Belly Updates iOS App Allowing Merchants Mobile Access To Customer Engagement Tools

My tired loyalty punch card for a local burger joint in Evanston, Illinois has always been great at telling me that I’m a fatass, but it’s never done too well at telling the restaurant much about me.

Belly, a loyalty rewards startup based in Chicago, is aiming to give merchants utilizing their software a little bit more insight into who their customers really are.

Today, the company is looking to create a more cohesive and convenient experience for merchants looking to connect with customers through an update to their iOS app.

The company detailed that the app gives “merchants insight into customer data, in-store visits and reward redemptions, the ability to view and edit customer accounts, and to set up and send automated marketing campaigns.”

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The Chicago-based startup made a major shift this past August when it launched a set of desktop tools intended to give merchants using the service a more comprehensive means of gauging success and engaging with customers.

A major hallmark of the marketing suite when it first launched was a tool called Auto-Engage, which basically allows merchants to incentivize their customers’ to return through personalized offers based on their unique buying history.

Fast forward a few months and the company says its customers are already seeing results with merchants being able to “reactivate up to 10% of a business’s lapsed customer base each month, and ensures that up to 50-60% of first time customers return,” according to a release from the company.

Belly’s mobile experience for merchants and consumers has benefited thanks to its close partnership with Apple. The company became one of Apple’s select “mobility partners” earlier this summer and Belly CEO and Founder Logan LaHive told TechCrunch that the relationship has served as a real “validation point” for the company.

LaHive said in a statement that he sees this new app update as an opportunity to allow merchants more flexibility in engaging customers. “With the release of our first Merchant-enabled app, it’s easy for businesses to manage their Campaigns the same way their customers are engaging with them – mobile first.”