Loyalty Programs Help Restaurants in Tough Times

An online survey was conducted in 2010 among members of the National Restaurant Association. There were approximately 1300 responses. The survey had several objectives; namely:
1. investigate the level of penetration of loyalty programs in the industry,
2. identify the types of loyalty programs,
3. collect the metrics being used to measure performance, and
4. determine the level of resources dedicated to support the effort.

There were a number of findings that appear to be significant. They are
1. 77% of the respondents said that loyalty programs helped drive business during the economic turn down,
2. 90% said that the loyalty programs gave them a competitive advantage
3. for those already using loyalty programs, 84% plan to maintain or increase their program investment
4. 74% of the respondents used social media to support their loyalty programs. Facebook was the most common site and was used by 65%, followed by Twitter at 40% and blogging at 17%.

The bottom line is that loyalty programs are clearly a competitive weapon. That weapon has been shown to be particularly effective during the economic downturn in the last two years as can so easily be noticed by the willingness to continue the programs. It is not difficult to image that its effectiveness will continue even as the economy improves. Loyalty programs can provide the added incentive to increase visits from individual customers.