So, we pulled the trigger on loyalty cards at long last. We have ordered 1000 of them for starters, and will receive our full color, glossy. 2-sided cards soon. Cost delivered is $27.86. I think that is great for high end cards like these from GotPrint. I am sure others will have companies they use . . . and I say USE THEM NOW if you don’t have loyalty program.
Notice on the back we give a reason for people to get them and use them . . . a free 16" topping whenever they present card at the counter. We give 1 punch per $20 visit, and a free 16" pizza after 10th punch. So, customer spends $200 and we spend $6.53 for the card, 10 free toppings and give-away pie. Our goal is to bump our $15 order customers up, and to entice more repeat orders. We’ll see how the marketplace works. I suspect maybe 1/3 of the customers will use it, if that. But, it becomes a marketing tool to send to new customers . . . and creates more special offer opportunity. Think “2fer Tuesdays - Double Punches for loyalty card users”.
We are even suggesting this sort of idea to our newest tenant, a beauty shop, who just opened next door. Added value and a return for repeat visits is a low cost.
Nick, what sort of punch are you using? A left hook or a right jab? :lol:
I considered using a hole punch but I saw it was open to fraud (people doing it themselves) so we went for a stamp of our brand name, using self inking stamp.
If you go with the hole punch I would look at getting something that is an odd shape hole (star, triangle etc) that is not easily found in the common household.
Hope your loyalty scheme is a knockout :oops: :roll:
Loyalty programs are great, however, I find myself more often patronizing places that track purchase for me on their POS versus ones that make me carry a card around…The cards look nice…
PS…I have a number of clients that have their customers collect a number of magnets to get a free pizza…
Wa Dave the way to get around the “fake” punches is to sell a “pre-paid card”…So many slices or pies for a certain price…No one is going to punch their own card and lose…Also, cards get lost and any non-redemptions are in your favour…Plus you get cash up front and reduces transactions you need to handle…During a busy lunch or dinner it is far easier to punch a card than ring in each trasnaction, handle cash, make change, process credit or debits cards, etc…
We ordered a punch online from OnlineRiver. It will be . . . an octagon. You find a punch with that shape to rip me off, then you deserve a free pizza!
I know what you are talking about, Royce, with the POS tracking. I wanted to start off using this as a very visible new print asset to get into town, and have the coupon value on the back. When we find out if there is ANY interest at all, then we will work into POS tracking and such. We want it to be interactive with the customers, though, and generate buzz. Hence the glossy color cards to start with. Then the bonus punch nights.
I may flop, or it may fly . . . 3 hours design work by me and $30 to find out
I think there is also great value in the “Billboard in the Wallet” concept. Everytime your customer is looking in there wallet, there is your punch card with your name!
There is also value in the customer have something tangeable to see how close they are to a free pizza, and the excitement they have when they hand a full card over to you in return for their free pizza. We use the Grande stamp card, which I believe 50% of our customers use.
We put the free large topping offer on the back of the card to give it value to carry around and to the shop. You have to have it BEFORE you order to get that offer. We’ll punch you a new card if your order is $20.
We will move towards tokens for redemption, but the cost is a good bit higher than $30 to get into that one straight off.
I was just at the local craft store and guess what? they have about 12 different shaped hole punches. I think it would be a good idea to use a stamp. I have also done loyalty cards like this and had my printer make up a stamp with my stores initials and it cost me less then 15 bucks and it is easy to make it small enough to use on a card like you have. I know most people are honest but you dont have to worry about those ones!
We went back and forth on this as well. We want to start off planning to build the dine-in and pick-up business with this promotion. Delivery customers cost us more money . . big time. The challenges are more than we want to deal with right now because we have difficulty having a consistent delivery driver staffed, and adding a stamp process to the already stressed delivery times would make it even longer for all customers.
I understand that some might get put off . . . and we are prepared for that. If customers start asking about using it for deliveries, then we get another promotional opportunity if we decide to open it up. It will definitely be a feeling out process to see how the delivery customers react. We may need to include them, and maybe have a different threshold for a stamp??
To the operators who use loyalty programs . . . . How do you guys handle delivery orders? I suspect POS systems will make it easier, so let me know if you use cards or a POS to handle the process.
Nick,
Maybe you can get some cool little stickers made that will fit over the little octagons. Then you can send out stickers with the deliveries and let the customer put them on their cards.
I would recommend that you DO include delivery customers. As you know, some of your best customers have never and probably never will set foot in your store. That’s just the way they are. Yet, the whole point of this type of program is repeat business and loyalty comes in different forms.
If you do decide to include delivery, be sure to be prepared to get this “Can I get my Free Pizza delivered?” We have a simple response, “Absolutely we can bring you your free pizza, but you still need to meet our $10 minimum for delivery.”
My loyalty program is similar, but I wanted to get away from the traditional punch cards. I use customized poker chips that are given to my customers. It has been highly successful since I began it earlier this year.
Pizzafanatic,
I love the poker chips GREAT IDEA. I staple our menu to each pizza with a coupon on the back that says" Save 20 coupons for a FREE 14"pizza with one topping". Works out good for us.
I have several clients who hand out magnets with each order…Collect so many and you get free food of some sort…Some recycle the magnets although you need to watch for ones that do not look good enough to go out again…
keytags are very inexpensive and they would also help your carryout business. You could do a keytag that is round like a pizza and stamp them out also. Buy 5 pizza’s get the 6th free???
Looks good Nick. I like the idea of pushing pick ups over deliveries. One of my shops have a 71% delivery rate and I would like to switch that around. Deliveries are started to be problematic and costly. I just opened another shop 4 weeks ago and pick ups are at 86% of total sales. This shop is so much easier and my labor has dropped 14%.
If I could, I would eliminate deliveries all together.
