The future of customer loyalty and what it means to reward your customers in 2021
Over the past twelve months, brands have experienced a push towards prioritising online engagement like never before.
During this shift, many hospitality business owners came to the realisation that they lacked the brand identity needed to break through the noise of online marketplaces. First impressions counting more than ever, a customer is making a decision about a business within 2.6 seconds of landing on their website. If that website or first impression doesn’t meet their expectations, their interest is shifted to a competitor. Consumers are making fast purchasing decisions and it’s causing their loyalty to be at an all-time low.
More than ever, consumers hold the power of who, where, and how much they spend in the food and wine industry. Due to so much option at their fingertips (literally) and freedom of choice, consumers are searching for things that feel new and different from their regular dining experience and consequently, the businesses they have been loyal to in the past.
The ideal of loyalty is not new to the hospitality industry, in particular for food and coffee businesses. Direct loyalty structures have played a key role in having customers return to the business each day with the most popular strategy being “purchase xx and receive a free coffee” style cards.
Despite not always acknowledging its prominence in their purchasing behaviour, consumers understand these loyalty structures and the notion of being rewarded for repurchasing an item.
Whilst this concept still holds a place in the industry and customer loyalty, consumers have become much savvier and regularly turn to the online space to perform many of their daily transactions. Even innovations such as Skip have turned the classic coffee card into an online activity where consumers can select from multiple coffee locations to be rewarded for their purchase.
Without a doubt, relationship building has been the hero of any customer loyalty structure. Customers return to businesses for the emotional connection they have crafted, as well as the quality they have come to know and love. With the overwhelming shift to online purchasing, the power of in-person customer interactions has suffered a detrimental loss. These interactions allowed businesses, like cafes, to build interpersonal relationships with their regulars and upsell their offerings.
Josh Ingham, Founder of The Epicurean Collective and Wine Rewards™, Australia’s first wine tourism loyalty program, shared that in many cases, customer validation has become more significant than the food, wine or coffee offering itself.
“Relationship building is a vital component in building customer loyalty. Consumers want to return to a venue that not only provides a great meal or drink, but where the service and engagement from the staff is memorable. It leaves the consumer feeling validated and welcome and, in many cases, has been shown to be more important to the consumer than the food/wine offer.”
With the rise of the online sector, food delivery empires and consumers engaging at any time during their day, loyalty solutions are more and more important now.
It’s time to give your customers a reason to purchase from you not just the first time, but ongoing. When you’re unable to wow them with your flawless in-person dining experience, it shouldn’t mean that you don’t gain that customer’s loyalty. It comes down to having multiple streams of loyalty programs and making engaging and considered decisions around how you’re showing up online.
From referral systems, memberships for regular patrons to even taking the classic coffee card online, there are an abundance of ways you can be welcoming regular customers through your door with progressive loyalty programs. Once they’re established, it comes down to utilising your branding touchpoints and online presence to clearly, engagingly and regularly communicate them with your growing audiences.
This level of thinking is only just beginning and will be one of the greatest collaboration models to hit food and retail in the coming years.
