A loyalty programme for restaurants, from start to finish
A loyalty programme is not a card: it is a reason to come back and a way of knowing who comes back. This guide covers both, in the order you need to decide them.
What a loyalty programme is (and what it isn't)
A loyalty programme is a deal with your customer: come back, and you get something. The classic version is the cardboard stamp card; today's is a card on the mobile phone. But the card is only the visible part. A programme that works does three things at once:
- It gives a reason to come back: the reward, and the feeling of getting closer to it.
- It tells you who comes back: names, frequency, when they last visited.
- It lets you talk to them: a message when they're one stamp away, when they haven't been in for weeks, on their birthday.
What it is not: a permanent discount for everyone. That's just cutting prices. A loyalty programme rewards those who come back and leaves the price untouched for those who come once.
Why it works in hospitality
Because in a restaurant the customer who already knows you is the cheapest one to win: they already know where you are, they already liked it, they just need a reason to pick you again over every other option on the street. And because the difference between a business that's doing well and one that's just getting by is often one extra visit a month from regular customers.
Do the maths with your own numbers. If you have 300 regulars who come twice a month with an average bill of €12, that's €7,200 a month. If the programme gets one in five to come once more, that's 60 visits and €720 more a month, from the same customers and without a single euro on advertising. That's the figure to watch, not the number of cards.
The format: paper, app or Wallet
There are three ways to carry the card, and the choice decides how many people join:
- Cardboard: cheap and familiar, but it gets lost, can be faked with a €3 stamp and tells you nothing about anyone. You can't message people who stop coming because you don't know who they are.
- Your own app: gives you data and messages, but asks the customer to download something. For a coffee, most people won't.
- A card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet: it lives in an app the customer already has. It's added from a QR code in two taps, updates itself when stamped and can receive messages.
The full comparison, including what each one costs, is in paper, app or Wallet: which one makes sense.
Stamps or points
Stamps (one per visit) if your bill is always similar: café, ice-cream shop, bakery, takeaway. It's the easiest to understand: "3 to go".
Points per euro if the bill varies a lot: an à la carte restaurant, a pizzeria with orders for one and for six. That way a dinner for four isn't worth the same as a soft drink.
With stamps, set the number based on how often your customers come, not by guesswork: the card should be completable in about four weeks. We explain it with the maths in how many stamps to put on the card.
Rewards that work
The rule: something the customer wants and that costs you little. A coffee that costs you €0.40, given away every 8 visits, is 5 cents per visit. A dessert, a drink, a starter to share: product, not percentage. A "5% off" doesn't bring anyone back.
Three ideas that almost always work:
- A welcome reward on sign-up: it turns "not now" into "go on then". A quick game (a spinning wheel, a stopwatch) makes it memorable.
- A halfway reward in the middle of the card, where people drop off.
- Their birthday: the message with the best response of the whole year.
Tiers: rewarding the people who always come
When a customer has completed several cards, sending them back to 0 feels like a punishment. Tiers fix that: the people who come most move up (for example, from "Customer" to "Regular" to "VIP") and at each tier they get something that doesn't run out, such as a fixed discount or an extra reward.
Two details separate tiers that work from tiers that annoy: saying how far it is to the next one and warning before someone drops down, with a reasonable period to stay put. Dropping someone without warning is the quickest way to lose them.
Sign-up, at the counter
This is where the programme is won or lost. The card can be perfect, but if nobody offers it, nobody joins. What works:
- A visible QR code on the counter, on the table and on the receipt.
- One line for the team, always the same: "Shall I sign you up to the club? You get a gift today."
- Little data: name and email or phone. Every extra field costs sign-ups.
- Stamps with no effort: if the programme is connected to the till, every purchase counts automatically and the team doesn't have to remember anything.
The messages that bring people back
The big advantage of a card on the phone is that you can message the customer without them having installed anything. The messages that bring the most visits are automatic, not campaigns sent by hand:
- "You're 1 stamp away": the message that brings the most people back.
- "We haven't seen you in a while", to those who haven't been in for weeks.
- Welcome, a few days after sign-up, so the first return visit happens soon.
- Birthday, with its reward.
How many to send and what to write, in pass notifications: what to write and when. The short rule: few, useful and personal.
How to tell if it works
Look at four figures, once a month:
- Sign-ups: how many people join. If there are few, the problem is at the counter, not with the card.
- Repeat visits: of those who signed up a month ago, how many have come back.
- Lapsed: how many haven't been in for more than 45 days. That's your call list.
- Cost of rewards: what you've given away, at cost price. Compare it with the extra visits.
Day-one checklist
- Format chosen (ideally in the Wallet, no app).
- Stamps or points, with the number worked out and the daily limit set.
- Final reward, welcome reward and, if you can, a halfway one.
- QR code printed on the counter, tables and receipt.
- The team's line rehearsed.
- Automatic messages switched on: almost there, inactive, birthday.
- A date in the calendar to check the four figures in a month's time.
Frequently asked questions
What is a loyalty programme for restaurants?
A simple deal with your customers: every time they come back, they earn something (a stamp or some points), and when they reach a target they get a reward. Set up properly, it also tells you who comes back, who has stopped coming, and lets you reach out to them.
Is a stamp card or a points programme better?
Stamps if the bill is always similar (café, ice-cream shop, takeaway); points per euro if the bill varies a lot (à la carte restaurant), so that a dinner for four is not worth the same as a coffee.
Do my customers have to download an app?
No need. A card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet is already on almost everyone's mobile phone and is added in two taps from a QR code. A dedicated app asks for a download that most people won't bother with for a coffee.
How long does it take to see results?
The first thing you notice is sign-ups: in a venue with normal footfall, dozens a week if the team offers it at the till. Repeat visits are measured from the first month on, by comparing how many of those who signed up have come back.
Which reward works best?
A product the customer wants and that costs you little (a coffee, a dessert, a drink). Small percentage discounts excite nobody: give away things, not percentages.