10 Questions to Ask about Gift & Loyalty
Ten questions to ask before implementing a gift & loyalty program.
1.Are there fees?
2.Is it gift, prepaid and loyalty?
3.Do I have to buy cards from you?
4.Who owns gift data?
5.Is the gift data encrypted?
6.Is it multistore capable?
7.Are the cards re-loadable?
8.Can you design the front and back?
9.Pooling (Franchise only)?
10.Mobile Option?
Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: gift, gift cards, loyalty
3 GREAT Gift Card Ideas
Gift and prepaid cards can be one of the best ways to promote your coffee shop. Here are 3 GREAT gift and prepaid card ideas we have gathered from customers of our cafe, coffee & pizza point of sale solution.
1) Buy a card, get something free. The key to this is to really push this with customers that pay with a credit card or cash. Those are the customers of your coffee shop that don’t have a card already. If I don’t pay with a prepaid card, then you are missing out! This could be $30 and your drink is free or $50 and you get bread sticks free.
2) Offer a VIP discount for paying with the card. It’s simple really. If they use the card, they get sort of VIP bonus. Offer a free extra shot of espresso, a free flavor shot or topping on a pizza. This pushes the customer to always have money on their card in order to get the reward. 
3) Offer a cash back reward system. Instead of working with buy 10 get 1 free, use our percentage cash back system. This method of loyalty/rewards, allows you to push a percentage (think 5-10%) back to the customers gift card. The customer then always has a balance on their gift card! It is a great way to “train” customers to use their cards on a regular basis.
Want more ideas? Check out more of our blogs on gift cards.
Posted in Gift Cards, Marketing Tagged with: gift cards, loyalty, rewards
4 Gift Card Mistakes
- Marketing: Don’t just put cards in an on the counter rack and expect them to sell. What are you doing to promote your cards?
- Training Staff: Does everyone on your staff know how gift cards work? Do they know the details of how to sell and redeem a card? What about refund policies on cards, promotions or redeeming multiple cards at once? Get your staff on the same page.
- Gift Certificates: Please, just stop selling gift certificates. They are difficult to use, a hassle for customers and leave you vulnerable to theft. Punch card
- Timing: Do you have certain times of the year when gift cards really move (think December)? You should be moving them all year!
Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: gift cards, mistakes
Time To Restock Gift Cards
We made it through yet another holiday season! Now what?
Now it is time to look back over your gift card stock and see how depleted it is. Often, our customers are so happy about getting through the crazy periods that they tend to let our gift card stocks run low. Take a second and go through your current stock and see if you need to place an order. Remember, gift cards take a couple weeks from time of ordering to the time you receive them.
Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: gift cards
New rewards method
SelbySoft has added two new options to our already robust rewards system. Currently SP-1 supports the following:
Buy X get 1 Free: This is a simple method. For example: Buy 10 coffees get 1 free.
Points: In this system you earn points per dollars and then can redeem them at one to five different levels. For example: Every $1.00 spent earns 1 point. You can then redeem 35 points for a free 16oz or 50 points for a small sandwich.
The new method of rewards involves earning a percent of your ticket as a reward. For example: You offer 10% back on all coffee purchases. SP-1 will then automatically keep track of that and give them the ability to apply that as a discount on the ticket! In the example below, the customer already has $4.12 in rewards that can be applied to this ticket.
Of course, like all reward methods, you can specify if they earn points, punches or dollars when a discount is used, limit this by menu categories and sized etc.
The second change that has been made to SP-1 is that you can now specify which group sizes you want to include instead of only excluding. For example, in our current versions you can specify that a customer earns points on coffee drinks but exclude 8oz. With this new method, you can have a different amount of punches or points you want the customer to earn based on the size of the drink. So, you could have 12oz drinks earn a different amount of points than 16oz drinks.
Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: gift cards, loyalty, points, reward
Corporate Reporting
Do you have multiple locations? We all know that moving from store one to store 2 or 20 can be tough. You simply cannot be two places at once!
Maybe you only have one location but have quite a bit of distance to travel.
If either of these situations seem familiar, then our Corporate Reporting option is what you are looking for.
Our Corporate Reporting option is a great way to stay on top of multiple locations. The Corporate Reporting software will allow you to review reporting from any of the locations that are active right from your home, laptop or office. Once this is setup, the store locations will automatically transmit the sales information from the store to the corporate software. On the corporate side you can see any reporting information from the previous day back to the first day you used SP-1. This gives you the ability to manage the reporting for your business without having to interrupt the location.
This software package also allows you to handle multi-location gift and loyalty for free. With this option, you can seamlessly share, in real time, gift and loyalty cards between locations.
Finally our MobileDash and MobileAlerts systems are included with the purchase of the Corporate Reporting software. MobileDash allows you to receive hourly email updates from your store locations. MobileAlerts will send real-time alerts from the store when tickets are voided, audit triggers are met, employees clock in and more.
Need more? Call and ask us about our Full Corporate package and Enterprise options.
Posted in Gift Cards, Reporting Tagged with: corporate, gift cards, mobiledash, reporting
Gift Card Refunds
Do you ever have to offer a refund on a gift card? In some states it is required if the customer asks. For example, here in Washington State, the gift card laws state that you are required to cash out the gift card if the customer asks and if the balance is less than $5.00.
Fortunately, SP-1 has a simple and safe way to handle this!
First we head to System Setup Operations: 2 and turn on the ability to offer a gift card / account refund. We can also set an upper limit here so your employees are not refunding more than you want. To issue a refund, you use the Paid Out button and select gift card in Order Entry.
Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: gift cards, Refunds
3 Different Gift & Loyalty Promotions
Gift cards are a big part of the Coffee and Restaurant industry. The marketing and promotional ideas are virtually endless. Here are seven different and sometimes unusual gift card promotions:
1) Buy a gift card and get a retail product. This works best for those of you that are providing bulk coffee or tea. Instead of discounting a beverage, give them enough beans or bulk tea to take home and make their own. Encourage those retail sales so they drink your product at home and in the store!
2) Buy a card or trade in points to be a VIP. Buy a $100 or $200 card? 10% off pastry sales for the next month. Save 200 points? Trade that in for 10% off drinks in the next month.
3) Enter a contest. Allow customers to trade their reward points in for an entry to win an iPad or something similar. This is a great way to eat up those large point balances you might have out there!
Have an 4th? Comment and let us know!
Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: gift cards
Gift Cards for Your Coffee Shop!
It’s that time again . . . Gift card season is just around the corner! Just a reminder that all gift card orders start taking longer to complete as we get closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Why gift cards?
- They are a proven money maker.
- Customers spend more dollars per transaction.
- ‘Billboard in the wallet’ scenario. The customer sees your logo on a regular basis.
- They can only spend that money in your store!
- Sell a big gift card for a big discount – $250 for $225, $500 for $450, $1,000 for $900. If nothing else it sparks a conversation.
- Start your customer loyalty or rewards program.
- Setup a VIP card for people to receive a percentage off.
Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: gift cards
Pre-Load Your Gift Cards
Just a quick blog today about our gift card system. Apparently, we have not done a great job of letting people know that gift cards can be pre-loaded with a value.
Why pre-load? Well, it makes a great business card for one thing! Pre-load 50 -100 cards with $5 each and use them for business cards and a tool to promote the business.
Call our support department for more information on how to pre-load.
Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: gift cards, pre-load