For any small business, repeat customers are key. That’s why Amanda Mizen decided to start a loyalty program at her east Toronto bakery Desmond & Beatrice. Like many small business owners who are working with a limited budget, Mizen decided to try the do-it-yourself route, creating a homemade punch card and handing it out to customers.
After evaluating the DIY loyalty program Mizen realized she couldn’t track results easily, and she also wanted to find out more about the customers who were using the card and send out marketing messages to her frequent customers.
“We had tried our own in-house loyalty program with just the basic sort of homemade stamp card,” Mizen said. “It’s hard to track, and it just wasn’t as successful as we had hoped.”
That’s when Mizen decided to ditch the punch card for Vicinity. She joined in October 2013, offering one point for each visit, with five points getting customers a free cupcake or square. Since then she’s signed up over 300 customers who have visited a total of 834 times, earning 59 rewards in the process.
“We have two types of customers. We have the person that comes in daily for their cookie fix or their cupcake fix, and then we have birthday party orders and that type of thing,” Mizen said, adding that Vicinity helps them target the daily customer and keep them engaged.
In addition to signing up customers in-store, Mizen has also been using the merchant dashboard to send out marketing emails to her Vicinity members, with a recent email campaign promoting $2 cupcakes on Valentine’s Day.
Ultimately Mizen said that ditching the punch card and moving to Vicinity has helped her track her customers, reach out to them more often, and build up those elusive VIP customers, the ones who come in often to satisfy their sweet tooth.
“Vicinity is simple, it’s easy, and it’s trackable. The most beneficial thing for us is that it’s turned the occasional customer into a repeat customer.”
Want more information about how you can use Vicinity to power your loyalty platform? Schedule a consultation now.
