6 Steps to a Successful Customer Incentive Program
Remember the days when customer loyalty programs meant receiving a paper punch card that tallied up your purchases or visits, eventually awarding you with some sort of insignificant reward and leaving you with little gratification for your loyal patronage? Those days of delivering one-off, limited-value campaigns are long gone. Today's consumers demand improved rewards and personalized communication from their favorite retailers, and they're willing to reward brands who deliver such programs.
Retailers have the opportunity to take advantage of new and improved ways to capture and build customer loyalty, developing stronger relationships and driving increased sales. When deployed thoughtfully, consumer incentive programs have enormous power to prevent price-conscious shoppers from slipping away to a competitor. In short, an incentive program can act like an insurance policy, helping you ensure your best customers buy more and buy more often.
From internet and email-based marketing capabilities that streamline the customer experience and enhance communications to data mining tools that help target promotions to reward options that drive increased sales for you and increased value for your customers, the growth of data-driven incentive programs has given a whole new life to what loyalty means.
Whether you're looking to increase traffic online or in-store, influence your customers’ average order size, or stimulate more frequent purchases, one of the best ways to make your customer relationships stickier is through a well-planned and well-executed incentive program. Here are six ways to get the most out of an incentive promotion:
1. The best time to start is now. Your customers are giving you data every time they interact with you (and not just with their purchases, but also when they visit your website, engage with your company via social media, etc.). With the tools now available to all retailers, large and small, you can leverage this data to power more thoughtful, hypertargeted marketing campaigns.
2. Define strategy and develop a long-term vision. Are you unsure of where to start or what the best options would be for your company? Seek the expertise of a professional and knowledgeable incentive company that can provide guidance, resources and reward recommendations customized for your company. This expertise can also help keep the elements of your program in check. With the flexible programs offered by many loyalty/marketing service providers, a "walk before you run" strategy can be built into your plans.
For example, something as simple as running a rebate promotion can be a great way to deliver value to your customers as well as a means of encouraging them to sign up for your email marketing and/or loyalty program.
3. Use internet tools to power your program and connect with your customers. Nearly all of your customers use the internet, many of them while shopping in your stores. An online/mobile "rewards center" gives your customers a one-stop shop for reward management, and is another great marketing opportunity for your brand. Such reward center portals are offered by numerous loyalty marketing companies as part of their platform.
4. Give consumers choice in their rewards. Empower consumers with brand-driven choices, from gift cards to prepaid cards to additional products and services. Your customers gain more control of their experience and you can give them an incentive to come back in-store or online to spend their rewards, creating a positive cycle of customer satisfaction and retention. The end result is a significantly enhanced customer experience and a sustainable, profitable marketing model for you.
5. Analyze results and track performance. Don't be left in the dark any longer; take advantage of the data you capture and gain deeper insight into campaign progress and efficiency. Analytics tools allow you to make informed marketing decisions and execute campaigns based on actual, detailed customer behavior. Leverage the data customers give you with their every interaction — in-store or on your website — across social networks and on mobile devices to help you not only assess your program's effectiveness, but also to direct you towards the most profitable marketing decisions.
6. Drive incremental spend through tailored offers based on purchase behavior. Turn infrequent buyers into engaged customers by tailoring conversations and offers based on their purchase behavior. With the right incentive platform and program in place, you have the opportunity to leverage the valuable information your customers give you. Without asking much of your customers, you're able to build detailed customer profiles and deliver targeted offers that inspire profitable actions.
Today's consumers are demanding and fickle. Keeping them happy and coming back to your store is a never-ending challenge. Offering the proper incentives can help you ensure your customers’ loyalty. With the loyalty marketing tools at your disposal, you can design a useful incentive strategy that leverages the customer data you're already collecting to power improved customer loyalty and increased profits.
Peter Albers is the executive vice president for digital at Ohana Companies, a provider of an online solution to redeem, validate and fulfill rebates electronically.