Attaining customer retention and earning new ones is now easier than ever with loyalty programs.
Designed to be effective for business owners and beneficial for customers, it seems that everyone can agree that loyalty program is changing the game. Due to the rise of loyalty program implementation in the market by various companies globally, the competition is more extreme, and the battle to stand out in the field is not a walk in the park.
There are factors you should consider when creating a loyalty program. So this blog can be seen as part two of the previous blog linked above.
Here, you will learn the things you SHOULD NOT apply in your loyalty program.
Pay attention, grab a pen and paper and write everything down.
DO NOT. We Repeat, DO NOT
1- Make the Signing Up Process Complicated.
This should be the mantra of everything you do in your business. People crave simplicity and don't want to spend much time figuring out ways to sign up for a loyalty program.
This isn't a Rubix cube. All you need to ask the customers to provide are:
- Name
- Email and/or phone number
- Date of birth
2- Make Rewards Unattainable
One of the reasons customers are on board with loyalty programs is the idea of getting rewards with a simple task to be done.
Your loyalty program will not be successful if its goals are too high. Customers won't wait a whole year to receive one reward.
3- Generalize Customers
Every customer's behavior is different. Their interests and purchase habits will never align, so you risk the customers' alienation by generalizing the ads and rewards you create.
The right rewards can create loyalty and make one-time shoppers into long-term shoppers by understanding where they are in their journey.
4- Ignore Data
Data is a mirror of the customer's wants and needs.
As part of the loyalty program, your data is regularly analyzed, and opportunities are sought to enhance the experiences of existing customers, lapsed customers, and future customers. By ignoring data and not monitoring your KPIs, many opportunities for improvement shall be lost.
5- Provide Bad Customer Experience
The customers' voices should be heard and implemented. Suppose they make a comment or leave a review about an issue occurring. In that case, it's always best to solve the problem swiftly and address the customers politely and professionally.
Bad experiences with loyalty programs can result in lost customers. A negative word-of-mouth campaign could also harm the reputation of your program. For that, you should create a hotline to assist local customers.
6- Copy the Competitors
Everyone is different. What works for others might not work for you. Each loyalty program and its specialized ads are set on the data they've gathered about their customers and implemented their rewards and offers based on what suits best for the brand and services. Copy-paste the same technique is always a failure because people can see that:
A) You haven't put the effort to win them over.
B) The offers you've made don't suit your persona.
Be original and innovative.
Conclusion
Create simplicity out of complexity.
Loyalty apps should not be hard to navigate because making them too complex defeats their purpose. Check the market and how it operates, plus know your strength and weakness. Once you've done that, use this extensive and intricate data to create the most straightforward and outstanding loyalty program that suits who you are.
Be easily reached and maintained.
