Why birthdays bring guests back
A birthday is the one day a year a guest is almost guaranteed to eat out, and in the Gulf it is rarely alone: it is a family dinner, a table of friends or a cake at the office. A small birthday reward gives that group a reason to choose you, and it tells your regulars you remember them. Doing it by hand is the problem. Someone has to check dates every morning, find the guests and add the reward, and in a busy restaurant that job is the first to be forgotten.
How birthday bonus points work in Wink You
Wink You gives loyalty members bonus points automatically on their birthday, and separately on an anniversary date, such as a wedding anniversary, if you store one. Once a day, a job looks for customers whose date matches today in your business’s time zone and adds the points you set. Each customer gets each bonus once per calendar year, so a repeated run never pays twice, and the points appear in the customer’s loyalty history as Birthday bonus or Anniversary bonus with the year.
Set it up
- Open Loyalty in the sidebar, then Programs, and click Edit on your program.
- Under Bonus Points, enter the points for Birthday and for Anniversary. A bonus of 0 is off.
- Make sure the program switch at the top is Active, then click Save Changes.
- Make sure customers have a Date of Birth or Anniversary saved: open Customers, then Edit on the customer.
Turn points into a real birthday gift
Points on their own are abstract. The trick is to match the birthday bonus to a reward the guest can actually picture. Create a reward under Loyalty, then Rewards, for example a Free Dessert or a Free Drink, and set the birthday bonus to the same number of points that reward costs. On their birthday the guest has exactly enough for the treat, and the cashier redeems it on the POS with Add discount, Reward and the guest’s mobile number. You can also leave it as plain points that guests spend with Pay with points.
Birthday ideas that suit a Gulf restaurant
- A dessert for the table. Birthdays here are group occasions, so a dessert the whole table shares lands better than a discount for one person.
- A free drink at a cafe, matched to the points cost of a Free Drink reward.
- An anniversary treat for couples, using the Anniversary bonus for a dinner reward.
- Combine it with reservations. When a guest books with a birthday in the special requests, the floor team sees it on the till and it goes on the kitchen ticket once they are seated, so the cake and the reward arrive together.
Keep the bonus generous enough to notice and small enough to repeat every year for every member. A useful test: would you be happy to give that reward to every regular on your list once a year? If yes, it is the right size.
Where the birthday comes from
Today the date of birth and the anniversary are entered by your team on the customer profile in Business Admin. Guests who join from the QR Digital Menu sign up with a phone number and a name, and the signup does not ask for a birthday. So the habit that makes this work is simple: when a regular mentions a birthday, or books a table with a birthday in the special requests, a manager adds the date to their profile. The hint on that field says it is used to send birthday offers and is not shown to other customers.
What is not included
- No birthday message. The bonus is added to the balance only; no text, WhatsApp or email is sent from Business Admin.
- No birthday field on the QR menu signup. Dates are entered by staff.
- No free item added to the bill by itself. The guest or the cashier redeems a reward with the points.
- A bonus only pays while the loyalty program is Active and the bonus is above 0.
Referral bonus
The same Bonus Points section has a Referral field for points when a customer brings someone new. It sits next to Birthday and Anniversary and is set the same way, and 0 turns it off.
Frequently asked questions
How do I give customers a birthday reward automatically?
Set Birthday points under Bonus Points on your loyalty program, keep the program Active, and save the Date of Birth on each customer profile.
When exactly are the points added?
On the day itself, in your business’s time zone, once per calendar year for each customer.
Does the customer get a message?
No. The points are added and show in their history and balance, but no message is sent.
Which customers get the birthday points?
Every customer on your list with a Date of Birth saved, as long as your loyalty program is Active and the Birthday bonus is above 0. It does not matter whether they first came through the QR menu, the POS or Business Admin, because each customer has one record and one points balance.
Can I give a birthday discount instead of points?
Not automatically. The automatic part is the bonus points. A discount can be limited to chosen customers, so you can run one by hand for a list you pick, but nobody is added to that list by their birthday.
How do I see who received a birthday bonus?
Open the customer’s loyalty history, or the loyalty History page, and look for Birthday bonus entries.
Birthday bonuses are part of winkyou.com/products/marketing-loyalty. Watch winkyou.com/support/customers-and-loyalty/how-to-create-a-loyalty-program and winkyou.com/support/customers-and-loyalty/how-to-add-loyalty-rewards.
