The Power of Reward: How it Can Affect Your Business

Here’s the thing a lot of business owners do not realize or rather, do not take seriously enough: your entire business depends on your customers. Regardless of the direction you take — B2B or B2C, businesses thrive on customer relations. Whether you provide services or sell goods to companies or the public — the logic behind remains the same. If the receiving party is not happy with you, you can kiss them goodbye and forget about “using” them to grow your business. And let’s face it, your business does grow with the help of your clients. More so than you want to admit.

So how can you keep your customers happy for as long as you can? The answer to that lies in a very simple concept and its immense power. And that concept is the reward. But what is a reward in this context? Why do you need it? And, more importantly, how can it affect your business? Those are the questions we’ll answer if you keep on reading.

The connection between reward and customers

Why is it that some customers buy from you over and over again, whereas others stop at buying only one time and the remaining buyers don’t even seem remotely interested in your business?

It’s because customers are humans and need to trust the brands they are paying to.

Harvard Business Review says that, based on the specifics of the industry you’re operating in, you can spend anywhere between 5–25 times more on trying to attract new customers versus retaining your existing ones. This fact is nothing new. Then how does this tie to keeping your existing customers? Easily. To keep your current customers happy for as long as you can you need to create a “platform” for them to interact with you. That platform is your reward program.

A reward program is basically a system where you continuously provided something more for your customers to keep them engaged with your brand. Something that no other brand will give them. To put it simply, you consistently reward them for being your customer and buying from you.

There are a lot of ways to how reward systems work, but for now, we’ll only concentrate on why you need to integrate a reward program in your marketing and sales strategy.

Why you need to reward your customers

Ultimately, doing something pleasant for someone and expecting to gain something in return is socially frowned upon. But let’s face it, growing a business is indeed all about attracting customers in any way possible. And because any benefit or pleasant surprise people can get that is made specifically for them will be greatly appreciated. The entire reward system concept thrives on this.

If you give your loyal customers a reason to look forward to coming back to you, you’re winning. And that reason is all the fun methods presented by reward systems — gifts, discounts, bonus points, loyalty cards, everything and anything along those lines.

IRI Consumer Connect survey says that 74% of consumers choose retailers that have established loyalty and reward systems. This is a vivid indication that not only is rewarding your clients a beautiful marketing stunt, but it is also something that customers actually want and need. You can’t expect people to fall over your brand and stick to it if you aren’t willing to give them a reason to, and the more reasons you give them, the better.

You can even go as far as digitizing your reward system to make it more user-friendly these days. They’ll be only happy to get their rewards from the comfort of their smartphones.

How customer reward systems affect your business

To start this section, there are a few very important terms you should know:

Customer churn rate — the percentage of customers that leave your company/stop buying from you.

Reward system — what you need to cut down the term mentioned above.

Cstomer relationship management and loyalty platform to help you implement the reward system and grow your business.

Reportedly, businesses have seen dramatic changes after having implement customer reward programs in their operations. In fact, businesses rise when they succeed in customer retention. That’s when one-time buyers become repeat-buyers, and when existing loyal buyers start spending more money on you. Studies show that a 5% increase in customer retention can result in profits as low as 25% and as high as 95%. No wonder so many businesses are now trying to exploit the potential of customer loyalty programs.

Bottom line is, customer reward is directly tied to your business growth. The system affects people’s buying habits, which in turn affects your profits. And if you keep the strategy up consistently, implementing newer methods and always offering more to your customers, this process can literally be never-ending, which is exactly what you need. Whether you realize it or not.

To finish off

Customers need assurance that you care about them a little more than you might care about the rest of your clientele. They need special treatment, personalized approach, exclusive deals and discounts, they need their voices heard. And you can do all of these and much more through Say2B. The system guarantees your customers get a platform where they can interact with your business. A platform, where you can directly send them personalized offers, gifts, birthday presents — anything to make their buying experience more tailored and enjoyable.

The essence of the customer reward program is to always create the impression of caring about your customers more than anything else. Putting their needs and preferences before your own interests and thus leading them to buy from you. And as a lot of studies and consumer surveys show, customer reward systems really do pay off in the long run and help grow businesses, setting them apart in the competition by having a dedicated pool of buyers that will refuse to leave them because the rewards are worth it.