CASE STUDY
Friendly’s switched from long surveys and increased guest feedback by 24X, while managing it in a fraction of the time.

The Problem
Carissa De Santis, CTO of Brix Holdings, saw two issues with the feedback system at Friendly’s, a prominent diner brand among Brix’s portfolio with over 100 locations.
1) She wasn’t getting enough data. Each location was only receiving a few surveys a month, and in her words, “What are you supposed to do with that?”
2) She wasn’t getting the right data. The surveys were too long and cumbersome, meaning the only guests taking surveys were those who were upset, or those who really wanted a freebie.

“We’re getting 24x more feedback than we were with our old survey system. But in actuality, we’re spending less time handling that feedback and reaching back out to the guests than we were previously. Amazing, right?”
Frictionless Surveys Led To 24X More Feedback
Friendly’s started using Ovation’s short, 2-question, SMS-based surveys. These were quick and easy to take, simply asking, “How was your experience?”
Thanks to QR codes conveniently placed in the restaurant, and an integration with their online ordering tool, surveys become so accessible that the average guest started taking them.
Friendly’s went from receiving 400 surveys a month to 9600, but somewhat surprisingly, the time it took her team to manage their feedback didn’t go up… it went down.
“Responding is just so convenient… it takes us less time to resolve any issues now than with the platform we had before.”


Custom Questions Led To 5x More Long Surveys
Friendly’s sent custom surveys to guests who had filled out the initial survey 24 hours later.
Carissa found that guests were much more open to answering more questions when they had already taken the 2-question survey, and so she started getting info on specific things she cared about, like testing the idea of removing entrees. “It blew our minds.”

1-1 Communication Led To 3500+ Saved Guests
Using the Ovation Winback tool, Carissa and the team were able to thank happy guests and resolve issues with unhappy guests privately.
She found that simply connecting with guests and helping them feel heard dramatically increased retention, as Friendly’s has brought back over 3500 guests who otherwise wouldn’t have come back.
In the end, because of their commitment to using feedback to improve the guest experience, Friendly’s became even Friendlier.


“Our franchise owners and managers have been blown away by how easy it is.”