Note: As part of a regular series, we’ll take a look at some of our clients who have achieved success with our one-stop loyalty reward program. We’ve seen proven results for some time – now, we’d like to share them with you to give you a better idea of how implementing our program can help you acquire, grow, and retain your customer base and ultimately, improve your business.

Customer Profile

Name: Shangri-La
Business Type: Chinese Restaurant
Location: Los Gatos, California
Member Since: July 2011

Background: Serving up authentic Chinese with locally-grown ingredients

Located in the popular King’s Court Shopping Center in Los Gatos (and just south of downtown San Jose), Shangri-La is an authentic Chinese restaurant with a focus on friendly service, a comfortable and casual atmosphere, and of course, delicious food (their signature dishes include their Chinese Chicken Salad with a family dressing recipe that’s been passed down for generations, as well as their renowned General’s Chicken). They also pride themselves on featuring as many organic and locally-grown food items as possible in an effort to maximize freshness and overall quality.

With delicious and fresh food located in a busy part of town, Shangri-La had no problem getting customers in the door. Getting them involved in the restaurant’s previous loyalty reward program, however, was a different story. Shangri-La had been using a standard paper punch-card for several years, but Tom, the owner, was wise enough to realize that having a credible and engaging loyalty program was key in not only gaining new repeat customers, but also in getting current loyal customers to come in even more frequently. Tom’s goal was above all to leave his repeat customers with a positive and rewarding experience each and every time they participated in the new loyalty program.

Goals: Get rid of the hassle of punch cards

First and foremost, Shanri-La needed to completely get rid of the punch card system. As many businesses report, too often customers would forget to have their cards on-hand when purchasing food, which wouldn’t allow them to add progress to their account. Worse yet, they would often lose the cards altogether, and since they were non-computerized, there was no way for the customers to regain their efforts and prior purchases on their lost cards. Tom and the Shangri-La staff wanted to implement a system that could be seamlessly integrated to their POS system, and also one that would allow customers to give additional information (such as their email address or phone number) to still earn rewards if they happened to forget their card.

They also wanted to have a loyalty rewards program in place that would allow them to view customer spending habits. This would allow the restaurant to better assign deals based on certain dishes’ popularity and spending habits on particular times and days of the week.

Solution: Offer straightforward rewards digitally

In July of 2011, Tom signed up for FiveStar’s proven loyalty reward marketing program to specifically address his aforementioned goals, as well as shore up all of the shortcomings that outdated paper punch cards present. The Chinese eatery opted for our straightforward points reward system, with each $5 spent earning the customer one point. For every 25 points a customer would accrue, he or she would be rewarded with a free entrée at the restaurant.

Results: $388,000 spent by their most loyal customers

We are happy to report that Shangri-La has seen notable success since instituting our loyalty program. They have added over 2,300 new members to its program, including 270 VIP Members who have racked up 15 or more visits. 522 members in the program have referred Shangri-La to friends, and since its inception, Tom and his staff have been able to track approximately $388,000 in valuable customer spending, which in turn has given them invaluable marketing data, allowing them to fine tune their promotional efforts. They have also seen an 18% increase in customer visits each month.

Tom loves that he no longer has to deal with the outdated paper punch cards, and he has stated that his customers are extremely happy about still being able to earn points when they forget or misplace their card. To date, the average Shangri-La customer has accumulated over 30 points, which is an excellent sign that they are continuing to come back to the restaurant, are engaging with the program, and are no longer frustrated with the old paper punch cards.

“With Fivestars, all my customers’ information is backed up,” Tom said. “Not only did this make it easier on me, my customers loved the convenience of the card. I encourage anyone with a traditional punch card to try Fivestars. You won’t regret it!”