Better Customer Loyalty Programs Through a POS System
Lazy Bean Cafe understood what it needed to keep the doors open and run a successful business: customer loyalty. Nothing beats consistent, habitual customers. The one that comes in for their coffee every day will help you get a consistent base of what your sales are going to be. Additionally, you want them to keep expanding what they purchase on the menu.
Any seasoned business owner understands the importance of customer loyalty. But how can we increase our business’s fanbase and build these programs? One way is through a POS system.
4 Ways POS Systems Support Customer Loyalty
According to hubspot.com, a POS accomplishes this in four ways:
- Data Storage – Know your numbers such as inventory and sales. Particularly, know your customer’s stats. You can track customer activity, rewards and spot potential brand advocates based on transaction history.
- Points System – No more punch cards to lose. The system tracks each customer’s reward track. You can even customize offers according to customer data.
- Automation – From inventory alerts to reward calculations, all your data is in one spot and everything is automatic.
- Reporting – Measure the success of your program and analyze customer spending from individuals to groups.
Building Fans with Clover
Lazy Bean Cafe is located in Teaneck, New Jersey, right in the heart of the business district. They offer a variety of beverages and food, including hot drinks, cold drinks, sandwiches, frozen yogurt, salad bar and more. After being around for 20 years, change was bound to be on the horizon. In fact, they needed to find a system that could instantly communicate with customers in an easy way and would keep a record of what they were buying. That’s when they adopted Clover.
Improvements began immediately. Their promotions and rewards app had customers signing up and kept increasing month over month by about 10%. Word of mouth quickly spread over time to increase sales even during this COVID period.
First impressions from Lazy Bean
- Setup – Setting it up was quick and easy. Simply, take the hardware out of the box and log into your Clover dashboard where you can set up menu items and rewards in minutes.
- Employee Training – Again, quick and easy. Training took between 30 minutes to an hour.
- System Help – If there are any issues, simply click a button and Clover immediately calls.
- Customer Reactions – They like anything new. They love being able to track their rewards. All they have to do is download the app.
Overall, for Lazy Bean Cafe, Clover was modern, efficient and quick.
More Than a POS
Clover began about 10 years ago and started as a loyalty program that could earn you points at your favorite coffee shop. It would detect customers coming in, completing payment and picking up orders. It then also got integrated into point of sale systems.
But Clover really wanted to help small and medium businesses with new tools and technologies. They thought, “Why can’t we go ahead and build a platform where the payment transaction is the core and then we just allow third parties to build on top of it?” And that’s exactly what they did. And so Clover was built for that reason, to help merchants.
The main function is to handle payments, but Clover also aims to provide beautiful hardware that merchants like to have in their stores. Then, there is also a platform where close to 500 different software developers build specific applications to serve particular verticals and use needs. The Clover team realized they can’t build every feature and every function to serve everybody. So they focus on building the core hardware and software that will really help people run their business and then also look at partnerships.
Use Clover with or without hardware.
Creating a Business Edge
Competitive places and merchants are always looking for an edge. And probably the best way to have an edge is to form a deep and lasting relationship with your good customers. Many people really get into customer loyalty programs and feel really rewarded when they actually see that the merchant recognizes them for returning. Whether they get something large or small, it’s very much appreciated by the customer. And having a POS help out sounds like a wise business move.