Research showed that up to 60% of customers join B2B loyalty programs, but only half actively participate in them. Many customers enroll in a loyalty program because of some promising rewards but later back down when the program fails to satisfy their needs.
Unfortunately, too many loyalty programs fail actually to address the needs of their customers. They only focus on building a large customer base. They think giving out something to entice their customers is enough to persuade them to stay; however, it’s all wasted.
When the program does not add value, customers don’t have any reason to participate. This is where the big challenge lies; businesses want to satisfy their ultimate needs of acquiring and retaining customers, building a large community of loyal customers while consumers seek to meet their top needs, which are diversified.
It is easy to know what the company wants, but knowing what the large heterogeneous customers want requires intensive customer research and analysis. Understanding your customers’ behavior will help you satisfy the needs of your customers correctly. Do you want to know how? Read through the following pro tips to learn how to use your loyalty program to meet your customers’ ultimate needs.
1. Cost savings
Research showed that most customers decide to participate in a loyalty and rewards program because they want to save money. Mostly, customers check if the program’s rewards connect with their financial needs before deciding to enroll.
Most of the popular loyalty programs are the ones that serve the customers’ financial needs. Statistics confirm this fact. Back in the days, loyalty programs started by giving loyal customers a copper token to redeem and use for future purchases.
In this modern era, many businesses continue the practice by offering discounts, store credits, or redeemable points, which helps buyers in future purchases.
If you know what appeals to a larger percentage of your customers, you are almost there. Creating your loyalty program with cost savings at the top the mind will give you a better chance to solve many of your customers’ needs.
First, create a points-to-cash system where users can redeem their points in cash or any other monetary value. It will help you meet your customers’ financial needs to a large extent.
Cost savings system works well in attracting new customers though it might be much useful in retaining them. We still have some customers that are not money-driven. That’s why your loyalty program needs to go beyond merely giving out money.
2. Personalisation
While allowing your loyal customers to save money is an essential requirement for a loyalty program, you cannot overemphasize the need to develop and sustain a cordial customer-brand relationship.
Research showed that customer demands special treatment from the brand they have been patronizing for a long time. Offering personalized rewards to your customers would make them feel like you treating them special. A customer survey showed that they want the company to recognize them anytime they buy.
Customers pay attention to what other customers are buying. When you give the same rewards to every category of your customers – both the heavy spenders and the once-a-while shoppers, you are kicking against a torn.
Besides, giving customers something familiar among others is an excellent way to show that you recognize them. The whole idea is to ensure your customers know how much you value them, making them more willing to remain loyal to your business.
A loyalty program that offers a standard reward to every customer regardless of how much they spend gives the heavy spender a reason to leave for other competitors. If you want to lose customers, you’d better don’t lose those customers that make bid purchases.
How to personalize your rewards
- Be conversant with their birthday
Sending a reward to your customers on their birthdays can go a long way in making them feel recognized. Meanwhile, you don’t have to be mindful of that; you can use automated email to keep sending them yearly rewards.
- Send special offers.
Sending special offers to customers shows that you are paying attention to them. ‘Just for you’ is a key phrase that can win the heart of thousands of customers to your business. Let them know that offer is for them alone and see the magic happening.
3. Engagement
Customers value rewards for other actions they perform in favor of your business apart from purchases. Customer energumen will keep customers locked to your brand if you get it right. You can engage your customers via your loyalty program by providing multiple ways to earn rewards aside from the ones they get from purchases.
Decorate your customers with rewards when they follow your social media pages, like your posts, or share them. You can also ask them to watch a brand video, refer a friend or take a survey and reward them for that.
You can also improve your loyalty program engagement by building a stable relationship with your customers when they make their first purchase until they become one of your most reliable customers.
4. Exclusivity
Naturally, humans love to live on an elevated social status. Your loyalty program should make room for that. Organize a VIP program to give your customers a chance to move to a higher reward tier. Tier system gives users reasons to buy more to get to the next level to enjoy better opportunities.
Aside from the fact that it appeals to some customers by feeding their ego, it is also an excellent way to motivate buyers to make heavier purchases willingly. Offering exclusive rewards that are not accessible to other customers a selected few will give your top-rated customers the recognition they demand.
While a customer behavior survey can guide you to satisfy most of your customers’ needs, each company needs to take a different approach depending on its customer and various business goals. The tips above will make you create a loyalty program that focuses on satisfying customers’ needs and stands out from the rest.
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