Convenience stores are an essential part of consumers’ daily lives, providing them with quick and easy access to essential items. In recent years, our industry has made the slow turn down the technological highway. This slow implementation of technology has laid the groundwork for many chains to develop and launch loyalty programs and custom apps — all designed to enhance the customer experience.

While enhanced technology is a critical component for keeping up with the market, these programs have their benefits and drawbacks, all of which are extremely important to consider before implementing them in your chain.

At Road Ranger, which operates 46 travel centers throughout the Midwestern corridor, we introduced our Ranger Rewards app two years ago, and learned a lot in the process. As our Ranger Rewards app approaches its two-year anniversary, here are some insider tips and suggestions based on our experience rolling out a new program.

One of the most significant benefits of implementing a loyalty program is the most obvious: increased customer loyalty. Loyalty programs incentivize customers to return to your store, increasing their loyalty to your brand. This can lead to increased sales and revenue. Additionally, these custom apps allow businesses to collect customer data and personalize marketing efforts, in turn leading to more effective marketing campaigns and, you guessed it, bottom-line growth.

Loyalty programs and custom apps can also enhance the customer experience by providing offers, discounts and rewards. Implementing these programs can give your store a competitive advantage over other convenience stores in the area.

Overcoming Hurdles

Rolling out a program like this can be a challenging, detailed process, and there are several hurdles that businesses may face. Here are some of the most common hurdles to watch out for when rolling out a custom loyalty app:

1. Development: Developing a custom loyalty app can be expensive, especially for small businesses. The cost of hiring developers, designers and other professionals can quickly add up, making it difficult for some businesses to justify the investment. That being said, it is super important to have a clear layout of what features are “must haves,” and how exactly you want the program to be structured for your target consumer. Be sure to do your research. From personal experience, we joined every loyalty club out there from sandwich shops to shoe stores — the loyalty structures are limitless.
2. Technical Requirements: Developing a custom loyalty program and app requires technical expertise. Ensuring your business finds the right developers, designers and marketing gurus to create the app and continuously update it is critical. It is true when they say that your tech team can make or break the program. It’s important to remember that loyalty programs are not a “set it and forget it” mentality.

The market is always changing, and so should your incentives. Businesses must continue to maintain and update content to ensure that it remains functional and relevant. This can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process, but it is CRITICAL to avoiding consumer drop-off. Maintaining these programs requires ongoing effort and resources, which if not monitored continuously can lead to dead-end marketing efforts and campaigns with ROIs that are just measurable.

3. User Adoption: Half the battle for adoption is education. To ensure the most effective adoption of your program, you need to ensure your staff is well-educated. After all, they can’t sell the program if they don’t know how it works or what the benefits are.

Assuming your operations team on the ground level successfully adopts the program, getting customers to welcome the changes can be a challenge.

Signage is absolutely critical to any roll out. Keep the message on signage short and sweet. Your window for educating the customer is small. If you can get the content in front of their faces while they fuel, use the restroom or grab a quick fountain drink, you’re hitting the mark.

Keep in mind customers may be hesitant to jump on board with new programs, download and use a new app or give you their information in the era of protecting their identities. Which leads to the next point …

4. Data Security: Collecting and storing customer data through loyalty programs can raise privacy concerns. Businesses must ensure that customer data is collected and stored securely to protect against data breaches or other security threats. It is extremely important to ensure you have a legal team advising you on everything from data collection to terms of service and use.

In conclusion, loyalty programs are the wave of the future, and if you don’t have one you could be left behind. These programs can increase sales for businesses by incentivizing repeat purchases, increasing customer engagement, driving word-of-mouth marketing, providing valuable data for marketing strategies and giving businesses a competitive advantage. There are bound to be hurdles as your program develops, but with the right team and ongoing efforts you are sure to see success.

KJ McCann is the digital & loyalty marketing manager for Road Ranger. She can be reached at [email protected].