Even the most comprehensive Loyalty Program Software won’t help you develop strong loyalty among your customers if your understanding of the concept is incomplete. Understanding how customer loyalty works is a non-negotiable part of designing an effective rewards strategy. So, in this post, let’s go back to the basics and explore some critical traits of customer loyalty:
Communication
At the risk of sounding obvious, cultivating customer loyalty is all about sending the right message, through the right channel, to the right customer. The foundation of strong customer loyalty is all about creatively communicating the benefits of the loyalty program membership and informing customers about the offers and rewards. Think of the loyalty program as a direct and personal platform for a brand to communicate with its most loyal customers about products, feedback, referrals, social media campaigns and so much more! However, the said communication needs to be consistent in order to be effective; which leads us to our next point.
Consistency
There is no point running a customer loyalty program and investing in a loyalty software solution if you aren’t going to use to its abilities. If you limit the usage of your loyalty solution only to specific times of the year, say the holidays, you are missing out on a great opportunity to cultivate a strong loyalty among your customers. Since multiple brands are competing for the attention of the same customers, they will try to outdo their competitors’ rewards and offers; thus, there is no room for being complacent. The bottom-line is that you need to have a consistency in your rewards and offers in order to engage your customers continually.
Cloud-Based
The evolution of card and coupon based loyalty program to cloud-based loyalty systems has been so seamless that it’s hardly talked about as much other technical developments. Never before in the history of mankind, traders and businesses have kept such meticulous records of all their sale transactions and have access to hordes of customer information and data. And all of this happens on cloud-based Loyalty Program Software systems, which facilitate simple, secure, and hassle-free storage and organisation of virtually unlimited information.
Customisation
One of the biggest benefits of a cloud-based loyalty program software solution is the degree of customisation it allows. Intelligent loyalty management software systems help businesses segregate customers on the basis of their purchase activity and facilitate hyper-personalisation of services and offers. This ensures that discounts and offers are tailor made for customers, as per their taste and preferences, and thus increases the likelihood of them participating actively in the rewards program. In other words, customisation is indispensable to the modern-day loyalty paradigm.
Creativity
While a lot of numbers are involved in the process of creating rewards and ensuring the right balance between promotions and bottom-line, one cannot downplay the importance of creativity in a rewards strategy. You might assume that there is no room to be creative in a system that is purely based on transactions, but the most successful loyalty programs infuse the essence of their brand into the loyalty program. While coining the terminology of the program is one area where you can definitely exercise your creativity, even communicating the rewards and offers to the right customers requires you to be imaginative and inventive.
Convenience
Last, but far from least, is the one attribute that must be evident at each and every step in the loyalty program – convenience. On the one hand, customers must be able to use the loyalty program intuitively and conveniently; and, on the other, designing, implementing, measuring and altering the reward strategy must be effortless for businesses. In other words, the registration process, accessing customer dashboard, viewing the purchase history, and the points redemption process should be broken down into uncomplicated and simple steps. Similarly, businesses should have a real-time view of all critical business parameters and have the flexibility to change the settings on the go.
Any effective customer rewards software must have all the aforementioned qualities. Loyera is one such powerful Loyalty Program Software system that can help businesses foster loyalty among their customers. It comes with add-ons like POS and E-Commerce, thus helping you streamline and manage your business operations from a single point. To know more about your Loyera can help your business grow, get in touch with us today.