A customer loyalty program is a marketing approach that rewards customers if they purchase or engage with a brand on a recurring basis. The main purpose is to maintain, gain, and win back customers.
Branding isn’t just about establishing an online presence or developing a name for your online store. Rather, branding can be seen as a process that is continually evolving towards a unified approach that entails customers to identify your brand.
Wherever they see your name, a certain aesthetic, feel and closeness must be felt. Another aspect of branding is developing ‘brand love’ which develops a mutual connection between you and your audiences. Once you’re able to develop brand love among your customers, you’ll get rewarded in the form of loyalty. In fact, studies suggest that members within a customer loyalty program spend up to 18% more than usual customers.
It is often said that loyal customers are the bloodline of brands. This is true because they do your marketing through word of mouth! For developing loyalty among your customers, it is essential that you implement a customer loyalty program:
What is a Customer Loyalty Program:
Like said earlier, a customer loyalty program focuses on building customer loyalty through recognition and rewards. Only customers that are regularly involved in purchases from your brands are able to join a customer loyalty program as a reward to further avail purchases. usually on discounts and sometimes through giveaways.
Surely the benefits are immense. Here I state a few:
- Number one, you’ll be able to keep your loyal customers and turn them into loyal returning customers because it makes them feel special.
- Secondly, customer loyalty programs can be seen as incentives for new customers. The benefits come in a wide range of ways which allow room for creativity as well as branding.
- Typically, merchandising, coupons, insider perks and various forms of rewards are used in customer loyalty programs.
Here are some benefits of customer loyalty programs:
Customer Referrals:
When customers enjoy the benefits, they feel like telling their loved ones. Remember the times, when you enjoyed a certain benefit from a retail store or a brand, you must have told your friends and family in casual conversations. This is the power of word of mouth. It changes the way your products are being marketed.
If your customers truly do enjoy the benefits of your customer loyalty program, chances are you’ll get a lot of referrals as well.
Customer Retention:
The competition is immense and it’s hard to keep your retention rates intact. Customer loyalty programs on the other hand can make your customers’ options restricted because of the benefits you provide.
Once you’re offering good benefits, then it becomes really hard for your customers to opt for your competitor.
Remember, it’s about making your customers feel special and a loyalty program does exactly that!
Cost-Efficient Model:
Many people think that customer loyalty programs are hard to maintain, however they’re actually cost-efficient.
- Firstly, the benefits you’re providing will be returned to you in the form of higher sales.
- On the other hand, acquiring new customers is harder as you’ll have to spend a lot on marketing budgets.
- These are the reasons why making your loyal customers happier is a must.
User-Generated Content:
Do you believe in making long-term relationships with your clients? The authentic way to build longer relationships is providing memorable experiences to your customers. User-generated content is just another form of achieving this!
As your user’s post and document everything on social media these days, embrace personalization and the ability to share their voice. This leads to the key feeling that part of your brand belongs to the consumer.
In a Nutshell:
A customer loyalty program is an excellent strategy that gives an all-round performance to your online store. It enables you to maintain your current customer base as well as tempts new customers to show some loyalty as well.
So, are you going to incorporate it into your brand?
Your customers are ready to convey their emotions, why let them wait to express? Commersys is here to help if you need it!
