Aside from the ‘cool factor’ and convenience for customers, the new iPad based cloud loyalty solution from FavoriteEats reinforces the ‘data deficit’ that traditional businesses feel in comparison to their online competitors.  Regardless of industry, the gap between online and offline in terms of data gathering is massive — leaving traditional businesses operating blind in comparison.

Loyalty programs represent a tremendous opportunity for traditional businesses to flip that advantage back in their favor.  The tendency of companies is to focus on the customer retention aspect of loyalty programs, but their value as a data source can sometime exceed that in value. 

The ‘cool factor’ — as the iPad solution from FavoriteEats exudes — can be a driver of customer participation, the most critical factor in making the data gathered from loyalty programs valuable and actionable.