Your loyalty program provides a buffer against the ever-changing retail landscape. It targets and rewards customers who make frequent purchases in an effort to encourage loyalty. A good loyalty program also builds an emotional connection with its members. It meets their expectations and delivers the value they want when they need it. But the success of any loyalty program depends upon how well you implement the basics.
Loyalty Program Rules
Successful loyalty programs follow a basic strategy based on your customers’ preferences and how they want to be rewarded. Customers also want convenience, so it needs to be easy to understand and full of VIP perks that are easy to redeem. More importantly, it needs to follow the four golden rules of a loyalty program.
1. Stay Focused on the Customer
The experience needs to be customer-centric. To do this, you need to harness the power of your customer data to understand not only what they are buying but why they are buying it. Customer data should go beyond sales reports and include surveys and research on market trends. From this, you should have a better idea of what your community of loyal customers wants and when they want it.
2. Internal Organization
Having a vision and strategy for your program is critical to implementing it. Everyone in your organization needs to be able to speak to customers about the program. Spending a little time on training will go a long way in getting more people to become members.
You need to build a roadmap that details what you want to achieve. You also need to develop a plan that defines roles and responsibilities for every task. Some tasks will take more time and energy than others, while most can be automated.
3. Keep It Simple
Simple means that your program needs to be focused on providing the best digital experience available. A mobile-friendly program makes it easy for customers to join and participate. Earning rewards becomes more enticing and more natural to redeem. Reward goals that are set too high become unobtainable, which results in people giving up. To avoid this, you need to set reasonable goals or have a tiered-structure in place.
The underlying factor to all of this is convenience. It’s just a simple fact that people expect things to be more comfortable and more convenient. When they aren’t, they just move on.
4. Continuously Evolve
Your program needs to evolve to stay relevant and engaging. One way to do this is to develop more personalized communications that create a sense of community among the members. These build deeper, emotional connections between them and your brand. Another way is to listen carefully to their concerns and suggestions, then following through on them. This shows that you actually care about how they feel, which will allow you to convert more members into brand advocates.
Make Loyalty Part of Your Service
You can’t beat excellent customer service. It’s the most critical thing for repeat business. Your loyalty program should be part of that excellent service. By following these loyalty program rules, you’ll engage your customers and help them establish a personal relationship with your brand.