Customer loyalty is not built on discounts alone. It thrives on emotional connection, engagement, and thoughtful incentives. In this post, we explore how Dishoom, a popular Indian restaurant in London, took a creative approach to loyalty and what businesses can learn from it.
Know Your Audience, Then Delight Them
In a previous blog, we explored the importance of understanding your target customer and their personal drivers. A compelling example of this principle in action is the loyalty program at Dishoom, one of London’s most successful restaurants.
Located near the City’s financial hub, Dishoom caters to a wealthy and competitive market. Typical loyalty programs in the area offer discounts of up to 20 percent, but Dishoom realized this was not enough to stand out or to genuinely engage its high-income clientele.
Gamification Over Discounts
Rather than offer another generic discount, Dishoom introduced a playful twist: a branded die. Any loyalty member dining before 6:00 p.m. can roll the die when requesting the bill. A roll of six means their meal is free.
On the surface, this equates to an average discount of about 16.6 percent. However, the real value is emotional. The dice roll becomes a spectacle. Guests cheer, groan, and laugh together. What would have been a quiet early dinner service becomes a lively, shared experience.
Results That Speak for Themselves
The loyalty program quickly gained traction. Early dining times, traditionally difficult to fill, became some of the busiest. In fact, securing a table before 6:00 p.m. now requires advanced booking.
One anecdote speaks volumes. A group of Chicago-based executives, each capable of purchasing the restaurant outright, regularly dines at Dishoom and always invite a London-based friend they claim has a “hot hand” with the dice. The appeal is not the savings. It is the story, the engagement, and the fun.
Technology Can Make This Scalable
CRM and AI solutions give businesses the ability to replicate this type of tailored, engaging experience at scale. With the right systems in place, organizations can understand customer behavior, test creative loyalty strategies, and optimize based on real data.
Here are five CRM and AI tools that can help deliver this kind of intelligent customer engagement:
Zoho CRM – Offers customizable workflows, loyalty tracking, and behavioral insights that support personalized engagement.
Salesforce – Provides robust customer data and AI-powered analytics through Einstein to tailor experiences in real time.
HubSpot – Features built-in marketing automation and CRM tools for customer segmentation and loyalty program tracking.
Freshworks CRM (Freshsales) – Includes AI-powered deal insights and customer scoring that help businesses focus on high-impact interactions.
ActiveCampaign – Combines email marketing, automation, and CRM to create behavior-based customer journeys.
To learn how Sperto Consulting can help your organization streamline operations through automation and AI, contact us today.