How a coffee chain cut the cost of winning guests back by 31%
A 14-location coffee shop chain near office buildings and transport hubs. Its core audience consists of nearby office workers and local residents picking up coffee on their way.
Results
The objective
Encourage regular repeat visits and reduce communication costs. This required broader loyalty participation, a clearer understanding of visiting habits and offers sent at the right time.
The starting point
The program consisted of a digital loyalty card and a few general SMS campaigns. Guests with different habits received the same messages: a regular morning coffee buyer could get an offer designed for an occasional weekend visitor.
Registration required paid SMS verification, while reporting focused mainly on message volumes. The team could not quickly see which journeys brought guests back or how much each resulting purchase cost.
The approach
Messaging was rebuilt around each guest’s usual routine. Visit frequency, order timing and purchase history informed the offer and when it was sent.
Implementation
What changed
The share of transactions linked to loyalty members rose from 34% to 51%, an increase of 17 percentage points. The share of revenue attributed to campaigns grew from 8% to 16.2%.
Messaging costs and redeemed incentives per reactivated guest fell from €2.10 to €1.45, a reduction of approximately 31%.
Monthly retention of active members increased from 86% to 90%.
Next steps
Identify which offers help guests build a habit of returning without an incentive, and measure reactivation impact separately using a holdout group. Expand messaging after checking its contribution to margin.
More cases
Explore a similar approach for your restaurants.
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