Why

A CRM captures customer info; a loyalty platform runs a points economy with redemption rules, POS integration, and a customer-facing app. Advocado at ~$10k/year is the second thing. Spreadsheets + automated email is the first thing. You're not choosing between 100% and 60% efficiency — you're choosing between two different products and pretending they're comparable. Four outlets with no current data capture means you have zero baseline to prove Advocado's "100%" claim anyway.

What you actually need

1. A Tally or Google Form (free) at every outlet via QR code — capture name, phone, email, birthday, favourite outlet. That's your CRM foundation. Costs nothing, works tomorrow.
2. Mailchimp or Brevo (free up to 500–2,000 contacts, ~$10–30/mo after) — birthday emails, monthly promo blasts, segment by outlet. This is the "marketing initiatives" half of your ask.
3. A habit — the 90-day proof test — run sign-ups + email-only for one quarter. Measure repeat visit rate using a simple "show this email at counter" promo code. If you see real lift, THEN Advocado's $10k is a defensible spend because you've got baseline numbers to compare against.

Do this today

Open Tally.so, create a form titled "[Your brand] Insider" with fields: Name, Mobile, Email, Birthday, Home Outlet. Generate a QR code from the share link, print four copies on A5, drop one at each outlet counter with a sign offering 10% off next visit for signing up. By end of week you'll know whether customers will even give you their info — which is the actual question hiding under the Advocado decision.

What to ignore

Skip Advocado for now — $10k/year before you've proven customers want to join a loyalty programme at your outlets is buying the Ferrari before learning to drive. Also ignore HubSpot Marketing Hub upsells and any "all-in-one loyalty + CRM + POS" pitch from Eber, Ascenda, or CardSpring at this stage. Don't build your own points engine in code either — points reconciliation across four POS terminals is a nightmare you do not want to own as the solo IT/marketing guy.

What doing nothing costs you

Every day across four outlets you're serving customers whose contact info you'll never see again — the compounding loss is that in 12 months you still won't know who your repeat customers are, which means you still can't justify $10k or any other number.

When to revisit this

When your sign-up list crosses ~2,000 customers AND you can show measurable repeat-visit lift from email alone — that's when Advocado or a real loyalty platform earns its price tag.