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Creating loyal customers is an essential a part of relationship marketing. Among the many advantages, loyal customers are repeat customers, a source of referrals, and willing to spend extra money. Indeed, according to A recent consumer research conducted by Marigold68% of consumers around the world can pay more when shopping with brands they are loyal to.
However, maintaining loyalty in an increasingly competitive market has proven difficult – last yr, 37% of consumers abandoned or became less loyal to a brand they previously liked.
This is where loyalty programs come in handy. An effective loyalty strategy offers customers tangible value and builds emotional connections through tailored messages. However, implementing a loyalty program will be difficult. Here’s where to start:
1. Define your goals
Think for a moment what you wish to achieve. Ultimately, it comes down to aligning your loyalty program goals with your overall company goals. Are you growing your customer base, retaining existing ones, increasing sales or increasing the number of shoppers? These are necessary aspects that need to be defined in advance.
Mapping these goals involves understanding which customer segments you wish to engage, what rewards and advantages are necessary to them, and which KPIs you wish to track to measure success.
Having a clear picture of those goals will show you how to determine what sort of loyalty program you wish.
2. Get to know your members
A key issue with any loyalty program is determining what sort of rewards will attract chosen members. What advantages are they looking for? Remember that it isn’t at all times about the biggest discounts, but about recognizing individual needs and desires.
So don’t guess… ask! Obtaining zero-side data through surveys, surveys, and other interactive experiences is becoming increasingly beneficial to relationship marketing. This takes the guesswork out of customer needs and wants, so loyalty offers will be personalized. Tests found that 62% of consumers say their favorite brand treats them as individuals, and 79% say they are likely to be contacted with a personalized email tailored to their interests.
The bottom line is that rewards are not a one-size-fits-all solution. Make sure what you offer is consistent with what customers actually want.
3. Select the appropriate program
Once you know your goals and understand your customers’ needs, you’ll find the right program that gives each. Want to increase engagement and repeat purchases? Try a punch card program. Do you wish to cultivate long-term customer relationships and guide recent customers through the loyalty funnel? Try a tiered program where rewards and advantages increase as you buy or engage.
4. Follow an omnichannel approach
When introducing a loyalty program, remember to use consistent, convincing and concise messages across multiple channels. This includes, at a minimum, your website, email lists, text messages, and social media platforms. If essential, extend it to in-store materials and showcase it in external channels akin to promoting.
Regardless of the channel, your messaging should focus on the value, advantages and rewards of participation. Be sure to obtain explicit consent from your recipients, each in terms of the communications you’ll send them about the program and how you’ll use the data collected in it. And after all, you may have a welcome email in your shopping cart that will probably be sent to every recent member who joins, with thanks and additional information about the program and its values.
5. Grow. Be optimistic. To learn
Launching a loyalty program is not the end of the process; this is just the starting. Now is the time to monitor engagement, feedback, KPIs and more for signals that require motion. Checking your internal success metrics is necessary, but it may also mean being proactive with your audience with surveys and feedback forms to ensure you are still delivering value. This allows for continuous iteration and improvement, in addition to fixing and adapting as needed.
And after all, proceed to promote the program to recent members through all channels and opportunities.
With these tips, you may give you the option to offer an engaging loyalty program that increases customer retention and increases your return on investment (ROI).