If you’ve been wondering whether a loyalty rewards program is right for your business, then I’m glad you’ve found this article. Before we dive into the topic further, let’s define what a loyalty rewards program is: A loyalty program rewards a person for buying more often. You’re probably familiar with them when it comes to some restaurants and retail stores. But, anyone can start a loyalty program to encourage customers to buy more, as well as to get them to come back to you more frequently.
Let’s look at some potential types of loyalty discount programs you can put in place:
* Consumable Products – A loyalty program really works best for consumable products and services. For example, if you sell clothing, you may want to offer discounts as they buy more and more using their loyalty card. This is how stores like Big Lots and Kohl’s offer loyalty discounts where the more you spend, the more you get.
* Discounts for Bulk Orders – If you offer a service that can be ordered in bulk, such as private label rights content, you can offer loyalty points to your customers by giving them a bigger discount as they buy more – just like you would consumable products. The awesome thing about digital products is you won’t really lose any money on the deal like you do when it’s a physical product.
* Paid Up Front Discounts – This is a way that a service provider can offer a loyalty discount to their customers. So, for example, if you’re a virtual assistant you can offer a “pay up front for the year” discount, calling it a loyalty discount. This is a great way to get last year’s clients to sign a new contract. Send it out in December, touting the benefits of prepaying for tax purposes.
* Points System to Use to Get Discounts – Another way to offer loyalty discounts is to let them earn points for different actions. This is a great way to encourage not only more buying but also other actions such as sharing and engagement.
You can probably get creative and come up with a few more, but this will get you started. Having said that, should you start a program like this?
To determine the answer, address the following questions:
* Can You Handle More Orders? – This is especially important for service providers, because discounting your time might not be a great idea and you may not be capable of handling all the orders that come in.
* Is Your Product Consumable? – This works great for food items and items that you use up. Makeup, food, and cleaning products are good examples of consumables that people will want to buy in bulk or use more often, if they can get good discounts by being a loyal customer or by purchasing more.
* Are Bulk Orders Common? – There are some things that lend themselves to bulk ordering more than others. For example, if you’re a virtual assistant, a loyalty program other than the idea of letting people pay in advance for services might not work out for your needs or your clients’ needs. But, on the other hand, it just might work out fine if you have clients who want to pay once per year and not have to think about it again. (You’ll never know until you offer!)
However you choose to do it, starting a loyalty program can work great for a variety of reasons. It can help you build a stronger relationship with your best customers and clients- benefiting both of you.
Do you have some questions about marketing your business online but don’t know who to ask? Why not ask me? I can help you with both strategy and implementation to make your business more profitable and more popular. We can do this together in 75 minutes; though my whiteboard session. Learn more about it!
