Dunkin' Donuts Incorporates Loyalty Rewards Into App

By Megan Zielinski, contributing writer

DD Perks Creates Market Alternative To Starbucks Rewards

Last month, Dunkin’ Donuts enhanced its mobile app by incorporating DD Perks, a new loyalty rewards program. DD Perks rewards users with five points for every dollar spent towards a free, medium beverage of choice. Enrolling in DD Perks starts them off with 200 points for their first free beverage, and users have the option to share their coupons with friends and family via email. The app with integrated rewards program is an upgrade of the successful 2012 platform that enabled customers to pay for purchases by digital gift card.

In the next year, Dunkin’ Donuts will increase focus on supporting the DD Perks program through many trending sources: captivating consumers through digital advertisements, social media, and national TV commercials.  “The program will definitely be a focus for us in the coming year,” said Scott Hudler, VP of global consumer engagement at Dunkin’ Brands, Canton, MA. “It’s too early to say when and to what degree that the loyalty program will drive sales on a national basis. We do believe that it will be an important sales driver in the long-term but we cannot quantify it at this point.”

The app may provide other benefits, though. In a Mobile Commerce Daily article, Scott Robinson, senior director of loyalty consulting at Maritz Loyalty Marketing, Toronto, says, “Digitally-enabled approaches like this one give the marketer the view towards who their customers are, gives them a reliable and regular means of identifying what they are up to and adds a way to guide customers to subsequent purchases.”

For some time, industry analysts have commented on the competition between Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks and the similarities between DD Perks and Starbucks’ Rewards haven’t gone unnoticed. Daniel Kline, in an article for The Motley Fool, says the release of DD Perks takes away the competitive advantage Starbucks had with its rewards program — a move he feels Dunkin’ Donuts had to make to for a chance at the portion of the market that will be swayed by the rewards. Will one company or the other, though, emerge a clear leader in this round of competition? Kline says both programs meet the standards for a good rewards program: “Both leverage the value of a cup of coffee to its customers as a way to get them to keep coming back.” He says the real value for both will be the incentive for customers to use their apps. Kline explains, pushing “them further into the Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts ecosystem and through digital checkout removes a barrier to purchase.”