For Restaurant Patrons, Loyalty Rewards and Subscription Programs Go Hand in Hand

Restaurants looking to drive loyalty adoption might want to consider adding a subscription program to attract rewards-minded customers.

By the Numbers

According to data from the February/March edition of PYMNTS’ Digital Divide study, “Digital Divide: Restaurant Subscribers And Loyalty Programs, created in collaboration with Paytronix, which drew from a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. consumers, 58% of restaurant subscription holders report that loyalty programs are “very or extremely important” to their choice of restaurant. This share is well above the 10% of those who are uninterested in restaurant subscriptions who said the same.

See also: Report: Four in 10​ Consumers Open to Restaurant Subscription Services

The Data in Action

In an interview with PYMNTS, Sweetgreen Chief Digital Officer Daniel Shlossman explained that the company’s test of a subscription program, Sweetpass, which offered a $3 credit back on one purchase a day for 30 days for a $10 one-time fee, helped boost loyalty.

He noted that the offering not only increased the frequency of customers who already purchased often but also of those who had not been active in a while and of new customers.

“We saw that, no matter what type of customer you were, you came back more often in that period,” he said.

Related news: Sweetgreen Spins Purchases Into Personal ‘Challenges’ to Drive Mobile Engagement