Loyalty Programs for Restaurants: What, Why, and How [2023]

People will always look for places where they can find the same burger as you offer but at a cheaper price. You, on the other hand, have your own business model. It’s not always possible to drop prices.

So what is the solution here? Yes, you guessed it right. Loyalty Programs or Reward Programs. This is a very common scenario nowadays.

49% of the respondents said that they are willing to spend more after joining a loyalty program. This should make you understand how important Loyalty Programs for Restaurants are.  

Source – Invesp

In this blog, we will discuss what a loyalty program is, what its benefits are, and how you can leverage it.

What is a Loyalty Program for a Restaurant? 

Let me make it easy for you. You’ve probably went to many super shops in your life. There, after you purchase something, the cashier asks for your phone number or any kind of number associated with identifying you and then you might get an SMS or an Email stating that you’ve earned points.

This right here is called a loyalty program or a reward program. Instead of super shops, we are talking about implementing it on your restaurant business.

Why Should You Apply Loyalty Programs for Your Restaurant?

If you are new to this idea, this might sound absurd to you. You might think, “Why would I give away my products without getting any money?”. 

In such a case, I would like to say that this is one of the most effective marketing and sales tactics out there! The more you show cordiality to your customers, the more they will spend time in your store or website. 

The more your customer spends time in your store or website, the more possibility that they will buy something. With this, they will bring more customers, they will suggest other people about your business. These people will be like an ambassador to your shop.

Just think about it, this is the most ideal situation you want to be in.

Restaurant Marketing Ideas That Brings Sales in 2022 (Highly Effective)

Benefits of Implementing a Loyalty Program for Restaurants 

There are plenty of benefits to implementing a loyalty program (also called a reward program) in your restaurant. Among all of those benefits, these are the most effective ones- 

Increase in Customer Retention

Since customers will gain points that they can make use of in the future, customers will be willing to buy more to get more points. As a result, they will become your permanent customers. Your restaurant will be their go-to spot.

Customers will feel very special. To them, this is a sign that you really care about your customers and as a token of gratitude, you are awarding them some points.

Increase in Sales

As more and more customers are being retained, your sales will increase proportionately. Customers will stay at your restaurant for a longer period of time ordering more items. 

Even if a customer doesn’t order any heavy items, he/she will surely buy the small items from your menu. Small increases can lead to huge sales sometimes.

Increase of Customers

Now that you’ve retained more customers, those customers will recommend your restaurant to their friends and family. As a result, your customer count will be higher than ever before. 

Those new customers will slowly become one of your loyal customer bases. As you can see, everything is going on like a chain reaction.

Better Communication with Customers

As I’ve said before, implementing a reward program for your restaurants will make your customers feel special. This will lead them to communicate with you, the restaurant owner or manager, much more frequently than before. 

In the same research done by Invesp, 64% of the respondents who were retailers said that the Loyalty/Reward program was the best way to connect with their customers. 

This connection can lead you to a very loyal customer base. Customers will share new ideas with you. They will give you suggestions on new products or how you can improve your existing products. 

Some might even go a step further and do constructive criticism which will help you in the long run. The more you respond to these types of customers, the more your restaurant will grow.

Boosted Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is the key to any business’s success. With loyalty programs coming into play, customer satisfaction skyrockets. 

Customers will always appreciate having an alternate option to paying money to get something. As a part of your program, customers will feel relieved sometimes. You’ll be a lifesaver to them on any bad day. This is how reward programs for restaurants boost customer satisfaction.

Better Understanding of your Business

This is the most interesting part. You will gain very interesting insights into your customer base. Some data will be very unexpected. 

You will gain insights on which age/ gender/ social class/ designation of people buys which of your products most. This data will help you to make more informed decisions. You can orchestrate your marketing strategy with that data. 

You can also create separate kinds of offers for each kind of customer. That will increase your customer retention rate even more.

How WPCafe is The Perfect Solution

WPCafe is a Restaurant Menu, Online Ordering for WooCommerce, Pickup / Delivery, and Table Reservation Plugin for WordPress. I know this already sounds overwhelming. But there’s more! 

By integrating Points and Rewards for WooCommerce with WPCafe, we have given you the option to start your own reward program for your restaurant. You don’t even need a separate plugin to implement it. 

You can give discounts to your customers, they can pay you through the POS system, and as a reward for having a good time in your restaurant, you can offer them a reward point. All of this can be managed with ONLY ONE PLUGIN!

Easiness of WPCafe’s Loyalty Program Feature

The core reason WPCafe is praised so much is how simple and straightforward it is to use. It is made with the user’s ease in mind. You can just tick some boxes from the WooCommerce Points and Rewards Dashboard and everything will be there on your website. It’s just that easy! 

Unlike other plugins, where you have to scratch your head to enable every single feature, WooCommerce, on the other hand, just brings some checkboxes in front of you and you just have to check those boxes according to your preferences. 

As you save the changes, the loyalty program will start functioning on your website right away. That’s how swift it is to start reward programs for restaurants with WPCafe.

How to Enable Loyalty Program Feature in WPCafe

Enabling the Loyalty Program in WPCafe is pretty much straightforward. First, you need to install the Points and Rewards for WooCommerce Plugin and activate it. 

Now that the activation is done, go to WooCommerce -> Points and Rewards -> Assign Product Points. There you have to provide all the necessary information e.g. enabling loyalty points, enabling signup points, enabling referral points, etc.

To get the full detailed step-by-step guide with screenshots, give our documentation a read.

Conclusion

As you can see now, Loyalty Programs are highly effective in today’s world. Your customers will repeatedly come to your store if you offer them these little rewards and provide them with good service. 

With a beautiful service and reward program, a restaurant can go a long way in sales and customer satisfaction. 

So, why the wait? Get WPCafe, start your own loyalty program and boost your sales to the maximum. 

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