Food For Thought: Provide Prospects & Customers With Meal Credits For NFL Sunday

September 7, 2022
Written by Kelly Lindenau
Published in Blog

If there’s one great unifier in the world, it’s food. And every savvier marketer has incorporated some form of meal vouchers into their marketing efforts, whether it’s incentivizing event attendance or thanking a client for a meeting. But an open space in the meal-based marketing space is the weekend — and what better way to kick off a new program than coinciding with NFL Sundays?

After all, football is America’s most popular sport — favored by 37% of Americans — and 56% of viewers indicated that food is the main reason they host parties and get together with their friends to watch the game. With that in mind, people plan on ordering food regardless: 76% of football fans said ordering food was part of their NFL plans, with 31% ordering-in most games and 17% ordering-in every game. So why not stand out in the eyes of prospects and customers by paying for it?

Stay Top Of Mind With Customers During ‘Off’ Times

Capturing prospect and customer interest on the weekends is still alluding marketers: The worst open and click-through rates are on weekends, with Sunday ranking No. 1 as the day with the lowest open rates. As people dedicate their weekends to disconnecting from work and work-related things, marketers are tasked with garnering attention while still respecting folks’ work-life balance. Providing a meal is an unobtrusive way to show clients they’re valued while still respecting their space during non-work hours.

It’s no different than sending sports-themed memorabilia, and you can even tailor meal credits pre- or post-game depending on the team’s performance, i.e., “Congrats on the win! Next weekend’s wings are on us!” or “Sorry about that loss! Next weekend’s wings are on us.”

Stand Out Tactilely In The Age Of Tech Overload

According to The Harris Poll, three-quarters (75%) of U.S. adults said they “tune out” digital ads due to the increased amount of time they spend on watching computer screens, scrolling through social media and watching television. To stand out, try providing your customers and prospects with something tangible — and tasty.

In fact, Sendoso research found that tactile gifts, such as food, require 21% less cognitive effort to process and elicits a much higher brand recall compared to their digital counterparts.

Help People Save Money In The Midst Of The Economic Downturn

As the U.S. teeters on the edge of recession and pocketbooks tighten by the day, the majority of Americans are looking to trim the fat of excess expenses wherever they can. And in terms of football Sundays, spectators are going to order food regardless to the tune of $200 million nationally.

But that number just encompasses the main meal: In total, NFL fans are expected to spend $485 million when factoring in snacks and drinks. To offer much-needed financial relief, companies can offer to cover a portion of those expenses by sending over a meal credit.

Those efforts don’t go unappreciated, either: An article from CloserIQ, a recruiting and search firm specializing in modern sales and engineering talent, suggested that providing prospects and customers with meals can induce feelings of reciprocity, while additional research uncovered that receiving a no strings attached gift can make recipients more receptive to future conversations and offers.

And for those foolishly optimistic fans who expect their teams to *finally* play a solid game, (looking at you, fellow Jets fans), there’s no better way to dry their tears than with carbs.

Here’s how you can get started: Companies, such as GrubHub Corporate, offer meal vouchers and credits for its food delivery app so prospects and customers can order in food from the restaurant, while other services — such as FreshlyWell — offer an end-to-end healthy meal service that provides recipients with the ingredients they need to cook on their own.