What Everybody Ought To Know About Restaurant Loyalty Rewards Programs
A steady flow of customers coming in and out the front door is no guarantee you’d still be in business five or ten years from now. Habits change, people change. Especially in this economic situation, you need some kind plan to make sure your customers have a reason to keep coming back in your restaurant.
Here’s a story from QSR magazine.com.
This guy named Brandon Ansel was a regular at Steak n Shake. He was a patron, a pure loyalist in every sense of the word. But for some reason his habits changed, and he stopped going to Steak n Shake completely.
More than one year later Ansel received a promotional coupon from Steak n Shake in the mail. He decided to avail it and—guess what?—he’s back on the bandwagon.
Ansel says,
“That coupon came because [Steak n Shake] knew I was once a regular, and it got me back in the door. I’ve now been back there five times in the last month alone.”
He knew exactly what happened. Ansel owns a Roly Poly and a Biggby Coffee in his local town, and he acknowledges the importance of loyalty rewards programs to retain old patrons and customers. He goes,
“We are creatures of habit, and loyalty programs reinforce habits. If we don’t have a way to constantly stay in front of customers, we run the risk of them forgetting about us and developing other habits.”
As a restaurant owner, you should seriously contemplate on developing your own loyalty rewards program. Like Ansel, who knows when some of your patrons decide all of a sudden that the coffee tastes better across the street? Think up of a plan that would give your customers a reason to keep choosing your restaurant over your competitors.
But take note the ultimate goal of loyalty rewards program is to establish a long-term relationship with your customers. Don’t confuse that with a sudden, but brief, spike in sales. CEO of IdeaStudio Lori Walderich says,
“Quick-service operators need to remember that programs work best if they’re structured in a way that rewards customers when they step up their loyalty just a notch,”
Find a way to reward not just repeat visits, but also the frequency of those visits. You’ll see your sales will improve and, more importantly, sustain itself over time.
You can read the full article here.
Share your tips on loyalty rewards programs by leaving a comment below.