One pressing issue impacting quick-service restaurants is understanding return on investment (ROI) in a competitive and fast-paced market. This challenge extends to loyalty programs, where operators often struggle to determine if these initiatives are truly driving revenue or merely draining resources. “Attribution is tricky,” says Roger Williams, head of the Loyalty Center of Excellence at Marigold. “CFOs often wonder if points truly influence a purchase or if the customer would have made the purchase anyway.”
Onboarding new members and ensuring immediate engagement is another hurdle, as an underwhelming start can lead to disinterest and lost opportunities. “Without proper coaching on the program’s value, customers disengage,” Williams says.
Many restaurants also face an over reliance on discounts, which can undermine profitability and fail to foster genuine loyalty. “True loyalty isn’t about constant discounts—it’s about creating an earned currency that drives behavior and delivers incremental value for both the customer and the business,” Williams says. Addressing these challenges requires a strategic approach that combines data insights with targeted consumer engagement tactics.
“The good news is Marigold has solved these problems,” Williams says. “Traditional loyalty often rewards post purchase, but we believe loyalty should begin before the transaction. Our platform encourages small, meaningful interactions that build habits, like asking questions about preferences or encouraging members to watch brand-related videos. These interactions earn members points and establish patterns, which we can then correlate to purchasing behavior. Our approach also includes a robust 60-day onboarding strategy with 21 touchpoints to establish habits and keep members engaged.”
Personalization is another crucial factor in building effective restaurant loyalty programs, allowing operators to create meaningful connections that resonate with customers and drive long-term engagement. Ninety-one percent of diners value a personalized loyalty program with 50 percent of them saying it’s extremely valuable, according to a recent national independent research study of consumers and executives conducted by Wakefield Research. “What sets Marigold apart is our ability to scale personalized, one-on-one conversations to millions of customers,” Williams says.
This one-on-one personalization is deeply tied to collecting zero-party data—information customers willingly provide. “By asking relevant questions, we can tailor consumers’ experience immediately,” Williams says. According to Marigold’s Restaurant Brand Ranking Report, this has proved beneficial, as 79 percent of consumers say they’re likely to engage with a personalized email tailored to their interests.
Marigold’s approach mirrors normal dialogue between people, establishing the company as a leader in relationship marketing with a robust loyalty program. “Our loyalty programs track mechanisms to encourage customer behavior adjustments, bringing all of these components together into a relationship marketing strategy,” Williams says. “This enables us to execute a CRM approach effectively and at scale.”
Additionally, Marigold is an incremental revenue machine. “We provide a clear attribution and ROI framework, which ensures that businesses get started on the right foot,” Williams says. “For example, we focus on keeping members engaged during the first 60 days, ensuring their initial experience is strong. Then, we deploy mechanisms like “micro-journeys” to drive incremental revenue—spending that wouldn’t have occurred without the program.”
One way in which Margiold employs this method is through gamified experiences. For example, offering challenges where customers must take certain actions (i.e. “Make three purchases in the next four days,”). “These bonus sprints create urgency and drive engagement while maintaining the broader appeal of earning points over time,” Williams says. Even if a consumer is unable to complete the challenge, Marigold still wins because partial engagement drives incremental value.
KFC Rewards, powered by Marigold Loyalty, is a prime example of how effective loyalty programs can drive engagement and profitability for leading quick-service restaurant brands. The program has been designed with the principles of immediacy and personalization, creating a seamless experience for customers to earn rewards with every purchase. Focusing on user-friendly digital tools and a fun, engaging structure allowed KFC Rewards to quickly become a hit, demonstrating how Marigold’s platform supports both customer retention and incremental revenue growth.
Donatos Pizza struck loyalty gold with Marigold by launching a program that transformed relationships from transactional to personal. Seeking a loyalty solution to drive frequency, return visits, and member spending while integrating digital channels with POS data and offering localized marketing control for franchisees, Donatos found success with Marigold Loyalty. The results included a 23 percent increase in Membership Program Penetration and 98,000 transactions attributed to on-demand Rewards.
Marigold emphasizes actionable insights to empower restaurants in optimizing loyalty programs. By utilizing models like the frequency-monetary value (FM) segmentation, Marigold helps brands categorize customers based on their visit patterns and spending habits. For instance, high-spend but low-frequency customers can be targeted with tailored campaigns such as punch card challenges to encourage more frequent visits.
“Marigold’s updated analytics suite also empowers marketers with tools like AI-driven insights,” Williams says. “Users can ask questions about their data, visualize trends, and make data-driven decisions. This approach ensures that restaurant loyalty drives measurable results, like increased visit frequency and average spend, while minimizing margin erosion from discounts.”
Looking ahead at the broader loyalty landscape, a significant shift is underway. “Loyalty programs are refocusing on incremental revenue rather than simply offering promotions,” Williams says. “We’re seeing a resurgence in specialized loyalty expertise, with marketers seeking certification in loyalty management to differentiate themselves.” These trends signal a move beyond traditional discount-based models to loyalty strategies that prioritize long-term customer value.
It’s vital for businesses to approach loyalty programs with a clear strategy. Not every business needs a loyalty program, but those that do must start by identifying specific problems the program is put in place to solve. “Programs should be built on data-driven strategies, not just because competitors have one,” Williams says. “Starting with this strategic mindset ensures that loyalty programs deliver meaningful results.”
To learn more about Marigold Loyalty, visit their website.
Abby Winterburn
