Dairy Queen will be piloting a mobile application for loyalty rewards, offers and payments in an effort to provide personalized service to its customers on mobile.

To create this app as well as test mobile point-of-sale solutions, Dairy Queen partnered with Mozido LLC. At first, the app will be available for free on iOS and Android smartphones.

“Our strategy here is to capitalize on consumer behavior associated with use of smartphones, to provide a more relevant and engaging relationship with them, in order to drive more frequent transactions from our Dairy Queen customers,” said Nick Blissenbach, senior manager of digital at Dairy Queen, Minneapolis.

“While we believe there is significant opportunity to use mobile to drive sales, we believe that mobile makes an impact if it drives our customers to visit us just one more time each month,” he said.

“For the consumer, the Dairy Queen mobile loyalty app will store their rewards card, house relevant coupons and offer a simple solution for mobile payment. We believe that this is a natural extension of our current digital channels of web, email and social networks.”

DQ mcommerce
The new app will let consumers pay for Dairy Queen products with their phone as well as redeem promotions in-store and in drive-through lanes.

Consumers will be able to order directly from their tables and avoid long lines and waiting time.

Dairy Queen will use the app to drive location-targeted mobile promotions as well as offer a loyalty rewards service.

By offering these features via an app, Dairy Queen hopes to increase visitor frequency, improve operation efficiency and develop deeper relationships with customers.

Mobile ice cream
Dairy Queen has already experimented with location-based ads and other mobile initiatives.

In May, for example, the company launched an ad campaign within Fandango’s mobile site that directed consumers to the nearest store that offered Orange Julius smoothies (see story).

Last May, Dairy Queen ran another location-based ad campaign in Facebook to celebrate Oreo’s 100th birthday (see story).

Dairy Queen also offers a restaurant locating app already, as well as a specific app for a location in Phoenix, which offers a Loyalty Tab and mobile coupons.

“DQ is a great nostalgic brand with strong history that carries with it strong positive association from our fans,” Mr. Blissenbach said.

“Like many brands, our objective is to stay relevant and contemporary to today’s and tomorrow’s consumers,” he said. “We see mobile as a great way to make that relevant, personal and ongoing connection with these fans.

“It’s all about making the consumer experience as easy as possible to interact with our brand while they are in and around the restaurant and mobile is at the center.”

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York