Loyalty & Retention 7 min read
What's a Good Repeat Customer Rate for a Coffee Shop?
The metric that predicts a café's survival better than foot traffic — how to measure it, what's normal, and how to move it.
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Posts in Loyalty & Retention
14 posts
Loyalty & Retention 7 min read
Should Your Café's Loyalty Points Expire? The Honest Math
Point expiration feels responsible, but for most independent cafés it works against the repeat visits your program exists to create. Here's the honest trade-off.
Loyalty & Retention 8 min read
How to Build a Tiered VIP Loyalty Program for a Café
A practical guide to designing a two- or three-tier VIP loyalty program for a café — thresholds, perks, margin math, and what Square can and can't do.
Loyalty & Retention 7 min read
Gift Cards vs. Loyalty: Which Drives More Café Visits?
Gift cards and loyalty solve different retention problems. Here's what each actually does for repeat café visits, what they cost, and why most cafés should run both.
Loyalty & Retention 8 min read
How to Set Your Cafe's Loyalty Earn Rate & Rewards
The math behind 'buy 9, get the 10th free' — how to pick an earn rate and reward that drives repeat visits without quietly eating your margin.
Loyalty & Retention 7 min read
Punch Card vs Points: Which Café Loyalty Program Wins?
An honest comparison of the two loyalty models for cafés, the research behind each, and how to run whichever you choose on Square.
Loyalty & Retention 8 min read
Birthday Rewards for Coffee Shops: Setup and Real Math
A practical, margin-aware guide to birthday rewards for cafés — what to offer, how to automate it, and how to make sure the free drink earns its keep.
Loyalty & Retention 7 min read
How to Run a Refer-a-Friend Program for Your Café
Turn your regulars into a referral engine: how to structure rewards, protect your margin, and actually track who referred whom on Square.
Loyalty & Retention 9 min read
How to Win Back Lapsed Café Customers (Without Discounting to Death)
Define lapsed correctly, target the right guests, and bring them back with a message that protects margin — not a blanket 50%-off blast.
Loyalty & Retention 9 min read
Apple Wallet Loyalty Cards for Coffee Shops: A Guide
Digital stamp cards in Apple Wallet feel modern and cost little — but the wallet owns the customer surface. Here's the honest trade-off.
Loyalty & Retention 8 min read
How Much Does a Coffee Shop Loyalty Program Cost?
Punch cards, Square Loyalty, standalone loyalty apps, or loyalty bundled into a branded app — here's what each actually costs and when it pays for itself.
Loyalty & Retention 7 min read
Email vs SMS vs Push: How Cafés Should Reach Customers
Email is cheap, SMS gets read, push is free once you have an app. Here's how the three customer-messaging channels actually compare for a café — and how to use them together.
Loyalty & Retention 6 min read
Customer Lifetime Value for Coffee Shops, Explained
A plain-language guide to customer lifetime value for cafés — the simple formula, a worked example, and what it changes about how you spend on marketing.
Loyalty & Retention 11 min read
Square Loyalty for Cafés: Turn First-Timers into Regulars
An operator-grade guide to designing a Square Loyalty program for a café — earn rates, reward thresholds, what it costs, and how a branded app amplifies it.