When brands around the world are making huge marketing efforts (and investments) to retain App customers and lower drop-rate, Wendy's had the simplest, most cost-efficient solution: The Don't Delete Menu.

We customized the Wendy's App shortcut menu by adding two Quick Action tabs leading consumers to unexpected offers that surprised and made them think twice before deleting us.

Every week offers were updated, not only helping Wendy's retain existing customers but keeping them coming back to discover more, increasing app usage.

A clever, innovative and unexpected media space living in their own app, not many knew they could customize.

Don't Delete Menu customization was launched in Spanish.

The first line "Pará! Pará!" (Stop! Stop!) is a colloquial Argentinian expression said (or shouted) to someone doing something wrong. It was the ideal way for us to have people stop, and think twice before taking a decision to delete us.

The second line "Free offer add-on" was the final touch to change their minds.

In Argentina, Wendy's restaurant presence was already very low compared to other major fast food chains, but now, the competition for "real estate" was also on customers mobile phones.

According to the latest Statista Research, Argentina ranks #1 globally on App deletion with a 51.4% drop rate. This means 1 out of 2 apps downloaded eventually gets deleted after 30 days, mainly because of people clearing space on their phones.

With food apps being the first ones to get rid off, this represented a big problem for Wendy's. Without the marketing budgets to retain app customers, we needed a solution that could stop people from deleting the app.

We customized the Wendy's App shortcut menu with unexpected offers that surprised people and made them think twice before deleting us.

Intercepting the journey anyone trying to delete an app would take:

Tapping and holding the app icon (through Haptic or 3D Touch)

Every week offers were updated, which not only helped Wendy's retain existing customers but also kept them coming back to discover more, thus increasing app usage.

We talk to hungry GenZ GenY, that are always looking to maximize opportunities.

With less money and less smartphone space, they are fans of deleting apps.

The Argentinian young consumer is always on the hunt for good offers and discounts, while always ready to enjoy a good combo of their favorite food.

We customized the Wendy's app shortcut menu by adding two Quick Actions:

- The first one (Stop! Stop!) catches their attention

- The second one (offer) gets them to change their mind: by simply tapping on any of them, customers are led to the offer in-app, where they can just add to cart (with the purchase of a Wendy's combo)

Primarily the Don't Delete Menu surprised customers that were already on the way to delete us, and for two months, we updated it with new offers every week, once the word spread, app downloads and usage activity increased without any investment efforts.

STOP! STOP!

A simple brand experience that became a Customer Acquisition & Retention milestone, as the gap between app downloads and app deletion was the biggest in the history of Wendy's in Argentina.

During the activation:

- App Usage increased by 138% (A record high)

- The App drop rate decreased 14% (a record low)

- Downloads increased by 36%

- Sales increased by 12%

Overall budget < 10,000 US

From which

5K were destined to tech development and app update maintenance.

5K on social media spend (including micro-influencer content and social posts)