How to Create a Restaurant Loyalty Program That Guests Will Love

Now more than ever, loyalty programs have evolved into essential tools for any restaurant. This is why 82% of restaurants have some kind of loyalty program in place.

It’s one thing to just have a program and get guests to sign up, but making them want to use it again and again is another. It can make or break your bottom line – 80% percent of surveyed consumers say they buy more frequently when actively engaging with a program.

With so much business-changing potential for activation and retention, we’re sharing tips on how to make your restaurant loyalty program stand out to your guests.

Make It Fun

Guests don’t want to slog through trying to earn rewards. They want an experience that they’ll enjoy – one that makes them want to engage and will keep them coming back.

This is where timely rewards, interactivity, gamification, and promotions can really transform your program. They take what could be a mundane and potentially difficult task and inject fun into the process with wit, rewards, and surprise-and-delight tactics. By making it something they’ll actually like doing, they’re more likely to come back.

The Chipotle loyalty program, Chipotle Rewards, is a great example of this. They recently ran a “spot the imposter” promotion, where guests had to find the fake ingredient to earn free chips and guac. It’s a fun, low-cost game that got guests to interact with the app and rewarded their loyalty.

Make It Personal

Guests love to feel like they’re getting something special – something made just for them. Loyalty programs should be no different, where guests are catered to with personalized offers. This could range anywhere from exclusive access to events to discounts or freebies on their most frequently purchased items. But a “one-size-fits-all” approach won’t offer the perceived value guests are looking for. In fact, 91% of diners say they value a personalized customer loyalty program.

We’ve written about this before, and we’re big on the benefits of customer data. Using their information to tailor a loyalty program to specific customers has a lot of benefits:

1.      It enhances guest engagement, with a Deloitte study finding that 53% of surveyed consumers reported they would be more likely to make a purchase if a personalized offer was included.

2.      Personalized offers improve customer retention, with satisfied customers more likely to continue their patronage.

3.      And most importantly, it increases revenue and ROI. Personalized loyalty programs can generate up to 200% in customer spend, according to the Deloitte study.

The Starbucks loyalty program, My Starbucks Rewards, makes earning rewards personal to each guest. Stars, not just simple points, are earned with every purchase, and “double star day” special events happen often. Guests can redeem their stars for customizations on their favorite drinks, and the loyalty rewards app even gives special offers based on what they usually order, offering a truly personalized experience. And as for special rewards, what’s better than extra stars and a free coffee on your birthday?

Make It Easy

In today’s non-stop world, loyalty programs need to be simple. They need to be easy to use, points need to be easy to earn, and those points need to be easy to redeem. It even needs to be easy to remember you’re enrolled in a restaurant’s loyalty program.

The Chipotle and Starbucks programs are both standouts in this area. They give you points and rewards just for signing up. You earn points with every purchase, both in-store by scanning a code or by ordering through the app. The point redemption system is easy to understand and use. Simply tap when you’re using the app and add the reward to your cart.

As for remembering you’re enrolled, our Ziosk Mini and Server Pro tablets make this part easy. At checkout, guests are prompted to sign up for a loyalty program or sign into their account and redeem rewards if they have any. This ensures 100% exposure to loyalty programs, leading to an additional 100-300 signups per store per month.

Guests will visit more when actively engaged in a restaurant loyalty program. Optimizing yours by making it fun, personalized, and easy will help you stay top-of-mind with guests and help your restaurant thrive.