Without a doubt, creating a customer loyalty program is one of the best ways to nurture your ‘tribe’ of the most valuable customers that are choosing your product or services. Having loyal customers that come back to your business time after time is the key to long-term success.
The Pareto principle – also known as the 80/20 rule, supports the notion of creating a customer loyalty program. It turns out that returning customers generate 16 times more revenue for businesses than one-time customers.
Creating a customer loyalty program from scratch can be overwhelming so that’s why we took the time to distill the 5 most crucial tips for creating a successful customer loyalty program.
5 tips for building a customer loyalty program
Here are five creative tips for building successful customer loyalty in 2023 that will take your business to another level.
Consider customer privacy
If you plan on creating an app or some other online tool as a part of your loyalty program, keep in mind that, even your most loyal customers won’t be running to download it straight away. These days, one of the most important things for people when they use the Internet is their privacy.
Some recent cases such as the Tim Hortons app situation, when they were collecting vast amounts of location data from its users for targeted advertising – without being honest with their customers that they do it, can be a huge red flag for some customers. Moreover, Tim Hortons case is not an isolated incident and there are many apps that put your privacy at risk.
So if you do decide to use an app as a part of your loyalty program make sure that your customers’ data is safe and protected and be open with your customers about how and why you are using their data.
Get loud on social media
Your loyal customers can be a great addition to your marketing strategy. Try to reach out to the most influential customers in your network and see if you can make them your brand ambassadors.
Many influencers have a large number of followers and they can help out spread the word about how awesome your business is. If you feel comfortable, ask these influential customers if they can share your business on their profiles and tell them how much that would mean to you.
Offer appropriate discounts
Put your most valuable returning customers on a pedestal. If they have supported your business for many years, try and offer them the best discounts that you can afford. Don’t think of it as losing money but as a future investment! The chance that they have already brought some extra revenue as a long-term customer is huge, and with the extra discount, they won’t be able to shut up their mouth about you.
A great example of this is Mark Cubans’ new online pharmacy Cost Plus. They don’t spend any money on advertising but because the cost of all the products that they are offering has such a big discount they are growing extremely fast. Thanks to their great ‘word of mouth” approach due to high discounts, in a couple of months they reached their 2-year sales goal.
Many influencers have a large number of followers and they can help out spread the word about how awesome your business is. If you feel comfortable, ask these influential customers if they can share your business on their profiles and tell them how much that would mean to you.
Make your customer feel special
Of course, when it comes to feeling appreciated, even small deeds can be great. Maybe you can offer your returning customers some custom make apparel with your business logo, or share how grateful you are that they are your customer on your social media. Depending on your niche, freebies can also be a great way to make your customers feel special – because lets be real, everyone loves freebies!
Ask for feedback
People love to help and be heard. Asking your customers for feedback can be a great way to make your customers feel included in your entrepreneurial journey. This will make them be happy to be part of your loyalty program as they will feel that they are having an impact on your business.
Your most valuable customers are your gold mine when it comes to improving your business and achieving even more growth. Ask customers for feedback on your services or product. What would they change or perhaps,is there anything new that they would like to see from your repertoire? Of course, you don’t have to always heed their advice, but maybe here and there some gem will pop up that you can implement.
Conclusion
Even though it might seem like a huge investment, taking the time to create a successful customer loyalty program can be highly beneficial for your business growth. Feel free to you some of our ideas on how to get your customers even more hooked to your business. Take your time to understand your audience and choose the one idea that fits your customers the most.
In the end, remember that even the most loyal customers are just human after all. So make sure they feel safe, valued, and heard when you interact with them on a day-to-day basis and they will without a doubt return your appreciation tenfold.
More must-read stories from Enterprise League:
- Marketing automation examples that every business should know and use.
- Bad boss traits that should make you think twice about your future.
- Find out which are the most unpredictable costs of doing business.
- 26 common hiring errors that small businesses should avoid.
- A few tricks up your sleeve when dealing with clients who refuse to pay.
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