s attention, we need to play on their playground.

Better?

Faster?

Cheaper?

Cheaper?

Three month ethnographic panels for under $10,000.

Three week ethnographic panels for under $5000.

400-600 respondent early guidance screening panels for under $3000.

Faster?

“What one item would you bring with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?”

– 64 responses in 2 minutes– 86 responses in 4 minutes– 111 responses in 9 minutes– 122 responses in 11 minutes– 207 responses in 30 minutes

We had over 400 answers in a few hours.

Faster?

What would they bring with them?– GPS– Cell Phone– Ipad– A Boat– A stranded on a desert island survival guide– A knife

Better?

Case Study

?

• By location

• By university

• By age

We turned to Facebook to recruit . . .

Three month longitudinal ethnography– Where they eat– What they eat– What trade-offs they make– Who does value well, who doesn’t

Daily engagement– Daily posts, videos and pictures– Sent them to our stores to experience a variety of

products and provide feedback– Sent them to competitive QSRs to do a value

comparison and product evaluations– Communications exposure

And got even more than we expected . . .

But we were able to take it beyond an ethnography and incorporate these consumers directly into our product development work . . .

. . .we invited them into our test kitchen

Time for Lunch?

Case Study

• Ethnographic deep dive• Ethnography video• Early screening panel• Food innovation panel

• Technology innovation panel

We again turned to Facebook for a multi-phased research project . . .

Ethnographic deep dive

• The most rushed meal of the day• Functional but critical• A solo event• Often a trade-off• Portable food is premium• The car is sanctuary• Dining in is a mixed bag

The Time Crunch Lunch

Participants recruited online via Facebook

Ethnography video

Food Innovation Panel

Technology Innovation Panel

What’s next?

Ethnography research

Early guidance screening

Quantitative exploration

Questions?

linda.ashbrook@yum.com

jodyoshrin@opinionations.com