Having your own loyalty program is considered a sign of good taste – small, medium, and large companies strive to build their own system that would be different from the competition, attract, retain and stimulate customers.
The loyalty program market is oversaturated with offers, and most of them are similar to each other, differing only in details. But it is these details that influence the preferred choice for a business – what works for your competitor may not work for you or your customers at all.
That’s why it’s so important to choose forward-looking growth strategies that can improve your loyalty program and boost your company’s performance. Business process outsourcing (BPO) can take your business to the next level. Belkins experts have compiled top BPO services to help you select the right provider for your company’s needs. Explore, study, try. And we move on.
Typical mistakes in building and choosing loyalty programs
Wrong choice of loyalty program type
Thesis. Not every loyalty system is suitable for a client, just as not every client is suitable for a loyalty system. The foundation of the fundamentals is the real value you want to give to your audience, whether it be points or a discount on your next purchase.
Example. A program in the form of a savings system is suitable for a small coffee shop – every sixth cup is a gift, but in a construction company such a program will no longer work (the sixth apartment will obviously not be a gift). Here, for example, a closed club of residents is more appropriate, for which there are discounts and bonuses in stores near the house.
Solution. To maximize the return, study the target audience, its composition, habits, and behavior patterns. This will help you fine-tune the program to suit your audience’s characteristics and needs.
Profit now, loss later
Thesis. Exaggerated expectations from the implementation of the program lead to erroneous assessments of its effectiveness: – the return on investment will be longer than planned – the flow of new customers will be less – the quality of the flow will not cover the costs of implementation and implementation
Example. You spent $1,000 to buy additional software for the hairdressing salon. To notify new customers, you made a mailing list in which they offered to come for a wellness procedure at a special price. In the first month, two people came, leaving $100. Of this money, half goes to the master, the second part – to the salon. Your indirect loss in the first month is $900. A significant amount for a small salon.
Solution. Everyone wants a quick result without thinking about payback. Take your time, and study the issue more deeply so that the loyalty program performs its task constantly, for a long time.
Full disconnect
Thesis. In order to tell your audience about the loyalty program and convey its value, you need to understand who your target audience is, what it needs, and what tasks it expects to solve. Also, what communication channels do you have? The discrepancy between the target audience segment and the communication channel through which you want to inform often becomes the reason for wasted money and the loss of a potentially loyal audience.
Example. You have decided to send out an email campaign to the entire database about a new special offer in your dry cleaning service. Postal addresses can be in feedback forms, and questionnaires on the site, including sites with reviews and complaints. Not all people from this database are interested in your offer, relevant and timely. As a result, you can get negative and an increase in the number of unsubscribed users who will never see your offers again.
Solution. Study your target audience. This should be done throughout the life of your project. You grow and change. Along with you, the behavior of customers, their desires, and needs are changing. It is worth sensitively capturing these changes in order to close as many of their “pains” as possible.
How to avoid mistakes?
Approach the introduction of the loyalty program carefully. Don’t chase quick profits. It is important to remember that the loyalty program should be a logical extension of the brand and not the pursuit of trends.
A loyalty program is a tool that has indicators. They need to be tracked in order to check with reality and respond flexibly to requests. You determine the priority of factors yourself, taking into account the characteristics of your business:
- purchase frequency – how often people buy from you;
- average check – how much people buy from you;
- customer lifetime value (CLV) – the profit that you receive from one client for the entire time.
What do we have to do?
Explore CA. Knowing who reads, and watches buys you will help you test your first hypotheses with a small budget or even for free on your own database. Come up with a virtual or physical questionnaire, carefully fill in the information in the client cards without skipping the columns, write a native script for staff with which they can get to know clients better, and offer to leave feedback on the sites.
Communicate, speak, ask. Live communication, and a sincere desire to get feedback from your customers – will give invaluable information that will help you choose the exact offer and meet the needs of customers. Do you know the point of contact meaning? It’s ndividual or an entire department in charge of communication with customers. And any POC should follow empathy and interest – spare no effort on this.
Turn a customer into a friend. A one-time creative can work and even bring immediate benefits. But in order to build a loyal and devoted audience around you, interest and involvement must be maintained constantly. Loyal customers should become fans of the company: they will recommend it to others, tell their friends about discounts and personal offers, leave positive feedback on social networks, and so on.
Automate what you can. Automation saves time, removes routine tasks from people, and frees up resources. But at the same time, it is difficult, expensive, and often time-consuming. Assess the real need and your budget. Analyze the offer market and the experience of your colleagues. Choose an option that really takes the load off, rather than dragging on more complexities.
Conclusion
In conditions of total uncertainty and informational noise, try to be more delicate and careful in communication with your buyer. Remind yourself and focus on the service, not the product. People must want to come back to you, even in conditions of the total economy, and there must be a reason for this. Communication, the desire to hear the client and help him today comes out on top and becomes your competitive advantage.
