NACS SHOW REWIND: Fueling Customers' Expectations From the Pump to the Store
LAS VEGAS — When you think about the best gift you ever received, how did it make you feel? Were you excited? Did receiving this gift make you feel seen and heard?
When it comes to the customer experience, this is the correlation convenience store retailers should strive for, Kristin Ghere, director of marketing and brand management at Jump Start Stores Inc., suggested during a 2024 NACS Show education session entitled "Digital and Physical Strategies for Smaller Retailers."
"Good marketing is like give your customers a gift," she emphasized. "When you enter into a good marketing campaign and your customers end up feeling like you gave them exactly what they were looking for, and they were excited to receive that product, that's the kind of emotional response we want. That's what we're talking about when we say, 'giving your customers a gift.'"
As Ghere explained, Wichita, Kan.-based Jump Start Stores sought to create an "omnichannel ecosystem" by removing the friction points of the customer experience to bring fuel-only customers in store while recognizing their high expectations for technology interactions. According to the second annual "Future of Fueling Report" from Dover Fueling Solutions (DFS), 50% of consumers will likely switch fuel stations if a competitor offers a significantly enhanced customer experience. And 51% said they notice advertisements on or around the fuel pump, with close to one-third saying fuel pump commercials and ads have convinced them to enter a convenience store.
As such, Jump Start Stores collaborated with DFS to transition its 31 locations to the technology platform's Anthem dispensers, which have 27-inch touchscreens. This changed the user experience with clean, modern technology that they are used to operating with via their mobile phone or laptop, Ghere pointed out.
The convenience retailer is using DFS' DX Promote and producing its own media content to communicate specials and other opportunities available to its customers via the touchscreen, such as a new breakfast sandwich or the different types of fuel products available.
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Jump Start Stores is also partnering with DFS to launch DX Rewards, a new loyalty program that offers a personalized, app-like experience at the pump, Ghere shared. DX Rewards integrates with retailers' existing providers and programs.
Guests are prompted to enter their phone number or loyalty ID to sign in as they fuel up, while nonmembers can enter their phone number to auto-enroll in the rewards program. If they are a loyalty member, they receive special media ads that are targeted to pull them inside the store.
"We challenged ourselves to say, beyond being able to have the touchscreen experience selecting the fuel grade, how can our customers interact with that dispenser? How can that then bring our customers inside?" Ghere posed. "The dream was the customers [not having] to pull out a card. That's not a good gift. When I make my customer do something inconvenient in a convenient space, it's not the experience I want them to leave with.
"I don't want them to have to get out their wallet, pull out a loyalty card and scan it. I don't want them to have to get out their phone and open an app and scan that. So, we have designed an experience that is completely based on the phone number," she continued.
Knowing Your Customer
According to the executive, marketing campaigns at the pump need to be tailored and targeted. Ghere recommends convenience retailers define customer personas and move through that persona's shopper journey as if it were their own. For example, the persona "Sally Soccer Mom" might be searching for convenience and affordability, and shopping based on the needs of her family. Her offers at the pump might include discounts on multiple drink purchases, or buy one, get one free on pizzas.
"Through our work with Dover, part of what we're trying to do is look at those individual demographics and select goals for how we're going to impact those areas, and bring that [experience] in a full circle," she said.
With his team, John Morris, senior director of product innovation at Downers Grove, Ill.-based DSF, tested different types of advertisements. They placed ads digitally on the dispenser and also put them up inside the store. DFS found that the effectiveness resulted in two impressions at four stores with the pump topper vs. 165 impressions at one store with digital content during fueling.
"What it does is it drives home the point that you can have 82.5 times more engagement by having content actually right in front of the user, right where they're engaging," Morris told attendees. "It's super powerful to have the content right on the pump while you're fueling."
Ghere and Morris agreed that "there's a lot left on the table" when it comes to consumers' decision to shop your store vs. a competitor's. The key is figuring out how to reduce the friction points and providing customers with the experience they’re looking to have.
"Understand customer needs and craft experiences based on data. Improve your brand visibility and customer satisfaction by reforming your strategy. And make sure your organization can come along with you because clarity is key," Ghere concluded.
The 2024 NACS Show took place Oct. 7-10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The 2025 NACS Show will take place Oct. 14-17 at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center.