Director of Communications, Caseys General Stores
Search every verified Katie Petru interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Katie Petru, Director of Communications and Community at Casey's General Stores, discussed the company's loyalty program and customer engagement strategies in a September 2021 interview. She stated that she leads the communications team, covering internal communications, external brand PR, corporate communications, and community giving. Petru described the launch of Casey's Rewards in January 2020, a program where members earn points on in-store and online purchases and fuel, with options to redeem points as Casey's Cash, fuel discounts, or other rewards. She noted that the company quickly formed agile development teams to add features such as challenges and referrals based on customer feedback. Petru emphasized that partnerships should begin with insight into the audience and strategy, and that convenience has become a greater priority for customers. She said Casey's has a user experience team that conducts focus groups and interviews to understand guest preferences. Petru defined loyalty as an "unwavering commitment from a consumer to a brand," while acknowledging that convenience often drives consumer choice. She stated that Casey's aims to improve customer experience and foster deeper relationships, as the bar for experience is set by guests in every new interaction.
“I lead our communications team which spans kind of all the different things you think in communications from internal focus on our team members to external brand PR as well as our corporate communications and then our community giving element as well which is a special priority for Casey's as you know we really view ou...”
“We launched Casey's Rewards in January 2020 with what you would say is sort of a typical type of loyalty program: people earn points for the dollars they spend, they earn 10 points per dollar inside of the store and online, they earn five points per gallon out of the fuel pump. But some of the stuff that we brought tha...”
“As people earn their points, they've actually got three different ways they can turn those into value for themselves: one is to turn into Casey's Cash which is the most popular option, cash that goes essentially back in their pocket that they can spend on the breakfast sandwich or the pizza they're going to order on Fr...”
“We quickly spun up agile development teams to take in feedback, make adjustments, build out new features, and just a couple of the recent things we've added are challenges and referrals which are two things that benefit the guest but have really helped enable our teams in marketing and loyalty to get more out of the pr...”
“Partnerships have to start with insight around your audience and what you're trying to achieve and then your strategy so you know what will compel our guests to choose Casey's is most important and then how can we go about driving that choice through a partnership.”
“People are time strapped which means convenience is even more of a priority and an expectation. People's time at home and with their families has become even more precious. Throughout this time people have realized maybe how nice it is to have some of that time to themselves and with their families.”
“We have a user experience team here at Casey's who talks to our guests, runs focus groups, and does one-on-one interviews to understand what's important to them in terms of how they're rewarded or what they're looking for from this relationship. Bringing our technology thoughts back to what's in it for the guests reall...”
“For me, when I think about loyalty, I see it as that unwavering commitment from a consumer to a brand. It's something that you're so passionate about you wouldn't make any other choice. Aspirationally, I think our business holds that same view of loyalty, but there's also got to be a sense of realism. People are going...”
“The next big thing at Casey's comes back to the one thing that we're all about which is to make life better for the communities and guests every day. The bar for experience is being set by guests in every new experience they have, so we're continuing to look for ways to foster deeper relationships and improve their exp...”
Katie Petru is the Director of Communications and Community, and Mike Templeton is the Director of Loyalty and Digital ...
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