Peter Albers

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.

A smart promotion portfolio is diverse but always balanced with incentive programs that help retailers remove customer anonymity. Three promotional strategies that engage customers and foster long-term relationships are rebates, promotional games and social referrals.