What Is a Restaurant Loyalty Program?
2024 is poised to be a good year for the restaurant industry, according to the National Restaurant Association’s State of the Restaurant Industry 2024
3 min read
Leslie Wilson-Lopez recently joined the Paytronix Data Insights team from Togo’s Eateries, Inc., a fast-casual chain of restaurants with more than 230 sandwich shops across the U.S. As director of brand management at Togo’s, Leslie was responsible for cross-channel marketing initiatives, including digital loyalty and gift programs, online ordering, guest and social response, quarterly promotions, and new product introductions.
Paytronix: Why did you decide to join the team?
Wilson-Lopez: The Togo’s Rewards program was one of my favorite initiatives. I led the review process that selected Paytronix as Togo’s loyalty partner, worked closely with Paytronix as we rolled out the program, and continued to collaborate with Paytronix on day-to-day program management. Paytronix helped Togo’s understand its guests and what motivates them, create relevant guest engagement, and measure the impact of our work. Consequently, I believe in the power of a rewards program and using customer data to drive transactions.
Paytronix: What are you most excited about in your new role?
Wilson-Lopez: I am working with some of the most imaginative brands: YogurtLand, Boudin San Francisco Sour Dough, Peet’s Coffee, Which Wich Superior Sandwiches, Shari’s Café, and Fine & Vine Hospitality. Together, we are continuously pulling levers on the customer data to drive transactions – ultimately growing the brands’ connection to their customer base so that the brands can retain them over a longer period of time. We’re motivating first-timers to visit a second time, moving light users to medium users, and more to increase the customer value.
Paytronix: What is the secret to motivating guests to change their behavior?
Wilson-Lopez: The secret is in the data. The data has to teach you something that informs action. You need a before state, an action, and an after state to measure.
The Paytronix platform offers a myriad of tools for motivating behavior, from the core loyalty program structure to its campaign tools. Marketers can segment and target guests on more than 60 different attributes and then dial farther within each attribute. The easy-to-navigate campaign center enables the user to see the change in behavior and measure incremental lift. That’s unique.
Beyond the tools that are available in the platform, Data Insights uses big data tools, machine learning, and predictive analytics to further segment the data. Based on what our data experts see in the information, we make recommendations for testing core program design options, offers, timing, and message cadence. We are seeing great success with 1-to-1 visit challenges that are designed to motivate the guest to add another visit to their usual cadence.
Paytronix: As a customer, when you compared Paytronix to other providers, what were the key differences?
Wilson-Lopez: Compared to its competitors, Paytronix is constantly evolving and developing new technology based on consumer trends and desires. It’s on the cutting edge of what customers want. For example, every marketer wants to attribute their efforts directly to sales. That’s hard to do. Paytronix has the tools to measure direct impact of promotions on the bottom line and can prove ROI. In addition, Paytronix just introduced “Click to Load” which only loads the offer onto the guest’s account when the guest takes an action, i.e., clicks the link presented in the email. I found that other companies had interesting looking user interfaces, but when it came down to features and function that helped me do the job at hand, they just weren’t there. Plus, they did not have the security, controls or the robust platform for detecting fraud that Paytronix has.
Paytronix: Of the Paytronix solutions, what do you think will be the most transformative to how restaurants engage with their guest in the next two years?
Wilson-Lopex: Of course. NFC (Near Field Communications) capabilities for both the Apple and Android mobile platforms will change the way guests pay and identify themselves in restaurants. Paytronix announced Apple Payment with NFC Loyalty ID for restaurants in February and is the first loyalty provider to have this successfully up and running in restaurants. This feature streamlines the payment process for both the brand and the guest. Guests simply tap their phones to identify themselves at the POS, pay for their transaction, and redeem rewards.
Other providers have said they have the technology but have failed to deliver. That’s one thing I love about this company – its honesty. In addition, they treat everyone with respect, kindness and professionalism – from their employees to their customers and partners. No idea is a bad idea. The response is never “no,” but “how can we improve to make that happen?”
Paytronix: How will you be incorporating data analytics into your clients’ programs?
Wilson-Lopez: Loyalty and customer engagement are critical to growing a restaurant business. It can get more people interested and engaged with a brand and also influence those who already love the brand to increase their interactions.
As a Data Insights strategist, I get to help restaurants leverage their customer data to better understand guest behavior and to set strategy for increased engagement and visits. Helping restaurant professionals grow their businesses is something I’m extremely passionate about.
Today, social media has changed marketing dramatically. A restaurant can run a TV or radio campaign, but they have no way to systematically measure the results. With a tool like Paytronix, we can see what the response to a campaign is in real time, quickly evaluate that data and determine how to move forward.
There are so many things we do for more than 350 brands.
Download the latest Paytronix Data Briefs to learn more about the power of Paytronix.
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