Every action in your business has a common point: to satisfy, in the best possible way, the needs of the users you are targeting, in order to be the preferred option for your customers when making a purchase decision.

The first step to achieve this goal is to know what your customers need, what they are looking for and what their preferences are. Hereafter you will need to connect emotionally with them to create a group of loyal users identified with your brand that appreciate the differential treatment you offer them. A community that yearns to know the news, proposals and benefits you have prepared for them because they fit perfectly with their tastes and lifestyle.

It is all about connecting, exciting and inspiring your customers so that they feel that they are not just another, but part of a privileged group.

The 10 reasons….

1.- Know your customers

How to please someone if you do not know his tastes and preferences?

Identifying the customer in each transaction in your business, through your loyalty program accessible on the users’ mobile phone, is the necessary step to be able to trace all their activity. It will allow you to know in detail: who are your buyers, where they come from, how old they are, how frequently they go to your business, which stores they visit, which days they usually buy, at what times, how much they usually spend, which products they purchase, which products they like but they do not buy, etc.

Based on this information you will be able to define customer segments to drive personalized rewards, rewards that fit their tastes and preferences.

2.- To be always an option in your customer´s mind

To remain at all times in customer´s mind as a priority option is the dream of every brand. Based on the knowledge of purchasing habits through a customer data analysis, you can personalize promotions, rewards and experiences that make your brand always your preferred option without falling into the customer’s daze that produces a bombing of non-targeted actions.

3.- Thank the trust to your loyal customers

Thank your recurring customers for their loyalty through the accumulation of points and access to personalized rewards in your brand. Having a benefit in future purchases, is always an attraction for the client to return to your business.  In addition, if your loyalty program is based on membership levels or tiers, you will be able to add new benefits in every upper category and generate more purchase recurrence by the incentive that supposes to get a higher level and enjoy exclusive rewards.

4.- Surprise your best customers

Keep your best customers happy and they will act as ambassadors of your brand by extending your name and benefits in their social environment. If in addition, you surprise them with rewards exceeding their expectations you will be raising their satisfaction and connection with your brand and they largely spread positive comments of your brand. To activate a gift card with a certain amount, exclusive event passes, priority access to shopping sessions, VIP events with your team to let them get involved in your inner processes, are, among others, rewarding actions that will keep in your best customers´ mind.

5.- Increase your brand awareness through your customers´ referrals

A simple way to attract new customers to your business is make use of referrals. By a referral an existing customer will help you to attract a friend or relative. The most effective is to recognize the referral with some kind of reward such as a discount coupon in a next purchase. The greatest effectiveness is achieved when the two parties are rewarded, the current customer that recommends and the new potential customer. It´s also interesting that the benefit can be redeemed both in physical stores and ecommerce. Run a loyalty program that allows you to implement this action in a simple way and you will easily get new customers, customers who will access your brand with the confidence provided by a referral coming from their close environment.

I will share with you a personal story. During 2028 I hired a construction company specialized in a repair work that rarely is done in a hose more than once in lifetime.  A few months after the work had finished, during last Christmas, I received a gift from that company. The guarantee of repair is 20 years so anyone can wonder: what´s the point of that company investing their money in a gift to a customer that, at best, would not hire them again before 20 years? Indeed, it´s more than probably that I won´t have to call upon them again, but that company was not seeking to sell me again, but indirectly, using me to reach another potential customers through the positive diffusion of its brand.

6.- Reactivate less active customers

Within your customers you will likely have a group of them “less active”, who visit your stores from time to time, not keeping a high loyalty. It´s usually interesting to make every certain time a specific campaign aimed to this segment to reactivate them and try that some of them become more recurrent customers. In this sense, different actions are suitable, such as progressive discounts in a first and second purchase in a temporary period, an exclusive gift in the next purchase or when a certain amount is reached in a period, etc.

7.- Suggest new products

To introduce additional products, as long as this action is drived with customized  Cross-selling allows to increase the average value of the shopping cart and offer an added value to the customer who receives complementary products within the same brand. A good customized loyalty strategy consists of segmenting customers for recently acquired products, to study which additional complementary products enrich the experience and suggest them as tailored promotions through the loyalty program. You will be offering a better customer experience and increasing your income.

8.- To prize joining your club

Rewarding a customer when joining your club is a good way to extend your loyalty program and therefore add more users to offer personalized benefits. Membership in the club can be rewarded with an initial charge of points or with a specific welcome promotion. Keep in mind that every new member of your club, is a customer to whom you will draw all its activity, both in your physical stores and ecommerce, to start offering a new omnichannel experience.

9.- Offer a preferential treatment to certain groups

It is quite common in many businesses to provide a preferred benefit or treatment to certain groups. The best known example is the group of employees, who can have access to discounts or other types of benefits as a complement of their remuneration in the company. Besides to the group of employees, additional groups with a differential treatment can be defined, depending on the type of business and the relationship with its environment: young people, elderly people, large families, etc. A very comfortable way for both business and customers is to make use of these advantages through the brand digital loyalty program, making easy to manage and enjoy these benefits in any of the sales channels.

10.- Thank current customers their help in spreading your brand in their social media

Social media plays an increasingly important role in communication and brand positioning. Through social media brands effectively communicate their news, their feelings and their identity. Therefore, to reach more users is very important to extend the message and get new potential customers.

To run a loyalty program that allows you to reward users who share the publications and promotions of your brand in their social media, will bring an important return for your company. Different kinds of reward can be offered: extra points, access to a promotional discount coupon when accumulating a certain number of “share” in a certain period, access to an exclusive privilege or any other personalized benefit that encourage users to spread the brand inside their contacts in social media.

As can be seen, the ultimate goal of using a loyalty program is you to achieve the peace of mind provided by seeing your businness growing up with a solid base of loyal and recurring customers.

When selecting the loyalty solution for your business, it is important you to take into account its flexibility to implement the different marketing actions, as well as allowing an omnichannel experience, in order customer gets the same benefits whatever the purchase channel.

If you want to learn which steps to take into account to implement a customer digital loyalty program, adapted to the current lifestyle, download our free Ebook – The 6 steps to successfully create your loyalty program.

Remember that we are at your disposal to help you to develop a new customer experience in your business.

______________________________

José Manuel Maseda

Sales & Marketing Manager

www.wappingweb.com