The convenience of apps proving inconvenient for others

 

Driving down a main road near my house the other day. Reached the fast-food stretch, where burgers and tacos and chicken and more are all being served up in a value meal with a side of fries and a large Coke.

Out of the first six I passed, four of them had posters and displays in place wanting to know if I had signed up for their app. Full disclosure, I had not. I had none of their apps on my phone. But it did get me thinking.

There are several restaurants that Terry and I do frequent. And some of them check off two interesting boxes: (1) Groups of them happen to be owned by the same parent corporation. (2)
The parent corporation runs a reward program that unites multiple restaurants.

You tell me that three or four of my favorite restaurants are offering a program where on my fourth visit to any combination of them we’re going to get a significant dollar-value credit or a free entrée. Chances are good I’m going to be preparing to give you my e-mail address.

So, yes, rewards programs and apps do work.

And, I also understand the convenience of them. Being able to order ahead of time from some restaurants? Awesome. Delivery? Fantastic.

Have you ever been in line at a store where the person at the register was having troubles getting their loyalty information accepted? Yup, nothing like being number four in line when you can hear the person up front trying to remember the third of five different possible phone numbers the store might have on file. That’s a joy.

How about those places that have VIP lines for their members, and the way it’s handled is so shoddy that you’re feeling as if your purchase doesn’t seem to be as valued by the store?

I’m not talking about rewarding regulars or app users. One day I walked in to a restaurant, approached the then empty counter and asked about my to-go order. As the person was about to turn around to a table that had some bags on it, a delivery service driver arrived. Person that was taking care of me saw him, knew that his bags were waiting, and grabbed them first. But, as he looked them over, the driver noted he was missing two orders. So, do you think the server turned and checked the one remaining bag to see if it was part of the set (or even if it was mine)? Of course not. She went in back, looked around for the other two orders, waited for them, and came back five minutes later to hand them to the driver. My order was sitting on the counter, a handful of feet away from me and paid for, getting colder while I waited ten minutes for the driver that showed up after me to have his stuff packed together. Now…

…before you wonder about it being a bad day or an isolated instance of a inattentive exception from a poor employee…

…I was talking to someone I know that had a restaurant hammered by the business and operational demands of the past two years. Specifically, really hit hard at the beginning of all this back in 2019. They needed to find some new ways of serving their customers and community. So, they shifted to delivery services, and the orders it generated essentially saved their restaurant. She wondered if the place I had been in had a similar experience, since she knew of other restaurant owners that had instituted “get the drivers out delivering the food as soon as possible so we get good reviews” policies that weighed heavily on handing off such orders as quickly as possible. You know, even at the expense of the individual customer that did everything right but might need to wait a moment.

Volume and reviews over the single instance. And it’s happening more and more.

I am not going to be adding seventeen apps to my phone just so I can get the latest and greatest benefit with a free small fry. And there is likely a great argument to be made that claims I am not the best customer of these places. That would be fair.

I’m also not saying that apps and reward clubs and frequent visitor programs are bad things. They’re not. They can be awesome.

But when I see reports and hear complaints from business owners about this outside disaster or that external challenge while waving the flags that claim none of it is their fault… and I know as a fact that their service and products have been horrible with bad reputations over the years… I wish they recognized it all comes back to the basics. Treat the customers right, and treat them in a way that gets them to come back again.

The idea my friend expressed has merit. Volume matters.

But you also make more with happy customers paying for their side dishes, especially when they come back again, than you do giving discount after discount just to get people to your doors once.

May not be a perfect slogan, and could likely use some thought and development, but at the heart it’s true. Loyalty matters, especially when you’ve earned it instead of giving it away.

 

If you have any comments or questions, please e-mail me at Bob@inmybackpack.com