The good news: A coupon promotion offering a free burrito with the purchase of a regular-size drink on July 22 generated more than 50,000 takers and a 75% lift in traffic for Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, according to the quick-casual chain.
The hitch: The chain had expected to redeem coupons only from fans signed up on its official Facebook page, who stood at 1,800 at the time of the offer.
While fulfilling on 50,000 seems a valiant performance given the expectation gap, would-be redeemers beyond that crowd were out of luck when some Baja Fresh locations were unable or unwilling to meet the demand.
Part of the demand resulted simply because the offer caused a surge of fan sign-ups: Fans shot from 1,800 to more than 3,000 in less than 24 hours, according to the chain's postings on its Facebook page. In addition, as consumer postings on the page make clear, users quickly discovered that they could print out the identical coupon even if they did not sign on as fans.
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The hitch: The chain had expected to redeem coupons only from fans signed up on its official Facebook page, who stood at 1,800 at the time of the offer.
While fulfilling on 50,000 seems a valiant performance given the expectation gap, would-be redeemers beyond that crowd were out of luck when some Baja Fresh locations were unable or unwilling to meet the demand.
Part of the demand resulted simply because the offer caused a surge of fan sign-ups: Fans shot from 1,800 to more than 3,000 in less than 24 hours, according to the chain's postings on its Facebook page. In addition, as consumer postings on the page make clear, users quickly discovered that they could print out the identical coupon even if they did not sign on as fans.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
