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Food delivery represents a $210b market, and restaurants are scrambling to be a part of it — often to their own detriment. Facing eroding margins, food quality issues, and high fees, restaurants are fighting the shortcomings of delivery to stay profitable. To compete with delivery, restaurant brands must effectively incentivize customers to stay loyalty to the restaurant themselves — not the ordering platform. Here’s why restaurants are turning to modern loyalty programs to help them achieve that goal while driving incremental revenue.

Investing in customer loyalty isn’t just a “check the box” initiative. It can be a businesses’ most powerful marketing channel, as it’s 7x more expensive to acquire a new customer than to encourage an additional visit from an existing customer.

Dunkin’ Donuts shares rose nearly 2% last week after they announced that their loyalty program had enrolled over 5 million people. Here’s why a healthy customer loyalty program is cause for investor optimism.

Savvy businesses are using Pokémon GO to drive massive traffic increases to their physical locations, but without a retention strategy in place, those customers might not come back. Here’s how evolve one-time visitors into loyal customer and ensure these temporary promotions create long-term value.

A loyalty program is only as good its engaged users. At Thanx, our merchant success team focuses on maximizing three components of loyalty program success: 1) user sign-ups, 2) user retention, and 3) customer engagement. In this article, we’ll show you how we keep the sign-ups rolling in at impressive rates, even in years-old programs.

Thanx Merchant Partner David Igel from Dewey’s Pizza has named the problem that plagues all restaurant operators: the elusive “Silent Guest”. Read on to learn how to identify and retain this high-value group of customers before they take their business elsewhere.

What do Starbucks, Nordstrom, and Amazon all have in common? They invest in innovative, delightful loyalty programs— and they have the loyal customers to show for it.

Huge brands like Starbucks, Marriott, and Southwest have all acknowledged the power and value of a having kicka$$ loyalty program (I should know; I’m a member of all three). However, as someone who enjoys more than just the occasional Chipotle burrito bowl, I’ve often wondered why Chipotle has lost touch with its customers in the loyalty department.

Car Wash Project Management Triangle (PMT) explains how to balance operational efficiency and customer service to earn max profits.

In this Keynote presentation, titled “Apps, the Sequel — Get Effortless, or Get Out,” learn how Apple Pay, Beacons, and “No App, Apps” are changing the very nature of the way customers shop at their favorite stores. View video below or at Apps, The Sequel — Get Effortless, or Get Out.

Millennials can be a confusing bunch. Reaching them can be a challenge. Thanx shares 6 ways to get millennials to your car wash.

Apple has re-branded Passbook and is adding new features in hopes of one day replacing people’s wallets. If it proves a success this time round, Apple Pay and Wallet will be a permanent fixture in the pockets of every consumer and installed in businesses around the world. That’s a huge jump from where we are now, so when will it actually happen?

The convenience culture is the major driving force behind the cashless revolution. From apps that deliver food in under 15 minutes to one-click shopping on Amazon, “quick and easy” is winning the war. Looking ahead, today’s hyper-involoved payment process (e.g. pennies are still a thing) will ultimately be simplified by mobile devices. So, let’s take a look at:

• The future for Apple Pay
• Current gaps and issues with the technology

You’ve seen them all in the news: Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Task Rabbit, AirBnB. Clearly, the sharing economy is booming. Consumer adoption is high, which means merchants – all merchants (especially brick-and-mortar) – must follow suit in order to stay relevant.

In essence, the sharing economy has changed the way customers and businesses interact with one another – consumers now expect instantaneous and personalized encounters each time they buy. Because customers’ buying experiences have changed, traditional marketing campaigns don’t have the same bite they once did.

However, the sharing economy does lack a few selling points that are integral to human nature (one example: familiar interactions)! While there are incredible benefits (which I will outline below), knowing more about what the sharing economy lacks presents the ideal business opportunity. Let’s take a look at how to capitalize on the sharing economy to our advantage (despite customers being more fickle than ever!).

Back in 2012, Domino’s first announced that customers could purchase gluten-free pizza crust. At that time, people took notice, but the reality is that “gluten-free” has taken on new meaning since then.

To that end, let’s take a look at the current state of gluten-free products, their growth trajectory going forward, and what these insights mean for pizza operators looking to grow their business.