Business Loyalty Cards

Does your business have a loyalty card or app? According to Aimia, a marketing agency, more than one in five British consumers is a member of a foodservice loyalty scheme, while 45% are willing to share their contact details to receive relevant offers and discounts.

According to Aimia’s research, the top four most popular food and drink loyalty schemes are Costa Coffee Club (53%), Subway (30%), Caffe Nero (26%) and Nando’s Loyalty Card (23%).

Loyalty Card Schemes Encourage Repeat Custom

Jon Fisher, Head of Mobile, CRM & Loyalty at Costa Coffee says: "Customers want to be rewarded for their loyalty to Costa and loyalty schemes are a simple way for them to get more value from the brands they love. Loyalty schemes are a way for brands to ensure customers return and for the customer to get their favourite items for free. The advantage of a loyalty scheme is being able to be more relevant to your customers. We can see what products they are enjoying most and offer them rewards based on this.”

What sort of loyalty card scheme should you offer?

One of the most basic models used by many cafes is a card that is stamped every time a customer buys a hot drink and when the card has nine stamps, they receive a free one. Independent coffee shop Café Amici in Surbiton, Surrey, introduced this type of loyalty card when it opened a year ago. Giuseppe D’Onofrio, owner, says “Our customers love the card. They carry it with them in their wallet or purse and use it every time they come in – both regulars and new customers. I think it encourages customers to come back as they want to achieve the target and get their free drink.”

TIP: Once you've got your loyalty card scheme set up, simply put them in some business card holders and offer to them to customers as they make their orders.

Loyalty Apps

Mobile phones are becoming increasingly important for loyalty programmes. Costa Coffee encourages customers to download the new Coffee Club app, although it also issues a card.

Fisher from Costa Coffee says: “At Costa, we are extremely proud of our Coffee Club Card scheme as unlike our competitors, customers can earn and spend reward points on any products they purchase rather than just coffee. They also get points for every pound spent rather than a stamp, no matter how much they spend. We offer 100 free bonus points when customers register as well as access to exclusive promotions to earn points quicker, invites to events and unlimited Wi-Fi in stores. We provide convenience and choice through offering a plastic card or a mobile app, whereas most retailers offer one or the other.”

On the Nando’s card, there’s a Chilli Wheel and customers collect one ‘chilli’ every time they spend £7 or more at Nando’s. According to the number of chillis collected, customers can claim a variety of food. For example, with six chillis, they receive a half chicken or a single wrap, burger or pitta.

With the ever increasing use of mobile phones, as well as a loyalty scheme app, you may be inclined to offer your customers a way to reserve a table online. Anything you can do to make your customers' lives more convenient will improve the chances of them becoming loyal to you.

Using Loyalty Schemes to Build a Database of Customers

One of the benefits of loyalty schemes is that customers must register their details to obtain the card, so the organisation is able to build a database of loyal customers and send them personalised offers.

Should you offer a loyalty scheme? It’s clearly an effective way to collect customers’ data and keep in touch, but the scheme needs to be easy to join, offer rewards and give access to exclusive deals and coupons.

By Jackie Mitchell