The app, which acts as a virtual loyalty card, is being introduced at more than 400 Sodexo-run workplace, hospital and university restaurants across the UK and offers two loyalty schemes.
The drinks-based one offers customers who buy eight hot drinks the chance to receive the ninth free, while the food scheme offers a free sandwich or main meal for every eight qualifying meals that customers buy.
Ben Forbes, marketing director for Sodexo UK & Ireland says: “Understanding your customers is key to the success of any business. At Sodexo we have previously run a number of loyalty initiatives, but we recognised the need to adapt to newer technologies and changing consumer behaviour.
“Developing an app was an obvious step but we wanted to make sure it was what our customers wanted. We conducted research in a number of our sites representing different markets and interviewed 500 of our customers.
“This revealed that about 30% visited the restaurant at least once a day with a further 15% visiting more than once. This demonstrated to us there was sufficient demand, which was strengthened by over two thirds stating that a Smartphone loyalty scheme would indeed encourage them to use the restaurant more often.”
In addition to special offers, a news page and a feedback tool, the app has an additional ‘gift stamps’ feature that allows users to transfer stamps they have collected to friends as a gift, encouraging more consumers to download and use the app and ultimately drive sales.
Forbes said the new Reward Tree app, developed in association with Stampfeet, would provide Sodexo with valuable consumer insight information and trends, allowing it to monitor customer satisfaction and develop targeted marketing and promotional campaigns for its users through push notifications.