Five Guys: Staying true to the brand with relevant, measurable marketing

The goal

Five Guys has garnered a strong reputation among devoted burger lovers thanks to its high-quality food and exceptional customer service. The better burger restaurant chain wanted a way to bring new and lapsed guests into their stores while avoiding any mass discounting that might undermine their well-established brand. Five Guys partnered with Cardlytics to precisely reach likely diners with personalized offers that drove measurable results.

The results

Through ongoing national campaigns with Cardlytics, Five Guys continues to bring in incremental sales from brand-new guests and re-engaged lapsed guests. In a recent campaign, Five Guys netted a $4 to $1 incremental return on ad spend (iROAS) and drove a sales lift of 14% among new guests and 15% among lapsed guests. These strong results were validated through Nielsen Sales Lift Measurement.

Cardlytics’ guests consistently deliver significant long-term value well beyond the campaigns. On average, newly acquired guests and lapsed guests drive an additional 30% in repeat sales within 90 days post-campaign.

How it worked

Five Guys, who has amassed a following of loyal customers and is fiercely protective of their brand, sought a way to bring in new guests without the traditional mass discounting often embraced by other fast-growing restaurant chains. They chose to partner with Cardlytics for their ability to precisely reach interested guests with relevant and timely offers.

Five Guys markets in a very specific way, and we want to be useful. With Cardlytics, we’re reaching real people at a time when it is helpful to them.”

Molly Catalano, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Five Guys

All Cardlytics campaigns start with purchase insights from their partner banks. By analyzing customers’ restaurant spend across the better burger category and within Five Guys’ key markets, Cardlytics built an audience of Five Guys’ most likely guests. Cardlytics then targeted both new and lapsed guests with personalized offers in their online and mobile banking channels—successfully driving them to the restaurant to experience Five Guys for themselves.  

For Molly Catalano, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Five Guys, Cardlytics’ native bank channel was the answer for marketing in a way that was true to their brand. “With Cardlytics, we’re reaching real people at a time when it is helpful to them,” said Catalano.

Cardlytics’ campaigns drove significant sales and incremental returns for Five Guys. With Cardlytics’ unique insight into real purchase data, they were able to measure the exact incremental impact of every dollar spent on Five Guys’ sales—including a detailed breakout at the franchisee level.

With Cardlytics, we know customers are actually making purchases and how much they spent. That’s huge. We get to show franchisees how many people walked into their store because of Cardlytics.”

Achieving these results was seamless for Five Guys’ in-restaurant staff. “Because Cardlytics’ platform handles offers and fulfillment, our employees at the store level don’t even have to worry about the program,” said Catalano. With Cardlytics, they could focus on what’s most important: providing great service and craveable burgers.

Cardlytics is now an integral part of Five Guys’ marketing strategy, and this partnership continues to grow. Next up, Five Guys is working with Cardlytics to understand which of their guests use third-party delivery apps and to redirect them to order delivery directly through Five Guys.

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