Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
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Another standout feature of LevelUp is the program of branded apps for iOS and Android. Businesses have the option of partnering with LevelUp to develop an app that features only that merchant's identity and products, as well as features like mobile ordering (there's a cost, but it's a relative bargain). LevelUp, too, has incorporated beacons into their engage- ment platform, so if your customer has the LevelUp app on his device, a beacon provided by LevelUp will enable you to reach out and engage that customer anytime he is within 90 feet of your shop (and the frequency with which you do that is controllable: you don't want to SMS somebody just because their Uber driver happened to cruise down your block). While there's a common perception that apps have an average lifespan of about one month on many mobile devices, a branded app that provides this kind of convenience and ease-of-use might be a great match for a business with long lines and lots of repeat customers. Can a customer with a fl ip phone use your product? "LevelUp's mobile payment and loyalty apps runs on an iPhone (Apple) and An- droid (Google) mobile devices only. There are plastic cards options for those who do not have smartphones." SPRING REWARDS With roots in Chicago's tech incubator experiment 1871, Spring Rewards has perhaps the most original approach of the digital loyalty and rewards programs: no app required! While Spring does have a mobile app, participation in the Spring Rewards program is dependent on signup (which is, more recently, facilitated by a limited but free guest Wi-Fi portal) and linking a credit or debit card to the customer's account. Any time that card is used at a participating merchant, the customer receives purchasing credit or rebates, depending on the offer the merchant has chosen to provide. Principals at Spring Rewards spent over a year working directly with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express to broker arrangements that would allow Spring to plug in to the back end of transactions tied to the credit cards of their merchants' customers. That data is "blind- ed" in several respects so that customer card information is protected from any party outside the PCI compliance food chain. In fact, Spring's ability to connect to customer data is so far upstream that they've begun an entirely new approach: lighting up entire shopping malls with the Spring Rewards program. Spring's Jason Pope told us that "mall operators are trying to get in the data business…. E-commerce [via the Web] is so measurable and trackable, while malls have 2 billion visits per year, but they [the customers] are basically anonymous to the mall operator." The concept has proven to be intriguing enough that some malls have chosen Spring as the de facto rewards program for all stores. That doesn't mean that Spring can't be an effective program for a single, stand-alone business. "We love working with coffee shops and espresso bars," says Jason. "We have several coffee shops in our network, and our performance-based pricing model has proven to be benefi cial for all parties." But does it work on a fl ip phone? "Yes! Because the platform is based on debit and credit-card payment data, it is not dependent on a mobile app, although we do have one." PUNCHED OUT Whether your brand is so niche that your biggest problem is how to manage lines out onto the sidewalk, or you're looking for ways pull more people in the door, there are plenty of options that can work with your business regardless of the point-of-sale system or credit- card processor you use, with the exception of Square, which can work with some but not all. If your goal is just to get rid of those paper punch cards (save the earth!) these emerging digital variations on that time tested concept can bring an additional incentive to customers who are already fans of your business, or fi nd your shop new customers altogether. ILLUSTRATION BY ALABASTER PIZZO 69 www.baristamagazine.com