Loyalty app: month-2 retention x18.
A 34-location restaurant chain had a cardboard loyalty-card program. We built the mobile app + POS integration in 14 weeks.
Problem.
Cardboard loyalty program: 8% of regular customers used it, impossible to know what they consumed, generic marketing. CAC was rising and average ticket had been flat for 18 months. No direct customer channel beyond the physical location.
Approach.
iOS + Android mobile app (React Native + Expo) integrated with the POS (Aloha) through middleware. Each ticket added points automatically when the customer scanned their QR. Personalized recommendations with a simple model based on history. Contextual push notifications (discount on the dish you always order, on Tuesdays when you have not visited for 3 weeks). Onboarding in 90 seconds.
Result.
38% of active customers downloaded the app in 6 months. Average ticket +14% in the app cohort vs non-app. Month-2 retention: paper card reuse was 4%, the app reached 72%. The chain now has a direct channel to 41k active customers; before, it had 0.