Three crowds, three behaviours
At lunch, local customers, often office workers, who come every week and sometimes several times. The bill varies little. They compare with nearby places and easily switch for something new.
In the evening and at weekends, rarer visits, bigger tables, higher bills. People choose a place they know for an occasion.
Takeaway, if you offer it, goes through the counter and is credited like a visit in the dining room. Orders placed through a delivery platform, on the other hand, do not go through your counter: the customer does not show a card there.
Choosing the priority crowd
A card carries a single rule. So you have to decide which crowd matters most for your revenue, or for the services you need to fill. A neighbourhood restaurant that lives off lunch does not set up its card like a fine-dining table that lives off the weekend.
The rule: per visit or per bill
Per visit, with a stamp card, if lunch dominates: every lunch counts, the customer understands at once, and the staff member credits in one gesture.
Per bill, with points per euro, if amounts vary a lot: the customer who treats six people is rewarded in proportion to what they spend. It is also the rule that best covers a restaurant with both crowds, since it penalises neither the small nor the large bill.
The rewards that fit
- Something consumed on site, like a coffee or a dessert. The customer comes back to get it, and orders around it.
- A free menu or main course for a more distant tier, which speaks to the lunch crowd.
- A voucher in the customer's name for their birthday, with an expiry date: a reason to book a table.
Avoid percentage discounts on the bill as the basic reward: they cost more on large tables, and they compare badly from one customer to another.
Tables, groups and shared bills
A bill paid in one go credits a single card, that of the customer who shows it. With a stamp card, a table of four therefore counts as one visit. One more reason to choose points per euro if you host many groups.
When guests pay separately, each one can show their card. And it is a good opportunity to offer the card to those who do not have one.
Signing up customers during service
The only moment when the phone is already in hand is the bill. Put the sign-up QR code on a table tent or next to the card terminal, and give the team a short sentence, the same for everyone. Signing up takes about thirty seconds: first name, email, and the card joins the Wallet.
Credit the first stamp or the first points right away. A customer who leaves with an empty card has fewer reasons to remember it.
Filling quiet services
Every restaurant has its lulls: Monday evening, the start of the week, mid-afternoon for a tea room. In AnkorCard, two settings lend themselves to this: a points multiplier on a time slot, and an automatic message that announces it on the days you choose.
A targeted message also works: announcing the dish of the day for a usually quiet service to customers who come often, rather than to the whole base.
What to write, and when
- The new menu, on the day it changes.
- An event: an evening, a festive menu, a guest in the kitchen.
- Exceptional closures and holidays, with the reopening date.
- A message to customers who have not come for two months, with a reason to come back.
Two to four messages a month are enough. On iPhone, they show on the lock screen with your logo. See the card's notifications.
Following the results
After a month, look at three things in the dashboard: how many customers signed up, how many came back, and how many rewards were used. The list of best customers also gives you the names to know on the floor, which is not the least benefit of a card.
To put it into practice, the restaurant loyalty card page shows how all this is set up in AnkorCard.