More than Half of Customers Around the World Want Restaurants to Offer Loyalty Programs via a Mobile App

2/16/2017
Loyalty programs are fairly ubiquitous in the restaurant industry. But just because many restaurants employ loyalty programs doesn't mean they're effective at using them. To help operators better understand what consumers look for in a restaurant loyalty program, Oracle Hospitality surveyed consumers around the world. Its findings are found in " Recipe for Engagement: Essential Ingredients for a Restaurant Loyalty Program an Oracle Hospitality Global Consumer Survey."
 
Some of the key findings from the report include:

In the United States, 71% of consumers want free products (Get the 10th coffee free) and 64% of consumers want a discount on every purchase (Every time they swipe a loyalty card, they get 5% taken off the bill). Preferential treatment such as birthday and anniversary celebrations are also still important to 47% of Americans. However, they're not as interested in being the first to try a new food or beverage item (29%) or using mobile payment through a loyalty app (24%).

Globally, a plastic swipe card is consumers overall preferred loyalty channel (62%), indicating that consumers are willing to share data and provide wallet space. Interestingly, every age group cited plastic swipe cards as their preferred method for participating in a loyalty program. However, mobile phone apps are quickly gaining in popularity. More than  half of customers aged 18-50 around the world want restaurants to offer loyalty programs via a mobile app. Millennial respondents were most likely to want to use mobile apps for loyalty programs (56%), but 50% of the next generation up (Gen Xers) also said that that this method was preferable. However, mobile wallets like PayPal or Apple Pay are the least popular method for managing loyalty, with only 14% of global respondents agreeing that they would like to use this option. Millennials and Gen Xers were more aligned in their attitude towards it, with 19% of both age groups indicating that they would use mobile wallets.

Consumers made it clear that they don't want to give out a lot of personal information when signing up for a loyalty program nor do they want to fill out a long-winded or complex form. In the United States, 40% of consumers say that if too much information is required they won't sign up and 32% say they won't sign up if the process is too time-consuming or difficult. And consumers will leave a loyalty program that doesn't work for them. For instance, 50% of Americans will leave a program if the rewards expire too quickly and 48% will leave if the rewards are too difficult to earn. Similarly, if the rewards are too difficult to claim, 45% of Americans will leave a program and if the rewards aren't relevant, 39% of Americans will leave.
 
To read the report in full, visit: https://go.oracle.com/LP=45901?elqCampaignId=80260
X
This ad will auto-close in 10 seconds