If food is love than loyalty is marriage. Attracting, rewarding and retaining customers, is a constant struggle for restaurants. Thankfully, loyalty marketing solutions play strategic counsel in the maintenance of these relationships.
Traditional Loyalty Programs
The loyalty game is steadily evolving. Standard plastic loyalty cards are ceasing to engage consumers. Many belong to an average of eight loyalty programs (Marketingland, 2014). In fact, within one year 54% of member loyalty programs are inactive (QSR, 2013). For customers, the rewards are not worth the effort. Filling out reward memberships, remembering one’s loyalty card and printing out coupons are inconvenient. It’s a hassle to carry and keep track of all those plastic cards. If customers cannot easily engage in the loyalty game then their desire to continue playing will terminate. Removing barriers to loyalty program use and creating a more personalized, social and streamlined experience for the customer will have a significant impact on customer retention.
Personalize your Relationship
Does your restaurant nurture, engage, and incentivize your customers? If not, try personalization techniques. This is essential in retaining your customers. Make every customer feels unique and valued. According to a recent study by Deloitte, 45% of customers rate special offers like birthday discounts and other personal event coupons as very important in incentivization. Creating a unique dining experience and nurturing the customer relationship leads to increased loyalty. Customers also view freebies such as buy one, get one deals as motivations to return to a restaurant, Deloitte Report. Often times, it is the simple personalized gestures that convert a first time customer into a loyal patron.
Make it Social
As the wireless mobile transition gains traction, connecting to your customers socially has never been more critical. Understanding your clientele, communicating with them and creating conversations not only boosts your restaurants brand but engages your customers and increases loyalty. Social media is the perfect holistic avenue for connecting to customers. In fact, 42% of customers indicate that they would play unofficial brand ambassadors for their favorite restaurant (MediaPost), and social media is the easiest avenue for such promotion. According to a study by Google, it is estimated that 45% of mobile searches are goal-oriented (Econsultancy), meaning restaurants optimized with social and mobile will have more visibility to new customers. Potential diners are influenced by a clear website presence as well as positive social engagements and reviews of a restaurant. Social media platforms present restaurants with an opportunity to connect with customers and display the value of their eatery. As the mobile trend continues, the value of social engagement is bound to skyrocket.
Intelligent Loyalty Programs
With intelligent loyalty marketing programs, efficiently create an automated rewards system for your customers and increase brand loyalty. Gain customer insights and optimize your marketing efforts with social WiFi. Restaurants are able to acquire email addresses when customers sign into a businesses social WiFi using either Facebook, Twitter or an email ID to login. Customers are then redirected to the restaurants splash page, which has the capability to display their menu, offer a coupon, or ask patrons to like them on Facebook. The customer data analytics coming from their social pages result in unique customization techniques to promote your restaurant and engage customers in an effort to convert them to brand enthusiasts. Gain an understanding of your restaurants customer base, reward your repeat customers, acquire new customers and increase your social presence seamlessly with social WiFi. Gone are the days in which customers are bombarded with reward membership forms and plastic loyalty cards. Social WiFi is the future loyalty program: optimize your restaurant marketing, personalize customer relationships and increase social presence efficiently on one platform.
