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Duffy’s Sports Grill Goes Mobile With MVP Loyalty Program

MVP Card 012213Most (73%) smartphone and tablet users say they would like to use their mobile devices to interact with loyalty programs, according to the 2013 Maritz Loyalty Report.

Forward-thinking merchants are recognizing consumers’ move to mobile and are revitalizing their loyalty programs with mobile capabilities, making them more compelling and easy to use.

Duffy’s Sports Grill has added mobile and messaging capabilities to its MVP Loyalty Program with help from Paytronix. With 70% of all transactions deriving from program members, Duffy’s wanted to provide them with “all the information they need at their fingertips,” explained Sandy Nelson, CMO of Duffy’s. “There are only so many [loyalty] cards you can have and carry around with you. Everyone has their phone with them basically at all times. Just utilizing that channel helps us make sure we still have the real estate in their lives somewhere makes it easier for people.”

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Real-time check-in, sign-up and messaging capabilities are available via the Duffy’s mobile app and text messaging. Now, more than 425,000 active members in the Southern Florida region can engage with their favorite restaurant using their personal mobile devices.

“In our market, we have an older clientele, so smartphones aren’t as prevalent,” explained Nelson in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “With that in mind, we do have some people who utilize texting because it’s available on any kind of mobile device. That’s the core of what we try to do with the loyalty program; there are a lot of ways consumers can use it and it appeals to many different kinds people for different reasons.”

The mobile-optimized MVP program allows members to go “cardless” and still earn points and redeem rewards when they check into a Duffy’s location. Aspiring members can register for the program via the mobile app, text message or online, eliminating the need for traditional paper-based processes. Once consumers become MVP members, they can receive real-time messages, including offers, surveys and rewards alerts.

Real-time messaging based on individual preferences and buying behaviors has become an important part of the Duffy’s loyalty program, Nelson explained. Effective personalization can “make the customer feel like you care and that you get them, instead of just constantly pushing out communications that don’t matter to them.”

Beyond Guesses And Gut Feelings

Because loyalty program information is integrated with the POS system and email program, the Duffy’s team can capture a comprehensive picture of customers, their loyalty status, and their purchase behaviors. In addition, program members have different tiers — MVP, All Star and Hall of Fame — so Duffy’s can take a variety of factors into account when crafting offers and messages.

“We’re able to target and create different offers for varying levels of participation, and they’re all simultaneously integrated into the same system,” Nelson said. “All our eggs are in the same basket, so it’s very straightforward and easy to analyze the data.”

Although Nelson noted that there’s “more data out there than we can even utilize,” Paytronix has helped Duffy’s “grow leaps and bounds in what we can do and how quickly we can do it.”

All data is segmented on a regular basis so the Duffy’s marketing team can see how different groups average in overall sales and visits. Duffy’s also can evaluate promotions more easily and make more strategic decisions around the loyalty program and all of its components. 

“It’s much easier for us to analyze data but with a high degree of accuracy,” Nelson explained. “Now that our email system is integrated with Paytronix and sales information, we can check the data to see how many people received a message, opened it and visited a location. There’s one more layer to our communication strategy that is no longer based on guesses or gut feelings.” 

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