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Creating loyal customers is an essential part of relationship marketing. Among their many benefits, loyal customers are repeat customers, a referral pipeline and more likely to spend more. In fact, according to a new consumer research from Marigold68% of consumers worldwide will pay more to shop with brands they are loyal to.
However, maintaining loyalty in an increasingly competitive market has proven tricky, with 37% of consumers leaving or becoming less loyal to a brand they previously liked in the past year.
Here it is loyalty programs A successful loyalty strategy provides customers with tangible value and builds emotional connections through tailored messaging. However, implementing a loyalty program can be daunting. Here's where to start:
1. Define your goals
Take a moment to consider what you want to achieve. Ultimately, it comes down to aligning your loyalty program goals with the overall company objectives. Are you growing your customer base, retaining existing customersincreasing sales or driving repeat business? These are important factors to determine beforehand.
Crafting these goals involves understanding which customer segments you hope to engage, what rewards or benefits matter to them, and which KPIs you need to track to measure success.
Having a clear picture of these goals will help you decide what type of loyalty program you need.
2. Know your members
A critical consideration of any loyalty program is determining the type of rewards that will attract the members you want. What benefits are they looking for? Remember, it's not always about the biggest discounts, but instead about recognizing individual needs and wants.
So don't guess… ask! Zero-party data acquisition through surveys, polls, and other interactive experiences is becoming increasingly valuable for relationship marketing. It takes the guesswork out of customer needs and wants, so loyalty offers can be personalized. research found that 62% of consumers say their favorite brand treats them as an individual, while 79% say they are likely to engage with a personalized email tailored to their interests.
The bottom line is that rewards are not a one-size-fits-all approach. Make sure what you offer matches what customers really want.
3. Choose the right program
Once you know your goals and understand the needs of your customers, then you can find the right program to deliver both. Want to drive engagement and repeat purchases? Try a punch card program. Do you want to nurture long-term customer relationships and move new customers through the loyalty channel? Try a tiered program where rewards and benefits increase the more they buy or engage.
4. Be mutual in mind
When introducing your loyalty program, be sure to do so with consistentpersuasive and concise messaging across multiple channels. This includes your website, email lists, SMS and social media platforms, at a minimum. If applicable, extend it to in-store materials and place it in external channels such as advertising.
Regardless of the channel, your messaging should focus on the value, benefits and rewards of participation. Remember to obtain clear opt-in permissions from your audience, both for the communications you will send them about the program and for how you will use the data collected from it. And, of course, have a welcome email in the hopper that goes out to every new member who joins, thanking them and providing additional information about the program and its value.
Related: Customer loyalty is your holy grail for success. Here's how to cultivate it.
5. Grow up. Optimize. Learn
Launching your loyalty program is not the end of the process; it's just the beginning. Now, it's time to monitor engagement, feedback, KPIs and more for signs that require action. Looking at internal indicators of success is important, but it can also mean being proactive with your audience with controls such as surveys and feedback forms to ensure you are continuing to deliver value. This allows you to continuously iterate and improve, as well as adjust and adapt as needed.
And, of course, continue to promote the program to new members through all channels and opportunities.
With these tips, you'll be able to offer an engaging loyalty program that increases customer retention and drives business ROI.