This is the third and final installment of a special Convenience Store News series on how loyalty programs can drive both sales and customer satisfaction, sponsored by Paytronix. In May, we looked at how to drive membership to your loyalty program. In September, the focus was on building sales by using data intelligently. In this final piece, we look at best-in-class examples of how companies are taking loyalty to an even higher level.

Stiff competition requires that companies constantly refine their loyalty programs to win the devotion and dollars of a choosy public. Restaurants have been doing this for years. Convenience stores serve those same consumers, and those shoppers don’t lower their expectations when moving from one type of business to another. That makes dining an excellent example for c-stores to reveal what’s happening in advanced loyalty programs — and where they are headed. 

A well-designed loyalty program offers “competitive differentiation to demonstrate and provide new proof points of relevance, and to give both parties — brand and consumer — a meaningful reason to re-engage,” said Aaron D. Allen, founder and CEO of Chicago restaurant consulting firm Aaron Allen & Associates.