Did you know that it costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one? This is why it’s so important for small businesses to turn one-time buyers into loyal, repeat customers. Customer loyalty programs can be your secret weapon in achieving success.
Customer loyalty programs for small businesses are an inexpensive way to increase sales and customer retention. A loyalty program can also prevent customers from visiting your competition, all the while increasing the number of purchases your average customer makes each year. This means the time and monetary investment pay off significantly in the form of greater profits and fewer lost customers.
Let’s take a look at these 6 tips for you to manage your loyalty programs as a small business owner.
1. Opt-in for a user friendly loyalty management software
Building customer loyalty begins with being in tune with your customers’ needs. A user-friendly loyalty management system software like SalesPlay is one of the best ways to connect with your customers, especially when they need assistance. Customers will have more access to your service team, creating more customer interactions, and as you know, the more you interact with them, the more often you can influence their experience.
All of your customers have one thing in common: you. But they will likely have plenty of other things in common with each other, like interests, hobbies, and challenges. A community program brings together like-minded customers to engage with and learn from each other (and your company), and that is why the software you use needs to be user-friendly.
2. Setting Clear and Achievable Objectives
There is nothing wrong in reaching for the stars but it is also important to utilise your time and resources on programs that actually fetch you results. This can only be made possible by setting short-term realistic goals for the programs. Setting feasible targets will also help in effective monitoring of the process.
Every loyalty program should be a driving factor behind the accomplishment of a business goal. Organisations should ideally know the outcomes they are aiming for, from a loyalty program like increased revenue or engagement. If it engages with existing customers and donors who share their experiences on social media, the organisation may be able to bring in more business. It is essential to pre-determine the goals and business targets, be it in sales, customer retention, new customer acquisition or others, that need to be achieved as a result of this program and work towards drafting a goal monitoring strategy.
3. Offering Enticing Rewards and Incentives
Customers loyal to your brand are also the most valuable to your business. In fact, customers who have an emotional connection to your brand tend to have a lifetime value higher than your average customer. These customers spend more with your business and should be rewarded for it. This is where a loyalty program becomes essential. If customers have good experiences, then organisations can more easily request referrals from them, such as sharing content on social media, offering unique links or discount codes and requesting positive reviews.
In return for something easy for customers to do -which they may have done, anyway -the organisation can reward them with gifts or offers, and it becomes a win-win.
4. Communicating Program Benefits to Customers
The numbers don’t lie: engaged customers are loyal customers. Companies with strong omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, compared to those with weak omnichannel strategies, which only retain 33%. When you are able to successfully communicate to your customers what the benefits they might reap from the loyalty programs you offer, the higher the chance of you as a small business owner to grow your customer base. This is because when people know what they getting into and if they get an impression that it might be beneficial, the more you are able to retain your clients.
5. Integrating Loyalty Programs with Other Marketing Efforts
If an organisation’s loyalty program is new, marketing teams should first promote the program to existing customers for early adoption. The incentives and program type should encourage customers to sign up.
Also, marketing teams can add information about the loyalty program to existing communications, so all new customers know about it. You can use promotions in thank-you emails or in customer onboarding processes to enable organic mentions of the program, which can then explain how to participate and rewards for joining. Email, social media and website real estate can help get the word out.
6. Tracking Performance
Unmonitored campaigns are just a shot in the dark with little to no chance of success. The key to survival in the fierce arena of loyalty schemes is adaptation and constant evolution. Stay up to date and control your campaign to gain an edge.
When analysing data, look for anything that is out of the ordinary as well as new patterns. This way, you can improve your program according to the changing trends and preferences in customer loyalty management.
We know that offering a loyalty program is a great way to keep your customers coming back for more and turn one-time purchasers into real advocates for your business. But as a small business owner, you won’t have the same investment resources as big companies, so it’s important to find a loyalty program that works for you.
