Road Ranger has rolled out FeedbackNow by Forrester customer feedback system in its restrooms and at coffee stations at all 47 convenience stores across seven states after successfully piloting the technology in five stores.
During the initial trial launch, Road Ranger deployed Smiley Boxes, with an optional QR code for additional comments, in the restrooms and coffee stations to collect customer feedback around the cleanliness of the restrooms and satisfaction with the coffee selection.
Check-In and Check-Out Boxes assisted with the tracking and consistency of cleaning schedules and correlated that data with the cleanliness ratings. The chain deployed people counters in one store to obtain a more realistic view of foot traffic, ensuring they were cleaned at the appropriate times.
Throughout the two-month trial launch, Road Ranger collected more than 21,000 votes from the five stores. The retailer’s team was able to identify times for which satisfaction rates declined and exhibited a correlation between satisfaction levels and the number of cleanings performed by the hour. With this evidence, Road Ranger was able to adjust cleaning schedules, in turn solving multiple flaws identified through comments provided by everyday consumers.
“Every Road Ranger location is unique and requires detailed variances. Our partnership with FeedbackNow allowed fact-based evidence on traffic patterns from store to store, varying geographically. We’ve learned from our customers the most ideal times to schedule cleanings and how to efficiently communicate with our team members when alerts to cleanliness arise,” said Ryan Arnold, vice president of marketing at Road Ranger. “FeedbackNow provided Road Ranger customers an easy, anonymous way to alert staff of both positive performance and when attention is needed. The ‘voting’ FeedbackNow provides with the Smiley Boxes rating system could not be any more user-friendly.”
The chain also deployed an option for additional comments by providing consumers with a touchless communication method—scanning a customized QR code posted near rating boxes. “The program in general is a unique way to capture the voice of our customers and we are considering additional uses down the road,” Arnold said.
Road Ranger hopes to gain deeper insights into store operations, finding evidence-based variances that will lead to an overall better store standards practice, it said. This will produce more efficient employee performance and educate management more effectively in budgetary decision-making.
Road Ranger uses automated reports to distribute information directly to each store, allowing district leaders and store managers to have better discernment of how these stores are performing daily and what actions can be taken to create a better experience for their customers.
FeedbackNow devices collect input and correlate this data in one platform for instant and actionable ways to improve customer experience in real-time.
Road Ranger operates travel centers in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas, and Texas. Locations offer clean facilities, CAT Scales, well-lit and spacious lots, top-tier gasoline, complimentary customer loyalty programs, dog parks and a variety of hot food to go. In addition to these offerings, it also provides a variety of quick-service restaurants (QSRs) including Ranger Kitchen, Dan’s Pizza, Tejas Tacos, Wendy’s, Subway, Church’s Chicken, Chester’s, Cinnabon, Dickie’s Barbecue Pit, McDonald’s and Burger King.
FeedbackNow was founded in Switzerland in 2011. Acquired by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Forrester Research in 2018, it helps clients focus on customers through real-time responses to customer-affecting operations.
- Road Ranger is No. 149 in CSP’s 2023 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by size.
A subsidiary of Chilean conglomerate Quinenco, Enex owns and operates the Road Ranger convenience-store chain, which is based in Rockford, Illinois.
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