A restaurant loyalty program is all about making your customers come back again and again and for that you need a great customer experience and clear insight into what works. You will need a well-planned loyalty program to increase the revenue and growth of your business. It will also help in your brand sustainability and create a better understanding of your customers. A successfully executed loyalty program needs a complete plan which starts from collecting and analyzing your customer’s data and then creating a path that is helpful for both parties.
Loyalty Rewards in App
Having an app is very important when it comes to customer data. It is extremely helpful in gathering customers’ insight and buying patterns. Your customers will simply download the app, create an account and start receiving and redeeming the rewards. There are many ways restaurant loyalty programs can be introduced within the mobile application.
You can offer the customer discounts on specific dishes which they can use via customized voucher codes while ordering. This will help in increasing not only new customers but also the return customer’s rate. It is a form of advertising and you are promoting your restaurant for a fraction of the price. You can use the technology within the app by having specific QR codes which the customer can scan while paying for a discount or earning digital points. You can make new customers have the best experience by offering a first order discount on your mobile application.
Loyalty Cards
Paper loyalty cards are an old favorite due to their simplicity and effectiveness. Every card will have a unique barcode or a QR code. These cards are very simple and customers just have to scan the card for a discount every time they pay. Having a physical card can work wonders and it can make the customer feel connected to your restaurant. Customers can come back because every time they open their wallet and see the card it will make them want to eat your scrumptious food.
Referral Discount
Promotion via word of mouth is the one people trust the most so you can ask the guests to recommend you on social media for a free dessert. An Instagram story or a tag from people can get you many customers. You can offer a referral code on the mobile application which a user can obtain by referring the application to their friends and family. It’s an easy process and very convenient for both parties.
Power of Social Media
For restaurants who want to build their online presence influencers marketing are a pretty cost and time-effective strategy. Reach out to top influencers in your area and offer complimentary dinner in exchange for a social media shout-out. Give them a code that their followers can use to avail the discount. It will help a lot and your image is instantly better and brighter in the social media fraternity. Appear in food-related groups on social media and announce deals for the people that share the best posts or encourage the most engagement around your restaurant on your chosen channel. It could be a simple “follow and like us” for a discount in-store kind of post or a share your meal contest the possibilities are endless.
Tips for an Effective Loyalty Program
Integrate Them With Your POS
For any loyalty program to be a success you need to make sure it runs through your POS system properly. Your staff needs to be able to know and mark your loyal customers without messing up your books. For any freebie or discount, you’ll see an impact on your margins and even it is in a very low fraction you need to be able to associate the cost properly. If you can not do this then there is a higher chance of is the offer being used wrongly.
Market it Right
Your loyalty program will surely attract a lot of people if it is market right. Whether you are a local eatery or a famous fine dining restaurant, people love a good deal. But no matter how good of a deal you are offering if nobody knows that you offer a loyalty program then it’s not going to make the impact you want it to. Promote it through your all marketing channels including social media handles, phone application, and push notifications.
Along the same lines as the last point, people need to know about your loyalty program if you want them to take up the offer. You can also share happy customer reviews on social media of people with their redeemed loyalty points. This will also get you the benefit of building a friendly environment that goes beyond business and customer.
Staff Training
Your staff plays the most important role in the success of any loyalty program. It will fail if the staff isn’t properly trained. They should know how to sign people up for these programs and help them choose an offer. Make sure that they know about any ongoing offer properly and should be able to guide customers about them. In the case of loyalty cards, they should know how to properly put information in their POS system without wasting any time. If you are running a loyalty card program make sure everyone knows where the cards and stamps are kept, and how to log a redeemed offer. No one knows better than the front-of-house staff how well a promotion is working. Take their opinion from time to time because they can effectively help you understand that in which offer customers are interested more.
Using HiMenus App you can use Loyalty Programs and increase your customers interest.
