How Wingstop used synthetic audiences to shape menu options and inform customer decisions
Key results
Instant impact
2%
sales uplift compared to the previous four weeks
Increased decision velocity
2 hours
from insight to decision, down from two weeks
Put customers at the core
40%
of decision-making meetings informed by customer insight, up from 20%
Faster launches
4 weeks
from initial insight to launching a new lunch proposition
What they did
Explored what customers wanted from a lunch offer, including meal contents and price
Used synthetic focus groups to develop ideas for new flavours and limited-time products
Brought customer insight into meetings in real time, from board preparation to regular planning meetings
The problem
Wingstop’s growth team had a clear ambition: get more customers coming back more frequently to its existing restaurants.
This meant making decisions about what to offer, how to price it and which new products would give customers a reason to return. Chief Growth Officer Emma Colquhoun wanted customer insight to play a greater role in these decisions, including for everyday discussions where the team would not previously have commissioned research.
The team needed to:
Understand which changes to its lunch offer would appeal most to customers
Explore ideas with both Wingstop fans and the wider restaurant audience
Give colleagues clear evidence behind recommendations, in time for decisions
“Electric Twin has helped us bring customer insight into far more of our decisions. We can explore a question, understand what matters to our customers and give the team clear evidence to act on while the decision is still open. With Electric Twin, we went from insight to changes in our restaurants within four weeks and saw a sales uplift in the first month”
Emma Colquhoun, Chief Growth Officer, Wingstop
The solution
01
Proposition development and pricing
Understanding what would make Wingstop a stronger lunch option
Wingstop wanted to grow its lunch business, but the team had different views on the best approach. It used its synthetic audience to explore what mattered to customers and what they expected a lunch offer to include.
What the team explored
Asked the synthetic audience which factors mattered most when choosing lunch
Tested whether to include fries in the offer, and which type
Explored expectations around lunch pricing
Findings
Taste, price and speed were the leading priorities when choosing lunch
Over 80% wanted fries included
Over 70% expected a lunch offer below £9
The findings informed a revised lunch proposition that went live within four weeks
02
Everyday decision support
Bringing evidence into meetings
Emma also used Electric Twin when preparing for board meetings and monthly food & beverage discussions, including preparing questions she would not previously have researched due to time and capacity constraints.
What they did
Explored a question, followed up on the findings and brought a recommendation into the discussion with customer evidence behind it
Ran synthetic focus groups during meetings, so colleagues could investigate a question while it was being debated
Findings
Customer insight informed 40% of decision-making meetings within six months, up from 20%
The time from insight to decision fell from two weeks to two hours
The impact
Instant impact
2%
increase in lunch sales compared with the previous four weeks, and improved margins
Put customers at the core
40%
of decision-making meetings informed by customer insight, a 20-point increase from 20%
Increased decision velocity
2 hours
from insight to decision, down from two weeks
Faster launches
4 weeks
from initial insight to a revised lunch offer in restaurants
What happened next
Across the wider business, the team is using Electric Twin for broader decisions, such as developing menu ideas and bringing clearer evidence into growth and innovation decisions.
At a glance
Industry
Food & beverage
Location
UK
Teams
Growth, Insights and Innovation
Used for
Initial concept testing, pricing testing and audience discovery
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