Learn how to set up and succeed with your Shopify food and beverage loyalty program
The online food and beverage market has grown exponentially recently and will continue to do so in coming years.
This growth brings various opportunities for eCommerce food and beverage brands to attract and engage customers.
A key part of today’s eCommerce food and beverage brands are loyalty programs.
75% of customers prefer to transact with brands that have a loyalty or rewards program.
In this blog, we deep dive into customer loyalty programs for food and beverage brands, what they are, the benefits of using them, how to set up a good loyalty program, and much more.
Let’s get started!
The rise of the online food and beverage market
Just like other industries, the online food and beverage market is experiencing vibrancy and growth like never before.
There are new online food and beverage brands springing up every day, with new technological and digital capabilities supporting them.
Consider these statistics:
- The food & beverages eCommerce market is expected to grow to $140.42 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 19.1%
- The total of global retail eCommerce sales is expected to make up 22% of global retail sales in 2024
- F&B is the fastest growing industry in eCommerce
- Social commerce in F&B is estimated to increase by 180% by 2028
What are customer loyalty programs for food and beverage stores?
Loyalty programs for food and beverage stores are points or rewards systems designed to engage customers. Loyalty programs offer many benefits, perks, and advantages to customers and ensure that customers keep coming back for more.
However, customer loyalty programs for food and beverage brands may differ from those in other industries because of the nature of the products, the industry systems, and consumer preferences.
For instance, offers such as Buy-One-Get-One may not work for certain products because customers don’t want to overstock on perishable items. Instead, an offer such as free delivery may appeal more to customers.
The F&B eCommerce market includes various types of businesses, including, online grocery delivery, subscriptions, online restaurants, organic food, etc.
Here are some example loyalty programs in the food and beverage sector:
Dunkin Donuts Rewards
Chipotle Rewards
Benefits of customer loyalty programs for food and beverage stores
Your food and beverage loyalty program should offer benefits to both your customers and you. Let’s look at some benefits you can expect your eCommerce food and beverage brand to bring.
1. Boost sales
Loyalty programs in the F&B industry help increase sales. Customers prefer to transact with brands that have some sort of a loyalty or rewards program because these programs offer them perks, improving their satisfaction.
2. Build stronger customer connections
Loyalty programs provide exclusive benefits to a select segment of customers. This makes them feel special, hence building stronger connections. Moreover, it gives customers a community feel, which makes them want to engage and stick around longer.
3. Improves retention rates
Studies show loyalty programs can help increase retention rates by 25%. When customers receive benefits, perks, and points, they feel encouraged to return to your store for more. Moreover, if you ensure that you offer an engaging experience, they won’t want to switch to other brands.
4. Faster growth and scaling
With eCommerce food and beverage stores, you can target many customers at once. Add in a loyalty program, and your possibilities for scaling and growth can multiply many times.
How to set up customer loyalty programs for food and beverage brands?
Follow these actionable steps to set up a loyalty program with a strong foundation. Ensuring the basics are well-thought out will set you up for success. Here are some tips to get you started.
1. Design a program that is unique and aligns with your brand
There are many types of loyalty and rewards programs but you must design one that is relevant to your brand. Moreover, most brands create similar programs. If you want to stand out from the crowd, create a program that customers will find value in. For that, you will have to understand your customer segments and their preferences.
Here are a few ideas to design your loyalty program:
- Create a points-based program: Offer points on purchases, referrals, repeat purchases, subscriptions, etc.
- Create tiered loyalty program with gamification elements: Customers enjoy benefits based on the level they belong to and can progress levels as they earn more points
- Paid loyalty program: Customers pay a fee to enjoy exclusive benefits and perks
- Value-based loyalty programs: Brands donate a portion of sales to specific causes and charities
2. Define your objectives and rewards
One of the most important aspects to figure out for your loyalty program is the ‘why’.
You must know your goals and what you’re trying to achieve through the loyalty program. There could be many objectives- for example:
- Increase the minimum order value
- Improve your brand image
- Boost customer engagement on your Shopify store
- Focus on improving customer loyalty
Each of these aspects can help you understand what exactly you want from your loyalty program and what you should do to achieve it.
For instance, to improve engagement, you can incorporate gamification into your customer loyalty program for food and beverage brands.
Your objectives will also help you decide and define your program rewards. For instance, if you want to increase the minimum order value, you can offer more points or create more opportunities to earn points.
3. Clearly state how to earn and use points
Once you decide on your rewards structure, make sure you clearly convey it to customers. To avoid misleading or confusing customers, you must have complete clarity on the points structure.
Here’s what you can do:
- Create a dedicated page for your food and beverage loyalty program
- Clearly mention the rewards and points that customers can earn for different actions
- Explain the points structure clearly using text and visuals
- Mention examples of earning and using points
- Don’t leave anything to guesswork
- Be honest about any limitations, points expiration, etc.
4. Make your loyalty program exciting
This is one of the most important factors to pay attention to if you want a successful loyalty program in the food and beverage industry — making sure your audience does not lose interest.
Run of the mill loyalty programs will not be able to attract new members or retain the existing ones.
Here are some things to do:
- Add engaging elements into your loyalty program
- Monitor and measure engagement levels in different elements
- If certain elements are not adding engagement, remove them
- Double up on the elements that are bringing excitement and engagement
- Be consistent in adding new elements to keep customers engaged
5. Provide benefits beyond your own products
Only offering product-based benefits and perks might become repetitive at a certain point and customers may get bored of the same benefits.
Variety can help push your loyalty program in a whole new direction.
Here are some benefits you can offer that have nothing to do with your products:
- Convert reward points into gift cards, vouchers for other brands.
- Collaborate with other brands that are not in the food and beverage industry
- Organize special fun and entertaining events for loyalty program members
6. Monitor, analyze, and optimize your loyalty program
To ensure you are going on the right track with your F&B loyalty program, you will have to continuously monitor and analyze the performance of your program.
The food and beverage market and the loyalty market keep changing along with customer preferences and demands. To stay up to date with market trends, ensure you consistently monitor your loyalty program, analyze its performance and optimize it to make it better.
You must keep a track of the number of your members, new members, churn rate, average order value, customer lifetime value, etc.
How to set up customer loyalty programs for food and beverage brands with Appstle Loyalty?
There are many Shopify loyalty and rewards apps in the market. But one of them stands out — Appstle Loyalty and Rewards App. In this section, we look at the features of this comprehensive app that can take your food and beverage loyalty program to new heights.
- Multiple ways to earn points for customers: Appstle offers many types of activity rules that enable customers to earn more points, including for purchase, birthday, new customers, social media activity, leaving reviews, etc.
- Many types of loyalty programs: With Appstle Loyalty and Rewards App, you can set up different types of loyalty programs—paid, tier-based, gamified, etc.
- Gamification features: The app incorporates gamification features for awarding and redeeming loyalty points so customers always stay engaged.
- Performance analytics to optimize further: Appstle Loyalty app provides in-depth analytics so you can know what’s working and what’s not in your loyalty program
- Excellent customer support: Appstle App provides 24/7/365 support so that Shopify merchants can get all their queries addressed instantly
- Customized points redemption: Appstle allows customers to redeem their loyalty points in many ways, such as free shipping, discounts, gifts, donation towards causes, etc.
- Seamless integration with other apps: With Appstle, you can provide an omnichannel experience to customers across platforms such as social media, app, website, etc.
Summing up
You can easily get started with setting up a customer loyalty program for your food and beverage brand using the Appstle Loyalty and Rewards App.
The app is designed for Shopify and Shopify Plus stores across industries, including for loyalty programs for the food and beverage industry.
As mentioned earlier in the blog, Appstle Loyalty and Rewards app offers features such as gamification of loyalty programs, customization features, seamless integration with third party apps, easy migration from other loyalty apps, and excellent customer support. This makes Appstle the best choice for Shopify F&B brands.
Install Appstle Loyalty and Rewards App on your Shopify store today!
