LoyalBlocks, which touts itself as the first automated “walk-in to check-in app,” has an aggressive target of 1,000 customers at the end of the year, a little more than 90 days after going from its pilot program to full launch last week.
Over 350 businesses in New York City are signed up with LoyalBlocks during the pilot, according to the company.
“This is a new experience for customers; there is a lot of friction in the entire check in process for consumers and for business owners,” Ido Gaver, co-founder and CEO of LoyalBlocks, told Loyalty 360. “No-click check-in offers much higher metrics and engagement from customers. We’re trying to create a seamless experience. While large retailers can afford solutions such as shopkick, LoyalBlocks is targeting smaller, local and regional merchants (e.g., coffee shops and restaurants with multiple locations), who don’t have the wherewithal for such a solution but still want to have a loyalty marketing platform.
The application is simple for the business owner and the customer alike, according to Gaver. The business owner simply has to sign up with LoyalBlocks and then download the Android business app to a handset or tablet, provided by LoyalBlocks, to create an in-store interactive zone that detects club members as they walk in. The self-service online dashboard allows them to manage and monitor their programs and create unique and tailored experiences that get automatically triggered as soon as customers walk in.
The LoyalBlocks application automatically recognizes a customer’s presence in a place of business. As soon as the customer walks in, a tailored, in-store message is delivered to the customer’s smart phone. It could be a welcome message, a special offer (which LoyalBlocks refers to as a token), some combination or another message.
Businesses can tailor the application to make offers to meet their own specific needs, Gaver added. For example, coffee shops with slow periods can send offers to customers coming in for their daily morning coffee a discount to be used during the slow period that day.
LoyalBlocks provides merchants with a suite of customizable tokens that are automatically pushed to customers’ phones, including:
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Welcome Token – rewards for 1st time customers
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Happy Hour Token – a promotion to encourage visits during slow hours
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Facebook Friends – a referral program that rewards customers for inviting friends to join a certain club and rewards them even more if their friends actually visit
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Facebook Token – reward customers for checking in with Facebook and maximizing social media exposure. The application has boosted Facebook activity for participating merchants, according to Gaver.
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Lucky Token – a random, out-of-the-blue Token that rewards a lucky customer
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Regulars Token – rewards for regular visits that also lets merchants classify customers based on their loyalty over time. The more they visit, the higher their classification, and the better Tokens they receive for their loyalty.