How to Build a Loyalty Program from Scratch: The BlackБери Case

A case study on implementing a loyalty program: how a business moved from discounts to a bonus-based system, digitized its customers, and started gaining insights into the customer profile.

1. BlackБери — Business Context

BlackБери is not just a chain of espresso bars. In Kazakhstan, it is a brand that sets the tone for urban coffee culture. Over just a few years, BlackБери grew into a network of 22 locations in the country’s largest cities, actively shaping consumption culture and regularly introducing new approaches to working with guests. The BlackБери team has long established itself as a trendsetter, being one of the first to introduce a morning discount as a customer acquisition tool. However, over time it became clear that even successful mechanics require revision when a business grows and customer behavior evolves.

2. The Problem Before Launching the Loyalty Program

Before implementing the loyalty program, BlackБери’s customers were not digitized. The business only had access to general metrics — number of receipts and total revenue — without understanding individual customer behavior. The primary retention tool was a morning discount. Although the mechanic worked, it had several limitations:

• it incentivized only part of the audience;

• it did not stimulate repeat visits at other times of the day;

• it did not allow analysis of loyalty or visit frequency. The lack of guest-level data made it impossible to analyze repeat visits, engagement, and overall loyalty effectiveness. Decisions were made intuitively, without relying on data or customer segmentation.

  

3. Goals of Launching the Loyalty Program

The morning discount format limited the audience and did not allow for building long-term relationships with guests. The BlackБери team decided to replace temporary discounts with a bonus-based system that:

• operates throughout the entire day, not just during specific hours;
• rewards all guests regardless of visit time;
• is perceived as more valuable and “fair” for loyal customers. Special attention was given to the financial model. It was important to maintain the ability to offer a high cashback rate (20%) without increasing pressure on the business’s financial performance. To achieve this, a logic was chosen where bonuses are not accrued on receipts in which bonuses are already being used. Thus, the goal was not simply to launch a loyalty program, but to create a manageable and scalable system that simultaneously:

• replaces discounts;
• digitizes guests;
• provides the business with data for future growth.

4. Launch of the Loyalty Program

BlackБери approached Loyallyst in September. By December 10, the team was already able to officially announce the launch of the loyalty program for guests. During this time, the Loyallyst team:

Implemented Custom Logic on Top of the Accounting System

To comply with the financial model, an additional layer was developed over the standard Poster functionality:

• bonuses are not accrued on receipts where bonuses are already being used.

This logic operates on the Loyallyst side and is fully automated — staff do not need to manually control the process.

Developed a Receipt Plugin

In addition, a custom receipt plugin for Poster was created, allowing the business to:

• print receipts with a defined structure;
• display relevant information about the loyalty program;
• adapt the receipt to support the brand’s communication objectives.

As a result, the receipt became not just proof of payment, but an additional channel of interaction with guests.

5. Results

At the time of preparing this case study, the loyalty program has been operating for about 1.5 months, so it is still too early to discuss final quantitative results. However, the business has already observed key changes:

• significant growth in the number of digitized guests;
• complete discontinuation of the morning discount;
• access to customer behavior data that previously did not exist;
• the ability to use RFM analysis and segmentation;
• positive feedback from loyal guests.

It is important to note that previously the business could not measure repeat visits or engagement at all, as such data simply did not exist.

6. Conclusions

The BlackБери case demonstrates that a loyalty program is not only a retention tool, but also a foundation for data-driven business management.

In this project, Loyallyst helped to:

• replace a limiting discount mechanic with a flexible bonus-based model;
• implement custom logic aligned with the client’s financial model;
• provide the business with access to data that had never existed before. As a result, the business gained not just a replacement for discounts, but a comprehensive tool for customer digitization, analytics, and further scaling.