Blog

Today’s successful loyalty programs rely on personalization. As technology has expanded marketers’ capabilities through data collection, consumers now expect messages and rewards that match their own specific wants and needs.

This has elevated a new concept in loyalty: using artificial intelligence to drive individual action. Put more succinctly, it’s AI to IA℠.

Artificial intelligence enables marketers to identify patterns and idiosyncrasies among customers in a much faster, more efficient manner. A group of like-minded consumers that might have taken an entire marketing team months to identify can be spotted by a computer in a matter of minutes. Leveraged strategically, that can make a big impact in terms of incremental visits and revenue.

Here is a common example that at least one large brand used to drive astounding results: a 37% lift in visits and a 28% lift in spend from the targeted customers. […]

With Covid cases rising across the US, it’s clear that many restaurants will face another round of dining room closures. During the summer months, restaurants found new ways to expand offerings, like outdoor seating and contactless dining; but colder weather will render outdoor seating impossible across much of the country. Even in warmer climates, on-premises dining may be prohibited as the nation weathers a second wave of infections. 

Since the pandemic truly took hold in March, our clients have been trying out new ideas and learning how to transform their businesses to handle the next wave. The restaurant industry has a huge impact on employment in the US. In New York City alone, the introduction of outdoor dining added as many as 83,000 jobs after the initial layoffs in April. The threat of these jobs going away again will have a huge impact on restaurants and employees in the near-term. 

Here are 5 things we learned about how to retain business during a slowdown in on-premises dining: 

[…]

Subscriptions can be a boon to your bottom line, thanks to benefits like increased customer loyalty and higher per-customer purchase amounts, but if you don’t have the right technology to streamline it, achieving those advantages can become an ongoing headache.  

In the same way that subscriptions can be tailored to each restaurant or c-store customer base, technology must be flexible enough to accommodate additions and modifications, like adding referral bonuses, sending membership prompts about renewals, swapping out perks, and other features.  

[…]

Given the potentially meaningful return on investment you can see with subscription programs, it makes sense to want to jump in with gusto. But what exactly does that entail? 

As we’ve covered in a previous blog post, there are several different models when it comes to subscription-based services, but those are only starting points. Like loyalty programs, subscriptions are completely customizable based on your restaurant or c-stores and its customers. 

Whether launching a subscription program for the first time or freshening up an existing one, here are some ideas that can set you apart from the competition: […]