Trends 2020
TREND: INNOVATIVE CUSTOMER LOYALTY SYSTEMS
Jack Bradshaw, co-founder of Flying Horse Coffee, says that introducing a mobile loyalty app has made business more efficient and helped their shops to stand out from the crowd
There are so many coffee shops that having an interesting loyalty program can definitely give you a bit of a USP. It offers a point of difference for your shop and it can help beat queues, especially in somewhere as busy and frenetic as London.
We currently use the Magic Stamp loyalty app across our coffee shops. It’s been really helpful and the transition has actually been very easy. When we initially opened we had loyalty cards printed out, but I was always thinking ‘How could this be better?’ Personally, when I go to a coffee shop I never remember to take a loyalty card with me and even if I do, I don’t always remember to pull it out. So, after we ran out of that first batch of cards, I didn’t pursue them any further.
We currently use the Magic Stamp loyalty app across our coffee shops. It’s been really helpful and the transition has actually been very easy. When we initially opened we had loyalty cards printed out, but I was always thinking ‘How could this be better?’ Personally, when I go to a coffee shop I never remember to take a loyalty card with me and even if I do, I don’t always remember to pull it out. So, after we ran out of that first batch of cards, I didn’t pursue them any further.
“The idea of just being able to scan people’s phones was really appealing and it seemed good to push the responsibility back a little bit onto the customer”
Flying Horse Coffee, Mare Street, London
Then we switched to a device that offered a loyalty scheme through our POS system. Every time a customer bought a coffee, we would log their name and how many points they had received that day. It added one too many steps and created more questions on orders, which started to slow everything down.
Then I heard about Magic Stamp from a barista who came to work with us. The idea of being able to scan people’s phones was really appealing and it seemed good to push the responsibility back a little bit on to the customer. It’s really helped with easing the queue, which is something that I really prioritise. People always have their phone on them, so they’re ready to go and they know they need to have the app open and ready. They’ve learnt the system because it’s in their phone and they get excited about it. That means that staff don’t have to keep explaining how it works. And not only does the customer get a free seventh coffee after buying six, they also get this positive feedback-type reward sound when their phones are scanned with the device, which is a nice touch.
Then I heard about Magic Stamp from a barista who came to work with us. The idea of being able to scan people’s phones was really appealing and it seemed good to push the responsibility back a little bit on to the customer. It’s really helped with easing the queue, which is something that I really prioritise. People always have their phone on them, so they’re ready to go and they know they need to have the app open and ready. They’ve learnt the system because it’s in their phone and they get excited about it. That means that staff don’t have to keep explaining how it works. And not only does the customer get a free seventh coffee after buying six, they also get this positive feedback-type reward sound when their phones are scanned with the device, which is a nice touch.
LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST HERE
It works really well in our smaller shop and we’ve also integrated it into our larger shop, and people seem to love it there as well. A queue can form really quickly out of nowhere at the bigger venue, so having the app really does help in battling that and answering any questions customers have about the loyalty scheme.
I definitely think we’ll see more cafes integrating these newer types of loyalty schemes into their business in 2020 and in particular, I’m sure people will be introducing more digital methods to help customers remain loyal to their coffee shop.
I definitely think we’ll see more cafes integrating these newer types of loyalty schemes into their business in 2020 and in particular, I’m sure people will be introducing more digital methods to help customers remain loyal to their coffee shop.
.jpg)