A loyalty program, as its name implies, encourages customer loyalty by giving repeat customers access to special offers and deals. A successful customer loyalty program can help mom and pop shops and other small businesses compete with big-box retailers and e-tailers.
A loyalty program also helps build brand recognition. Perhaps most importantly, it allows small business owners to harvest crucial customer information that helps the company with:
- More successful marketing and ad campaigns
- Coupons, sales, and special offers
- Highly targeted online and mobile advertising
- New product development
Define Your Objective
Before launching a new loyalty program, it's essential to define your objectives. Like most brand strategies, it's necessary to identify what you want to achieve, such as:
- Retain regular users
- Attract new customers
- Improve your relationship with clients
- Gain authority in the market
- Increase sales
- Strengthen brand recognition and reputation
Loyalty programs are extremely effective once you've set clear goals. Through the data gathered, you can recognize who your customers are, what motivates them, and what they want and expect from your business.
Integrate Your Loyalty Program, Marketing, and Social Media Strategies
You can integrate your loyalty program with your branding strategies, and adapt your current strategy into the new program you're introducing. A new customer loyalty program shouldn't be a stand-alone initiative; instead, it should complement your brand seamlessly.
Use the Data You Gather
Today’s loyalty programs allow businesses to gather more data than ever before about their customers — and customers share that information happily in exchange for better deals on the items they want and need.
Leverage that data to create better promotions, improve your company’s offerings, and create ad campaigns that speak directly to your target customers. You can track campaigns and collect company data through your business ISP; a strong business broadband connection will keep you in touch with your customers and their data.
Stay Engaged with Customers
Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can help you incentivize various actions, such as sharing, liking, and commenting, to encourage word-of-mouth marketing and create “brand evangelists.”
Don’t neglect the benefit of “User Generated Content,” or UGCs, where customers can earn rewards points by sharing photos of themselves inside your store or restaurant, wearing your merchandise, or posting about your brand.
Make sure to monitor social sentiment and promote your loyalty programs through your business broadband connection.
Offer VIP Treatment with Customer Rewards
The core foundation of a loyalty program is a customer's ability to save money or earn rewards from purchases. Design and implement a loyalty program that genuinely rewards your customer's devotion. Exceed their expectations and give them offers that align with their needs and interests. Also, consider using various levels of rewards according to the level of commitment the customer has toward your business.
Make existing clients feel extra important by offering special discounts, then create offers tailored to their needs. Rebates and exclusive sales are incredibly useful weapons that strengthen relationships with your clients. They also provide a chance to interact with current and potential customers.
A strong and reliable business ISP provided by Consolidated Communications sits at the heart of your loyalty program. Make sure you have all the broadband your business needs by reviewing your business voice and internet plan today.
Use Visuals
A loyalty program shouldn't be stagnant, even if it is self-sustaining. Improve your system by incorporating new marketing tactics such as referral marketing and visual commerce. Visual commerce enables businesses to collect thousands of user-generated images from social media platforms and beyond. These adaptable photo galleries give your brand authenticity and boost customer conversion and engagement.
Make Your Loyalty Program Easy to Use
Today’s customers don’t want to carry key fobs or bulky cards just to earn their rewards. Make it easy for customers to use your program by simply entering their phone number or email address each time they make a purchase.
You could consider an app to help customers stay engaged with your brand — as long as you make sure the deals you offer on your app make it worth the smartphone storage it takes up.
If you’ve never considered a customer loyalty program, now’s the time. Reward your regular customers and attract new business while gathering valuable sales data that will help you create even more successful sales and marketing campaigns.