WatchHouse sets out to challenge the status quo in specialty coffee. Founded in 2015, WatchHouse now has twelve houses across London.
It is WatchHouse’s belief that although there’s a lot of good coffee out there, there are few specialty cafés that also provide great customer service in incredible environments.
WatchHouse aim to break the mould and provide their customers with an experience that’s as good as the coffee served.
“Design & brand are important pillars to WatchHouse and we loved that the 5Loyalty application could be adapted to our brand.
Through the app, design can flow into all aspects of our consumer engagement with personalisation that that looks and feels exactly like us.
The app further complements our identity as a tech-savvy brand. It’s a user-friendly way that our customers can interact with us using technology.”
- Damon Conn, Operations Director of WatchHouse
How the WatchHouse stamp card loyalty scheme works
Customers can scan a QR code at WatchHouse tills to download the 5loyalty-built application and join the stamp card loyalty scheme.
WatchHouse customers gain points in-app that they can exchange for one free coffee per every six coffees purchased, and every coffee in an order count toward a point. So, if a customer purchases three coffees at once, each coffee is worth a stamp, rather than one loyalty stamp being given per transaction. Customers also receive a free coffee for downloading and verifying the app.
Customers can accrue as many free coffees gained through stamp card loyalty as they like and redeem them when they choose. The scheme does not function like those of some competitors whereby free coffees are automatically redeemed on the next transaction, but stamp card loyalty scheme members can rather ‘collect’ as many free coffees as they choose.
“We sell some of the top coffee in the world and the stamp card loyalty scheme helps make that everyday luxury even more affordable.”
- Damon Conn, Operations Director of WatchHouse
| 13,500 customers using the app | 50% jump in app usage from January 2022 | Loyalty redemption accounts for c.2% of all sales | Estimated 20% of customers are stamp card loyalty users |
The story so far
“The people who engage with our application are super tech-savvy members of the modern mainstream and are frequently city workers.
App engagement is highest on Tuesdays through Thursdays, which are the predominant office days.
We see people order for the office on the company credit card and claim the points on their personal stamp card loyalty scheme. People often accumulate stamps and save them later for personal use, with their friends and family rather than when they’re working.
Through our recording, we can see that people redeem on the weekend, or on Mondays and Fridays. As those the people who are in office five days a week save their free coffee as a treat on those days.”
- Damon Conn, Operations Director of WatchHouse
How WatchHouse use its data
5Loyalty’s white-label application makes data about consumer behaviour legible to businesses. WatchHouse currently uses its data to identify which of its twelve houses are best marketing the stamp card loyalty scheme to its consumers.
WatchHouse believe that providing value to money for its customers during this cost-of-living crisis is imperative. However, the team was conscientious that they did not want WatchHouse to be identified as a discount brand. Instead, they decided to focus their energy on marketing its stamp card loyalty scheme to customers.
The stamp card loyalty scheme offers a 14.5% discount over six drinks and therefore provides a huge benefit to WatchHouse customers. The operations department use data gathered in-app to discern which Houses are pushing this function within the business and then aim to address any disparities in the stamp card loyalty marketing across them.
Future plans
Going forward, WatchHouse plan to further utilise the capabilities of its custom-built application to market new food products. If, for example, WatchHouse launch a new cookie, its marketing team could use the application to award its top 500 stamp card loyalty customers free cookies.
WatchHouse are currently focused on encouraging its customers to download the 5Loyalty white-label application. The business plan to have rich data available at the point that they are ready to better harness the application’s marketing capabilities. Having historic data will enable them to make meaningful actions quickly once WatchHouse has scaled to the extent it can dedicate more of its people power to in-app marketing.