“You get a free coffee every day in May.” The Panera Bread employee tells me when she checks my rewards card.
“Yay!” I say and proceed to go to Panera 3 more times over the next two weeks. Since I spend a minimum of $8 each time I’m in there, that’s at least $20 more Panera has made from me.
Multiply that by their millions of customers and pretty soon you’re talking real money.
Other times they give me a free soup or $2.00 off a sandwich. I never know when it’s coming and I don’t expect it. It makes me happy every time they “reward” me for being a customer.
I feel a little special.
Come on, admit it, you do too.
How many thousands of people a day are made happy by Panera’s rewards system? Though it may be hard to quantify, my bet is it adds millions to the bottom line.
The “Other Guys”
Compare that treatment with Staples and CVS, both of which I also carry rewards cards for. They offer me coupons, sure, yet, they make it hard to use them. They insist on destroying millions of trees every year giving me paper. Then, if I want to use the coupon, I have to keep up with the scraps of paper in order to redeem the coupon they’re deigning to offer.
A Rewards Card Fail
Last week, I went to the Staples store in Warrington, Pa. and ordered an endorsement stamp for check deposits. Three days earlier, I was at another area Staples store, bought a few pens and a notebook. They gave me a coupon for $5.00 off my next purchase of $25.00. Today’s purchase totaled $30.00.
Where was that coupon for the $5? Not to be found. So, I didn’t get credit. We both know they’re tracking my purchases. That’s big data at work. Would it be so hard to keep the coupons digital and let me use them? What’s the point of the rewards card if it doesn’t make my life easier?
What about you? Am I totally off the mark here? Or should I get my Snip Snap on?
#gamification #switchingtoofficedepot
