Thanx, the leading loyalty and guest engagement platform for restaurants, announces the completion of their Loyalty 3.0 platform upgrade. This major technical milestone coincides with an industry-wide focus on margins, as widespread macroeconomic pressures have leading enterprise brands prioritizing flexibility and control of their loyalty programs. The new capabilities enable brands to quickly – and in real time – adapt to changes in market variables and customer behaviors. Now, brands can ensure that reward redemptions help, rather than hurt, their bottom lines.  

With the launch of the new Loyalty Engine, brands can deliver program sophistication and agility previously limited to restaurant-technology powerhouses like Starbucks. With more than 27.4M members active in the last 90 days and loyalty members accounting for 53% of U.S. company-operated revenue, Starbucks has established itself as an industry leader in loyalty. Now, with Thanx, the same ability to iterate, innovate, and personalize engagement that helped Starbucks’ program dominate the industry is available to all restaurants.

One of the first brands to utilize this new capability in partnership with Thanx is Brixx Wood Fired Pizza, the fast-growing casual dining brand based out of South Carolina.

“Being a part of the beta program for this launch has not only been a positive experience for us, but it has become pivotal in allowing us to deliver on our brand goals. Thanx’s new points engine offers superior control over our loyalty program, as well as marketing agility to offer our guests the Brixx hospitality they’ve come to expect regardless of industry variables. In the year since we first partnered with Thanx, our goals of growing our customer database and implementing a flexible loyalty system for our brand have exceeded our expectations. With the recent enhancements of the Thanx platform and Brixx’s desire to move away from discounting to a more purposeful and customer-focused program, this is the perfect time to deepen our partnership,” says Eryn Pittsonberger, Director of Marketing at Brixx.

Brixx’s rewards program features a branded app and online ordering front-end that gives customers the ability to earn 10 points for every dollar spent and cash in points for a variety of rewards and perks in their rewards marketplace. The Brixx team will be able to leverage Thanx’s self-service dashboard to change point conversions and add or change rewards perks at any time in real time. Brixx’s team will also be able to leverage Thanx’s sophisticated marketing automation tools as well as industry-leading data capture technology thanks to the platform’s proprietary card-linked loyalty.

“The launch of our new loyalty engine comes at a time when margins are under pressure industry-wide. Flexibility, control, and marketing agility are critical for the hospitality industry; Thanx continues to innovate as a leader in customer loyalty flexibility and non-discount rewards. We are thrilled about the results Brixx is already seeing and the excitement from their guests to engage with their new program.” explains Zach Goldstein, CEO and Founder of Thanx.

Thanx’s Loyalty 3.0 engine features a suite of self-service tools that gives brands total control to create and evolve a loyalty program that is unique to their brand. Brands can customize every element of the program’s branding and functionality including the points conversion rate, naming, iconography, colors, fonts, and descriptions, and can make these changes anytime, autonomously. This allows brands to respond to customer trends and inflationary pressures in real-time. The new loyalty engine also empowers brands to create a bespoke Rewards Marketplace, delivering more choices to consumers in incentives, prioritizing relevance of perks to drive engagement. Merchants can decide which rewards appear in the Rewards Marketplace at any given time, with options ranging from traditional rewards to more novel non-discount reward innovations, such as Hidden Menu and Access Pass announced earlier this year.

Thanx’s enhancements of their loyalty platform have trended alongside the loyalty revolution taking the restaurant and retail industry by storm.

Core capabilities of the Thanx loyalty 3.0 engine are:

Loyalty Points Engine – The most robust and flexible points engine available to restaurants today. Core features of the points program include the self-service Loyalty Program Designer, self-service digital Rewards Marketplace, discount and non-discount rewards, custom branding of reward imagery, bonus points, and more.

Self-service Loyalty Program Designer – Brands can completely customize their loyalty program structure and branding in real time. This includes full authority over the “points” conversion rate, as well as all branding elements including name, logo, imagery, how brands describe “How to Earn Rewards” and even the loyalty program fine print.

Self-service Rewards Marketplace – Unlocks more choices for customers to drive higher engagement while offering brands more optionality and agility in managing their loyalty program.  Unique to Thanx, brands can create and edit rewards, assign and adjust values, set expiration dates, and more, anytime, in real time. This flexibility allows brands to react to economic shifts and fluctuating costs, ensuring that reward conversions and available rewards are favorable to their profitability.

Non-Discount Rewards – Brands can avoid expensive generic promotions and send-to-all campaigns. Hidden menus give guests a compelling reason to order direct. Access Passes provide NFT-like digital assets that can be customized to offer bespoke experiences.

Automated A/B Testing and Lifecycle Insights and Recommendations – Empowers brands to drive activation and engagement of customers through the customer journey. Brands can understand engagement against industry benchmarks, view recommendations, create and test campaign effectiveness and determine the next best action to drive customer lifetime value.