A flexible friend suitable for every occasion StockLink’s versatility as an essential POS and enterprise management tool has been reinforced with the release of a new on-line loyalty module, as IBS commercial director Dee Powell explains. An on-line loyalty module suitable for every occasion has been added to the versatile StockLink portfolio to give hospitality businesses a powerful, cost-effective new marketing tool. Specifically designed to maximise flexibility and versatility, the on-line loyalty module gives users total freedom to initiate, target, plan, manage and evaluate the success of loyalty activity. As a highly targeted marketing discipline it will produce additional revenue and increased profits at a fraction of the cost of advertising and other traditional marketing activities. Simplicity is the key to our loyalty on-line module, which runs on the www interacting with a client’s own internet presence and is 10
powered by a back office database residing on either IBS servers or the customer’s own. The on-line loyalty scheme runs on PC POS and Uniwell terminals and offers a high degree of flexibility and control. As I’ve already pointed out, on-line loyalty is designed to be totally flexible and can used as • A customer loyalty card where users accumulate points in direct relation to the amount they spend, in much the same way as the major supermarkets run schemes. Points can be redeemed as vouchers or discounts at the point of sale. This scheme rewards and recognises regular customers and encourages them to spend with you as opposed to taking their custom elsewhere. • A customer discount card where the user can take advantage of any number of highly-focused, pre-programmed schemes to promote and increase sales within a hospitality business. These can range from a free bottle of house wine for diners celebrating special occasions, 10% discount off desserts or starters, 25% off food only or early bird discounts for families eating before a certain time. The choice of promotions and loyalty initiatives is infinite. Each activity is allocated a scheme title and code in the on-line loyalty module and can be changed or updated by the click of a button. • A cashless card scheme for local businesses who can pre-credit accounts
similar to mobile phone pay-as-you-go top-ups. These cards can be coupled with a cash incentive (buy £50 and get £55 worth of credit). Whichever scheme you run, you can regularly communicate with customers by e-mail sent via the on-line module. This can be done individually (an invitation to celebrate a birthday or a wedding anniversary at your outlet) or in batches (to promote early bird meals for customers with young families).
So how does it work? First you need to sign up customers and add their names and details (including birthdays, anniversaries and any other criteria you want to log) to a database. This can be done two ways: either by inviting customers to fill out application forms and then processing internally at head office or asking them to register themselves on-line. Customers are supplied with preprogrammed branded plastic loyalty cards complete with a random six digit number as their exclusive ID for logging on. Once this has been done, you’re ready to boost sales and profits. It really is that straightforward. Of course, we’ll project manage the set up process like we do with all the StockLink modules. Prior to the launch of a scheme, our in-house development team will work closely with a customer’s website team to create, publish and go live with a specific section designed to sign-up customers to the loyalty membership scheme.