What kind of customer loyalty schemes work for small businesses?

Stop having one-night stands with your clients!

Getting customer loyalty is a bit like dating on Tinder. You’ve carefully presented your winning personality to hook in your customer, and your sales pitch has teased them into going on that all-important first date. All that hard work marketing yourself has finally paid off.

As far as you’re concerned, it’s love at first sight. But your date is distracted and fickle. Worst of all, they’ve got a pocket full of potential future matches, each with their own tempting offer to steal your catch away.

Customer loyalty schemes to grow your relationship

Whether you settled on Netflix and chill or a weekend away to Paris, you don’t want this to be a one night stand. So, you’ve got to lay the groundwork for the next date so that you don’t have to start all over again with a new Tinder profile.

It’s not enough to just flaunt your wares or tell your match that everyone else wants what you’re offering. You need to let them know how good their life will be with you in it, the fun you can have on future dates together, and how you’ll reward them for their loyalty.

Stand out from the crowd

Customer loyalty cards and stamps are samey and outdated. Plus, they miss out a huge part of your customer base; those that order online.

We’ve pulled together some ideas for customer loyalty schemes that run through your website. That way, you can tempt all of your customers to come back for more. Read on for ideas of how you can run a completely effortless loyalty scheme that rewards the most faithful of customers.

Points-based

A points-based loyalty scheme is one of the simplest and most popular, used by retail giants like Tesco and Boots. Simply decide how much to reward per pound spent, and allow your customers to redeem at the checkout. You can use the scheme to persuade guests to open an account – and hand over their email address for you to woo them into a lasting relationship.

‘Open an account today to earn 412 reward points on this purchase’

Tiered Rewards

One way to encourage your customers to hand over more of their hard-earned cash is to create a tiered reward system. So, those that give you the most attention get more perks in return. Showing your customers a visual representation of their relationship goals and a target to reach the highest tier will have them coming back over and over again.

Tiered customer loyalty schemes are great for non-financial rewards. You could add exclusive products and services that are only available to customers that reach official relationship status.

Value-based

If you run a non-profit or a socially-conscious business, value-based customer loyalty schemes are definitely the one for you. Instead of giving your customer money off their purchases, you donate the value of their rewards to charity. A great example of this is Amazon Smile, who donates a percentage of all profits to your chosen charity.

Partner

Rewarding customer loyalty doesn’t have to be about all about you… you can team up with other businesses and allow your customers to use their rewards with other retailers (variety is the spice of life, after all). But don’t worry – this doesn’t mean you’ll miss out. In fact, both businesses will reap the benefits of more engaged, loyal customers who will be happy to spend more overall.

Getting your websites to talk to each other or building an online rewards platform is one of the more complex types of reward system. However, with the option of becoming the next big rewards provider, it’s well worth the investment.

Free Consultation with DP Marketing Communications

We love a good first date. That’s why we give all our clients a free marketing consultation. Why not take us up on the offer and see how you can create long and lasting relationships with your customers using an attractive online loyalty scheme?