American Doughnut Kitchen boosts loyalty card redemption by 40% with SMS

For American Doughnut Kitchen, SMS became a simple way to make loyalty feel more immediate. What started as a faster way to contact customers quickly turned into a more efficient way to drive redemptions, save time and stay connected with people across the business. 

The Melbourne institution has been serving hot jam doughnuts since 1950, building decades of loyalty and repeat visits along the way. But as smartphones, social media and ecommerce expectations accelerated, Belinda Donaghey saw a need to push the business further digitally. COVID added urgency to that shift, as American Doughnut Kitchen worked to create a smoother end-to-end customer experience that matched the convenience people now expected. 

Loyalty was already part of the business model. Customers in the rewards program were entered into an end-of-month draw to win a gift card for 50 free doughnuts. The problem was execution: Belinda was manually texting winners from her personal phone, which was neither scalable nor efficient. Sinch Engage (formerly MessageMedia) gave the business a better way to send both bulk and one-to-one messages without that manual overhead. 

The shift to SMS immediately made loyalty communications easier to manage. Belinda could reach customers more efficiently, while still keeping the tone direct and personal. Since introducing SMS, American Doughnut Kitchen saw a 40% increase in loyalty card redemption, giving the business a clear proof point that customers were responding. 

The appeal of SMS was straightforward: it was more likely to be seen than email and easier to act on quickly. But the value went beyond loyalty messaging alone. The platform also gave the business stronger visibility through clicks, orders and applications, making it easier to understand how people were responding across different use cases. 

Once SMS was in place, American Doughnut Kitchen started using it more broadly across the business. Messages promoted offers and the digital loyalty program, helped drive pre-orders around major events like the AFL Grand Final, supported recruitment campaigns and kept customers informed about lockdown changes, online ordering and store updates. 

The results were meaningful across those use cases. Online ordering campaigns achieved a 14% click-through rate, with 8.8% of click-throughs converting to completed orders. SMS feedback surveys saw an 11% click-through rate, and 85% of those visitors completed the survey. Recruitment alerts generated a 5.4% click-through rate, with 10.4% of click-throughs resulting in applications. 

For Belinda, the bigger opportunity is not just sending more messages. It is using SMS to build stronger, longer-lasting customer relationships. The business already sees more opportunity in getting more targeted and personalised through segmentation, with the aim of making messages even more relevant based on who is being contacted, when, and why.