Lecy awards the point without asking for an account, a number or an email: the customer stays anonymous by default. It nonetheless builds a customer file, fed by those who choose to leave their details to receive news, a promo code or a reminder, by text or by email. The difference with other solutions is not the absence of a CRM; it is that Lecy does not make the point conditional on the data. The numbers explain that choice: a consumer belongs to 17.9 loyalty programmes on average and uses only about half of them (Bond, 2023); 75% of consumers say they will not buy from an organisation they do not trust with their data, and 51% of the most attentive have already switched supplier for that reason (Cisco, 2024). This article explains why demanding nothing gets more customers to join, how reminders work, and what happens when a customer changes phone.
No mandatory account, but a customer file
By default, Lecy recognises the phone, not the person: the customer earns their points without giving a number or an email. They can leave either at any time, and they do so as soon as there is a reason: receiving the promo code for their reward, following new items, being told about an offer. Those customers are in your back office, with their visit history, and you can contact them by text or email. What Lecy refuses is to make that data the condition of the point.
Forced sign-up manufactures ghost members
The average American consumer belongs to 17.9 loyalty programmes, up from 14.8 in 2019, and actively uses only about half of them (Bond Loyalty Report 2023, via eMarketer). Half of sign-ups therefore produce no visit: numbers in a file, messages that are not opened, a cost with no return. A programme that demands a number or an email before giving a point recruits exactly those members, plus everyone who gave up in front of the tablet. Lecy reverses the order: the point first, asking nothing, for everyone; the data afterwards, for those who want something in exchange. The file is smaller, and it responds.
Asking for less means selling more
In the Cisco 2024 privacy survey, 75% of consumers say they will not buy from an organisation they do not trust with their data, and 51% of those who describe themselves as privacy-conscious have already switched company because of its practices; 67% reviewed their privacy settings within the year. The customer who hesitates at "your number, please" is not an isolated case: it is the norm. A customer gives their number to one brand and receives texts from three others; they give their email for an invoice and end up in a weekly newsletter. Lecy answers the question "what will my number be used for?" by its design: for the messages you asked for, nothing else, and it makes nothing conditional. Not forcing is a mark of respect, and it is also why customers leave their details when they feel like it.
What the GDPR asks, and what Lecy makes of it
The European regulation sets a principle of minimisation: collect only the data necessary for the purpose. To give a loyalty point, the necessary data is none: it is enough to recognise the phone. Lecy applies that principle in its design, instead of collecting first and managing consent afterwards. Consent to messages is never pre-ticked, it can be withdrawn at any time, and no data is sold. The details are in the privacy policy.
Changing phone, clearing cookies
A customer who changes phone keeps their points. On the first tap, they created their Lecy access key, a passkey confirmed by Face ID or fingerprint, stored on the phone and attached to their Apple or Google account: it moves with their other keys when they change device. On the following visits, they are recognised by their browser's cookies; if the cookies have gone, after a long absence or a clean-up, the page offers "Log in": one Face ID or fingerprint gesture, and their points are there. There is no password to remember, because there is none.
What your back office contains
For every customer who left their details: their visits, their points, their rewards, their feedback, and what they agreed to receive. For the others: their visits and their points, anonymous. Your news and offers are visible to everyone at every scan, on the page the customer opens; reminders by text or email go to those who asked. You know how many customers come back, how often, how many crossed the threshold, without having asked anything of those who did not want to give anything.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send a message to all my customers?
To all those who asked for it, by text or by email. For the others, your news is visible at every scan, without sending anything.
Is consent pre-ticked?
Never. The customer ticks it themselves, and can withdraw at any time. No data is sold.
How many customers leave their details?
Those who have a reason to, at the moment it arises: a reward to receive by text, an offer to follow. It is fewer than all of them, and it is the share that responds.
Sources: Bond Loyalty Report 2023 (via eMarketer); Cisco Consumer Privacy Survey 2024. Read next: loyalty without collecting, anonymous by default.