Loyalty programs keep business leaders connected to repeat customers for weeks, months, and years. They are a staple of customer relationship management plans. If you're looking for a loyalty program that your company can use to demonstrate appreciation and incentivize devoted customers, there are several options available to you. To keep pace with growing sales, at some point your organization will likely have to pull in a retail POS system.
Your Choice of Customer Reward and Appreciation Programs
There are reward, appreciation, rebate, affinity, coalition, and partnership loyalty programs. If you want to keep customer data inside your organization, partnership and coalition programs might not be right for your company. If you choose a coalition or partnership loyalty program style, then discounts and freebies given to repeat customers will come through third parties.
Among the earliest loyalty programs is the S&H Green Stamp program, which was running during the 1950s. Instead of giving customers rebates, S&H Green Stamps were given to customers who shopped at certain grocery stores or bought gasoline from particular stations. Inventory control systems used to operate this early loyalty program were not as automated as programs that are linked to retail POS systems today.
Getting real results from loyalty programs requires that you choose the right program. Determining which program is right for your organization means that you have to decide if your loyalty program is only for customers or for customers and employees. After all, some of the best loyalty programs reward both customers and employees.
Choosing the right loyalty program also requires that you develop a program that gains:
- More customers for your organizations, preferably more loyal customers
- An increasing number of sales from current and future customers (meaning that customers start buying more products or services from your organization, even if the products and services are offered at reduced rates)
- A reduction in the number of customers who stop shopping or doing business with your organization
- Customers who purchase higher priced products or services from you
- Data for marketing purposes about participating customers
Achieve these five important goals, and don't be surprised if your organization's loyalty strategy is picked up by other companies, which is precisely what happened with S&H Green Stamps. Plainly stated, word-of-mouth about your organization's loyalty program is one way that the first goal is achieved. Unless you want the program to start costing more than it yields, you're going to have to use automated inventory control systems. Keep the points system associated with the program simple: reward customers who spend the largest amounts of their income with you. As an example, grocery stores such as ShopRite give customers free food items after they buy $100 worth of groceries.
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Connecting Retail POS and Customer Loyalty
An automated retail POS system, like the complete retail management solution offered by NCR Counterpoint can track when and how frequently customers buy from you. Another way that a retail POS system could help upgrade or enhance a loyalty program is by giving you the data to add tiers to a reward or appreciation plan. With a tier platform, the value of the products and services customers are rewarded with increases as customers start buying more expensive products or services.
Building up a customer database can also be strategically arranged by developing a membership or subscription platform. An example of this is when retailers or airlines charge customers a small monthly or annual fee. Active members receive giveaways, prizes, and coupons. They may also receive exclusive newsletters or catalogs that highlight products only members can purchase at significantly reduced prices.
Regardless of the loyalty program your organization chooses, you're going to have to continue to communicate with your customers. Achieving this calls for direct communication, not just relying on a retail POS or inventory control systems. A successful manager or business owner must understand shifts in their customers' perceptions and expectations. It's this communication that will reveal when you need to change the rewards or discounts your customers are offered.
For as long as you operate a loyalty program, make sure that you measure the results of the program. Don't assume that the program is growing your bottom line, directly or indirectly. Instead, regularly measure the results of direct mail campaigns, inventory control systems, coupon initiatives, and credit card discount programs that are linked to a retail POS.