Spicing up your loyalty program for the year — without breaking the bank

If you’ve been utilizing the many benefits of customer loyalty for your company but you still feel like it’s not justifying the efforts, then maybe it’s time you changed a few things up. Marketers around the world spend more and more money on their rewards programs every year in order to increase customer retention and, consequently, sales and Say2B is there to help achieve that goal.

We get it, customer loyalty programs are amazing assets to boost your company and win the heart of your brand community over and over. However, one of the worst cases you can let happen to your program is to keep it average with “one size fits all” approach. We shouldn’t be the ones to tell you that’s not how it works. What we can do, though, is give you a few ideas on how you can spice things up for your program without spending too much time and other resources. If you’re not already using either one of these tactics, consider adding them to your rewards system, and you’ll see how big of a difference they make for your customers and your company in the long run. And the best part? These will not even make a difference in your expense sheet, just the earnings.

Referral marketing is the best type of marketing

Seriously, referral marketing tracks its origins back to… well, pretty much all throughout human history. The second people start talking to each other, one way or another a suggestion, an opinion, a piece of advice on something pops up. This has been a thing centuries ago, whether conscious or unconscious, and it’s still a thing today. Maybe in the past referrals didn’t hold the same meaning to marketing and happened in a different mode, but the fact is, it’s a part of natural human interaction.

-Hey, you look good, I love this dress

-Oh my god, thank you, got it from Forever21, have you seen their new collection? You should totally check it, they have sales on all the good stuff!

See? Next time the other person walks by a Forever21 store, they’ll be tempted to see what was that new collection all about. And you know the rest. So why don’t you have a proper referral system in place yet?

How is referral marketing effective

There are essentially 2 reasons why referral marketing is one of the best ways to enhance your customer loyalty program. First of all, as studies show, 92% of customers trust the recommendations of the people they know. This means they don’t need too many sales touches to convert once they’ve received a genuine recommendation from a friend or a family member.

The second important reason is that referral marketing pretty much comes either for free or with minimum expenses from your side. It’s up to your creativity and specific tactics you use to encourage your customers to spread the good word about your brand. Whether it’s an “invite 10 friends and get a discount” or “if you’re happy with our services, share it with your friends so they can enjoy it too” type of deal, the costs are still much lower than what you’d have to do with some other methods to attract and acquire new customers.

And to add the final strike in favor of referral programs, I’ll just mention that, according to Forbes, referred customers are more loyal with a 16% longer lifetime value for your brand. So, get going.

Take your program where your customers are

One of the downfalls of your loyalty program can be expecting customers to come and find that opportunity themselves. Let me give you valuable insight: they won’t. The less your customers have to do something themselves, the more likely they are to actually get it done. And if in some cases shoving things in people’s faces is not the best strategy, this case might just be a little different. Make your loyalty program as visible as possible for your visitors in-store, online, and anywhere in general.

The sooner and more often they come across your program offer, the higher the chances they’ll actually enroll and start engaging. Don’t wait for them to find you. Go where they are and don’t let them slip away without making sure they know what that loyalty has to offer them.

Use all the methods you’ve got at hand: website landing page, a separate section in your menu, email newsletter, and more. An average customer is enrolled in around 14 loyalty programs but only uses around 7 of them. By always being in plain sight you not only ensure that your store visitors enroll in your rewards program, but that they also consistently engage with the program and your brand.

To sum up

Customer loyalty comes with consequences and responsibilities: you can’t start running it and forget all about its existence in mere hopes for it to keep attracting customers and rewarding them all on its own. If you intend to survive the competition and earn the loyalty of your customers, you’ll have to keep things exciting and engaging for them. And don’t forget the loyal customers of your competition, you want them too, right?

People are more motivated to do things that not only include direct benefits for them but also involve other people along with the sense of being a part of something others are not. Call it the human need to always have something special others don’t.

Say2B is ultimately helping brands differentiate and make their loyalty programs interesting. And if you’re still struggling with that, here is a solid ground for you to get started with. Change things up once in a while if you don’t want to end up in a ditch along with all the brands that lose their customers because they simply can’t keep them loyal to their brands.