By Evan Fenster, Celo Basis
Atlas Cafe coffeehouse in San Francisco’s Mission district has been a mainstay within the neighborhood since 1996, offering a snug place for the local people to eat, drink, socialize, and work. Sadly, the pandemic hit Atlas Cafe onerous — its ‘regulars’ got here quite a bit much less usually, as stay-at-home orders disrupted typical routines. This state of affairs occurred all throughout the nation and world wide. Whereas most companies have reopened, some have struggled to rebuild their common clientele. Atlas Cafe was no exception.
As an Atlas buyer over the summer time, a UPenn scholar working as a summer time intern on the Celo Basis’s Analysis and Innovation group, and somebody who has seen how NFT tasks can construct manufacturers and communities, I needed to discover how NFTs may assist a neighborhood enterprise. This exploration led to an NFT-backed rewards pilot program that simulated how a neighborhood espresso store might market, onboard, handle, and implement an NFT assortment used for rewards.
To run the pilot, I obtained funding from the Celo Basis and assist from my Analysis and Innovation teammates. Finally a hit, the pilot served as proof-of-concept for a decentralized rewards protocol referred to as Loka, which is at present in improvement.
In Might 2022, I started researching how NFT-backed rewards work to assist companies create loyal prospects and presumably improve income and model consciousness. I found that an NFT assortment might be an incredible instrument for creating and managing buyer loyalty. In any case, long-term rewards applications for espresso subscriptions have been tried and examined, and plenty of manufacturers have already used NFTs to efficiently faucet into desired buyer conduct. However, in my analysis, I couldn’t discover any examples that mixed these two methods.
The use-case design is pretty easy: A enterprise rewards prospects with an NFT from a branded assortment in an try to extend loyalty. The hope is that by freely giving an NFT that entitles customers to a small reward, companies can entice them to go to extra usually and spend sufficient to make up for the price of the reward, rising general revenue.
The Atlas Cafe NFT assortment was deployed to the Celo blockchain and featured the Atlas mascot, designed by Atlas Cafe and Celo Basis. Every NFT is collectible, tradable, and transferable, and entitled the holders to redeem a free espresso, valued at $4.50, each day at some point of the 10-day pilot.
On July 25, 2022, I launched the 10-day Atlas Cafe pilot with 20 contributors I met on the cafe and requested to hitch. I despatched every participant an NFT on to the pockets addresses they designated prior. All through the pilot interval, they may redeem their free Atlas espresso as soon as a day by displaying their NFT to baristas. Because the NFTs exist on the Celo blockchain, contributors might additionally use current instruments to view, commerce, promote, and switch them. For instance, they may promote the NFT reward from their cell phones utilizing TofuNFT.com.
To assist inform pilot outcomes, contributors got a kind with their espresso, and requested to record different purchases, if any, and the price of these purchases. These purchases have been made with fiat currencies.
When the 10-day pilot ended, the information was collected and analyzed. Listed here are the outcomes:
NFT-based rewards helped improve visits and general income for Atlas Cafe. Pilot contributors visited the cafe extra ceaselessly and bought further objects when there. Earlier than the NFT-based reward, one participant visited Atlas Cafe about as soon as a month, spending a median of $5 per go to. After receiving the reward, he visited a complete of 5 occasions over the 10-day pilot interval, spending about $28 in complete. One other participant, who famous related pre-pilot spending, visited thrice over the 10-day pilot interval, spending a complete of $24.
“I used to be a super-huge fan of the idea and thought of an NFT membership cross for supporting native companies,” mentioned pilot participant Doug Qian. “Within the 10-day pilot, I finished by Atlas virtually each day to choose up a espresso, and it turned a fairly important a part of my morning routine. Would gladly pay for a cross like this sooner or later.”
Atlas Cafe elevated its model consciousness via on-chain earned advertising and phrase of mouth. Atlas Cafe’s model consciousness grew as pilot contributors unfold the phrase about their experiences. They have been enamored with the flexibility to carry an on-chain, Atlas Cafe NFT of their pockets, and commenced telling others concerning the pilot. This word-of-mouth advertising resulted in seven further individuals becoming a member of the pilot within the first few days.
The NFT assortment created international attain for the native cafe. 4 of the 27 complete contributors joined the pilot from Uganda, Africa. Although unable to obtain the free espresso, they joined to have interaction with the Celo and Atlas Cafe communities. By creating this assortment, Atlas Cafe was in a position to get hold of a worldwide attain with minimal advertising spend.
On-chain instruments offered different use-case alternatives. One participant needed to switch the reward from his unique pockets to a different. Because the reward was represented as NFT, he was in a position to seamlessly accomplish that. One other participant, who was out of city in the course of the 10-day pilot interval, listed his NFT on the market on an open market, making a $7 revenue. The brand new proprietor was then in a position to be a part of the rewards pilot for a minimal value.
“The pilot was of unbelievable assist in understanding a buyer section now we have needed to grasp,” says Felipe Collin, proprietor of Atlas Cafe. “After COVID, each enterprise worldwide began in search of methods to have interaction and supply further worth to their prospects. Because the pilot began, we noticed a social ingredient rising in parallel — individuals coordinating to seize a espresso as a bunch. NFT loyalty applications are an effective way to have interaction along with your prospects and construct a group.”
Whereas Atlas Cafe benefited from the NFT-backed rewards program pilot, performance should be added to create a totally developed protocol for enterprise use:
- Automate reward redemption and combine information assortment. Like all cafe, sure occasions of the day at Atlas are busier than others. For that and different causes, Atlas Cafe employees usually did not ask prospects to finish the shape after every transaction. Whereas this restricted the quantity of dependable information we collected on the register, we have been in a position to complement the self-reports with on-chain information, interviews, and surveys. To keep away from interruptions within the check-out course of sooner or later, automating reward redemption and information assortment will assist assure a smoother check-out expertise, no matter the kind of enterprise.
- Develop this mannequin to different companies (e.g., bigger eating places, native grocery shops) to extend engagement in vertical markets. Statistica survey information launched in June 2022 suggests that customers, on common, take part in over 16 loyalty applications, but are lively in lower than eight of them. Using NFTs in a loyalty program can enable customers to remain extra engaged with the model, as we noticed with this pilot.
- Develop further on-chain NFT use circumstances. Use circumstances for NFT holders might embrace on-chain voting. For instance, Atlas Cafe might current an on-chain proposal to introduce a brand new drink, which solely their NFT holders might vote on. The on-chain voting course of would offer utility for the NFT holders whereas additionally leading to helpful shopper information for Atlas. Moreover, manufacturers might host networking and different occasions just for NFT holders.
Small companies like Atlas Cafe can seamlessly generate NFT-backed rewards that may assist enhance buyer retention charges whereas rising income. As soon as developed, the decentralized rewards protocol Loka might assist even the smallest enterprise combine and innovate with web3 applied sciences.
To be taught extra about Celo and its mission to create a future the place individuals in every single place can thrive from monetary inclusion, a wholesome setting, and connectivity via modern applied sciences, go to Celo.org.
