A loyalty programme for your coffee shop: cashback, tiers and birthdays
Which loyalty programme suits a coffee shop: stamps, a discount or cashback, how to set up tiers, when to give a discount and how not to give away your margin.
Vitrina team4 minute read
Contents
In short
A coffee shop lives on its regulars: bringing a guest back costs less than winning a new one.
Cashback rewards coming back, not just buying, and shows you who your guest is.
Tiers should be reachable and the share payable with points limited, so the programme doesn’t eat your margin.
A birthday, a referral bonus and a request for a review are the three warmest reasons to write to a guest.
Why a coffee shop needs loyalty
A coffee shop lives on its regulars: the people who grab a coffee every morning on their way to work. Winning a new guest costs more than bringing back someone who already knows your taste. A loyalty programme gives them a reason to choose you rather than the coffee shop next door.
25-95%
more profit from raising customer retention by 5%, according to research by Frederick Reichheld (Bain & Company) across industries
Source: Harvard Business Review
Stamps, a discount or cashback
| Model | How it works | What the venue risks |
|---|---|---|
| A stamp card | “Your sixth coffee is free” | Paper cards get lost, and you never learn who your guest is |
| A permanent discount | A percentage off every bill | Eats into the margin even from guests who would have come anyway |
| Cashback points | Part of the amount goes towards the next order | Without a cap on paying with points, the programme eats the margin |
For a venue that sells online, cashback is the fairest option: the guest only gets value when they come back, and you see who buys and how often. It rewards coming back, not just buying.
How to set up tiers
Tiers give guests a goal: the more they order, the higher their cashback percentage. Four rules:
- 1
The first tier right away
Open the first tier right after sign-up, so the guest sees points from their first order.
- 2
Thresholds from real bills
The next tier should be reachable within a few months of ordinary visits, not a year of daily ones.
- 3
A cap on paying with points
Limit the share of an order that can be paid with points: that way the programme won’t eat your margin.
- 4
Points that expire
An expiry date is a reminder to come back, not a never-ending debt of the venue.
Birthdays and inviting a friend
A birthday discount is the warmest reason to write to a guest. A bonus for inviting a friend turns regulars into advertising: the friend gets their first order cheaper, and the person who invited them gets a bonus.
Don’t forget reviews
Ask for a review after the order: that way you hear about a problem before it is written on Google. Show good reviews on your website once you have approved them.
What to measure
Three numbers of a loyalty programme
The share of orders that come from guests who have ordered before.
How many guests move up to the next tier.
Which utm tags bring in guests who come back.
How Vitrina does it
Cashback points and tiers, promo codes, a birthday discount, a referral bonus and moderated reviews are all in Vitrina. Cashback is credited for delivery orders; promo codes and the birthday discount also work for pickup orders. You set the discount limits and the share payable with points.
Frequently asked questions
What cashback percentage should a coffee shop offer?
One that still leaves a margin after points are paid out: work it out from your real markup on coffee and desserts, not from your neighbours. A few tiers with a higher percentage give guests a goal, and a cap on paying with points protects the margin.
Do I need an app for a loyalty programme?
No: points and tiers work in the guest’s profile on the website. An app under your own brand is a separate item for when you have many regulars.
How do I avoid giving away my margin in discounts?
Don’t give everyone a permanent discount, cap the share of an order payable with points and let points expire. In Vitrina you set these limits yourself. More on the loyalty page.