Subscription programs are a great way to secure long-term customer loyalty and revenue. Whether you are providing a subscription for beverages or car washes, securing recurring monthly revenue is imperative to stay competitive.
Summer is around the corner and retail marketers are crafting sunny campaigns to increase customer traffic to the store. Help those customers find that 5th “C” for convenience by delivering a well-executed subscription program to satisfy their needs for hot summer days.
While most retailers now have a loyalty mobile app, in a recent article in Convenience Store News, Jeremie Myhren, former CIO for Road Ranger, noted that “people won’t download another app unless it does something for them.” Adding a subscription program that not only ensures repeat store visits, it will also double basket sizes and quadruple customer visits.
Monthly Subscription Programs Take the Thinking Out of Drinking
App-based subscription programs are flexible and customizable. With a beverage subscription program, you can tailor program details based on current customers’ behaviors. You can set the redemption frequency to one beverage or multiple per day. You can define the included items like hot and cold coffees and teas, frozen drinks, dispensed drinks or just pick one type.
If you’re located in a college town with students visiting all day and night, a full suite of drinks offered around the clock would appeal to their changing tastes. If you’re on a morning commuter route, coffee might be your best choice. Don’t be afraid to get creative and offer a “drink of the day” and certainly play up food pairings.
Beverage subscriptions for fountain drinks are very popular with chains like Circle K, Parker’s Kitchen, and Sheetz offering daily fills of fountain, coffee, and frozen drinks to their menu in the past few years. Both have seen an extraordinary uptick in their foodservice bottom line as a result. Don’t let those chains steal your customers.
Car Wash Subscription Programs Wash Away Winter Grime and Spring Slime
Whether gray, chalky road salt from winter or the powdery green and yellow pollens of spring, these irritants can really take a toll on car exteriors. Cars absolutely need a good cleaning as the summer sun spotlights their lack of shine. Why not be the destination for customers and why not make it convenient?
Subscription car wash programs via mobile apps take the guesswork out of car cleaning frequency by telling drivers in their apps the dates they visited. Remind them weekly to come to get their suds on and maybe suggest a cold beverage while they wait
Circle K in the U.S. and around the world is among trailblazers leading the pack in the subscription car wash game. Launched in the U.S. in 2020, Circle K’s app-based unlimited car wash program was first launched in Europe in 2016. California’s United Pacific has been dominating the west coast’s car wash network since launching their car wash subscription in 2021.
Don’t Be the Last Retailer to Join the Subscription Economy
Convenience retailers, QSRs, coffee shops, and car wash companies are deploying subscription programs in droves.
Unlike entertainment subscriptions, customers will only buy one subscription for a product. Once they’re locked in with one retailer’s subscription, they won’t be visiting your store. They will religiously visit that retailer. they will buy add-on items at that store, and they will take their friends to that store.
As more and more companies join the subscription economy, don’t get left behind. With just a few months until summer vacations begin, be the clean car or cold drink hero to your customer. There is still time to win one hundred percent of that customer’s wallet.
About Liquid Barcodes
Liquid Barcodes is a leading global loyalty and digital marketing technology company specializing in the convenience and foodservice industries. The proprietary, cloud-based technology platform allows retailers to create and manage their digital marketing campaigns with a process called the “customer connection cycle’ to engage, promote and reward customers’ activities in real-time across digital and media channels.
Liquid Barcodes loyalty platform is powering loyalty programs for industry leaders across several global markets, by offering unique subscription, mobile payment, machine learning, personalization, gamification, loyalty, and other capabilities.
About the Author
Carolyn Schnare, Chief Content Officer, Liquid Barcodes
Carolyn Schnare has been involved with the convenience retailing industry for two decades with extensive knowledge of customer engagement and marketing, sustainability, and community outreach. Prior to Liquid Barcodes, Schnare worked at NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores) in a variety of roles from event production to membership and most recently as Director of Strategic Initiatives and host and producer of the popular industry podcast, Convenience Matters. Schnare currently anchors the popular Shop Talk LIVE! video series produced by Global Convenience Store Focus media group.
