May 18, 2015
Automated Email Marketing and Restaurant Loyalty Program
Restaurants can increase customer loyalty with our new loyalty tools suite that blends an automated email marketing program with a restaurant loyalty program. This tool set creates more value for our restaurants that use Reservation Genie with Open Table by rewarding customers who book directly from your website with loyalty perks for repeat visits. Why put an Open Table widget on your website when they steer your customers towards your competitors that pay premiums when you can use our widget and we’ll encourage them to come back to your restaurant more often?
To configure your restaurant loyalty program, simply login to Reservation Genie and visit Marketing > Loyalty Tools. There you can customize your automated email marketing. Simple select a loyalty perk, adjust the suggested fine print to match your restaurant’s needs, load a custom image for the email, and send test emails to your staff for review. Then add our widget to your website (if you haven’t already) and Reservation Genie will automatically send offers and reward loyalty as customers complete certain goals. Reservations show up on your Reservations screen and in notifications with a gift icon indicating a perk is to be given. Customers can also show the perk to servers on their phone. Reservation Genie tracks when perks have expired or been used so customers can’t manipulate the system. Below you can see an example of the email and learn about what customer activity is rewarded.
Thank You Offer
The Thank You Offer rewards new customers after they book their first reservation at your restaurant with a special offer to come back in the next 2 weeks. Saying thank you to new customers builds good will and is a nice gesture in general. This perk also helps customers form a pattern of going to your restaurant. You want to become their one of their favorite spots for “Date Night” or “Friday Lunch Team Meeting”.
We Miss You Offer
This tool targets “lost customers” by sending a special offer if they haven’t been back in 60 days. In this day and age, customers have a low attention span and forget about places they loved. The We Miss You Offer serves as a reminder and the perk as an incentive to act. This offer also expires after 2 weeks.
Unlock Perks on Every 5th Visit
One of the main requests we had from restaurants was to reward customers periodically. Our initial loyalty tool, the VIP List outlined below, only rewards the 10 most active customers over the last 90 days. That left out the average customer that doesn’t dine out as often. We didn’t want to forget about the average customer while catering to evangelists. The Unlock Offer is sent after completing 4 reservations and automatically awarded on every 5th reservation, regardless of whether or not they act on the email.
VIP List
Our first loyalty tool, the VIP list rewards the 10 most active customers over the last 90 days with perks every time they book as long as they stay on the list. It generates competition, and from that, comes super customers we like to refer to as evangelists. These customers invite their friends in with them, host their birthday parties with you, follow you on social sites, and leave great reviews. Learn more about how the Reservation Genie VIP List drives customer engagement here.
Summary
Many restaurants spend their marketing attention on reaching new customers and forget that getting customers coming back more often equally, if not more, important. These loyalty tools form a comprehensive program to get customers coming back again and again. Plus they’re easy to set up and 100% automated. We’re already seeing 4.6 visits per year from customers to restaurants that offer a compelling loyalty perk. With these new tools, we hope to double that number.
Please do feel free to ask questions, share the post, and Schedule a Demo to learn more.
Best,
Ivan Collins
Founder
Reservation Genie