Loyalty programs have been around for many years, and they have proven to be successful for many companies that have executed them correctly. The main benefits of a successful loyalty program are increased frequency and increased average ticket amount. Customers who perceive a value of belonging to a loyalty program tend to go to the business more often and spend more.

However, many of these programs were too costly and difficult to operate. Businesses had to print out plastic cards and spend significant resources on software and program management. Fortunately, mobile phones not only made loyalty programs more affordable, but also more robust, and easy to manage.

From a customer experience perspective, a user does not have to carry all the plastic cards in a wallet or on a keychain anymore and wait for a statement to come by mail every month to know the number of points and promotions. Now, they can easily find all that information in their smartphones. For businesses, digital loyalty programs are a much more effective way to engage with their customers in real-time. They can send out a text or a push notification (if they have an app) to let their members know about special perks and promotions.

If implemented and managed correctly, digital loyalty programs can become very powerful customer engagement tools that not only increase loyalty and give businesses and edge versus their competitors, but also boost sales and increase the customer lifetime value.

Express Orders combines digital loyalty programs (memberships and rewards) with SMS marketing, and online orders. With its all-in-one, easy to use customer engagement solution for restaurants, Express Orders is a powerful tool that helps restaurants bring in new customers and keep existing ones coming back for repeat business.

By Express Orders.