Gamification in the Food & Beverage (F&B) industry can be immensely beneficial when it comes to retaining customers and ensuring long-term loyalty. Recent findings have also shown that revenues can be increased by more than 30% thanks to Gamification.
On average, consumers spend more than two hours on their mobile devices daily, and nearly half of that time they devote to games. Aware of this, many companies worldwide have boarded the Gamification train and are now enjoying tons of benefits.
Gamification Defined
Gamification is the process of applying game elements to non-gaming situations to motivate and influence certain behaviors in users, and its implementation has been so successful that many businesses in various industries have seen astonishing financial gains in just a few years.
Restaurant businesses, both large and small, have also incorporated Gamification into their day-to-day operations and are seeing massive benefits. This includes brand loyalty, boosted customer engagement, and a rise in employee focus and productivity.
What You Can Gain From Gamifying Your Food & Beverage Businesses
Introducing Gamification into your F&B business will automatically set you apart from the rest. In the following section, we’ll take a look at 4 key benefits you can reap by Gamifying your Food & Beverage/Restaurant business.
1. Elevate Brand Awareness
Building a brand with a strong purpose and impact is vital if you want to be a top contender. Before they start memorizing a brand and choosing it as their go-to place, people need to interact with it a few times, so your F&B business branding needs to be consistent.
One of the first things you can do to boost your brand’s awareness is to create an F&B loyalty program with Gamification rewards. To boost recognition and establish a long-lasting connection with people, you can start using your brand colors, logo, and messaging in your loyalty program promotions, as well as your app (if you’ve created one).
2. Boost Engagement
Everyone loves collecting points and earning rewards, and that’s the main reason why many customers change their patterns of behavior to gain more from a reward program. Loyalty
Gamification can work wonders when it comes to encouraging people to eat at your establishment more often and tell others about your loyalty program while collecting those points and earning those rewards.
3. Boost Loyalty
An increasing number of Food & Beverage businesses offer loyalty cards or point systems that reward customers for their loyalty. Often, people are offered a free drink or meal after they’ve made a certain number of purchases.
With Gamification, this kind of loyalty program can provide an exciting interactive experience that can also be shared with other platforms. If you keep in mind that many customers nowadays spend nearly an hour per day playing games on their mobile devices, and nearly half of younger people prefer shops that offer rewards programs, a reward system that utilizes gamification will do wonders when it comes to loyalty.
4. Save Up On Customer Acquisition
Cutting advertising costs is what every business owner dreams of… And it can be achieved through the creation of a reward program.
A well-placed loyalty program can save you a massive amount of money because it costs much less to keep regulars than it does to bring in new customers. In addition, the odds of making a sale to an existing customer are much higher compared to a new one.
Gamification Techniques For Your F&B Loyalty Program
You now know what you can gain by Gamifying your Food & Beverage business. But how exactly do you go about achieving that? What follows are 6 vital Gamification techniques you can incorporate into your business for a shortcut to success.
1. Offer Sign-Up Rewards
Signing up is the first thing new customers need to do before your loyalty program can start producing benefits for them and you. Here’s what you can gain by offering them immediate rewards upon registration:
From the get-off, people see the benefits of participating in your program, which immediately strengthens the relationship between you.
The bigger and better the rewards, the higher the chances of them coming back. For example, you can offer guests a reduced price for their first drink or meal when they sign up for your rewards program. Members can also be sent exclusive offers by email and vouchers on their birthday.
2. Keep Customers Updated About Their Progress
No matter how you’ve set up your loyalty program, you can make Gamification work for you even better by keeping your customers posted about their levels and achievements.
To keep your customers in the loop on how close they are to getting their hands on their next reward, you can use email marketing campaigns, chatbot software, or your loyalty program application. For example, you can send your customers special email offers containing appealing promotions. And considering that most people today use technological devices to interact with reward programs, this is an awesome way to let your customers know about new offers and promotions.
3. Set Up Different Levels For Rewards
By offering different levels you can foster a playspace of joy and excitement. If you set up even the most basic leveled point scoring system with trophies like bronze, silver, gold, and platinum, you can do wonders when it comes to keeping customers happy and motivated to come back to your establishment to earn more points and collect rewards.
For example, each time someone gets to a higher level, they automatically start collecting more points for every purchase they make, which in turn will earn them bigger rewards in the long run.
4. Include Challenges And Competitions
To keep your customers’ Gamified experience fresh and exciting, you can push out seasonal challenges. Their goal is to encourage customers to make trips to your establishment during happy hour through patio season, or order take-out on a given day to be rewarded more points.
In addition, you can organize challenges on social media for members of your reward program, or push out a new surprise level for customers to unlock after they reach a certain loyalty level.
Introducing fun Gamified challenges to your Food & Beverage loyalty program can increase engagement and trigger curiosity among new potential customers, so make sure you won’t miss out on it.
5. Add An Element Of Scarcity
The fear of missing out can do wonders if properly included as a tactic in your Gamified marketing plan. Scarcity creates a sense of urgency that countless salespeople have been taking advantage of since the dawn of civilization. This can work by offering a reward with limited numbers or making a reward available only for a certain period.
You can, for example, send clients a message with a hot offer such as half price off if they visit during the next 7 days, or, if certain guests normally like visiting during the middle of the week, you can send them a juicy offer that is valid only for the next couple of Wednesdays.
6. Take Advantage Of Social Media
Customers who share pictures or leave reviews of your establishment on social media should be shown appreciation. For example, in your reward program application, you can reward members with coupons for sharing content associated with your establishment and tagging it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media platform you’re connected to.
You can go further by also thanking people for being loyal customers and redeeming rewards. Studies have shown that not even half of F&B program members have been shown appreciation for redeeming their rewards, so you might want to do so if you want to stand out from the competition. It is the perfect chance to thank customers for visiting your establishment and get precious feedback that can potentially help you improve your business.
Conclusion
By Gamifying your Food & Beverage business you can boost conversion and establish stronger and more lasting relationships with your customers. Businesses that have introduced elements of Gamification have seen amazing results so it’s never too early to start incorporating Gamification in your promotions and product strategy meetings. Give it a go and you’ll soon be asking yourself: “Why didn’t I do this sooner?”