Customer loyalty programs are becoming increasingly popular and are especially important to retail business success. In fact, 84% of consumers are more likely to choose a business that offers one. With 2016 expected to be the largest holiday shopping season since before the recession, why not take advantage of the extra foot traffic and turn seasonal shoppers into repeat customers.
Consider this – repeat customers spend nearly 70 percent more than the first time customers. They also cost 10x less than a new customer and better yet, customers in loyalty programs return twice as often.
Now you’re probably thinking, this all sounds great but it’s hard to focus on anything besides the rush this time of year. Thankfully setting up an effective loyalty program is easier than you think and utilizing one will have you seeing results long after the holiday rush.
Here are the 7 steps to a successful Loyalty Program:
- Make it easy to sign up
- Easily collect email addresses at checkout on your iPad POS.
- Have prominent sign-up opportunities throughout your website.
- Leverage social media to encourage signups.
- Start simple and leverage you current clients
- Start with simple functionality, so you don’t overwhelm your customers.
- Give rewards generously — especially at first. Your early adopters are the most important ones, as they’ll have the power to spread the word. Give them a refer-a-friend bonus.
- Build a program that your customers will actually use
- Keep your program simple and user-friendly. Make conversions simple. Make earnings easy to understand. And DON’T make customers jump through hoops.
- Understand what your customers want
- Choose your incentives carefully. The rewards need to be not only something your business can afford but also something your customers will truly want to work for.
- Market your Program
- Just because a loyalty program exists doesn’t mean people will use it or even know about it. Develop a schedule to regularly market your loyalty program and stick to it.
- Keep in Touch
- After you’ve built up your loyalty program, you’ll need to stay in touch with the members. Experian data shows emails targeted toward your loyalty program participants have a 40 percent higher open rate and a 29 percent higher transaction rate.
- Monitor and adapt
- Expecting your program to be perfect from the start is unrealistic. Be ready to make changes and enhance your program based on how customers are responding to it.
An effective loyalty program will keep customers walking through your doors during and after the holiday rush. To learn more about iPad POS features, like built-in Loyalty Program functionality, reach out to a tablet expert today at 1(888) 299-7574.