A Few Words from Simon
It costs between five and seven times more to find a new customer than to get more business from an
existing one — yet many small businesses still don’t have an effective loyalty and
customer retention program.
In this short video, Simon explains why a modern customer loyalty & retention platform matters and how Preferred Patron™ helps you compete with big-box brands, win back lapsed customers, and keep your best customers coming back.
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Executive Summary
Preferred Patron™ is a unified customer loyalty & retention platform that helps businesses increase repeat visits, raise average order value, and protect margins. Whether you run a single location or a complex multi‑location brand, our software combines loyalty, rewards, gift cards, email, and SMS into a single automated system.
Use this FAQ page to understand where Preferred Patron™ fits, what makes it different from “community card” and generic punch‑card solutions, and how we support you from onboarding through day‑to‑day operations.
Industries that benefit from customer loyalty & retention software
Customer retention software is most effective wherever repeat visits and higher member spend matter. Examples include:
Launch a fully branded customer loyalty & retention program quickly with stamp or points‑based rewards, built‑in email/SMS, and no POS replacement required. Ideal for single‑location and early multi‑location businesses.
Standardize loyalty rules, rewards, and reporting across many locations. Use points, tiers, and optional cashback to reward top members, coordinate offers, and manage brand governance at scale.
Run advanced loyalty, behavioral campaigns, and gift card programs with deep analytics, data governance, and enterprise controls. Integrate with existing systems through APIs, webhooks, and secure data feeds.
Customer Retention & Loyalty FAQs
Below are detailed answers to the most common questions we receive about customer loyalty & retention software, loyalty programs, integrations, onboarding, pricing, and long‑term support.
Using Preferred Patron™, businesses increase customer engagement in profitable, measurable ways. Our omni‑channel communications, combined with rules‑based automation, reach a very high percentage of your customers wherever they are—in‑store, online, or on mobile—keeping your brand top‑of‑mind and bringing them back two to seven times more often.
Operating the Preferred Patron™ program helps you improve your bottom line by:
- Driving higher repeat visit frequency and visit value.
- Encouraging customers to try new products, services, and locations.
- Generating more feedback and reviews through surveys and campaigns.
- Increasing word‑of‑mouth referrals from your best members.
- Understanding which campaigns and offers are actually driving revenue.
The Preferred Patron™ platform is designed to be simple for non‑technical teams. Tablet‑optimized interfaces are intuitive and require little to no training. A more advanced cashier interface is available when needed and typically requires just a brief one‑hour “getting started” session with our support team.
Training needs vary by client and depend on how deeply you want to use the system:
- Complimentary onboarding and “getting started” training for new clients.
- A comprehensive online video library for quick refreshers and new staff.
- Additional training sessions available on request for advanced campaigns and analytics.
We guide you through startup to ensure you get full value—including data imports (where applicable) and a hands‑on walkthrough of initial campaigns, email and SMS configuration.
Preferred Patron™ has been helping businesses run high‑performing loyalty programs for over two decades. We continually invest in the platform, incorporating the latest capabilities and real‑world feedback from clients across many industries.
Over the years, the platform has matured far beyond the feature set of many newer entrants in the loyalty market. Our long history means we have tested and refined promotions, earn rules, and campaign automations that actually move the needle for customer retention.
Our numerous five‑star customer reviews on third‑party research sites such as Trustpilot, Capterra and FeaturedCustomers speak to product quality, support, and measurable results.
Many loyalty providers focus on promoting their own brand instead of yours. Their name appears on cards, kiosks, apps, and communications—so your customers remember the vendor, not your business.
For over a decade, Preferred Patron™ has focused on building your brand, not ours. You won’t find the Preferred Patron™ name on your in‑store collateral, customer‑facing devices, member web portal, emails, or SMS messages—not even in the fine print on your physical membership cards (if you choose to use them).
It is your program, fully white‑label at every customer touch-point, and fully reflective of your brand—while still giving you a deeper, more flexible feature set than many community card and basic punch‑card systems.
Preferred Patron™ combines competitive pricing, simplicity, flexibility, and extensive marketing capabilities into a single solution. The platform is designed to help you run the program you want, not to limit you with rigid rules or costly add‑ons.
Our support team is known for being responsive, knowledgeable, and easy to work with. We want to be your solution, not your problem—and that mindset carries through from initial evaluation to daily operations years later.
As technology evolves and client expectations change, we evolve the platform alongside them. Preferred Patron™ has been listening to customers since 2004, learning what works, what doesn’t, and which features create real, repeatable value.
Today’s product is the result of years of ideas and feedback from businesses of every size. Our goal is to remain one of the most comprehensive, affordable customer loyalty & retention platforms available—while keeping the user experience intuitive and easy to operate.
Yes. Preferred Patron™ is designed to operate either as a fully standalone loyalty solution or as a tightly integrated component of your broader tech stack.
Depending on your edition and requirements, you can leverage:
- Direct integrations with many popular POS, DMS, PMS, and other platforms.
- Automated data feeds and scheduled imports/exports for recurring batch updates.
- A RESTful API and webhook framework for real‑time integrations with proprietary systems, eCommerce sites, and additional cloud services.
Many clients start with simple daily data exchanges and later extend into real‑time API integrations as programs scale.
Preferred Patron™ is delivered as a cloud‑based SaaS loyalty platform. To ensure each client fully benefits, our team invests time up front to configure the program, tailor campaigns, and support your launch. Because of this, we do not offer self‑service free trials or downloads.
Instead, every prospective client can schedule a live, interactive demonstration (typically 1–2 hours). Once you move forward, our team configures your solution and gets you started quickly—with no transaction fees.
Annual contracts include a 30‑day satisfaction window: if the system isn’t a fit, you may cancel within the first 30 days with no additional fees and no hassles—no mandatory surveys or obstacles.
All new clients receive complimentary “getting started” training via live remote session. Training is tailored to your role—owners, managers, and front‑line staff all see the workflows that matter most to them.
Ongoing enablement includes:
- A broad video tutorial library for on‑demand learning and refreshers.
- How‑to articles and best practices for campaigns, analytics, and integrations.
- Optional follow‑on training sessions as your program evolves.
When new features or program changes roll out, our team can help you fine‑tune campaigns and promotions so they continue to align with your business goals.
New clients receive simple, step‑by‑step instructions and a quick start training session. During onboarding, our support team works with you to tailor the program based on your requests.
Typical implementation milestones include:
- Program design (rules, earn structure, rewards, and communications).
- Data onboarding (where applicable) for customers and balances.
- Configuration of automations, messages, and member experiences.
- Training sessions for owners, managers, and front‑line staff.
Depending on program complexity and your availability, time‑to‑launch can be as fast as one business day.
Phone support is offered Monday through Friday during standard business hours. Outside of those hours, support is available 24×7×365 via email. Enterprise and higher‑tier customers receive priority routing for both phone and email support.
When more involved troubleshooting is required, support representatives can remote in to assist your team directly, helping you resolve issues quickly and confidently.
Yes. Preferred Patron™ is designed to operate as a unified platform for both loyalty rewards and gift cards. You can run a points or visit-based rewards program, offer stored-value or promotional gift cards, or combine both approaches in a single member experience.
Managing everything on one platform simplifies reporting, reduces training overhead for staff, and gives you a clearer picture of overall member value and program performance.
In most cases, yes. If you can export customer and balance data from your current provider, our team can work with you to import active members, points, visits, and gift card balances into Preferred Patron™.
We help you map old program rules to your new structure and can phase in changes so customers experience a smooth transition without losing earned value.
Preferred Patron™ uses industry-standard security practices to help protect your data, including encrypted connections, hardened servers, and role-based access controls within the application.
You maintain ownership of your customer data. The platform provides tools to manage opt-ins, honor unsubscribe requests, and export data when needed so you can support your internal policies and regulatory obligations.