Customer proof on record
How Kahala Brands saw a 23% growth in its SMS adoption rate with Spendgo
- Customer on record
- Kahala Brands
- Vendor on record
- Spendgo
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Proofmap summary
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Kahala Brands, a hospitality company, uses Spendgo for its loyalty program to drive a "higher customer lifetime value." By the account of its Vice President of Marketing & Digital Strategy, Courtney Maxedon, loyalty members "spend five to six times more" than non-members. Integrating Spendgo with its online ordering system achieved an "adoption rate for loyalty on Olo" of around 40%.
Approved quotes
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Showing all 38 quotes
- Background
Olo Integration History
“Kahala started with Olo, and Cold Stone Creamery was actually one of Olo's first clients. We started by just offering online ordering for cakes to provide that digital convenience for guests. But it wasn't until January of 2020 that we launched the full integrated menu with Olo.”
- Results
Choosing Spendgo for Low Friction
“In 2018, Kahala partnered with Spendgo, which was one of the first loyalty programs we launched. The reason we went with Spendgo was the ease of the customer journey. We could just enter the phone number at the point of sale, making it super easy to enter with less friction for customers.”
- Results
Easy Access and Integration
“Kahala chose Spendgo so we could have easy access into loyalty for our customers. Using a phone number at the point of sale is super important. At the time, they were also one of the only integrated loyalty providers.”
- How they use it
POS Integration
“Kahala chose Spendgo because they were the only loyalty program at the time that was integrated with our POS system.”
- Results
Starter Member In-Store Entry
“We needed something that was easy for customers to join the program because we wanted to get as many customers as possible. We love the idea of their starter member. Customers can go into a store, enter their phone number, and become a starter member. Then we have their phone number to communicate with them and encourage them to register. That easy point of entry in-store was super important for us, especially since 99% of our sales were happening in-store when we launched.”
- Background
Technology Stack Timeline
“Kahala partnered with Olo in 2010, and Cold Stone Creamery was actually Olo's second client. We were initially only offering cakes online, but in 2020 we launched full menu ordering integrated with our POS. We really see our POS as the foundation of all our technology, and then we layered on Spendgo and Olo.”
- Results
Digital Growth and Passwordless Login
“Our digital footprint has certainly grown since COVID. Before COVID, digital sales from Olo were maybe 1 to 2%, and now it's 5 to 6%, with overall digital around 20 to 25%. Over the last five to seven years, both Olo and Spendgo have really evolved. Spendgo recently built a passwordless login, which makes the digital journey super frictionless for customers because they don't have to remember a password.”
- Results
High Loyalty Adoption Rates
“We're getting more customers signing up through loyalty on Olo, and our adoption rate is historically higher online than in-store for all our brands using Spendgo. Our Olo adoption rate for loyalty is around 40% for Cold Stone, and in-store is around 30%, which has grown significantly. The industry average adoption rate is around 15%, so surpassing 30% in-store for Cold Stone this year is really exciting.”
- Results
Customer-Facing Displays and Starter Members
“A lot of our adoption growth comes from the frictionless way customers can enter in-store using our customer-facing displays. Customers see a prompt asking if they want to join, and they just enter their phone number. On the flip side, the crew member can see if the customer is a starter member with rewards on their account. That becomes a great talking point for our crew to say, 'I see you haven't registered your account, but you have a reward waiting.' It's an effective way to get more registered members, and we know registered members have a really high customer lifetime value.”
- Results
The Power of Asking Every Time
“I think the online ordering loyalty adoption rate is around 40% because Olo asks every time if you want to be a member. We've done internal tests where someone from operations goes into a store and asks every single customer if they want to join at the point of sale, and that adoption rate was in the 80s. We know that asking every single time is the biggest factor to loyalty adoption in-store.”
- Results
Seamless Digital Sign-Ups
“That is the benefit of Olo. Because it's a digital system, it asks every time if you want to be part of the loyalty program. On the flip side, Spendgo launching their passwordless login created a really seamless and easy way to join. There's very little friction, which means we get more members in our program.”
- How they use it
Tracking Crew Member Adoption
“Having the loyalty prompt front and center during the checkout process is important, especially since we know in-store crew members don't ask every time. We have initiatives between marketing and operations where our CDP pulls a crew member adoption report. This lets us see down to the individual crew member who is actually asking customers to join. Loyalty and driving digital sales are huge initiatives for us, and we use specific KPIs to measure both.”
- Results
Olo and Spendgo Integration
“Our adoption rate for loyalty on Olo is at 40%. I believe that's because Spendgo and Olo are so closely integrated that the checkout and loyalty sign-on processes are super simple.”
- Results
Seamless Digital Journey
“Our loyalty adoption rate on Olo is higher than in-store at around 40%, and that's because these two systems are so closely integrated. Spendgo also launched passwordless login, which makes the digital journey of joining loyalty super seamless.”
- Results
Increasing In-Store Adoption
“There's a lot of room for improvement in increasing our loyalty database. Our in-store adoption is around 30%, meaning 70% of customers aren't part of the program yet. To help increase that in-store adoption, we launched customer-facing displays, which has really helped, along with a few other integrations we've done with Spendgo and our point-of-sale system.”
- Results
Forced Loyalty Pop-Ups at POS
“We launched customer-facing displays and have seen them increase our in-store adoption rates. We also worked with our point-of-sale system to add a forced loyalty pop-up during checkout to remind crew members to ask customers to join. We know from testing that the crew member asking is the biggest factor in loyalty adoption. With 75% of our sales still coming from in-store, that component is incredibly important for us.”
- Results
SMS Opt-In Integration
“Another thing we've done with our customer-facing displays is work with Spendgo and our SMS provider, Infobip, to include an SMS opt-in right on the display. SMS is a crucial communication channel because we know those customers have a much higher lifetime value than non-loyalty customers, or even loyalty members who aren't opted in. We want to continue growing that database, so we've also added digital prompts like an SMS pop-up on Olo to help drive that adoption.”
- Results
Loyalty Lifetime Value Multiplier
“Loyalty is a huge initiative for us at Kahala Brands because our loyalty members spend five to six times more over their lifetime compared to non-loyalty members. If they're opted in for SMS, I estimate their customer lifetime value is seven to eight times more. That lifetime value significantly increases when they're opted into that communication channel.”
- How they use it
SMS Opt-In at POS
“A customer can be a starter member without opting in for SMS, but that's exactly why we added the checkbox at the point of sale to encourage that opt-in. It really comes down to that seamless integration.”
- Results
SMS Journeys for Starter Members
“SMS helps us get more loyalty members because it allows us to talk to them and send them on targeted journeys. If someone is a starter member, we have their phone number and can set up an SMS journey encouraging them to fully register their account. It's a super important goal of ours to gather data so we can communicate effectively. We do that through Spendgo's starter member program and through our CDP with identity resolution to identify unknown customers. Ultimately, our goal is just to talk to as many of our customers as we can.”
- Results
Converting Starter Members via SMS
“One of the reasons we love the Spendgo starter member program is that we capture their phone number, giving us a vital data point to communicate. When we capture that number in-store, we include a checkbox to opt into SMS. Once they opt in, even as a starter member, we can send them on a journey to fully register. We send reminders about rewards they've earned but must register to redeem. Having them opted into SMS is a great channel to remind them to complete their registration, because who doesn't want to redeem a $5 off reward?”
- Results
23% SMS Adoption Growth
“In 2025, we've seen around a 23% growth in our SMS adoption rate. That was driven by two major initiatives we launched this year: adding an SMS opt-in to our customer-facing displays in-store, and adding an SMS opt-in pop-up to Olo on our website. Those two channels have been incredibly effective at driving that 23% increase in SMS adoption.”
- Results
Omnichannel Loyalty Strategy
“We want it all. We want customers coming into our store and having the crew member ask them to join loyalty. We want to acquire new customers on our digital channels, where we know adoption rates are higher. We also want to focus on our starter members and encourage them to fully register their accounts. For members already in the program, we want to increase their frequency and spend. We have specific strategies and journeys set up for every type of customer to drive those key performance indicators.”
- How they use it
Spendgo ROI vs App-Based Loyalty
“Spendgo is absolutely our preferred loyalty vendor. Because we are an acquisition company, we have worked with almost every other loyalty vendor in the space. With other vendors, it's really hard to achieve the ROI we get with Spendgo because their programs might be app-based, resulting in super low adoption rates. If customer participation isn't there, we can't get enough people into the program to actually influence their frequency and behavior.”
- Results
Strategic Partnership and Innovation
“We've been with Spendgo since 2018, and we really look to them as a strategic partner. They bring us industry insights and things we should consider, and we truly value that partnership. Another major point is their innovation. Spendgo has evolved significantly over the last five to six years with segmentation, overall capabilities, and their deep integration with Olo. I'm pretty sure they're the only loyalty vendor offering a passwordless login with that level of Olo integration. We are evolving together.”
- Results
Influencing the Product Roadmap
“We always look for vendors where we can help influence the roadmap. Because we are a digital-forward acquisition company that likes to try new things, we need partners who will evolve with us. We can work together with Spendgo on feature requests, and we trust them enough to have an open, transparent dialogue. That is something we look for in all our vendors, and we've certainly found it with Spendgo.”
- Results
The Digital Flywheel Effect
“Our goal is to grow our digital sales and send more people to Olo, knowing that 40% of them will join loyalty. It creates a flywheel effect. We want to push people to digital because we capture customer and menu item data that we don't necessarily get in-store. By ordering digitally, we get richer data and achieve a much higher loyalty adoption rate.”
- Results
Digital Ordering Drives LTV
“We have a big push for customers to order digitally because we capture more customer and menu item data. We also know our loyalty adoption rate is higher on digital channels, sitting around 40%. It creates a flywheel effect: getting more customers to digital means more join loyalty, and the lifetime value for a loyalty member is five to six times higher than a non-loyalty member.”
- Results
Integration Drives Higher LTV
“We know that the lifetime value of our loyalty members is five to six times higher than non-loyalty members. Thanks to the integration between Spendgo and Olo, we see a higher loyalty adoption rate of around 40%. That's why we push to get more customers ordering through Olo—it drives loyalty sign-ups, which ultimately drives a higher customer lifetime value.”
- How they use it
Marketing Push to Online Ordering
“We have a large loyalty database, which gives us a lot of customers to communicate with. In most of our marketing efforts, we are pushing them toward online ordering. Our emails include an 'order now' link, we have journeys reminding them to reorder a cake from last year, and we're setting up abandoned cart flows. All of these efforts are designed to talk to our loyalty members and push them to order directly from Olo.”
- Results
Spendgo Shared Network Benefits
“There are certainly benefits to the Spendgo shared network. If a customer is already registered at a brand like Cold Stone, they are automatically registered when they put in their phone number at one of our other brands, like Wetzel's.”
- Results
40% Customer Overlap via Network
“Cold Stone has been with Spendgo since 2018, and Spendgo has a shared network of around 40 million customers. When we recently onboarded Wetzel's to Spendgo, we saw a 40% overlap in customers, which is huge. Typically, it's only around 20 to 30%. Knowing there's such a strong affinity between the Wetzel's and Cold Stone customer bases is a fantastic data point for us, especially since we have co-branded stores coming up.”
- How they use it
Instant Database Growth
“Because of that 40% overlap, those Wetzel's customers were automatically registered. It immediately grew our Wetzel's loyalty database just by switching from our previous vendor to Spendgo. Those customers didn't even have to begin as starter members because they were already in Spendgo's shared database as fully registered members.”
- Results
Pushing Wetzel's to Digital
“With all of our marketing messages, we are pushing digital ordering by including a link to Olo. Now that we can talk to more members in the Wetzel's database, we're pushing them to Olo, where we historically see a higher loyalty adoption rate. It's a constant flywheel. Wetzel's digital sales are currently very small, so our hope is to grow that channel through these targeted marketing messages.”
- Results
Shared Database Drives Digital
“With Wetzel's, because of the shared database on Spendgo, we now have more customers we can talk to and push toward Olo. Wetzel's is still growing its digital footprint, and we really want to capture more of those digital sales to build that flywheel effect.”
- How they use it
Piloting RCS Messaging
“Right now with SMS, we use a Bitly link to send customers to online ordering. But with RCS, it shows an image, an 'order now' button, and lets them browse flavors. Because SMS is such a high-performing communication channel, we are looking to test RCS to improve those conversion rates even more. Hopefully, with an RCS pilot, we'll see more customers converting, ordering digitally, and joining loyalty.”
- How they use it
Expanding SMS with RCS
“We're always looking to expand our SMS strategy to increase both adoption and conversion rates. One of the things we're hoping to pilot with Spendgo and Infobip is RCS, or Rich Communication Services messaging. Instead of just shortened URLs, it includes images, 'order now' buttons, and lets customers browse flavors. It's a much deeper way to engage with customers via SMS, and we're hoping to pilot that in 2026.”
- Results
Choosing Innovative Partners
“What we look for in our technology vendors is innovation first and foremost. We want to make sure we can grow and evolve together. We look for transparency and an enterprise-level platform, and that's really the reason why we have chosen to partner with both Olo and Spendgo.”