3 Impactful Changes Gong Cha Made to Earn $765K in Incremental Sales

Wondering just how important loyalty is to the growth of your business? Meet Gong cha, a popular bubble tea company that was founded in Taiwan in 2006. Anchal Lamba is the Gong cha Master Franchisee for New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Texas. At the time of implementation, they had 64 stores operating within these regions.

With the power of Fivestars’ Loyalty Program they acquired 112,000 new customer sign ups with an impressive 78% lift in customer spend. Here’s how they achieved such massive growth in a short period of time.

Moving away from paper punch cards to impactful digital tracking 

For a long time, Gong cha’s loyalty program used paper punch cards. The program was simple, customers got one point for every dollar they spent. However, the punch cards were easy to lose and there was no way to contact customers again.

Anchal Lamba, the president of Gong cha Tea, LLC, knew she needed a digital solution. She wanted to keep up with Gong cha’s digitally native customer base but she had very specific needs.

Because of the highly customizable nature of the bubble tea, like the amount of sugar, ice, and toppings that could be added to the drinks, Gong cha had a custom in-house Point of Sale (POS) system.

So Lamba had two choices: build her own in-house loyalty software or find a vendor that could create a custom integration for her POS.

Creating an omni-channel marketing program with integration capabilities

At first, Gong cha started to build an in-house loyalty program. However, because of the many regulations around reaching out to customers via SMS, Lamba realized that she needed to partner with a vendor that:

1. Had expertise in SMS loyalty and marketing automation

2. Could deploy fast across the franchise network

3. Was fully customized to the in-house POS system

Based on these needs, we recommended three different solutions.

The Fivestars iOS SDK

By using the iOS Standard Developer Kit (SDK) and a set of APIs (application programming interface), the integration to Gong cha’s custom POS was done with minimal engineering effort, saving time and money.

AutoPilot Program

With Fivestars’ AutoPilot program, Gong cha can now send targeted offers to its customers automatically. Each message is tailored to customers’ visit behaviors (first-time visit, birthday, or at risk of churning) so they’re encouraged to return to Gong cha stores.

When Gong cha has a new seasonal product or a grand opening, Lamba uses the Promotions feature to send alerts to Fivestars App users who meet her selection criteria. Because many customers don’t follow Gong cha on social media, Promotions are a great way to reach out to them.

Fivestars Pay

With Fivestars Pay, an innovative software and hardware payment solution, customers who pay using their credit cards are automatically entered into Gong cha’s loyalty program. This unique and secure sign-in experience has increased the adoption of Gong cha’s loyalty program. 

The results speak for themselves

Before Gong cha started using Fivestars Loyalty, its in-house punch card loyalty program had 10,000 members. After eight months using Fivestars Loyalty, the program achieved 112,000 customer sign-ups.

On average, 20% of customers who received an ‘AutoPilot’ message from Fivestars Loyalty actually visit and make a purchase during the offer window. This shows that Fivestars Loyalty has been successful in driving repeat customer visits.

Plus, within six months of joining the loyalty program, customers who have received messages from Fivestars Loyalty spent $100 more than those who didn’t receive them. This represents a 78% lift. The Fivestars Marketing Program has also produced a strong Return On Investment (ROI) for Gong cha with $765,000 in accumulated incremental sales. 

Loyalty and your business

No matter what size of business you run, loyalty is an important factor in long-term growth. On average, 60% of customers don't return to a business after their first visit, so offering an easy way for customers to track their rewards will give them an incentive to return to your business again and again. 

Plus, with Fivestars Loyalty automated marketing, you can create campaigns that are unique to your business and require minimal time from you and your staff. 

Quick transactions with seamless signups 

The all-new SumUp POS + Loyalty brings efficiency to your brick and mortar. Our POS allows you to effortlessly take orders, manage sales, and accept payments with easy-to-use software and reliable hardware. 

Best of all, with our built-in loyalty features, you can do all the things you need to do, while also building your customer base with ease. Keep track of customer rewards, send automated marketing emails, and so much more.