Beanstalk Loyalty has announced patent pending technology creating the first loyalty platform to deliver the integration between the point-of-sale (POS) terminal and social media such as Facebook.
"Our unique integration with Facebook enables retail stores and restaurants -- with their customers' permission given during loyalty registration -- to check them into Facebook Places, post on their wall and potentially influence their Facebook friends while at the same time leveraging the POS information to influence their behavior," said Gilbert Bailey, vice president of Marketing & Business Development for Beanstalk Data.
Conventional location-based social media services have had limited uptake among the retail and food service industry, partly because they are disconnected from loyalty programs and POS terminals.
Beanstalk Loyalty enables marketers to substantially improve campaign performance by using the transactional data created at the time of the POS order to trigger timely, relevant and personalized offers through social media, e-mail, texting and direct mail. The check-in to the location service now is accomplished through the POS so the marketer knows exactly what was purchased by the customer and can use this information to tailor an offer that will have much greater appeal.
When the user swipes his or her loyalty card or provides his or her phone number at the register, the transaction checks into Facebook. The brand is able to optionally post on the customer's wall that they just ate at the restaurant or purchased an item at the store. The customer's Facebook friends see the transaction and can click on it to receive a coupon. Customers who influence their friends to become customers themselves can be rewarded with additional offers. The revenue created by social media is now measurable to the marketer.
The seamless integration of Beanstalk Loyalty, the point-of-sale terminal and social media creates an easy to configure web portal accessible through any web-enabled device such as a smart phone or home computer. The web portal allows the user to select their preferred method of receiving an offer, review account information and view any outstanding offers from the marketer. It can also be integrated with a brand's existing Facebook fan page to drive loyalty registrations using the site's universal login feature. Information captured from the POS and Facebook make it possible to target the offer so that it is in the interests of both the customer and the marketer.
Shortly after the e-mail, Facebook or SMS offers are delivered, the marketer can see redemptions as they happen. This information is tracked in real-time through the Beanstalk Loyalty dashboard. Marketers can analyze the redemption rate to determine whether or not the campaign is having the desired impact on the customers' behavior. If the campaign is working, it can immediately be rolled out to other areas of the country. If not, it can be changed based on insights obtained from the data.
"Marketing is all about influencing the next sale," Bailey said. "Integrating the social network and the POS with the loyalty engine provides the marketer with ability to have an intelligent conversation both before and after the transaction to deliver true closed loop marketing."
