What if your restaurant could become a magnet, a magnet for customers? They wouldn't just come once, they would come back, tell their friends about you, and eventually consider your establishment their favorite hangout.
Rather than chasing after new customers, focus on those who already know your restaurant and visit regularly. But how can you turn a simple order into a lasting relationship? Between intuitive apps, digital cards, and highly targeted offers, there are now concrete tools to help you create that unique bond with your customers and keep them coming back for more. Let's take a look at how to make this happen.
A regular customer spends more and costs less to activate than a new customer acquired through promotions or advertising. Given this observation, the question is no longer whether to build customer loyalty, but how to do so.
A loyal customer who has complete confidence in your restaurant will naturally increase their average spend with each visit. They will try new products, add a dessert, or upgrade to a premium drink that they would not have chosen on their first visit.
Furthermore, acquiring a new customer costs much more than retaining an existing one. The cost of acquisition can be up to 15 to 22 times higher than retention, and this difference has widened over the years, reflecting the rise in marketing and advertising expenses.
You probably notice it every day: today's customers compare more, switch between several brands, and no longer hesitate to switch from in-store shopping to delivery. This volatility has consequences for your business: it creates a lack of visibility in terms of customer traffic.
A well-designed loyalty program gives customers a clear and immediate reason to return to your business: rewards, exclusive benefits, personalized offers, direct communication, etc. All these little touches strengthen the bond and reduce the urge to shop elsewhere.
Today, digital technology makes it possible to maintain the relationship even when the customer is not in the restaurant. Mobile notifications, push offers, digital tickets, birthday messages—all these simple but regular gestures encourage repeat business and anchor your restaurant in the customer's mind. When they think about where to eat, you're the first place that comes to mind.
👉 To go further: Customer loyalty: how can you ensure your customers actually use your program?
Want to launch (or improve) your loyalty program? Simplicity and consistency should guide all your actions and structure your entire strategy. Customers should understand in a second how they earn points and what benefits they get.
Depending on your type of restaurant and customer volume, some tools will be more suitable than others:
And to maximize adoption, integrate the loyalty program directly into your ordering systems, particularly at ordering kiosks , where customers can create or log into their accounts in just a few seconds, facilitating engagement from the very first interaction.
For a program to work, it must be:
The clearer your program is, the more your customers will play along.
An effective loyalty strategy also relies on accurate tracking: who is returning? When? How much are they spending? Which products do they prefer?
A cash register connected to your customer database allows you to obtain all this information. With it, you can track the impact of your customer loyalty initiatives in real time: activation, recurrence, average basket size, etc.
You can also rely on this tool to send personalized offers effortlessly.
Are you wasting time manually managing loyalty cards and points? The Innovorder solution simplifies everything: as soon as a customer identifies themselves (QR code, number, app), the order is automatically linked to their profile.
Points are added immediately, rewards are triggered at the right time, and you gain accurate insight into customer behavior.
In the restaurant industry, personalization is no longer optional: it's what turns a loyal customer into an ambassador. By leveraging order data, you can offer truly relevant benefits.
Customer data is a gold mine for creating tailor-made offers. Here are some concrete examples:
These micro-adjustments, on a case-by-case basis, have a huge impact on repeat visits.
With an app or virtual card connected to your cash register, you can automate simple but effective actions:
All these details can make a big difference for the customer.
👉 To go further: How does order customization build customer loyalty?
A good program is managed like a map: with a few simple indicators and regular monitoring.
To find out if your loyalty program is really working, focus on a few KPIs:
With just these four indicators, you already have a clear picture of your performance.
Your connected cash register and CRM work hand in hand to centralize all customer and order data. This allows you to identify the most profitable segments, understand which offers work best, which ones to adjust, and gradually improve engagement.
CRM allows you to go further: it keeps a history of each customer's interactions, preferences, and habits, making it easier to create personalized campaigns and fine-tune segmentation.
By combining these tools, you gain a comprehensive and actionable view of your customer base, enabling you to build customer loyalty in a more effective and targeted manner.
Launching a loyalty program is only the first step: to ensure it remains effective, you need to promote it, adjust it regularly, and offer incentives that motivate your customers in the long term.
To achieve this, you can combine several complementary approaches:
These mechanisms, when cleverly combined, maintain motivation, stimulate engagement, and strengthen your relationship with your customers in the long term.
👉 To go further: Storytelling to build customer loyalty for your restaurant
Building customer loyalty isn't just about sending points or promotions. What you really need to do is understand their habits and tailor your offers to strengthen the bond, stimulate engagement, and turn your customers into true ambassadors. By combining loyalty apps, digital cards, and targeted offers, your customers will go from being occasional visitors to loyal patrons who return, recommend your restaurant, and actively contribute to its growth.
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Want to take your loyalty program to the next level? Innovorder experts can guide you and share practical tips on how to get the most out of your tools and build customer loyalty more effectively.
