Loyalty Trends 2024: Operators Move Beyond One-Size-Fits-All Messaging

Key Takeaway: Effective communication is the key to unlocking the full potential of your guest loyalty program. With the right messaging, you can turn your loyalty members into lifelong brand advocates. 

To unlock the full potential of guest loyalty initiatives, restaurant and convenience store operators must have a well-thought-out, data-driven messaging strategy that recognizes guests as unique people. Generic, one-size-fits-all communications just don’t cut it because guests expect—and value—tailored experiences that cater to their individual needs and desires.

By using loyalty data, customer insights, and advanced AI segmentation, your brand can develop super-specific messaging campaigns that resonate with individual guests. From educational welcome messages to sincere win-back efforts to lapsed members, personalized communication drives engagement and customer lifetime value (CLV). 

Meeting Guests Where They Are: Channel Optimization  

Today’s guests interact with restaurants and convenience stores in many ways, from digital channels like email, social media, mobile apps, and websites to offline channels like in-store visits and direct mail. 

While most of these channels—especially email—are embraced by almost everyone, research shows some correlation between age and preferred loyalty channels. Gen Z adults, Millennials, and Gen Xers, for example, all express a stronger preference for mobile apps than Baby Boomers, according to the National Restaurant Association (NRA):

Operators that ask guests to opt into different communication channels when they join a loyalty program accomplish several important goals. First, you gain valuable insights into member preferences. Second, you make people feel good right away by showing you want to meet them where they are. And third, you can save money if you know who doesn’t want to receive certain types of messages. 

The Personal Touch: Data-Driven Messaging 

Collecting insights from your most valuable guests is a key outcome of a successful, well-designed loyalty program. By gathering information at registration and monitoring ordering and spending habits on a regular basis, operators gain a greater understanding of each guest’s preferences and motivations. This makes the right loyalty program benefits easier to offer and primed for real-world success.

Using machine learning tools and advanced segmentation techniques, marketing teams can analyze data in real time and design targeted campaigns that personalize guest experiences and maximize revenue.

Take PDQ, for example, a restaurant chain in the fiercely competitive chicken sandwich market. By leveraging Paytronix's advanced segmentation tools, PDQ translates detailed data from more than 350,000 loyalty members into actionable analytics.

“Paytronix’s 1:1 capabilities have enabled us to craft personalized offers that drive engagement at every level of the MyPDQ program,” said Jimmy VanValkenburg, PDQ’s Head of Loyalty. “We’re able to execute incremental, revenue-driving programs that enable us to punch above our weight.”

Here are just some of the great results PDQ achieved: 

• 15.5% Spend Lift [Visit Challenge Campaign] 
  PDQ segmented members into three groups based on visit history and offered each group a $10 discount for meeting visit thresholds incrementally higher than their average. This personalized approach prevented cannibalizing sales from regulars and kept the challenge achievable for newer guests. 

• 23% Spend Lift [Win-back Campaign] 
  An ongoing win-back campaign segments at-risk loyalty members into three groups: “slowing down,” “lapsing,” and “lapsed.” Members in each group receive a different offer to incentivize their return. 

• 10% Visit Lift [Surprise and Delight Campaign] 
  PDQ gave its most active loyalty members something extra and unexpected: a $10 thank you reward. In addition to the visit lift, many PDQ superfans showed off their gift to friends on social media. 

Building Loyalty Program “Stickiness” 

As soon as a guest joins your loyalty program, your messaging can go a long way towards keeping them engaged and coming back for more as often as possible. As we’ve noted before in previous articles, the loyalty engagement challenge is even more complex because most guests belong to multiple restaurant loyalty programs. 

The NRA reports that most loyalty members “sign up for more than one program—3.6 on average. Gen Z adults boast the highest rate belonging to an average 4.4 programs (millennials belong to an average 3.6 programs, Gen Xers, 3.9, and boomers, 3).”

So how do you create stickiness to your program over all the others? To nurture long-lasting loyalty, operators must employ a range of tactics to keep the momentum going. Here are seven examples:

1. Welcome Messages 

For new members, a well-crafted welcome message is essential for setting the tone and communicating the full benefits of your program. You can even expand the opportunity with a nurture campaign that guides new members through the early stages of their loyalty experience with a series of educational components and offers.

We helped one QSR build a successful campaign around a series of tutorial videos, which resulted in a 15% lift in new members hitting the 3-visit mark. 

2. Registration Reward Reminders  

Offering a special reward for new members after they sign up is a great incentive, but some guests need a little gentle pressure. Don’t be shy when it comes to making sure that guests don’t miss out, because our proprietary data shows that getting guests to their first reward quickly increases the chances they’ll return.  
 
Good candidates for registration rewards are popular items with high margins. A high-margin item ensures your locations don’t take a hit from freeloaders, guests who show up for the free reward and stop engaging with loyalty thereafter. 

3. Almost-There Messages  

When guests are one visit away from reaching their next reward level, an almost-there message can be the nudge they need to place an order. From experience, we’ve found it best to send these offers via email and include images of the reward your guests will receive and their current point balance. 

Just by sending reminder messages to guests who were one visit or purchase away from a reward—with no additional incentive—we helped one QSR brand achieve a 5.5% visit lift. 

4. Reward Expiration Reminders  

A well-timed reminder that a reward is about to expire can prompt a visit to one of your locations. Just make sure you send it a few days in advance of expiration to give your customers time to prepare. 

5. You Earned It Messages 

Loyalty program members love to see that their visits are paying off, and sending a congratulatory message when they’ve achieved a reward is a wonderful way to generate excitement. This message, which can be sent by email or text, should show the reward and state when it expires.

6. Post-Visit Thank-You Notes (with Surveys) 

Expressing gratitude for and soliciting input from your loyalty program members are great ways to keep them engaged. Surveys should be short and simple, and when you get a response be sure to thank them for that, too. 

7. Surprise and Delight Campaigns  

Unexpected rewards build emotional connections with guests, so make sure you leverage this powerful tactic, like PDQ did, for your most loyal guests. 

The Power of Recognition 

The goal of any good loyalty program is to make people feel special, and there’s no better way than recognizing and celebrating guest achievements and milestones. This not only fosters a sense of appreciation but can also drive social sharing, word of mouth, and other kinds of organic promotion. 

Here are some ways you can align your communications to key events in your guests lives: 

Celebrating Milestones: Personalized messaging for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries is a staple of many loyalty programs. Tiered loyalty programs build in even more opportunities to recognize members for their achievements.

Convenience store Break Time used Paytronix Data Insights to create an automated tier program that rewards frequency and spend. Members nearing the next tier get personalized messages, and congratulatory notes are automatically sent to members who move up levels. These changes attracted 12,000 members to the top tier, increased loyalty transactions to 42% of all sales, and drove a 25.6% increase in customer spend.

Gamification Recognition: Gamification elements, such as badges and challenges, can also be powerful motivators and great ways to recognize and reward achievement. Our client Dutch Bros., for example, uses gamification to make its loyalty program fun, engaging, and personalized. Guests are encouraged to show off their rad style by earning stickers for every purchase and adding them to their mobile app.

When the coffee company launched its digital loyalty program, the brand gained 1.4 million members in the first month. Spend and visit challenges, are another way to get guests in the game and spend more than usual. Taking a 1:1 approach lets you design different thresholds for guests, depending on their individual spend and visit cadences. This prevents cannibalizing sales and keeps thresholds practical for each guest. 

Social Sharing: Don't underestimate the power of your most loyal guests to promote your brand. Allowing guests to share their loyalty program achievements can amplify the reach of your program and create a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) among non-members. 

Timing is Everything: Responsive Communication

Effective communication in a loyalty program isn't just about what you say, it's also about when you say it. Timing is everything, and the most responsive operators will ensure their messaging remains relevant and impactful to each guest. 

Reactivating At-Risk and Lapsed Loyalty Members: Targeted "we miss you" and “bounce-back” campaigns that include limited-time offers are powerful tools for reactivation. By monitoring individual visit cadences and tailoring your messaging accordingly, you can increase the chances of keeping at-risk members and winning back lapsed guests before they're lost for good. 

Sandwich shop Primanti Bros. uses AI tools from Paytronix to identify and re-engage lapsed guests with targeted win-back offers. The effort has been shown to lift frequency by 90% and spend by 50%. 

Guests become truly loyal at the fourth visit and bounce-back campaigns can help new members hit that magic number. Emailing this offer enables you to provide a full explanation of the promotion. As bounce-back offers can benefit from a sense of urgency, limited-time offers work well here.  

Almost-There Messages: We discussed these messages earlier, but they’re worth mentioning again because of their time-sensitive nature. Sometimes a simple reminder is all people need to plan a visit to one of your locations. 

Crafting a Winning Personalized Messaging Strategy

Effective communication is the lifeblood of any successful loyalty program. By meeting guests in the right channels at the right times, leveraging data for individualized insights, and recognizing achievements and milestones, operators can foster long-lasting relationships with their most valued guests.

Developing a comprehensive, personalized messaging strategy requires robust data analytics capabilities, machine learning tools, and a deep understanding of guest preferences and behaviors. 

As a leading provider of customer loyalty software for restaurants and convenience stores, Paytronix offers the capabilities and expertise you need to craft highly effective loyalty messaging. To learn more, contact us now or download our complimentary loyalty guides for restaurants or convenience stores today.