Andreeson Horowitz recently invested $10 million into loyalty startup Belly. I’d like to start off by congratulating the Belly team on their Series B – we wish you good luck in reaching Groupon-like scale.
This recent news warrants a fair and honest comparison between Belly and RewardMe. We welcome the founders of Belly to write their responses in the comments section at the end of this post to continue the discussion.
Comparison snapshot: this post will compare Belly and RewardMe in the following 6 important customer loyalty program topics
- Customer sign-up rate: how many new customers sign-up to the program
- Participation rate: the number of check-ins to the rewards program
- Return on investment: measurable ROI that is backed by data
- Reward structure and customization: the ability for the business to customize rewards
- Data capture: the type of data that is collected from consumers
- Ease of use: ease of use for the business and the consumers
Customer Sign-up Rate
Belly
According to the article by CNET, Belly has achieved the following numbers:
Note: date range of August 2011 – April 2012 (270 days)
- 1,400 locations
- 200,000 users
Lets analyze the data to get numbers that are useful to a merchant:
Users per location: on average, there are 143 users per location
New users per day: on average, 741 new users sign up per day
New users per location per day: on average, there are .53 new users per location per day
RewardMe
For the comparison, we will use the numbers generated from our fast casual restaurant client located in Texas with 16 locations:
Note: date range from December 2011 – April 2012 (150 days)
- Franchise with 16 locations using RewardMe
- 39,008 users
Lets do the same analysis that we did for Belly above:
Users per location: on average, we have 2,438 users per location
New users per day: on average, 260 new users sign up per day
New users per location per day: on average, we have 16.25 new users per location per day
Conclusion
RewardMe has 31x the customer sign-up rate as Belly: 16.25 new users per location per day vs .53 new users per location per day
Participation Rate
Belly
According to the article by Tech Crunch, Belly has achieved the following numbers:
Note: date range of August 2011 – April 2012 (270 days)
- 200,000 users
- 800,000 check-ins
RewardMe
For the comparison, we will again use the numbers generated from our fast casual restaurant client located in Texas with 16 locations:
Note: date range from December 2011 – April 2012 (150 days)
- 39,008 users
- 81,410 check-ins
Check-ins per day: on average, we have 543 check-ins per day
Check-ins per location per day: on average, we have 33.92 check-ins per location per day
Conclusion
RewardMe has 16x the customer check-in rate as Belly: 33.92 check-ins per day vs 2.12 checkins per day
Return on Investment
Belly
Unfortunately the CNET article did not mention anything about ROI for Belly merchants. I encourage the Belly team to post their ROI numbers as a follow up to this post for a fair comparison.
RewardMe
The following numbers are for our fast casual franchise client.
- Participation rate: 20.2% of all customers use RewardMe
- We capture the RIGHT customers: RewardMe members spend 24.8% more than non-RewardMe members
- Note: this population selection effect should not be confused with revenue lift, which is detailed below
- Revenue lift for RewardMe members: a revenue lift of 5.7% is directly attributed to gamification (lift % is a statistically sound calculation independent of the effects of population selection and random environmental factors)
Most importantly, a recent case study of a client revealed that because RewardMe captures 20.2% of customers, RewardMe has generated a 2% bottom-line revenue increase for our client over a 7-month period.
Conclusion
If a rewards program cannot prove a statistically sound measurement for ROI, then there is no proof that the rewards program benefits its clients. We’d like to see Belly demonstrate measurable ROI for its clients.
Reward Structure and Customization
Belly
Belly rewards points based on visits.
RewardMe
RewardMe rewards points based on dollars spent or visits
Conclusion
A merchant can use RewardMe to fully customize their rewards program and ensure that their best customers get the best rewards. For example, a customer that buys a soft drink can receive 10 points, while a customer that buys an entire burger meal can receive 100 points.
On the other hand, merchants are severely limited with Belly. A customer that buys a soft drink will receive as many points as a customer that buys an entire burger meal.
Because Belly is limited to a visit-based rewards program, RewardMe has a far superior, more customizable rewards program.
Data Capture
Belly
Belly does not capture point of sale data; therefore, Belly does not know how much money was spent or what was purchased.
Belly does capture the following data points via their mobile application:
RewardMe
RewardMe has a patent-pending technology that allows us to capture important point of sale data:
- Dollars spent
- Items purchased
- Timestamp
The unique identifier for a customer is their mobile number. A customer can choose to opt-into the merchant’s text club at sign-up.
RewardMe always captures mobile number, and captures email through a follow up text.
Conclusion
A merchant can use RewardMe for deep, BIG DATA analysis of customer purchase patterns and behaviors. Merchants of all sizes, from the mom and pop shop on the corner to the largest restaurants and retailers, can capture, analyze and develop actionable, targeted marketing based on information including but not limited to:
- Customer specific data
- Which customers have spent more than $100 in the past 30 days
- Which customers make purchases on weekdays vs weekends
- Which customers love burgers vs salads
- Average age of customers
- Average income level of customers
- Location distribution of customers
- Which customers buy salads but not pizza
- Which customers haven’t returned in the past 30 days
Ease of use
Belly
Check out the video case study for a yogurt shop
Process for tech-savvy customers:
- Download Belly App
- Open Belly App on phone
- Scan code on the iPad 2
Process for non-tech-savvy customers:
- Grab a Belly card
- Sign up card online
- Remember to bring the card with you every where that you go
- Scan card on the iPad 2 screen
Process for merchants:
- Promote Belly to its customers
- Call Belly when they run out of Belly Cards to replenish cards
RewardMe
Check out our video case study for a yogurt shop
Process for ALL customers:
- Punch in mobile number on the iPad screen
Process for merchants:
- Promote their own branded rewards program (watch how in the video, Fraiche promotes the Fraiche Rewards Program and not RewardMe)
Conclusion
RewardMe is easy for ALL customers to use – no phone, no mobile apps to download, no QR codes to scan. Every customer is accustomed to punching in their mobile number at the grocery store during checkout. Because they’re already accustomed to this behavior, it’s extremely easy for every customer to sign up to RewardMe. This is why we have 20.2% sign-up conversion rate for customers.
Belly on the other hand is cumbersome to use. Customers must download a mobile app in the store (often while in line), open the app, and scan it on the iPad 2. If the customer isn’t tech savvy, then they have to carry around another loyalty card, which completely defeats the purpose of using technology to eliminate the need to carry around a loyalty card.
The proof is in the numbers. RewardMe is easy to use while Belly is a hassle to use – that is why we sign up 31x more customers per location than Belly.
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Final thoughts
Belly is a technology company focused on providing consumers with a universal rewards program. To satisfy consumers, Belly signs up merchants to their rewards program. In this way, a consumer is signing up for Belly specifically as opposed to a merchant’s branded rewards program.
On the other hand, RewardMe is a technology company focused on providing merchants with a platform to better understand and engage with customers. To satisfy merchants, RewardMe makes it very easy for merchants to sign up customers into their rewards program. This is why our solution is customized to fit the merchant’s brand.
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I look forward to hearing your thoughts about the comparison and to receiving a reply from the Belly team.
