Papa John’s is rolling out the SMS and QR code calls-to-actions on pizza boxes. The pizza giant is working with Rant and Rave to power the efforts.

“Receiving a pizza is, for many people, an emotive moment,” said Dennis Fois, CEO of Rant & Rave, Coventry, England.

“People care about their food and are very willing to share their thoughts about it, good and bad,” he said. “Because feedback is collected straight away if things go wrong Papa John’s have the opportunity to make things right in the moment, without running the risk of losing a customer to a competitor next time.”

Mobile service?
Consumers can either text the keyword PAPA to 66099 or scan a QR code on the side of the box to input their feedback.

There is also a new feature on the brand’s Web site where consumers can sound off about pizza.

The idea behind the initiative is that Papa John’s can leverage its existent packaging assets to quickly gauge customer satisfaction.

For example, a chain of negative reviews about slow service indicates that the chain needs to focus more on quick delivery in certain areas.

The rollout follows a test with eight stores where Papa John’s tested the feedback technology.

The feedback is sorted through in real-time so that individual franchisees and the company’s main headquarters can see specific areas and data about where consumers are either complaining or raving about their meal the most.

Theoretically, this lets managers sort out the negative reviews quickly.

With loyalty playing a bigger role in how pizza chains tackle the next phase of mobile marketing, these kinds of features highlight the need for marketers to build long-term engagement after an order is placed.

The Papa John’s Web site

Grabbing a bigger slice of mobile
Within the United States, Papa John’s has been actively competing in mobile alongside Pizza Hut and Domino’s Pizza.

In January, Papa John’s claimed to be the first quick-service chain to roll out digital gift cards via a mobile site (see story).

While Papa John’s appears to have taken a number of steps to build loyalty outside of an app, Domino’s recently made a big bet on apps with a new iPad version that uses 3D technology to show off more realistic pictures of pizza (see story).

In the case of Papa Johns’ customer service program in Britain, QR codes are an interesting tactic to incorporate since the interest around QR codes has died down significantly the past couple of years.

However, Mr. Fois argues that mobile bar codes are effective in spurring quick engagement from static boxes.

“Text messages and QR codes are quick, simple and easy for the consumer to respond to, so they get much higher response rates than long surveys conducted days after a customer has interacted with a brand — this also means the feedback received is a lot more accurate,” Mr. Fois said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York