Williams Fresh Café gets into the loyalty game

Williams Fresh Café is aiming to get to know its customers better with its new loyalty program.

The Brantford, Ont.-based fast-casual chain has launched the myWilliams Loyalty+Gift Program, which is available on a mobile app and plastic card.

Customers earn 100 points for every dollar they spend, and receive $5 off for every 10,000 points. With the app, customers can pay for their purchases with their smartphones, receive targeted offers, top up gift cards or send e-gift cards to friends, and receive special event invitations. The program also features different levels (green, silver and gold) that allow customers to earn more points per dollar spent as they move up the ladder.

“At its core, it’s going to bring in customers more often and to spend more money—that’s sort of the engine of any loyalty program,”said Evan Livermore, director of marketing at Williams Fresh Café, which has more than 30 locations in Ontario.

But, like with other loyalty programs, the big advantage is the data and insights into customer behaviour and preferences the program will provide. “The intelligence from our side is fantastic,” said Livermore.

“Individual cafés can see what their best guests prefer, what their dining habits are, and what products they are consuming. That gives the individual owner the intelligence to run their particular business,” added Livermore. “And from a chain perspective, we [can find out] what characterizes the top-tier guests, what are their buying habits… Really, the information is endless.”

The program will allow Williams Fresh Café to communicate chain-wide offers on things like new products or signature items, but it also allows individual cafés to send real-time offers to their local customer base. For example, “if there’s a snowstorm in the morning, they can offer an incentive in the afternoon to try and recoup some of that business,” said Livermore.

With branding firm Softfocus Limited, Williams Fresh Café did a competitive analysis on other loyalty programs, as well as an internal guest survey to find out what other rewards programs its customers belong to and what aspects are most valuable to them.

“We found that most people are fine with the exchange [of information], so long as we communicate with valid information,” said Livermore. “If I’m a regular coffee drinker and that’s my only grab-and-go purchase in the morning, please don’t send me information for cakes in the evening.”

MyWilliams is being promoted with in-store marketing, public relations and social media. Toronto-based kg&a is handling PR and D1 Mobile developed the app.