With customers predicted to cut back on spending next year, David Bird, sales director UK at loyalty and rewards solution provider Impact Data, emphasises the importance of building a customer database and using it to its full advantage
Why is building and utilising a customer database crucial for fish and chip shops?
Having a customer database means you can market directly to your customers. Some shops will be using platforms like Just Eat or Deliveroo, which are good ways to get your brand in front of additional eyes but they charge significant commissions and they are the ones that own your database. By gathering your own data you can market directly to your customers without putting your hand in your pocket each time. Fundamentally, shops want to collect as much data – and grow that database – as much as they can during this Christmas period so that they can leverage that to drive business in quieter times like January and February.
What do shops need in order to gather customer data?
You want to be gathering customer data anywhere your customers engage with you and there are several different ways you can do that. You could have a QR code which customers scan and in giving over their information they get 10% off their next visit. You can also invest in a digital ordering system, like QikServe, to offer click-and-collect orders. I’d always recommend this because this not only captures customer data but it also pushes up the average transaction value as customers are less worried about adding an extra portion of chips or chicken nuggets.
How do operators then communicate with those customers?
Once you’ve built a database, the next step is to invest in tools that can communicate effectively with your customers, such as our TalkBox. We understand not only who the customer is – so their name, mobile number and e-mail address, but what they are doing: when they were last in, how much money they were spending, which day of the week they came in. TalkBox understands customer behaviours, and then we have lots of automations in the platform that will automatically reach out to the right customer at the right time to get them back in again.
How important is it for operators to focus on their existing customer base?
It’s estimated to be four to six times more expensive to win a new customer than it is to get an existing one to come back. By building a database, shops can directly communicate with their regulars, ensuring they return. For example, in millions of households across the country, every Friday there’s usually a conversation about what type of takeaway people are going to get. If a customer receives a communication early on in that day that says, ‘Hey, come to the chippy tonight and get x, y, z,’ it helps make that decision for them. By getting your brand in front of your customers when they’re thinking about making a decision to have a takeaway, you’re making it as easy as possible for them to come to you rather than cheat on you with someone else down the road.
How can fish and chip shops reward their existing customers effectively?
There are two key parts to this. There’s what we call retention and then there’s “surprise and delight”. The latter is about rewarding customers with offers from your brand and they include campaigns like birthday rewards or our unique “Celebrate Me Days”. For businesses that don’t collect customer birthdates, we use data like the anniversary of their first visit to create these “Celebrate Me Days”. It’s all about making customers feel special, even on a random day. For example, sending a message like: “Hi, Helen, today’s your Celebrate Me Day! Here’s a free bag of chips with your next order.”
We also set up what we call stealth loyalty campaigns, and these are some of our best-performing campaigns. Because we can observe customer visits in TalkBox, we know when customers hit certain visit thresholds, and we can reward them for hitting them. For example, if a customer visits four times but hasn’t come back in 30 days, we will send them a 10% discount to encourage their fifth visit. On their fifth visit, they’ll get rewarded the next morning with an e-mail for their sixth visit. What you’re trying to do is squeeze visits four, five and six really close together.
Stealth loyalty sounds clever. Why do you think it works so well?
It feels unexpected and genuine. The customer isn’t anticipating a reward, so when they receive one, it seems more powerful. Instead of asking customers to carry a loyalty card or remember to scan something, we use their behaviour data to track visits and reward them automatically. It’s a growing trend in the industry because it’s simple, effective, and keeps customers coming back more quickly.
How can shops ensure marketing campaigns are effective and avoid wasting discounts on customers who would visit anyway?
One of the common challenges shops face is indiscriminately offering discounts. You don’t want to give Jim, a regular Friday customer, 10% off when he’s already planning to visit. Tools like TalkBox help solve this with predictive analytics. The system identifies patterns in customer behaviour, such as when they’re likely to visit next, and only sends promotions to those who need an extra nudge. For example, if a customer hasn’t visited for three months, they’re a prime target for a small incentive to bring them back. This approach ensures shops avoid cannibalising existing revenue and focus discounts where they’ll make a real impact.
What kind of results can shops expect from using tools like TalkBox?
The great thing about TalkBox is that it tracks incremental revenue, so shops can see how much additional income their campaigns are generating rather than taking credit for existing business. By tailoring communications to customer behaviour – whether it’s sending an automated birthday offer or a gentle reminder when a regular hasn’t visited in a while – shops can drive meaningful engagement. For operators who might be sceptical about discounts, this ensures that any promotion adds value and drives actual growth.
Is it best to communicate through e-mail or SMS?
Most people defer to e-mail because it feels less intrusive. That said, SMS is having a resurgence. Historically, SMS was overused and became associated with spam. Today, because platforms like WhatsApp dominate personal communication, SMS feels much more passive. Also, budgets affect the choice; e-mails are free whereas there are costs involved in sending SMS.
We recommend sending the first communication via e-mail and if a customer hasn’t redeemed their offer, following it up with an SMS three days before it expires. That way, it has a lower perceived value of spam because its primary goal isn’t to sell something. Also, e-mail has typically anywhere between 30 and 50% open rate, whereas you have to read an SMS before you can delete it so it has a 100% open rate.
Marketing can sometimes be the first thing businesses cut back on. How does your approach address this challenge?
That’s a great point. Marketing often feels “fluffy” to business owners because it’s can be quite hard to put a finger on what the return is. Our approach solves that by using data and automation to show results. For instance, if a shop runs a campaign through us, we track everything — how many e-mails or SMS messages were sent, how many redemptions occurred, and the total revenue generated.
We even calculate ROI by accounting for the cost of discounts and comparing it to an operator’s gross profit (GP). With that, we’re showing the direct return, which often makes it much easier to validate and recognise a campaign as working.
Automation seems to play a big role. How does that help time-pressed business owners?
Automation is key because computers can do far more than humans can! Fish and chip shop owners are incredibly busy and often lack time for marketing. Our platform has 12 pre-programmed automations tailored for chip shops. All the owner needs to do is sit with us for 20 minutes, choose their offers, and we handle the rest. Once the campaigns are running, we monitor performance and provide monthly reports.
What advice would you give to fish and chip shop owners considering this approach?
If there’s one thing that operators can do to future-proof their business over the next 12 months it is to invest in growing their own customer database. Businesses work in cycles, and you might be busy now, but in three or four years’ time, things might look a lot different. If, over that period, you’ve grown a database and you’ve got 1,000, 2,000 or even 5,000 people on your database that have previously bought from you, that’s your insurance policy.
