Loyalty Programs – Get the Edge!
Today’s online shopper is skilled at comparison shopping and is always only a click away from your competitor. In today’s economy where more customers are looking to stretch their dollar, loyalty programs and incentives are more important than ever. If you have a retail website and you don't have some kind of loyalty program...chances are you will find it a necessity. Loyalty programs allow you to build a customer base that is loyal to your products and will continue to purchase from you, rather than your competitors. All successful retailers know it costs a lot more to generate a new customer than to sell to a repeat customer. Therefore, customer retention should be of the utmost importance because valuing a customer is ultimately valuing your business as a whole.
Reward based programs are intended to exactly deliver this – be able to track and reward customer behavior. Statistics also indicate that consumer participation in rewards programs is on the rise across all demographic segments. With more customers choosing to do coupon and bargain shopping in the store, the reward programs that provide personalized rewards will prove to be differentiators if implemented with a laser sharp focus on targeted customer segments.
Segment Based Personalization
One key to winning the loyalty game is to be able to rightly segment customers and make offers based on the segments' profiles. Retailers can leverage these segments to design customer-specific promotional marketing that delivers personalized offers. Customers receive promotional offers based on past visit patterns, consumption behavior and other customized offers.
Personalized Rewards
Another key strategy for retailers is to create “club’s” that reflect customers' interest in specific categories and allow the customers to derive tangible benefits by being members of these clubs. The customer is able to extract at their own convenience offers they consider of value to them for use while shopping. This is another way for retailers to capture the customers’ unique interest in certain categories.
Cross-channel Messaging
Retailers are also leveraging loyalty programs to motivate multi-channel interaction. If a customer typically purchases in-store, a coupon can be offered as an incentive to purchase online and vice-versa.
Real Time Customer Communication
As technology and marketing progresses, there is an increasing adoption of real time promotional alerts. Retailers are starting to communicate offers using methods better suited to the lifestyles of today’s consumers. Examples would be sending a text message containing details of an offer to a customer’s mobile phone or an email to their personal account or interacting using in-store kiosks. Retailers are also exploring the use of SMS and Bluetooth technology to instantly alert customers to offers when they visit a store.
With an increasing number of factors influencing a customer's shopping decision, retailers are looking for every opportunity to creatively improve customer experience and boost customer loyalty. The agility in leveraging information to personalize customer experience and provide a consistent experience seamlessly across channels is the key to gaining a competitive edge. Customers today are expecting personalized services and not just a 'discount card' when they enroll for the loyalty program with retailers.
- eMarketer estimates that marketers around the world will spend $6 billion on social networks this year
- Source: eMarketer, 2011 - eMarketer estimates that time spent with mobile devices is rising faster than any other medium, up 28% in 2010
- Source: eMarketer, 2011 - 69% of Canadians surveyed who purchased product or service in-store after "window shopping" online
- Source: Canadian Retailer
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