Columbus Coffee

From coffee experience to customer experience

As all business owners know, loyal customers are the key to faster growth. Not only do they keep coming back

and spending more, loyal customers are also more likely to tell their friends and families of their favourite places to visit.

Customer loyalty data also provides great insights that can be used to influence business decisions and

steer more clients your way. For many businesses, though, traditional loyalty data (such as how often a

customer comes in to visit) often misses one crucial component: the voice of the customer!

The question, then, is this: Do happy customers come back more often and spend more? National café

franchise Columbus Coffee was on a mission to find out

The opportunity: Connecting customer feedback to Columbus Rewards

Since opening their doors in 1995, Columbus Coffee has been at the forefront of premium coffee and providing a true café experience. The coffee house has long been at the social heart of the community, so franchisee success can only come from creating connections and building sustained loyalty. That’s why they’ve kept customer feedback at the centre of their strategy since Customer Radar came on board in 2010.

Over the last decade, Columbus Coffee’s customer feedback programme has developed to meet

customers’ and the business’s changing needs. Starting with feedback cards and table talkers,

technology – and preferences – moved on to focus on feedback invites on the bottom of till-receipts.

While these methods were a step in the right direction, feedback was infrequent and volumes were low,

giving Columbus Coffee and franchisees only a glimpse of what was going on in their customers’ minds.

To deliver more volume and value to franchisees, we knew a new feedback invitation method was required: one that could drive upthe volume and frequency while connecting customer feedback with customer loyalty data.

The process: Implementing a seamless solution

Customer Radar worked closely with loyalty innovations provider Tranxactor to provide a seamless and simple solution: as soon as customers swipe their Columbus Rewards card, a feedback invitation email is sent to their inbox. It’s an easy option for the customer – and an automated workflow for Columbus Coffee. And it delivered immediate results:

1. Higher volume of customer feedback

An immediate increase in customer feedback meant we soon knew we were on the right track!

Customer Radar and the Columbus Coffee teams worked closely together to develop a smart strategy that includes controls to limit the number of feedback invites per day and varying the time of the day invites were sent. This ensures feedback levels are manageable for busy franchisees, and also allows them to get an effective cross-section of feedback captures from both morning and afternoon trades.

We also set frequency restrictions so that customers only get invited to give feedback once every six months, keeping the customer experience at the forefront.

2. Better response rate

Immediacy was the key to the 28% response rate Columbus Coffee received. We found that customers are far most likely to give feedback when an invitation is sent to the customer moments after their purchase, and while the great experience is still fresh in their mind.

3. Richer data and insights

Imagine using hard data to show why and how the customer experience affects the bottom line. Well, this is exactly what Columbus Coffee has achieved by connecting transaction, loyalty, and customer satisfaction insights.

We connect transaction data to each individual customer feedback response, then combine this with their Net Promoter Score (NPS) via the Customer Radar Dashboard to paint a clear picture of the relationship between customer satisfaction and spending.

4. Act on the feedback easily and quickly

Turning up the feedback volume was just the start when it came to adding value to the franchisees.

The Customer Radar Dashboard also notifies owners and managers of feedback that needs
immediate attention – with the option to respond to customers directly from their
smartphones and improve customer feedback on the go.
Some custom feedback response templates also help to connect with customers quickly to
resolve any issues and build stronger customer connections.

5. Increased visibility at a brand level

Using NPS to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty for the brand means Columbus Coffee has a

benchmarking functionality that highlights which cafés are thriving and which need a bit more support.

NPS also lets them see trends across all areas of the business, with real-time comment groups tracking

what’s working for the business.

The combined tools, including time comparison, are giving Columbus Coffee incredible insights so they

can track wins and improvements and measure new initiatives.

On the whole, this increased visibility is allowing Columbus Coffee to see what’s really happening on the café floor. They’re building an internal culture of customer accountability, with the team keeping customer experience at the heart of everything they do and the brand recognising and rewarding their star performers.

Combining transactional data with customer satisfaction data is where the magic happens. It’s showing us that happy customers come back more often and spend more – and creating an incredible, customer-led attitude for the true café experience.”