Here's why most restaurant marketing flops: it's just shouting louder about food. More photos of burgers. More "best pizza in town" claims. Meanwhile, the places that actually grow are designing experiences people want to join, film and share.
The National Restaurant Association found that 84% of consumers are more likely to visit restaurants where they're part of a loyalty program. But here's the catch: traditional discount-driven programs struggle to keep people engaged. The magic happens when you stop thinking about marketing as an expense and start building it like a product.
Emotionally connected customers visit more often, spend more per visit and tell their friends. The question is how to create that connection. That's what creative campaigns do when they're built right.
If you want to get more customers for your restaurant, this is where to start.
Get Paid to Scan QR Codes
Turn your attention into real rewards. Scan, engage, earn.
Quick video. Earn your first reward.
Why Some Campaigns Work and Most Don't
The campaigns that actually move revenue aren't random. They're built on psychology that behavioral science has validated over and over. Three things matter most.
Give people something to show off
Dining is identity. When someone picks your restaurant, they're not just buying food. They're telling the world something about who they are and what they value.
Good campaigns give customers social currency. A story worth telling. A screenshot worth posting. A small flex that makes them look smart for discovering something early. Stop asking "How do we push this offer?" Start asking "What would make someone proud to show this to a friend?"
Make them feel like they might miss out
People react way more strongly to losing something than gaining something. That's why limited-time offers, fixed windows and capped rewards work so well. They create urgency.
But here's the thing: it has to be real. "First 50 guests tonight" works if there are actually 50 rewards. A perpetual "ending soon" banner? People learn to ignore it fast.
Keep the rewards unpredictable
Punch cards are easy to understand but easy to forget. Variable rewards keep people coming back because they don't know exactly what they'll get next. They just know good things happen when they participate.
Mystery rewards, tiered unlocks, surprise bonuses for regulars, seasonal variations. Keep it fresh. This is core gamification marketing and it works across industries.
Campaigns Worth Stealing From
You can learn a lot from what major brands do. The budgets are bigger, but the psychology works at any scale.
Domino's fixed roads
Potholes ruin pizza deliveries. Everyone knows this. Instead of running another ad about quality, Domino's literally fixed roads in selected cities and stamped them with their logo.
Absurd enough to be newsworthy. Logical enough to feel authentic. They improved actual delivery conditions and got tens of millions in free media coverage.
Your version? Sponsor a neighborhood cleanup. Fix something visible in the community. Make the improvement itself the story.
Taco Bell hijacked the NBA Finals
"Steal a Game, Steal a Taco." If the road team won a Finals game, everyone got a free taco on a specific date. Simple rule, massive emotional hook.
Suddenly people who didn't care about basketball cared about basketball. The brand sponsored a collective moment of suspense.
Your version? Tie rewards to local sports, weather, community events. Hook into rituals people already care about.
Chipotle made TikTok hacks official
Customers were inventing weird menu combinations on TikTok. Some were messy nightmares for staff. Instead of fighting it, Chipotle legitimized the best ones and added them to the app.
User-generated content became product development. Creators got recognition. Operations got simpler. Everyone won.
Burger King trolled McDonald's
The "Whopper Detour" offered a near-free Whopper to anyone who ordered through the app while standing within 600 feet of a McDonald's. Geofencing turned competitor proximity into a game.
Massive app downloads. Great press. And now they had an owned channel to those customers forever.
Ready to Innovate Your Customer Experience?
See how businesses use VISU to turn QR scans into measurable engagement.
Building Your Own Campaign
You don't need Domino's budget. You need clear thinking. Here's how to build campaigns that actually work.
Pick one goal
Fill midweek evenings. Launch a new menu item. Capture emails from delivery customers. Convert one-timers into regulars. Pick one. When the goal is clear, every other decision gets easier.
Know what motivates your people
Families respond to kid-friendly experiences. Young professionals want exclusivity and discovery. Regulars want recognition. Pick two or three psychological levers and build around them.
Decide where it lives
QR codes on tables, receipts, packaging, social, delivery inserts. Each channel has different strengths. Make sure your systems can track where traffic comes from. For implementation help, see our guide on QR code marketing for restaurants.
Be authentically you
A neighborhood spot shouldn't try to be a global meme factory. Forced campaigns fail fast. Lean into what makes your place distinctive: your chef's story, local sourcing, live music tradition, causes you support. Authenticity is a competitive advantage chains can't copy.
Remove every unnecessary step
From "I see the campaign" to "I claim the reward" should be as short as possible. Every extra click loses people. Test it yourself before launching. If you're annoyed by the process, your guests will abandon it.
Test multiple versions
Don't bet everything on one idea. Launch variants with different copy, rewards, entry points. Track what works. Double down on winners.
Making the Math Work
Creative campaigns only scale if they're profitable. For each prize tier, multiply the cost by the probability of winning, then add them up. That number should be lower than what you expect to make from participants.
If campaign participants spend more, visit more often, or bring friends, you can afford better rewards. Tight margins? Favor non-monetary rewards: priority reservations, secret menu access, behind-the-scenes experiences, recognition.
The best part? Once you validate mechanics that work, you can re-skin them for new seasons, menu launches and partnerships at way lower cost. Check our restaurant promotions guide for detailed economics.
Behind the Scenes Stuff
Every successful campaign has boring infrastructure behind it. Creative ideas need solid systems to avoid frustrating guests or overwhelming staff.
Tech that flexes
Static QR codes pointing to fixed pages kill your ability to adjust on the fly. You need dynamic destinations you can update in real-time. Analytics should track the full journey: scans, page visits, sign-ups, redemptions, repeat visits.
Staff who get it
Front-of-house needs to explain the campaign in one sentence, handle common questions, and upsell related items. Managers need to know which numbers to watch and what to do if engagement drops. Pre-planned responses prevent scrambling.
What Kills Most Campaigns
Cool idea, wrong brand. A viral mechanic that doesn't fit your restaurant feels off and erodes trust. Start with your audience, then brainstorm ideas that feel like natural extensions.
Too complicated. If staff need a script and customers need a diagram, participation dies. "Scan to see what you won" beats "Earn points by completing challenges to unlock tiers that give access to monthly drawings."
No long-term thinking. Stunts that drive one weekend of traffic but leave no data, no reusable assets and no reason to return waste potential. Always add something that builds infrastructure: email capture, app download, loyalty enrollment.
Can't measure it. Without unique links or codes, you can't separate campaign results from background noise. Design tracking before you print anything.
Proving It Worked
Track three things.
Attention metrics: QR scans, page visits, social mentions. Are people seeing and engaging with the campaign?
Money metrics: covers booked, check size, add-on orders, visit frequency, revenue from participants. Is attention turning into dollars?
Asset metrics: new sign-ups, repeat participation, lifetime value trends. Is the campaign building something lasting?
Compare participants to a control group when you can. Over a few cycles, this becomes your internal playbook. For proven ideas, see our scan and win campaign examples.
Want to understand how attention-based rewards work from the consumer side? Check out how brands pay for your attention.
Transform Every Scan Into Revenue
Join businesses already using VISU for gamified QR experiences and trackable campaigns.