Marcus Richards
If you have set up a company that is starting to tick, you might begin thinking about a loyalty program. A loyalty program is a highly popular strategy amongst businesses, utilised to not only motivate new customers to make purchases but attain good faith in order to ensure repeat purchases.
When it comes to business – especially B2B – repeat customers that are loyal to the brand will not only buy more products than the first-time consumer, but they also have a higher average order value. Whether a company thrives or flounders, then, is often decided by the loyal customers that the company manages to attain.
But this is not simply a case of investing in a loyalty program and hoping for the best. In fact, there are at least five key points your company needs to consider before activating your strategy. Starting with the basics:
Is Your Company B2C Or B2B?
This might sound like an obvious question, but it is important to understand how your loyalty program might differ depending on what sort of clientele you are selling to. B2C companies, for instance, do not have as much dependency on returning customers, meaning they won’t be spending as much energy on loyalty programs as a B2B company.
A loyalty program for b2b customers, however, can increase profits anywhere between 25% to 95%. Not to mention, the success rate of repeat consumer marketing is around 60% to 70%, while selling to a new customer is between 5% to 20%.
Are You Thinking Beyond Monetary Rewards?
But, as mentioned previously, this isn’t about simply acquiring any loyalty program and hoping it sticks. You have to choose a loyalty program that goes beyond simple monetary rewards. According to recent studies, as much as 77% of human behaviour is driven by emotional connection. In this way, your consumers need rewards that are meaningful to them as individuals.
Choose rewards programs that are based on your own company and its values. The reason those consumers bought from you in the first place is that they like what you do, and they want to be involved. Their rewards, therefore, should follow in that vein and give them more of what they love.
Are You Prepared For Feedback?
Just as consumers react to thought-through, individual reward schemes, they will also react positively to constant communication. Achieving loyalty can in no small way be accelerated by strong communication, whether it’s through your own website, social media platforms, or live events.
Not least because it gives a chance for customers to engage with your company and suggest ways in which you can improve. Your company needs to be communicative and ready to not only listen to the feedback, but put it into action and ensure your consumers are happy with where your business is heading.
Are Your Customers The Right Customers?
Once again, this might sound like an obvious question, but so many businesses trip up because they have failed in figuring out who the customer base is. If your churn rate is high, your company will start feeling the effects – not to mention you will have wasted resources and time on securing customers who were never going to bite.
This is where your marketing communication channels become so important. If utilised properly, they can convey exactly who you are and will track down the consumers who relate to what you are offering. This will undoubtedly decrease that churn rate and ensure your loyalty programs will hit.
Are Your Employees Engaged?
One last thing you need to think about is your own business and its employees. You can spend a lot of your time making sure your loyalty program is perfect, but if you have a high drop-off rate of employees, that’s going to shoot you in the foot before you’ve even started.
Customers will know if there’s something wrong behind the scenes – not least because you are going to be as transparent as possible to make sure your loyalty program works. Happy employees will translate to happy customers. If, however, your employees are disengaged, you cannot possibly hope the people you are selling to won’t become disenfranchised. Keep your employees engaged with an employee engagement program and your business is sure to keep ticking over smoothly.
