Loyalty Blogs

Right when the pandemic took over the world, we could hardly see a business alive, especially food and beverages when people got constrained to home-cooked items for their own safety & wellbeing. The industry suffered a huge loss and to survive in the hard-hitting reality small restaurants are still finding the best way out. The biggest challenge for the restaurant industry is to make customers believe in their business, understand it's safe and bring in new onboards with time.

However, nothing much but there are certainly some factors that can help your restaurant-level up in the race and help your business shine in these gloomy times. Let’s look at the possible solutions that can be used as your business strategy in the long run.

• Make use of technology

There are two sorts of businesses that are struggling in the race of getting forward or maintaining a mere survival. First are the ones who fail to build an emotional connection with their customers, and another are the ones who do not implement technology to build loyalty and nurture customer trust. To build a robust business solution, as a brand you must focus on building impactful relationships with the customers with the help of technology. Make use of customer loyalty software that helps in building a restaurant loyalty program that works. A major benefit served by loyalty software is that it can effectively manage customer engagement, tracking various aspects for better marketing and branding, and quite a lot of added benefits coming along.

• Value and Recognition

When you care, you must show it! Every business survives and flourishes on one aspect and that is valuing customers! With the risk involved in coming out of home and spending time in dine-in, not all customers show the courage and will to trust a restaurant. Reward the customers who are trusting your brand through offers, deals, cashback, discounted coupons, and anything that suits good! Make use of technology and send a prior declaration of all your staff being vaccinated, following the protocols for the safety of all and everything else customers are willing to know before they would step in to dine in. This can assure your customers that they’re safe and they can redeem their accumulated loyalty reward points at the outlets, giving them more reasons to visit you rather than opt for a drop.

• Develop a Communication Channel

Communications sort of tons of hassles and provide a sense of security to customers as well. A well-equipped loyalty program platform can help you in creating a smooth communication channel between the brand and its customers. Ways of communication include social media posts, regular in-app notifications, SMS, mailers, etc. Another exciting and effective method is geolocation-based targeting wherein customers get personalized offers and deals on their favorite restaurants whenever they’re around a specific radar of the restaurant. As the small-scale restaurants are always at high risk of losing their place before the situation slips out better to have a restaurant loyalty program differentiating your brand from the rest by offering similar cuisines and other services.

• The Trust Factor

No matter if it’s your personal life or the professional battleground, it’s always about the trust factor! As the pandemic eroded trust issues in almost every industry around, the food & beverages industry is the most affected one! You’re required to build extensive trust by making the dine-in experience worthwhile. Comprehend the latest safety guidelines issued by the government and emphasize having the loyalty management in the right place. The protocols can include complete sanitization, temperature check, or even vaccination certificates while entering in. This ensures that the customers are under the safety guidelines and the restaurant they’re vising can be trusted well.

• Keep a Sperate Space for Feedback

There’s always a scope for improvement and the right guidance can come directly from the end-users. Ask your customers for reviews and feedback, and try to convince them to be as honest and genuine as possible so that you have a clear picture of customer experience, safety standards, and where exactly you have a miss! While reading reviews and feedback, you can easily have a check on the holdbacks and pitfalls which can later cost you tons! Another option is to automate both writing reviews and seeking feedback from the customers with the help of a smart loyalty management solution to back up!

Today, programs use advanced technologies based on customer preferences, behavior, and purchasing patterns as well. Personalization is now an inevitable aspect carrying its due importance in the marketing and branding of a business. Customer loyalty programs are a great way to the help brand in managing a large strength of audience willing to be associated and an amazing option for customers to keep them gripped to a brand.