Cashback and a Guest Database: Not New Guests, Returning Ones

01Where the database comes from

Asking for a number needs a reason. "We'll add you to our database" is not one. Three work: a cashback balance, order status and the receipt. When a guest signs in on your own site by SMS, the number lands in the database on its own and nobody writes anything down.

The channel matters enormously. Your own site, the Telegram bot and the guest app: the number is yours. An aggregator: the number is theirs, not yours. A table QR sits in between — the guest can order without signing in, but signing in for cashback puts them in the database.

The guest profile shows order history, cashback balance and source: site, QR, iOS, Android or Telegram. That is the basis for segmentation — for instance, guests who haven't come in 60 days but used to come three times a month.

02Cashback and a discount are not the same thing

A discount is given now and ends there: the guest pays 10% less and leaves. Cashback attaches to the next visit: the guest pays in full, 10% lands in their balance, and that money only works with you. The cost is the same; the outcome is not.

The second difference is the real cost. Not all accrued cashback gets spent; some sits as a balance. So an advertised 10% actually costs 6–7%. A 10% discount costs exactly 10%.

Give your cashback unit its own name — not "points" but a word that fits the brand. It sounds trivial, but guests remember it and it doesn't blur into another restaurant's points.

An honest note: for now cashback works as a setting and the cashier applies it on the bill. Automatic calculation and promo-code validation at checkout are planned, "coming soon". Better to know that up front than to wait for it.

03Promo codes do a different job

Promo codes are thought of as discount tools. Their most valuable job is measurement. One code for Instagram, another for Telegram, a third for a blogger, a fourth for flyers. A week later you can see which channel actually delivers orders.

A code carries a schedule: which dates and which hours it is valid. You line it up with the day the blogger's post goes out, and then it switches itself off — nobody has to remember to stop it.

Automatic discount rules are the third tool: product, percent or amount, weekday and time window. Rules run in parallel and the biggest saving wins, so the guest always gets the better deal and the cashier calculates nothing.

• Cashback brings them back; a discount sells now; a promo code measures
• A separate code per channel, read alongside the order-source report
• Keep cashback between 5 and 10%; above 15% it eats the margin

04Moving an aggregator customer into your own channel

Someone who ordered through an aggregator is not in your database and will pick another restaurant tomorrow. Inviting them into your own channel is honest, simple work: put a card with a QR in the delivery box.

One offer on the card: "10% cashback on your next order — on our own site". The QR opens your site, the guest signs in by SMS and enters the database. After the third order they usually stop opening the aggregator.

Once the database fills, SMS starts to pay off: a segment campaign through Eskiz or PlayMobile. Careful, though — more than one SMS a week annoys guests and gets you blocked.