For decades, restaurateurs thought they had loyalty all figured out. All they had to do was apply a simple process to identify the most devoted customers, lavish them with attention, and turn huge profits as they returned more often, ordered more food, and became active advocates on behalf of the brand.
Sometimes this approach worked, but often it didn’t.
Determining whether customers were loyal was easy. Determining why they were loyal was unfortunately closer to “art” than “science.” Figuring out what worked and what didn’t took a long time, adding risk to any new investment.