Loyalty program integration into the restaurant's mobile application

18-09-24Read Time: 8 min

A significant portion of the restaurant’s profit comes from repeat customers who not only visit the restaurant regularly, but also recommend it to their family and friends. Keeping the attention of this segment of the audience is an important task for the restaurant. For this purpose, a loyalty program is implemented – one of the directions of marketing strategy aimed at building a base of regular customers who trust the establishment and are ready to return to it regularly.

Various reward systems are used to encourage the audience – discounts, bonuses, cashback and others. Marketers can provide a lot of cool ideas, but even a well thought-out strategy will not work if there is no available and effective tool for its technical implementation. In today’s reality, when people live only on their smartphones, the best tool for launching a restaurant loyalty program is a mobile app.

What loyalty program tools can be integrated into a mobile application?

Bonus Accumulation

The user has his own bonus account, which is credited with points for every hryvnia spent on restaurant services. It is possible to set different ways of using the points – for example, the client can spend them on full or partial payment of the order, exchange them for discounts, get free meals or drinks. The bonus account is automatically replenished, and the user can view the history of the accumulation and deduction of points.

Personalized offers

The mobile application collects data on the customer’s taste preferences, analyzes the frequency, time and duration of visits, records delivery data and calculates the average check, which provides a general understanding of the customer’s financial potential and ability to pay. Based on this data, personalized offers are automatically generated, such as

• Discounts on favorite foods;
• Birthday gifts;
• Reminders about unfinished orders;
• Notification of new products in your favorite menu categories;
• Free delivery.

Cash Back

Cashback – a percentage of what you spend at the restaurant – accumulates in your personal account. Cashback is measured in real money that can be transferred to a bank card or spent on new orders. For convenient practical implementation, integration with third party services is performed or partnership agreements with banks are concluded.

Closed Club and Loyalty Levels

Regular visitors of the restaurant are invited to a closed club, where they are the first to learn about the news of the restaurant, receive exclusive discounts and increased cashback, are invited to private parties and have other privileges. If the customer is active, his level of participation in the closed club increases. The more orders in the restaurant, the more unique privileges.

Affiliate Programs

A restaurant can partner with other businesses in related niches to create partnership offers – discounts on goods or services, special pricing, participation in promotions or events. In this way, the restaurant provides additional benefits to its customers and increases customer loyalty, while the partner business benefits from mutual PR and advertising.

Gifts

With the help of a mobile application, a restaurant can congratulate a customer on his or her birthday and offer pleasant gifts – free meals, discounts, special service conditions for festive events, and other surprises. This is an effective way to show care for customers, create positive emotions, encourage them to visit the restaurant or make a targeted delivery.

Application functionality for launching loyalty programs

The mobile application for cafes and restaurants includes all the functionality needed to implement a loyalty program. Customers have access to the system in their personal locker. Administrators and marketers customize the mechanics of the program in the admin panel.

Client’s personal cabinet

The mobile application creates a personal client cabinet where all the data about the user’s participation in the loyalty program is displayed – bonus accumulation, membership in a closed club, personal discounts, cashback, partner products, etc. The interface is developed for a specific set of technologies to be used in the restaurant. Only the client has access to the personal cabinet, and full confidentiality of data is ensured.

Bonus Account

Bonus points or cashback are accumulated in the personal account. According to the terms of the program, the client exchanges bonus points for discounts, uses cashback to pay for the order, and follows the history of bonus points accumulation and debiting. There is no need to perform complicated actions to feel the benefits of using the application and restaurant services. A few clicks – and the reward is received.

Automatic calculation of rebates and discounts

The software automatically calculates the amount of bonuses and cash back – a fixed number of points for each visit or a percentage of the amount of each order. Bonuses are exchanged for discounts according to a set formula. You can also set percentage discounts for selected menu items. It is enough to set the initial conditions once and the application will calculate the necessary parameters by itself.

Admin panel to edit the loyalty program

The amount of discounts, validity of promotions, bonus accumulation algorithms and mechanisms for sending personalized offers – all these and other components of the loyalty program are set in the admin panel of the mobile application. The administrator can manage the initial conditions, adjust them in real time, change the numbers to improve performance and strengthen the marketing strategy.

Push Notifications

Pop-up push notifications play an important role in the implementation of a loyalty program:

• Notify the customer of accrued bonuses and cash back;
• Send personalized offers;
• Inform about discounts;
• Remind you of the expiration date of promotions;
• Invite them to take advantage of exclusive privileges.

Loyalty program analytics in the mobile application

Various metrics are used to analyze the interim and final results of the loyalty program:

• Number of customers participating in the loyalty program;
• Number of active program participants;
• Statistics of the average check growth, dynamics of the visit frequency growth after the client joined the loyalty program;
• Changes in application behavioral factors after joining the program;
• Conversion rate of bonus usage;
• Frequency of purchases using accumulated points;
• Retention rate of existing customers;
• Return rate of past visitors;
• Impact of the loyalty program on the restaurant’s overall bottom line.

The collected data will be used to improve the loyalty program, conditions of points accumulation, principles of personalized offers creation.

Why a mobile app is the best platform for a restaurant loyalty program

The app is always at your fingertips

The mobile application stays on the user’s smartphone, periodically reminds them with pop-up notifications, and can effectively bring customers back with attractive offers. More users return to the app – more orders, deliveries, traffic, profits and popularity.

Customer Convenience

The user interface reflects the personal progress of participation in the loyalty program – bonus account, personal offers, invitations, information about promotions and discounts. Everything necessary is gathered in one section in a simple and clear format, which makes it much easier for the restaurant to implement the loyalty program and not worry about technical issues.

Instant Alerts

The mobile application instantly notifies customers of accumulated rewards or discounts, sends personalized offers, and invites them to participate in promotions. In terms of speed, efficiency and engagement, push notifications are far ahead of SMS/email and other forms of communication.

Integration with Online Payment Services

The customer receives a discount and can use it immediately by paying for the order in the app. This results in increased impulse orders, higher redemption rates, more efficient promotions, and ultimately more profit for the restaurant.

Automate processes with minimal administrator involvement

Loyalty tools and conditions are selected at the stage of mobile application development. The administrator uses ready-made tools from the basic set and sets discount percentages, selects promotional dishes, launches mailings of personalized offers and determines the validity period of promotions. Everything else is done automatically by the mobile application.

Scalability for a Restaurant Chain

A restaurant buys one application, but receives multiple mobile platforms with separate databases for the chain’s locations. Not only are menus and room layouts separate, but so are customer relations and the loyalty system. Applications for a restaurant chain have an identical structure, but individual content. They can be integrated with the company’s website, CRM, POS systems for restaurant automation such as Syrve and Poster. If necessary, data from each application is collected for general network reporting.

Analysis of implemented strategies

The mobile app collects real numbers to analyze the progress of the program and evaluate the results achieved. This analysis provides marketers with answers to key questions:

• How well the strategy was chosen;
• Whether the program was effective;
• How the restaurant benefited financially or in terms of image;
• How to achieve better results in the future.

If you are a restaurant owner or manager, we invite you to a consultation with KitApp team experts. Our experts will analyze your business and offer solutions for developing and improving your loyalty program using a mobile application.