Coffee shops are continually competing with one another to get patrons to visit them regularly. As cities start to re-open up and cafes begin serving steaming cups of coffee again, you will have to play it smart in order to gain an edge over your competitors.
One of the most successful strategies is implementing an attractive loyalty program that will help you retain regular customers while also broadening your clientele. However, all loyalty programs are not made the same, and some are certainly more efficient than others.
Digital loyalty programs add flavor to your coffee
Most cafes have some kind of loyalty program in place. Regular customers are rewarded with a free coffee or a snack after a certain number of purchases are made at their shop. In the past, cafe managers often marked physical cards with stamps or hole punches in order to keep track of the customer’s milestones.
Digital loyalty programs eliminate the need for physical cards, and instead offer automated loyalty programs that are based on artificial intelligence. These loyalty programs understand your customers’ ordering behavior and design personalized actions based on insight. This insight-driven strategy catapults your loyalty program and helps you build valuable relationships with your patrons, while also increasing the number of orders. As you see, there are a lot of benefits of loyalty programs for businesses.
Loyalty program ideas for coffee shops
There are many things that coffee shop owners can do in order to build loyalty among customers during these difficult times:
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Go digital
If your cafe is still using physical cards or some form of offline loyalty program, now is the time to switch to a digital loyalty program. Loyalty management tools are contactless and do not put staff or customers at risk of infections, unlike physical cards (you can also use a loyalty card creator feature as a part of the program). You can stamp customer cards digitally right on your smartphone. In addition, customers are notified on their phones once they accumulate enough points to redeem.
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Offer members club
Every business can segment their customers into light, medium, and heavy users. Use a loyalty manager’s insight to identify your repeat customers who frequently order multiple things, explain to the customers what is customer loyalty and how they can use the loyalty card. Enroll them in a members club and offer them goodies that make them feel special and validated. A tried and tested members club benefit is to offer VIP club access to new items on the menu.
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Keep your program simple
Do not add too many loyalty programs or make them too difficult to redeem. This will either confuse the customer or they will just gradually lose interest. Keep things simple and focus on your customer’s coffee drinking experience. Tools such as Glue are based on insight and your input regarding your business, making it easy for them to create reward programs that have high degrees of success rates.
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Accept payments digitally
People do not always walk around with their wallets every time they go out. Digital payments are a great way to help your customers pay you in non-traditional ways. From accepting online payments to running subscriptions for regulars who can “check-in”, there are a number of ways digital payments can be enabled. As a result, your customers can enjoy their latte and croissant without ever having to pull out their cards.
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Notify customers when they are in the vicinity
While coffee can be smelled from afar, it is not enough to lure those customers inside your cafe. Geo-location notifications are a great way to get regular customers to visit you again. Notify them that you are open, and offer discounts and promotions when they are in the vicinity. This can be set up for your regular customers who give their consent to be notified via a loyalty app in exchange for rewards.
Loyalty programs are a necessity for coffee shops
We are in the midst of a global pandemic, and people are still hesitant to venture into public places. In addition to following adequate safety measures, putting successful loyalty programs in place can help you get your customers back. You can also tackle the competition by automating loyalty programs that are based on customer-driven insight. Tailor-made reward programs, digital payments, and geo-notifications are all great ways to increase coffee sales.
Don’t wait any longer to nurture, reward, and retain your customers. Contact us today!
