Most of the large companies we see today have been once very small, even incremental marketing. Of course, most of them become what they are today because they nurture their business dreams through the ups and downs, but there is more to sustaining a top position in the business world than the dream chasing attitude.
Amidst several intimidating competitors, any company that lacks the ability to hold its loyal customers through a customer engaging loyalty program will either drop down the ladder or become irrelevant after losing many customers to its competitors.
Although most large companies spend huge amount of money on advertising, a tool to drive in more new customers, hover, without a customer friendly loyalty program that retain the existing ones, I’m afraid the company might be running a wrong direction.
Loyalty marketing is one of the key tools that sustains the constant ascension of these large companies and most of them have already made it an invaluable practice that gives the business a competitive advantage.
Loyalty and rewards programs is very helpful for large companies to sustain increased customer spending, customer retention, higher profits and more. No wonder it is easy to find many successful companies operating a loyalty marketing program.
I would rather have big companies investing more money on loyalty and rewards programs than advertising. Loyalty programs are better advertising tool because beneficiaries will have firsthand experiences to share with friends and family members who will be persuaded to patronize the company based on what they have heard.
Large companies that get their customers loyalty and rewards programs right end up adding a great number of new customers to their database due to volunteered referral services of their happy customers. Experience brings clearer conviction than talks.
Having known how important loyalty programs can be for large companies, let’s go through some loyalty programs that works well for them.
1. Tier-based loyalty programs
This option is mostly common among big companies. It is a program that allows customers to keep earning points for and get greater rewards for a long time. Most tier-based loyalty programs are involves outstanding rewards that customers cannot help but want to have. Theses rewards may include all expenses paid trip to a beautiful vacation venue, impressive discounts on every purchase and more.
In this type of loyalty program, customers will have to continue spending on more on purchases as they advance from one level to the other. The higher the level the higher the rewards and the higher the spending.
One of the reasons many big companies prefer this type of loyalty program is that it motivates customers to always strive to reach higher level to unlock greater benefits.
2. Community loyalty programs
Community loyalty programs is one of the types of loyalty marketing programs that work well for big companies. It is not a surprise that a renowned company like Sephora adopts this system to boost its customer relation, improve sales, increase profits and make its customers feel good.
The Sephora Beauty Insider operates as a form of community program. This program provides Sephora’s customers with an extensive choices of gifts. The kind of gifts customers get depends on the points they earn.
Aside from that, the program also offer an online community where customers can share discussions their experiences and advice about the company’s products and services. It encourages customers to connect to ask questions and exchange tips.
Customers feel satisfied when their preferred company give them a sense of belonging making creating an interactive platform where their voices can be heard. Community loyalty programs have a way of appealing to customers’ emotions strengthening the relationship between the customers and the brand.
3. Gaming loyalty programs
This type of loyalty program is one of the most fun customer reward programs. It makes the routine purchasing activities more interesting to customers. to have a clear understanding of how gaming loyalty program works, let’s consider Starbucks – a big company that operate loyalty marketing program based on gaming.
Starbucks started with as points-based program – which will later discussed in this article. They later switched to gaming program in 2016. Before the switch, the company was rewarding their loyal customers with one point for every purchase – no matter how you spend on the purchase.
It became an issue when some customers that make higher purchase were feeling cheated because they will get the same point with customers that only buy a tail cappuccino. Starbucks quickly swing into action switching to a gaming system where customers earn 2 stars for every dollar dropped. This gaming system made it possible for higher spenders to bet higher rewards.
Starbucks uses games on their mobile app to notify their customers of the opportunities to earn more points. Gaming loyalty program is a great customer engaging program which makes earning points more fun for customers and locked them up with the company.
4. Points-based loyalty programs
Most customers are very familiar with this system because it is the most prevalent loyalty and rewards program among big companies. It is very easy to understand and manage. Customers also find it easier to earn points and redeem them.
In this program, when you buy, you earn points for credit which will be helpful in your next purchase. Most customer prefer this type of loyalty program because they can easily track their loyalty points with their cards, through the company’s mobile app or online account.
One of the advantages of using points-based loyalty program is that it enables the company to track, analyze and understand customer behaviors and use that data to build a stronger customer relation and create an improved customer experience. This is an advantage for every company. How much you know your customers’’ preferences determines how much you will be able to satisfy their needs.
5. Free perks programs
Everybody likes gifts. This loyalty program is one of the simplest program that appeals to customers’ emotions by giving devoted customers free products and services.
Though many large companies might be deceived by the traffic they get from the convincing power of advertising, but without a customer engaging loyalty and rewards program those new customers might not patronize you long enough before your competitors hijack them. Putting a working loyalty program in place is a smart marketing strategy for every large company.
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