How Do Nando’s CRM Practices Taste?

Welcome to episode 33 of PostFunnel’s Seven CRM Commandments series, where we get to Nando’s – home of the legendary flame-grilled Afro-Portuguese inspired, South African born PERi-PERi chicken. Today, we will be focusing our analysis on Nando’s UK – where the chain is massively popular.

And so, drum(stick)rolls, please!

1. Be Transparent 8/10

Nando’s was mentioned in the news at the beginning of the month along with McDonald’s for selling chicken that was fed on soya and this was linked to deforestation in Brazil.

Both firms admitted there was “more to do to ensure the feed used in their supply chains is sustainable.” Nando’s is getting a few points here by not avoiding the reports and openly talking about improving practices.

“We will be supporting research into more sustainable types of feed for chickens, which may include insects/algae, as part of our overarching commitment to environmental sustainability,” a Nando’s spokesperson told Footprint in August.

Additionally, a main part of the brand’s social media strategy revolves around real people – adding to the brand’s humanizing-factor (which is what transparency is all about).

2. Incentives and Perks 10/10

Nando’s offers customers incentives for ordering online, writing the following message on a dedicated webpage:

“Throughout December, use your Nando’s Card and spend £7 to bag yourself a free Orange Reward to use in January.”

There’s a “stay in the loop” newsletter signup offer as well as gift card perks. Nando’s also has a card that offers customers rewards and points that can be redeemed for a free lunch.

In fact, the brand has an entire rewards program – actually quite impressive for a QSR!

3. Be Relevant 10/10

All three banners on the brand’s HP slide gallery are very relevant to these times as banner 1 portrays seasonal/holiday marketing, while banners 2 + 3 address the coronavirus and the measures the brand is taking to keep customers safe when shopping.

Click & Collect options, and safe delivery alternatives have been added to the brand’s product offering to combat the virus.
You can truly tell the brand is acknowledging these challenging times through constant communication with customers on their site. For instance:

Nando’s has adjusted their FAQ page to answer any questions customers may have about ordering online. In fact, they have created an entire COVID-19 page that’s continuously updated to detail all the latest delivery options, guidelines on how they keep customers and employees safe, and more information.

It is all great for customers who are in and out of lockdown and for the constant uncertainty we all face. We particularly liked this personal note from Nando’s:

4. Be Helpful 7/10

Nando’s communications strongly support being sustainable as a restaurant and are seemingly taking its role in having minimal impact on the planet seriously. They do so by talking about climate change, investing in specialized equipment to reduce energy consumption, and building green working spaces.

Nando’s wrote on Twitter that it is helping support the campaign, Feeding Britain’s Children: “For those in need of help or for those wanting to help, please visit http://endchildfoodpoverty.org”

They are still losing some points for that thing from section #1 above.

We deducted a chunk of points here as many other brands we’ve analyzed to date have been making more prominent donations to be helpful and give back to the community at times of need. Some of which include monetary donations or significantly aiding those affected by the pandemic.

5. Realtime Personalization 4/10

The brand makes active use of product recommendations – pushing up-selling and cross-selling offers. When adding a PERi-PERi chicken dish to our cart, we were presented with so many additional (tempting) dishes to add to our order. Everything from starters and side dishes to sharing platters, extras, and even an entire kid’s menu. Not too personalized, though.

Also, after adding some dishes to our shopping cart, we didn’t have the option to return to the brand’s HP. When exiting the delivery page and re-entering Nando’s website – we were disappointed to see that all the dishes we added to our cart disappeared. Not exactly “personalization”, maybe more UX woes. But it does stand in the way of personalizing the experience further.

When logging off the website entirely and hopping onto our social media accounts, the brand made no realtime re-targeting efforts.

6. Master UX 6/10

Overall, our experience with the brand was fair. The look-and-feel of the website has a memorable personality. Nando’s uses a unique and fun font as well as real imagery of food to get your mouth watering.

Nando’s has an entire Explore category that offers customers the option to browse through music, art, blogs, and more – an entirely different experience for their community.

When ordering food, the menu was informative and easy to navigate through. The brand provides all the possible ingredients for customers, which is very useful and convenient for vegetarians, vegans, and customers with allergies, special diets, and religious beliefs. The brand also provides nutritional information for each of its dishes.

We liked that the brand added recipes to “bring the heat home” since cautious customers are likely to stay home a lot more.

However, the entire process of adding and removing of dishes from our cart wasn’t so straightforward – as well as adding our address of delivery. This is perhaps the most crucial part to master in the user experience.

7. Leverage Social Media 7/10

Nando’s UK Twitter account has over 1.3M Followers. The brand posts every couple of days on this platform – content that not only promotes their food but sort of provides humor and escapism for these stressful times. For example:

Nando’s UK Facebook account has over 4.5 Likes. However, Nando’s last posted on Facebook in 2018. Too bad they don’t use this very powerful platform today to strengthen customer relationships!

Nando’s UK Instagram account has over 370K Followers. The brand posts various types of content to engage its Instagram community on a daily basis – and the content fits the platform nicely, including videos of people trying out their hot souces.

Some of the posts include videos on Nando’s food hacks, posts with funny captions promoting their recipes, and Nando’s even uses influencers to inspire self-love and growth.

**

Overall, Nando’s is getting a 52/70 here (74%), placing them in joint 14^th place on our list, sharing the spot with The Body Shop. Top half of our ranking, but we actually expected them to do a little better. Maybe it’s because we like their branding, IG page, and, well, yes, the Peri Peri so much…

Some improvements in their personalization methods can really push the brand up our list. Ones that tell customers “I know you” and “this is how I can help.”

Also, being helpful is no longer an option for brands today as customers are expecting your brand to give back to society. Nando’s must acknowledge this, with more than nice words.

Here are the full rankings of all the brands we analyzed to date:

1. Pets at Home 91%
2. Lowe’s 90%
3. Petco 90%
4. Target 87%
5. Uniqlo 86%
6. Vrbo 83%
7. West Elm 81%
8. The North Face 81%
9. Holland and Barret 80%
10. lululemon 80%
11. Brooks Running 79%
12. Best Buy 78%
13. Etsy 76%
14. The Body Shop 74%
15. Nando’s 74%
16. Gymshark 73%
17. William Hill 73%
18. Essence 72%
19. Iceland Foods 71%
20. Total Wine & More 70%
21. Tommy Hilfiger 70%
22. Walgreens 70%
23. Kohl’s 70%
24. United Colors of Benetton 69%
25. Buy Buy Baby 68%
26. Fiverr 67%
27. Next 63%
28. Patagonia 61%
29. Express 60%
30. Burberry 60%
31. Zara 59%
32. COS 57%
33. Dream11 53%

We publish a new analysis every week, so watch this space for more brand analyses coming your way!