Loyalty services have evolved quite a lot in the past few years, offering a more interesting, impressive approach in regards to the way consumers acquire specific benefits. Companies in the food industry are doing all they can in order to generate more exposure and increase their audience. With help from well thought loyalty services they want to increase their exposure and boost their revenues.
But are the loyalty services important to customers? According to an AlixPartners survey found on http://nrn.com/marketing/rise-loyalty-limited-service only around 14% of all consumers are seeing the loyalty programs as an important when selecting a specific restaurant.
While consumers are interested in discounts they are just not loyal enough to any one specific brand to download the app and take the time to monitor their progress toward loyalty goals.
Many large chains have implemented loyalty programs only to be disappointed by participation levels and the number of customers using the associated loyalty app. Smaller restaurant groups or independent restaurants have very little chance that a customer will be regularly checking their loyalty app.
A much better approach is via the “no app” approach where customers can access your current offers. It’s possible with our loyalty club widget to put those coupons right on your restaurant’s website. Those coupons can also be exclusive coupon offers available to only customers that register and follow your restaurant. The SEO value of the additional clicks to the restaurant’s website will far out weigh the value of the restaurant loyalty app with very little usage.
At the end of the day, making the loyalty services and access to coupon offers consumer friendly is the right approach and can also make marketing the restaurant easier and lower cost.
The “no app” approach is by far the ultimate way to maintain consumer attention in the food industry. The ability to avoid app installation and focus more on delivering a seamless experience, the return on investment can indeed be huge!