Retail has become an even more competitive market than ever before with the rise of digital stores, chain services and discount markets, but loyalty programs provide the incentive your customers need to choose your store over all the others.
Why you should invest in a loyalty program
As the landscape of modern business competition faces an ever-increasingly sharp rise, businesses have to find a way to connect with their customer base in meaningful ways and encourage them to keep coming back.
Loyalty programs help businesses meet and exceed their goals toward retaining the attention and engagement of their existing customer base, and engaging new customers along the way. Here are some of the reasons why you need to invest in a loyalty program to supercharge your business:
1. More foot traffic
In this highly competitive retail market, customers respond well to the companies that make their experience a pleasant one. Retail has become an even more competitive market than ever before with the rise of digital stores, chain services and discount markets, but loyalty programs provide the incentive your customers need to choose your store over all the others. Use offers and promotions to inspire new and existing customers to explore your store. Come up with creative promotions based on your customers’ behavior. If they are buying clothing or any other products frequently, try to add some more incentives and drive more traffic.
The old model of membership rewards programs is dying out — if you make your customers wait too long or spend too much to yield a reward, they will be more likely to abandon the reward before they get to it. Make your rewards program realistic and attainable to keep your audience engaged.
2. Increased repeat customers
Now that you’ve brought more traffic into your store, the next trick is to give your customers a reason to keep coming back – and this is where loyalty programs really shine. Offers and promotions are great to bring traffic, but now must create a loyalty membership that will keep them coming back.
The old model of membership rewards programs is dying out — if you make your customers wait too long or spend too much to yield a reward, they will be more likely to abandon the reward before they get to it. Make your rewards program realistic and attainable to keep your audience engaged.
3. Meaningful engagement
Using every resource at your disposal, you have new ways to connect to your customer base and to encourage participation in your loyalty program. Offer a mobile app to promote convenience and motivate your customers to use the program. Feel free to free social media and other channels such as emails, SMS messages etc to engage your customers.
The numbers don’t lie: a statistical look at how you should be engaging your customer base
Retail stores have to do a lot of work when it comes to establishing a loyal customer base and rising above the noise of competition. So you have to ask yourself the hard questions – how do you engage customer loyalty in the first place, how do you keep your customers returning to you, and why do customers tend to disengage from companies.
So let’s look at some statistical evidence to find out how customers respond well and what that means for your business and loyalty program.
Consumers respond to the brand over the product
It may seem counterintuitive at first, but it turns out that consumers will choose their loyalty to a brand or business over a specific product.
In a survey conducted in 2018, over half of consumers said that they will choose their next product depending on the engagement of brand. Customers that create an emotional connection stay with a brand for more than 5 years. Not only this, 61% of customers actually go out of their way to seek out a product from a brand name they love rather than the product that’s most convenient for them to seek. Make sure you engage with your customers – create a loyalty program!
Word-of-mouth goes a long way
Loyalty programs help retailers to establish a customer base that comes back again and again. Discounts and promotional offers bring in new traffic and membership programs help to retain customers and establish loyalty.
But once those customers have established loyalty to your brand, they’re very likely to tell others about it – over 60% of customers who have established loyalty to a brand will tell their family and friends about it, thus increasing the traffic to your store even more and encouraging future growth.
Loyalty programs help retailers to establish a customer base that comes back again and again.
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