Customer Loyalty Program; A Way to Improve Customer Relationship

• Admin

For a business to succeed you need the right amount of people to be interested in the goods on offer or the services you render. Asides training your staff members on providing good customer service, having a good customer loyalty program is another way to improve your customer relationship.

Customers are the backbone of any thriving business. They are often regarded as the most important part of the business. Having no customer means there will be no brand or business. Thus it is important to always treat them right. Good customer service is about forming a good relationship with customers and sending them away happy – happy enough to give positive feedback about your business along to others. Having good customer service and an effective customer loyalty program show the customers that they rank high on the minds of the business owners.

What is Customer Loyalty?

 When a customer is devoted to a brand or product of a company, such customers can be said to be loyal. Customer Loyalty can, therefore, be called “the willingness of your customer to always patronize your products”. So, how does a company get to a stage where it has loyal customers? There are three important things a business should do to create loyal customers. These three things are; 

• A wow experience: Blow their minds on their first visit and they will always return
• A high level of satisfaction: Ensure that the product or service you sell to them is of the utmost top quality
• Value for Money: Your product may be expensive; that’s not a problem. What will be seen as a problem is when your customers can’t measure the amount paid for such products with the benefits they derive from such a product.

Benefits of Customer Loyalty

Mastering the art of customer loyalty is a crucial component of business success. Here are some benefits a loyalty program can bring to your business.

• Nurture meaningful relationships: this will help to stand the test of time and repel attacks from your competition.
• loyal customers can become advocates of your brand: Apart from returning to you time and again, they are likely to recommend your products to their friends, relatives, and even strangers at times. This is because your potential customers are more likely to trust the recommendations of existing users.
• A good loyalty program can transform a business into a customer-focused profit machine. Customers spend more on brands they’re loyal to.

Types of  loyalty programs you can use for your business

1. The Spend Program: This allows customers to get loyalty cards based on the amount the customer has spent on the business.

2. Tier Program: The Tiered loyalty program allows customers to enjoy permanent perks and benefits depending on their tier, the competitive spirit in customers are raised by attaching higher-value rewards & benefits to the top tiers and implementing different reward mechanisms per tier.

3. A simple points-based system: This system makes use of discounts and price coupon. 

4. The Point Program:  Loyalty point programs let customers acquire points that can be redeemed for rewards or free products/services.

5. The Paid Program: Paid loyalty programs provide an exclusive feel by integrating a monthly or yearly fee that members pay for access to special services, and VIP benefits. It is often termed the VIP Program.

6. Partner Program: This involves partnering with another company to provide all-inclusive offers. It facilitates the building of new business relationships.  

Already have a Customer Loyalty System? Here is how to Improve it

When executed well, a loyalty program can be a driving force for increased customer patronage and more. If you have an existing customer loyalty program, some important things can help you improve on the system you already have in place. Some of these things are;

• Communicating with the right customers: know the right audience to approach with a particular product. 
• Rewarding non-transitional behavior; e.g., gifts for referrals.
• Modifying your loyalty program based on feedback from customers: You can tailor your promotion based on demographics, product preference, and buying habits.
• Using your social media page to alert people of your new customer loyalty program.
• Putting time limit incentives so customers can act before it’s too late.
• Using messaging tools and social media to remind your customers about your customer loyalty program.

A loyal customer will most likely spend much more than the average client. This is why a well thought out plan is important. A well thought out customer loyalty program will help you concentrate on your existing customers, extend the period for which they remain your customers, and ultimately help foster a solid relationship that will leave them satisfied.