Customer proof on record
How Nekter Juice Bar reduced error rates by 80% with Spendgo
- Customer on record
- Nekter Juice Bar
- Vendor on record
- Spendgo
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Nekter Juice Bar, a hospitality company, switched its loyalty program to Spendgo to replace a legacy app that was too slow and expensive to update. By its CTO Jon Asher's account, moving to a phone number-based system with "passwordless login" drove a "15% increase within just a couple of months" in adoption. The company also reports an "80% reduction in error rates" during offer redemption.
Approved quotes
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Showing all 28 quotes
- Background
Self Introduction
“I am John Asher, Chief Technology Officer for Nekter Juice Bar. We have over 220 locations, and I've been with the company for about 9 years now.”
- Before
Legacy Provider Inflexibility
“We launched our first real foray into loyalty and online ordering about 9 years ago with one of the biggest providers out there. They do a great job, but we felt like we'd hit a ceiling. Any sort of app update took forever—a month, two months, three months. If we wanted to make a change, it would cost us $30,000 because it basically needed a completely new version of the app rebuilt before launching it.”
- Before
Legacy Provider Limitations
“Any updates would take too long and be too expensive. We were getting charged per-location-per-month fees for things that didn't make sense. It was putting us behind the curve when we were really ahead of it. We launched online ordering nine years ago, while most companies in our space didn't start until they were forced to during COVID. We felt like new companies were launching with new technology and features that we didn't have access to, and we needed to get back to being best-in-class.”
- How they use it
Legacy System vs. New Agility
“With our legacy company, if we wanted to add a new splash screen or feature a new product on a banner, you needed an entire app update to do it. Now, we can go in and swap in new banners or add a new splash screen, and it's a lot more nimble. If we want to make changes, it's not going to take three months and cost us $30,000. Our legacy company just didn't have the framework to pass data securely and effectively at scale to work with an AI company. We needed something that could be integrated better and launched faster.”
- Results
Creating Engaging Customer Experiences
“It's more the loyalty side of things. It's not just about online ordering; it's about how do we create good experiences to keep people coming back to the app. How do we stay top-of-mind? For a new Disney partnership, how do I make sure our customers know about that? Can we put banners in the app? Can we feature those items at the top of the menu? Can we give users first access? They also have passwordless login. I just enter my phone number, get a one-time passcode, and I'm in. I can claim my rewards, I see my credit card information, and I can easily and seamlessly check out.”
- How they use it
Need for Speed and Integration
“We were seeing a lot of advancements in POS systems, loyalty systems, and headless apps that were addressing our problems, but we just couldn't move fast enough with our current app. That's when we started looking into Spendgo. We saw they had a deep integration with Olo and our POS systems, so we knew everything could communicate. We knew things would be a lot more seamless, we'd reduce our failure rates, and really increase our customer adoption rate. At that point, we had kind of plateaued. We had a very good program, but I knew we could do better.”
- Before
Inability to Launch Engaging Campaigns
“We wanted better challenges, more customization, and a better ability to launch LTOs. We could do a decent job, but not have a fun and engaging launch when partnering with a Disney or Nintendo. We wanted to give those campaigns more life and more room to live digitally as well as in-store, and we just couldn't do that with our old legacy loyalty program.”
- Results
Fraud and Error Rate Reduction
“Moving to a phone number-based loyalty program really reduced the amount of fraud and also reduced the human errors we were seeing. With our old system, every offer had its own QR code that would time out, and the offer would fail. Having all offers attached to one phone number, where the cashier or customer can just select which offer they want, led to a reduction in error rates of like 80%. We just don't see them that often now. It's made it a lot easier for the guest to redeem, and it's all seamless now.”
- Before
Friction and Lost Revenue
“The whole point of the app is to make it a great customer experience. We want the online experience to match what's in-store, and the loyalty to match that great experience. Anytime there's a failure, you might lose a guest. Oftentimes, we would just go in and comp an order if it's not working, so they've been effectively double-discounting, which hits you on the bottom line. So not only is it a bad customer experience, you're also losing money and creating friction where there doesn't need to be.”
- How they use it
Unlocking ROI with a Headless System
“The pricing model was for new features, which is why I felt like we hit a ceiling. Anytime we wanted something new, there wouldn't be any ROI. It would cost too much to integrate our new SMS program into the app; we would never be able to make enough revenue to pay those monthly costs. Whereas with our new system, it's headless. We can go find all these integrations, we can build them in quickly and easily, and we're not getting hit with per-location-per-month fees like we were with our last vendor.”
- Results
Agile Content Management and Customization
“With Spendgo now, we have a content management system. So anytime we want to add a new banner to the app or update our photos, we can do that very easily. They can easily update and build us a new app version within weeks instead of months. So we have a lot more ability to customize things and launch those LTOs in the manner they deserve. And if there's something we can't do, they're working with us to make sure they can make it happen.”
- How they use it
Improving In-App LTO Visibility
“With the other app, we had an inbox, push notifications, and emails, but there wasn't a banner or any exciting way to show LTOs. It wasn't like you open your app and you know this is the LTO going on right now. Now, if you open our app, you see we're all about our Disney partnership. You don't have to go to online ordering or check your inbox; it's just there and it looks really nice.”
- Results
Collaborative Partnership on AI
“Currently, we are working with Spendgo to come up with some really good AI-based solutions that are more proactive than reactive. It's not quite there yet, but the fact that they're willing to work with us on these things and we're having meetings about it is amazing.”
- Results
Driving Off-Season Traffic with Loyalty
“We're about frequency. In the summertime, everyone wants to get a smoothie. In the wintertime, our traffic dips a little bit. So how do we minimize that? Part of that is getting people into our loyalty program so we can then reach out to them, message them, and show them our LTOs in the fall and winter to keep them excited and coming back.”
- Results
15% Loyalty Adoption Rate Increase
“About 32% of our guests were in our loyalty system, and we'd been steady at that level. With Spendgo, we really reduced those barriers to entry. We have 'starter accounts,' so all you have to do is give your phone number at the register. They're earning without having to download anything or enter their email. It's a really good talking point at the register: 'This is quick and easy. Just give us your phone number and you can start earning today.' We've seen a huge increase in adoption rates. We saw an actual 15% increase within just a couple of months over what we were doing previously. And then we have some stores that have up to a 70% adoption rate.”
- How they use it
Seamless Loyalty Migration
“You're always going to lose some people when you transfer loyalty programs because they have to set up a new account and link their old one. The great thing about Spendgo and Olo being deeply integrated is that Olo was able to take a lot of that data over and make it more seamless. Olo knows who you are, your transaction history, and your saved payment tokens. They can link that up with your phone number. Now, all you need is a phone number to register, and all your saved order history is available. Before, you would lose all that history. It really made that transition a lot more seamless, and I think that's why we greatly increased our adoption rates.”
- Results
The Power of Deep Integrations
“We love Olo, they just work and have these deep integrations. If they didn't have that same integration with Spendgo, with the passwordless login, if they didn't have borderless payment solutions where they can take saved credit card details and apply them for one user across accounts, this wouldn't have worked. But because they have those integrations and that technology in place, this switchover was much more seamless than I could have ever imagined.”
- Results
55% Email Open Rates Post-Migration
“Since we switched over, our email open rates are about 55%, which is pretty huge. We brought over a very nice, clean list and we're seeing really great results. I think part of that is we moved to a phone number-based system, so we were able to delete a lot of old junk emails. We put them through a filter and brought in all the new ones that seemed to be healthy. When we were ready to launch, we had very low spam rates and high acceptability rates. A lot of it is about bringing over that clean list.”
- How they use it
Improving Data Hygiene and Reducing Costs
“Previously, there might be one user with three different email addresses because they signed up with a private relay, Facebook, and Google, and we didn't have a great way to merge those. Moving to phone number-based, we're linking a phone number to a primary email and getting rid of those old junk emails. What we're left with is a much cleaner list. It also means we pay less money because we're sending fewer emails. It's probably a couple thousand dollars a month in savings at our size. When you have lists of up to 3 million people, the cost per thousand can really add up if you have a large amount of junk emails.”
- How they use it
Integrating SMS and Growing List
“We've managed to really grow our SMS program because now everything's phone number-based. With our old loyalty program, we weren't able to properly opt people into SMS marketing through our app. To do that would require an app update and per-location-per-month fees. So we kept that outside of our loyalty system, and now it's just baked in. When you sign up for the app, you can opt-in, and we've seen huge growth in our SMS list because of that.”
- Results
94% User Preference for OTP Login
“Really where we've seen it is that one-time passcode—the OTP—in order to log in without a password. We've seen that 94% of guests will prefer that text message-based login over entering a username and password. That's really where we see the biggest improvement.”
- How they use it
Solving Login and Password Friction
“We don't have any passwords anymore; we're passwordless. We have seen that it is a lot easier for our customers to log in. Before, they didn't know if they logged in with Facebook, Google, or Apple. They'd reach out to customer service. Now, you just need one phone number. Customer service is not seeing all these requests for, 'Hey, can you reset my password?' or 'What was my email address?' Everyone remembers their phone number.”
- Results
Targeted Advertising with Starter Accounts
“If you have a bunch of phone numbers like we do with our starter accounts, we can go put that in there and start serving ads to those users instead of trying to send it to a lookalike audience. It's a better use of your money. Previously, you were either signed up or not signed up. Now we have this middle ground where we are probably top-of-mind with this customer because they gave their phone number and know they are earning points, but just haven't had a chance to download the app. We're able to target them and remind them that we're here.”
- Results
Defining a True Tech Partner
“They're very willing to take feedback on improvements and are very quick to make this happen, which is something we really look for in a tech vendor. We like tech partners; we don't want someone that we're just purchasing something from. We want someone that we can grow with, and Spendgo is definitely one of those. I'd rather have that than a big beast in the industry that says, 'This is what you want, this is what you need, just do it,' because they don't really live in our shoes. They don't know what we need.”
Technology-First Restaurant Philosophy
“As marketers in the technology space, we're always looking to enhance the customer experience, increase loyalty, and increase that lifetime value. Technology can either make or break that. What I'm seeing more and more is that restaurants started out serving food and maybe having some technology. Now, a lot of these restaurants, including us, are starting out as a technology-first company that also serves food. If you're not up-to-date with technology, you're falling behind. We're definitely leaning heavily into AI and making sure we're set up for success. I made sure every single one of our technologies were interconnected because I knew that's how the future is going to be. If your technologies aren't talking to each other, you're going to have gaps.”
Vendor Selection Criteria
“When you're bringing on a vendor, are they forward-thinking? Are they actively talking with you about how they want to improve things and asking you what they can do to make it better? Those are the vendors that I love. The very first thing, barebones, is: is it integrated with our current tech stack? If not, I'm not interested. How easy is it to update? That's a big red flag for us if it's difficult to make any sort of changes. Can we integrate whatever the latest AI solution is right now? Is it making my life easier or making my life harder?”
Data Accessibility for AI Success
“Do all your systems integrate with each other? If you have a system that's walled-off, it's going to be much harder to integrate with AI. The AI needs as much data as possible, and it needs to be accurate, otherwise you're not going to get good outputs. You need to make sure your data is there, that it's accessible in a safe manner. Having partners with APIs who are willing to work with you on those APIs is key. Some POS and loyalty companies are pretty hands-off; they don't want anybody touching their data. Our current vendors have very good APIs, and that sets you up for success with AI.”
- Results
80% Error Rate Reduction from Deep Integrations
“We're seeing like an 80% reduction in error rates. I think a lot of that is due to these deep connections between our technology partners. Punchh has a very good integration with both Olo and Spendgo, and because everything's talking to each other and doing a great job of it, we've really seen a reduction in those error rates when people try to redeem something.”