Order Australian coffee using your face!
There’s something to be said for a barista who welcomes you by name and knows what you’re likely to order. Facial recognition app developed in Sydney, Noahface, is being used by café staff to deliver such a friendly approach, allowing deeper relationship building for greater customer loyalty and it’s having a positive effect on the bottom line.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Noahface “scans the faces of customers at Sydney’s Bahista Café by an iPad as they approach the barista at the coffee machine.” As it scans the face, the app instantly flashes the customer’s name, their favourite order and also lets the barista know whether the customer is due for a loyalty reward on another iPad facing staff.
Bahista Café owner, Geoff Cropley wanted to remember his customers’ names to develop better relationships with them and developed the app after failing to find a low-cost face recognition system anywhere else in the world, stating, “all the solutions were multi-million dollar ones. So I went about creating what we have today.”
After spending almost two years working on his system with developer, John MacLean, Noahface was launched in the café in July 2016. Cropley said, “customers overwhelmingly love it, they say they come to the café because it is so personal.”
Here at Neo Technologies, we think this is a great opportunity for customers and businesses alike. However, it is important to be mindful of the impacts proactive apps like Noahface may have on privacy. We checked Noahface FAQs on their website for the answers and can report that no video is permanently stored and customer details are only recorded if that particular customer opts to register for the loyalty program.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Noahface uses biometrics to recognise the customer’s face within half a second of their facial features being scanned by the camera. The system gets staff to the point where they become familiar with the face and the name and Noahface is tracking the loyalty program. For example, it would tell staff that the customer’s order will be free this time.
Customers can also choose to enter their identities into the database and apparently nobody from Sydney has declined. Cropley attributes the business’ growth from a $500,000 per year business to a $1.4 million business to Noahface as it has allowed the café to focus on getting to know their regular coffee drinkers.
Toby’s Estate coffee roasters have implemented Noahface across their cafes, check out their founder’s Toby Smith’s youtube review.
Do you run a business which could benefit from Noahface or know someone who does? You can get started via the Apple App Store.
