Wine Making
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Loyalty Cards Systems - Beware, Some Should Be Avoided
   
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Conflict Of Interest
One of the most insidious traps in the world of business (or in
any other place for that matter) is this thing called a
"conflict of interest". The .....
One of the most insidious traps in the world of business (or in
any other place for that matter) is this thing called a
"conflict of interest". The .....
Recently, I discussed a loyalty card system with a vendor who
was selling quite a number of his systems to restaurants. I was
shocked to discover the lack of detailed information that this
vendor catered for, and the opportunities the system he provided
squandered.
The way their scheme works is that whenever a restaurant
customer is presented with a bill, they provide their loyalty
card to the waiter, who swipes it at the till. If the customer
has accumulated sufficient points from previously purchased
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Or as I like to say When the student is ready, the teacher shall appear! By the way, have I .....
meals, he/she is awarded a rebate on the price of the meal.-A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind, Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi (1893 - 1986)
Or as I like to say When the student is ready, the teacher shall appear! By the way, have I .....
This is simple price discounting based on repeat purchases. No
other marketing activities are carried out - either by the
loyalty card company, or by the restaurant - to proactively
influence the number of times the card holder frequents the
restaurant - they rely solely on the meal discount to attract
customers back for more meals.
This is a system that is woefully underexploited.
I asked about the level of detail that was transmitted to the
card site - and was once again disappointed - only the total
meal cost was transmitted. The customer profile that was being
created was extremely superficial. My view was further confirmed
when I asked whether the 'significant other', or other family
members' details were collected. Once again, no.
The key things wrong with this service offering:
* Lack of transaction details. These days, with broadband
communication and high volume data disks, there is really no
excuse not to collect data at transaction level. * The simple
act of recording the bill at individual meal item level opens up
a wealth of information:
- Number of main meals - if there are children in the family
unit (provided during signup), analysis of the bill will provide
a clear indication of whether the whole family always eats out,
or if on occaision the parents treat themselves to a quiet night
on their own - possibly anniversaries, or birthdays, or just a
regular night away from the kids. - Types of meals - red meat,
fish, vegetarian - which could be used for special promotions -
Beer, cheap wine, or expensive wine drinker
If you had the above information at your finger tips, who would
you rather focus your marketing efforts on to get to come back
to your restaurant - the family of six that buys budget meals,
and drinks beer and soda, or 3 couples ordering starters,
high-priced meals, drinking quality wine, and finishing off with
expensive liqueurs?
* Even recording the value of the tip could be useful. A
usually-generous tipper who awards a low tip (possibly to a new
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waiter) is giving a clear indication of a bad experience. ThisHow to Send the Perfect Mother' s Day Gift Online
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information could be used by the restaurant owner to contact the
customer within a few days to establish what was wrong with the
meal or service, and to invite the customer back with an offer
of a generous discount for the next meal.
* Not getting the details of the 'significant other' and
details of any children prevents marketing to special days. Its
pretty pointless merely getting the birthday of the cardholder -
it's not that compelling to get an SMS or postcard suggesting
that you treat yourself to a special night out. It's far more
effective to receive a prompt to take your significant other out
for that special meal. Children's birthdays are another
opportunity to encourage the family to come out to the
restaurant for a slap-up meal -but this is only possible if you
take the trouble to collect the data...
Hopefully the above points have provided some ideas as to how
basic transaction data can be used effectively by an information
analyst or direct marketer.
If you are approached by a vendor to implement a loyalty scheme,
or you are thinking about calling for proposals from scheme
suppliers, make sure that you investigate the level of data
detail that each supplier collects.
If data is recorded at line item level - i.e. product ID,
quantity, and price - then you will have a wealth of sales data
that you can start using for a variety of campaigns. If they
only provide you with a bill total per meal, then I suggest you
look elsewhere for a more effective loyalty card scheme.
2005 Intellinova (Pty) Ltd. - All Rights Reserved This article
may be reprinted, provided it is published in its entirety,
includes the author bio information, and all links remain
active.
About the author:
For the past 20 years, Jeff Walters has transformed raw data
into profit-producing strategic information in various sectors -
banking, insurance, gambling, medical, government. He has lead
several data-to-information projects: ABC Costing, analytical
CRM, datamart development, and Balanced Scorecard.
Want to convert your raw data into strategic assets? Contact
Jeff Walters via : www.IntelliNova.com, or
www.SystematicDirectMarketing.com