More than half of consumers surveyed visit a restaurant at least twice per month to earn rewards
HungerRush, the leading cloud software provider for the restaurant industry, announced new research that reveals how restaurant loyalty and rewards programs impact consumer behaviors. The survey indicates that rewards programs increase the frequency of visits by members, improve customer loyalty, and provide restaurant owners with the opportunity to gather valuable data to personalize and tailor future offers.
Amid ongoing economic constraints, consumers are tightening the purse strings, and this is impacting how and when they dine out. In fact, in another survey (The RushReport: The 2023 Restaurant Consumer Experience Report), HungerRush found that 50% of Americans are dining out less frequently due to inflation. For restaurants trying to capture customer attention and drive sales, bringing in customers is critical, and loyalty and rewards programs are an effective strategy to increase foot traffic.
According to this survey, 55% of consumers visit establishments where they earn rewards at least two times per month and once signed up, 51% say they wouldn’t stop going to the restaurant if the program was devalued or changed. Moreover, programs encourage positive word of mouth from loyal customers, 47% of consumers say they encourage friends and family to sign up for programs they feel offer the best benefits.
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“When a restaurant opens its doors, the goals are simple: make great food, drive sales, and create an experience that keeps consumers coming back for more”
Restaurants that use HungerRush loyalty programs are unstoppable
“HungerRush’s loyalty offering allows me to refocus time on the operations side of my business, improve and personalize consumer experiences without skipping a beat,” said Jeremy Galvin, President of Master Pizza Ohio. “It is one less thing for me to think about.”
“When a restaurant opens its doors, the goals are simple: make great food, drive sales, and create an experience that keeps consumers coming back for more,” said Perry Turbes, CEO of HungerRush. “Having a strong loyalty and rewards program creates meaningful connections with a restaurant’s community and is an easily implementable strategy to increase brand awareness, loyalty, and sales.”
Loyalty programs are also an invaluable way for businesses to gather insightful customer data and when used correctly, consumers are amenable to share this information. The survey showed that 61% of consumers are comfortable giving out their information in exchange for relevant discounts and offerings, tailored more to their likes and preferences. Furthermore, 71% of millennials and 63% of Gen Z consumers are willing to share their personal information with restaurants in exchange for more frequent or personalized offers, compared to 50% of Boomers. By leveraging consumer data, restaurants can use the information to understand the demographics of their customer base, time promotions, plan inventory, forecast order surges, and deliver a connected restaurant experience that feels personal to guests.
The additional value that restaurants can benefit from is connecting loyalty to ordering via marketing. This is part of the connected restaurant experience vision of HungerRush.
By capturing critical order data as part of a loyalty program, restaurants can in turn directly market to these customers with personalized promotions via email and text message. Text promotions can be responded to directly in our text ordering channel. This linkage and convenience is proven to drive additional loyalty and results in a significant lift in repeat order volumes.
“HungerRush’s loyalty program is a must-have,” said Victor Martinez, Chief Operating Officer of PieZoni’s. “Having all of my tools with HungerRush is paramount these days. The HungerRush solution has consistently helped us achieve a 20% redemption rate while improving our bottom line by 10-20%. We reach 70,000 consumers with each email we send out. You can’t get that type of return on investment anywhere else.”
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