How Grubhub Revamped Their Onboarding Flow to Achieve an 836% Increase in ROI

Grubhub operates under the umbrella of Just Eat Takeaway, a leading global online food delivery marketplace, with over 365,000 restaurant partners in more than 4,000 cities across the US. Grubhub's mission goes beyond food delivery, working to help restaurants grow their businesses, provide drivers with flexible opportunities to earn and give diners more options to take out. In addition to Grubhub’s core Marketplace offering, they also have a Campus offering and they work with over 300 college campuses to offer tailored dining experiences to students.

This dedication to diverse and tailored experiences extends into Grubhub's marketing approach, where customer engagement is a top priority. Leveraging Braze, Grubhub aims to deepen its connection with customers, particularly college students, by offering exclusive deals and personalized campaigns. This strategy isn't just about immediate success, but rather a part of a broader vision to cultivate long-term relationships. By intertwining their service offerings with engaging marketing tactics, Grubhub positions itself not just as a food delivery service, but as a lifelong brand that grows and evolves alongside its customer base.

To better serve their customers and create long-lasting relationships, Grubhub turned to Braze.

Setting the Stage for Brand Love with Effective Onboarding

Because Grubhub Campus, part of Grubhub’s B2B program, is a unique offering and unfamiliar to many students when they arrive at school, showcasing the value it provides (including exclusive promotional codes and a free Grubhub+ subscription that provides no-cost deliveries on eligible orders) is key to driving significant adoption. Prior to the implementation of Braze, Grubhub faced a significant challenge: Student enrollment rates in the Grubhub Campus program were persistently low, with many students beginning—but failing to complete—the related onboarding process.

The team determined that the low enrollment rates stemmed from issues with their onboarding journeys, including the need for a clearer explanation of the benefits associated with Grubhub Campus. To address that, Grubhub decided to revamp its approach through the creation of a more engaging and informative onboarding experience. With Braze Canvas, the Braze platform’s visual development environment which marketers can use as a no-code journey orchestration tool, the team built a "Welcome Stream" campaign. This multi-stage, automated strategy guides students through the onboarding process more effectively with a cross-channel strategy—including both emails and push notifications.

The team thoughtfully structured the welcome/onboarding campaign into three phases that a student moves through over 30 days, with each section aimed at tackling specific goals of the onboarding process.

• Welcome Stage: This stage begins when a student connects to their campus in the Grubhub app, triggering a sequence of emails and push notifications. It’s all about initial engagement, where Grubhub introduces the campus program and its perks, personalized with the student's campus details. This stage is immediately triggered when students receive their first incentive (a first-order discount), encouraging them to use the service immediately.
• Add Campus Card Stage: This stage focuses on verifying student status and consists of three emails and one push notification. Here, Grubhub checks if students have added their campus card—an important step for accessing exclusive promotions and Grubhub+ Student benefits.
• Activate Grubhub+ Membership Stage: This final stage uses emails and push notifications to motivate students to activate their Grubhub+ Student subscription. It highlights benefits like $0 delivery fees and exclusive deals. The campaign tracks students' subscription status, nudging them to complete this last onboarding step, unlocking their full access to Grubhub+ Student perks.

To measure success, Gruhbub used Braze Alloys technology partner Amplitude to track in-app sessions driven by these efforts and Google Analytics to track marketplace orders via UTMs.

Boosting Revenue and Brand Loyalty Through Strategic Activations

Since launch, the campaign has been a resounding success. The B2C campus team attributes tens of thousands of new diners and hundreds of thousands of orders to implementing and optimizing the onboarding series. Plus, the activation of Grubhub+ Student memberships from diners who entered the welcome stream was 188% higher than that of the control group. These increases across the board translate to a whopping 836% increase in ROI.

Overall, Grubhub's journey with the welcome campaign showcases the value of a dynamic and targeted engagement strategy. It also illustrates how a team can effectively lay the groundwork for lasting brand loyalty that stretches beyond a single activation while simultaneously maximizing revenue in the present.

Key Takeaways

Set up success from the very beginning. A customer’s first impression of your brand matters, especially after you’ve put in all the effort to acquire them. Grubhub recognized it could drive long-term success by educating users on how to enjoy their benefits right after making the initial connection.

Map out your ideal customer journey and then iterate accordingly. Grubhub recognized their customer onboarding flow wasn’t achieving their goals. They improved their campaigns using Braze to evolve into a more customer-focused strategy.

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