A powerful marketing tool for retailers is a loyalty point program. Creating an environment to reward your customers for shopping with you, and providing a channel and a reason for them to shop again. For a loyalty system to be successful however, there are a number of areas you need to address. You must make sure your program is tightly integrated across your retail business, and you must have the ability to measure, monitor and update your system – constantly. What does that mean? Simple, having a loyalty program is one thing, using a loyalty program to leverage customer data, and reward the right person at the right time is a path to success.
Points Ratio & Reward Type vs Dollars Spent
What’s the best way to reward? That depends on your market – test it! The only way you know how effective your program is, is to test, monitor and ask your customers. An effective campaign, is to reward your customers for their feedback: “tell us how we can better reward you and receive 100 loyalty points to spend with us in November!”. There are a number of effective loyalty programs to use. To start, you need to decide how many points your customers earn per dollar spent, then the ratio of points per reward dollar. Other programs might earn more points to receive a gift voucher.
Here’s some examples of a reward programs
- Percentage Reward: 10% reward: 1 dollar spend = 1 point earned. 1 point = 10c reward
- Gift Voucher: Earn 1000 points before December 1 and receive a $50 Gift voucher to spend in-store!
- Point Bonus Buys: Purchase “these items” in the Month of October and receive Triple bonus points!
- Discount Structures: Earn 1000 points and automatically become a gold member. All Gold Members receive 7.5% discount on purchases! Earn 4000 points, automatically become a Platinum Member and receive a whopping 15% off specific promotional products!
Leverage your rewards to best suit your vertical.
Points Expiry
A campaign targeted across a certain time frame with an “end date” or “expiry date” on points can be very effective. (Banks and credit card companies use this every year).Expiry dates create an essence of ‘fomo’ where customers now have a “fear of missing out’ if they don’t connect online, or visit in-store to utilise their point spend. That interaction is exactly the outcome your loyalty program is designed for.
Data Collection = Targeted Marketing = Maximum Return
Data collection and management of your customer database is an essential tool for a successful loyalty program. Your POS System should provide you with tools to easily collect, identify and report on customer groups based on their buying behaviour and trends.
Intelligent and purposeful information you need to report on includes:
- combined buying trends in-store and online
- favourite brand
- favourite sporting team
- customers wants & likes
- size
- colour
- gender
- groups
- previously purchased accessories
- anything!
Whatever your retailer vertical marketing data demands, you need to have the facility to collect, manage and segment. This allows you to profile your customers, based on their previous buying behaviour, their personal preferences, and other information you continually add day to day into your POS CRM system. This maximises your return through a properly managed and targeted campaign, that gives every reason for your targeted audience to return, and repeat buy.
Valued Offerings = Valued Customers
Partnering your database with strategic, real offerings back to your customers is the path for maximum return on your marketing dollars. For a Loyalty Program to be successful, it must be sincere, and must add real value and real rewards to your customers. This can be attained by surveying your verticals and determining what drives a repeat sale in your market. Repeat sales gives your business the opportunity to develop repeat contact, and an emotional trusting bond with your customers. Growing your business organically through rewarding return customers is a basis for success.
Summary
If you haven’t initiated a managed loyalty/rewards program within your retail business, or you don’t have the functionality in your existing systems to develop a system with the above criteria, it’s time to discuss a move to a system that can leverage this much more, to help your business grow.
Happy Retailing.
Looking to fast track your growth with a smarter point of sale system? Contact the Retail Express team today on 1300 732 618.