News

Wahoo’s Fish Taco guest counts up from loyalty mobile app launch

June 13, 2014

Wahoo’s Fish Taco announced that its guest count has increased since the rollout of its CircleShout-built mobile loyalty app. According to a news release, since instituting the mobile app at all of its company-owned locations, the company has seen more than 30 percent of its loyal members dining at Wahoo's one or more times per week.

Wahoo’s began piloting its mobile loyalty app in November 2013. With initial success, Wahoo’s decided to roll out the system to all of its company-owned locations and is currently doing so at its franchised locations.

“Wahoo’s has always had a loyal customer base, but we were blown away when we began seeing week after week of nearly a third of the loyalty members coming back once or more per week,” co-founder Wing Lam said in a news release. “Our guests love the simplicity, and we love being able to easily reach out to them and see how they like engaging with our brand. We aren’t stopping at loyalty though. We will be expanding the app to allow our guests to place their orders using their mobile device including the redemption of their earned rewards.”

The free mobile loyalty app rewards Wahoo’s customers for each visit. Customers are rewarded with a free taco when they download the app and check in for their first visit to any of the participating locations; plus they earn points toward other food items, receive special promotions and receive other gifts. Customers also receive vouchers redeemable for promotional items by just presenting the QR coded voucher from their smartphone to any Wahoo’s cashier.

The CircleShout app allows Wahoo’s to notify their customers of special events and to establish clubs or “Social Circles” of customers that share a common interest such as belonging to a school parent group or company sports team, the release said. Wahoo’s customers can join an existing club or create their own. Wahoo’s sends these groups exclusive offers available only to that group. This allows Wahoo’s to build Social Circle Loyalty amongst its customer base. 

John Townsend, CEO of CircleShout, said Wahoo’s plans to add a mobile ordering feature later this summer.

“Wahoo’s is seeing frequency results that far exceed the industry norm for loyalty applications,” he said in the release. “Mobile loyalty apps have clearly proven their effectiveness, but the ability to truly know what motivates your guests and using CircleShout’s simple means to engage them and their social circles with relevant, welcomed offerings is exceeding all of our expectations.”