In a day and age where every brand is vying for customer attention with slick marketing and promotions, having a community of loyal shoppers can provide your business with an undeniable edge. In fact, many times, building a community of loyal customers is essential for businesses to grow and thrive. Shopper communities are built around shared passions, perspectives, or practices. Here are some of the most prominent benefits of building a community of shoppers using a loyalty management program:
Amplifies Marketing and Promotions
Whether it is online or on-ground promotions, a loyal community of regular shoppers can really amplify your message. Every time you hold a flash sale or launch a new product, your dedicated community of shoppers can help you boost your marketing and promotion initiatives. You can also organise a local event during the holidays and count on your loyal shoppers to make it a hit! Thus, by building a loyal community of regular shoppers, your business will be able to reduce its dependency on expensive ads and marketing campaigns. Instead, you can rely on an engaged group of loyal shoppers for marketing purposes.
Bolsters Word-of-Mouth and Referrals
Not only will loyal customers share your promotions and discounts, but they will also rave about your products and services to their friends. Studies have shown that personal recommendation by a friend is still one of the most effective ways for people to try new brands and services. Furthermore, your most loyal customers are also the most likely to get their friends and acquaintances into the fold of your customer rewards program. If your Loyalty Program Software has a referral system in place, make sure you spread the word amongst your community of shoppers. By strategically incentivising them, you can ensure that your customer loyalty program has a sustained growth in its sign-up rate.
Increases Customer Lifecycle
By appealing to your customer’s emotions and motivations, you are essentially ensuring that they stay engaged for a longer duration. If your Loyalty Program Software is able to successfully cultivate a feeling of belongingness and establish a connection by motivating customers with the right incentives (social, monetary, wellness, or emotional), their affinity with your business will naturally increase. This means that fewer customers will be at the risk of disengagement and dormancy. A continually happy and engaged customer is not only likely to visit your store more frequently, but also be more receptive to cross-selling and up-selling campaigns.
Provides Business Insights
Last, but far from least, is the ever-critical benefit of understanding your customers better and thus, gaining valuable business insights. Loyal customers are likely to earn and redeem points more frequently and provide you with hordes of data in the form of reviews, feedback, and social media activity. Customers who are ready to invest time and effort to provide you with genuine feedback and suggestions can be further incentivised with bonus reward points or a free complimentary gift in exchange. Rest assured, they will offer you critical feedback on your products and services.
Loyera, an intelligent and cloud-based, Loyalty Program Software, can be used to build a community of loyal shoppers. Get in touch to know more about using loyalty rewards to grow your business!