A Slice of Pizzaville’s Story
Pizzaville, a beloved Canadian franchise in the heart of numerous Southern Ontario communities, first opened their doors in 1963 and celebrated the opening of its 90th location in 2024. Known for their fan favourites like pizzas, panzerottis, and a variety of sides, Pizzaville prides itself on using quality ingredients and delivering exceptional service. Each franchise is independently owned, with franchisees living in the communities they serve, fostering a strong local presence.
Inside Pizzaville, a small yet dynamic marketing team, includes Stephanie Contardi, Marketing Coordinator, and Marie-Ann Condello, Assistant Marketing Coordinator, and works tirelessly to maintain and grow the brand’s online reputation.
Kneading Uberall into the Mix
In 2019, Pizzaville’s journey with Uberall began following Uberall’s acquisition of SweetIQ, a Canadian company Pizzaville had partnered with since 2015. Prior to this, managing listings across directories like Google, Yellow Pages, Yelp, and Facebook was a daunting task. Claiming and maintaining consistency for all locations was labour-intensive and time-consuming.
Perfecting Listings Management
As Pizzaville continues to open new locations, the need to accurately set up and manage these listings becomes crucial. With Uberall, it's easy to add new locations under the existing umbrella, ensuring consistency and accuracy across all directories.
Additionally, Pizzaville can easily update holiday hours or store closures at the click of a button based on requests from franchisees. This capability allows for quick and efficient updates across regions, maintaining uniformity and reliability in customer information. This accuracy in listings is a key factor behind their impressive metrics.
On top of the organic foot traffic that a restaurant or QSR chain like Pizzaville would see, "near me" searchers looking for pizza are finding accurate listings and positive reviews, often with fantastic replies, which entice them to convert.
"Before Uberall, managing our listings across various directories was overwhelming," said Stephanie Contardi. "Now, we have a streamlined process that ensures our information is consistent and up-to-date across all platforms."
In fact, since implementing Uberall, Pizzaville has seen a 78.13% increase in Google Directions Clicks, a 65.90% rise in Google Website Clicks, a 65.16% boost in Google Clicks to Call, and a 73.62% uptick in Google Map Impressions (2024 vs. 2022).
A Dash of Efficiency in Review Management
For a service-first business like Pizzaville, responding to customer reviews swiftly and effectively is crucial. The templated response library that the Pizzaville team has been using for the last 18+ months has significantly enhanced their ability to manage and respond to reviews across multiple platforms. Uberall provides a variety of templates tailored for different types of reviews and on different platforms, from glowing praise to constructive criticism, ensuring that each response is consistent and engaging. These templates help craft thoughtful and personalized responses that are ready to go as-is or can be quickly customized.
Uberall's handy inbox allows the Pizzaville team to respond to reviews from different platforms and locations all-in-one place. This ability to efficiently handle reviews boosts Pizzaville’s online reputation and positively impacts their Google ranking.
When it comes to ranking, Pizzaville’s team shared their perspective on keywords: "We’re competing for similar keywords as a lot of our competitors. That's why we feel that our listings are optimized. If our response rate is excellent like it is now, we're more likely to show up ahead of a competitor without having to put some funding against Google AdWords," said Stephanie Contardi.
"Our speedy response time to reviews has always been a priority. With Uberall, we’ve improved our efficiency and we know that Google ranks higher based on fast and relevant review responses," explained Marie-Ann Condello. The review template library has been a game-changer and the team is eager to start using the Uberall AI-Review Assistant, which will positively impact their ranking, providing Pizzaville with high-quality, ready-made responses that save time and ensure their customers feel valued.
Rising to the Franchise Challenge
Operating as a franchise, Pizzaville balances brand control with franchisee autonomy by centrally managing all aspects of listings and review responses while allowing franchisees access to view their Google My Business data. This approach ensures consistency in customer engagement and brand representation. Additionally, at the corporate level, Pizzaville takes on the bulk of local marketing efforts, creating marketing assets like flyers and custom promotions so that franchisees can concentrate on what they do best: in-store operations.
"The centralized management through Uberall allows us to maintain brand consistency while giving our franchisees the tools they need to succeed," noted Contardi.
To keep franchisees informed and engaged, the Pizzaville marketing team exports all reviews that come in each week through Uberall and shares them with District Managers (DCs) to consolidate and share with individual locations. This feedback loop helps franchisees improve their service based on real customer insights.
A Tasty Slice of Tomorrow
Since integrating Uberall into their operations, Pizzaville has seen significant improvements in local marketing and SEO metrics. Looking ahead, Pizzaville aims to continue leveraging Uberall’s tools to save time and enhance productivity. The platform has already saved countless hours each week, allowing the marketing team to focus on strategic growth initiatives. Additionally, Pizzaville is working with a digital agency to revamp their website and mobile app, making it easier for customers to explore their menu.
Reflecting on their experience with Uberall, Marie-Ann Condello summed it up perfectly: “If I had to describe Uberall in one word? Seamless.”
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