Developing a Loyalty App for Your Restaurant: Success Stories, Features, and Tips

Until recently, restaurants used punch cards and plastic cards for their loyalty programs. Today, many are replacing traditional card-based loyalty programs with mobile loyalty apps.
In this article, we focus on how restaurant loyalty apps can be used to build customer loyalty. We demonstrate this with examples of the world’s top food chains. We also outline must-have features and conclude with useful tips on how to set up an effective loyalty program. But first, let’s talk about why restaurants should go mobile for building customer loyalty.

Still hesitant to start a digital loyalty program? Let’s briefly consider the benefits of building loyalty through a mobile app.

1. Ease of use. For 43% of shoppers surveyed by CodeBroker, plastic loyalty cards are the biggest obstacle to enjoying a loyalty program. By offering your restaurant visitors a digital loyalty program, you can simplify the customer experience.
2. Personalized experience. Plastic loyalty cards fail at developing effective communication and strong long-term relationships with your visitors. Customer loyalty apps, on the contrary, can help you build personalized and unique content that’s relevant to your customers. This can be custom birthday wishes, special offers, and other incentives. Additionally, a loyalty app enables you to reach out to customers anytime and anywhere.
3. Customer data. Apps let you easily gather valuable insights about your customers, such as their preferences, purchasing behavior, and demographics. This data can help you deliver personalized offers.
4. Sense of exclusivity. Who doesn’t like to feel that they’re part of an exclusive team? With a mobile loyalty app, you can share exclusive news, content, offers, coupons, and promotions, which fosters a sense of uniqueness. Plus, you can give your customers a voice to make them feel like they belong – for example, through social media, forums, and feedback forms.
   
   Examples of top restaurant loyalty programs in mobile apps

   Real-world restaurant loyalty programs are the perfect place to get inspired with ideas for your own business. Using examples from the best restaurant brands, we can draw up a list of features and key ingredients to include in your loyalty app.

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