#235: Subscriptions Driving Restaurant Loyalty in South Africa

PAULA: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an industry podcast for Loyalty Marketing Professionals.

PAULA: I’m your host, Paula Thomas, and if you work in Loyalty Marketing, join me every week to learn the latest ideas from Loyalty Specialists around the world.

PAULA: This episode is sponsored by Epsilon.

PAULA: Today I’m delighted to announce a unique opportunity for one lucky listener of Let’s Talk Loyalty to enjoy a complimentary workshop with the loyalty experts at Epsilon.

PAULA: One brand every month will have the chance for a unique, independent loyalty lab.

PAULA: A review of your loyalty program, where Epsilon will share their expert ideas how to drive your program’s performance to a whole new level.

PAULA: This workshop is a powerful way for you to measure and then increase the return on your investment in your loyalty program.

PAULA: So to apply, head over to letstalkloyalty.com forward slash Epsilon and enter your details.

PAULA: Hello, and welcome to this week’s short episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty, when I had a wonderful conversation with a South African loyalty industry expert, Ros Netto.

PAULA: Ros started our conversation by sharing with us her incredible career and the knowledge that she gained working for over a decade with the leading loyalty marketing agency in the country called Truth.

PAULA: After that time, Ros decided it was a great opportunity to bring her expertise to the client side of the industry.

PAULA: And when we spoke in March 2021, she was thrilled to tell me she had joined a company called Real Foods as the customer, CRM, and loyalty specialist for this multi-brand company.

PAULA: We had a conversation firstly discussing the importance and challenges of convincing customers to join and engage in our loyalty programs.

PAULA: And Ros reminded us that customers who don’t redeem the points they’ve earned are 2.3 times more likely to defect than those who do redeem.

PAULA: We also agreed that it’s our job to make it easy for customers to participate.

PAULA: And Ros shared with us some great ideas how to make the customer journey seamless and frictionless, particularly when it comes to that redemption process.

PAULA: I think in the past, we’ve seen many brands whose loyalty programs have become quite complicated over time.

PAULA: So when that happens, inevitably customers lose interest and not just in the loyalty program, but often in the brand itself as well.

PAULA: Most importantly, in this episode, Ros shared with us her insights from launching a subscription-based program for their Kauai brand.

PAULA: Mainly at the time, a program for their super popular smoothies and coffee.

PAULA: Now, most loyalty professionals realize how popular subscription models are becoming for business growth.

PAULA: And we also know there’s more and more customer demand for them around the world.

PAULA: But of course, it’s not easy to create huge extra value for customers without diluting your margins and profits.

PAULA: Ross shared with us some wonderful insights around how they have been tackling those issues and making sure the business benefits in a measurable and profitable way from that subscription program with ideas such as cross selling other products.

PAULA: Now, of course, as loyalty professionals, subscriptions can be an incredible way to build brand loyalty within your customer base.

PAULA: Any customer with a coffee subscription, for example, is highly unlikely to go anywhere else for their coffee, even if it happened to be more convenient for them on any particular day.

PAULA: Clearly, the goal and the potential for a subscription program is to earn 100% of your customer’s wallet in your category.

PAULA: So if your brand has been thinking about starting a subscription-based loyalty program, you will love this episode, and you should definitely give it a listen, and you can find the full interview at letstalkloyalty.com forward slash 90.

PAULA: That’s it for today’s short summary.

PAULA: Otherwise, we have a really exciting week ahead.

PAULA: Firstly, with a highly unusual loyalty program tomorrow, which is for a well-known U.S.-based bridal store.

PAULA: Totally unexpected and a fascinating success story.

PAULA: Then on Thursday, we have another great episode which features Del Taco, and some wonderful insights from their loyalty program, which is called Del Yeah Rewards.

PAULA: I’m thrilled to continue to be joined by guests and clients from such innovative brands that we all know and love as consumers.

PAULA: And now, thanks to them coming on the show, we know them as loyalty leaders as well.

PAULA: So thanks so much for listening, and I look forward to sharing our episodes over the next two days with David’s Bridal Stores and Del Taco.

PAULA: Bye for now.

PAULA: This show is sponsored by The Wise Marketeer, the world’s most popular source of loyalty marketing news, insights and research.

PAULA: The Wise Marketeer also offers loyalty marketing training through its Loyalty Academy, which has already certified over 245 executives in 27 countries as certified loyalty marketing professionals.

PAULA: For more information, check out thewisemarketeer.com and loyaltyacademy.org.

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