Increasing Downloads and Deliveries at Jersey Mike's in a Year of Lockdowns

Kelly McGee leads a team that helped revitalize the chain's digital presence. Here, she contributes to Amplitude's blog about Jersey Mike's digital transformation initiative.

by Kelly McGee, Director Digital Marketing at Jersey Mike's Subs

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce in the United States experienced 10 years' worth of growth in just three months, according to McKinsey and Company. Retailers have shifted focus to keep pace with this new reality. For those of us in the food and beverage industry, it's been sink-or-swim.

Thanks to our digital transformation initiative, Jersey Mike's Subs was well prepared for this increased demand. Prior to the pandemic, we launched our new online ordering system, complete with the adoption of a strong data intelligence platform. With these tools, we learned more about our customers and boosted engagement with our mobile app.

Hungry for Growth: Embracing Digital Disruption

I joined Jersey Mike's national sub sandwich franchise in 2017 as the director of digital marketing. My mandate was to expand our digital footprint through avenues such as paid search, social media, and email marketing. As we expanded our digital marketing efforts, it was the perfect time to make better use of analytics.

At the time, Jersey Mike's had very little analytics, and without that, we couldn't scale. Although we were ahead of many companies in the restaurant industry, when it came to technology, we wanted to do much better. We had an online ordering platform, but the app was outdated. We wanted to improve the user experience (UX) by enhancing and adding features while building a more intuitive interface. Our customers had modern expectations and wanted a better digital experience. As we grew, we also wanted to make sure our app could handle increases in traffic.

To create an experience that would engage our customers online and drive sales, we needed to not only redevelop the app itself, but determine how to capture and interpret customer data. We knew overhauling the app would make a huge difference to how we do business, and it became part of a larger digital transformation where we revamped our entire tech stack.

Connecting Analytics with Our Digital Marketing Campaigns

We worked with technology services provider World Wide Technology (WWT) to revitalize our online presence and identify the best ways to prepare ourselves for the future. With their help, we landed on two platforms that complement each other brilliantly: Segment and Amplitude.