“I have a lot of recurring customers. Is it beneficial to add loyalty programs on top of all the other marketing campaigns that I run? Will it give me more business?”

The above question was posed by an eCommerce business owner who has had a great run so far in terms of sales. The number of benefits that a loyalty program offers for a business cannot be stressed more by us. Anyway, this article is going to tell eCommerce businesses how exactly a customer loyalty program can be a game-changer.

What is a customer loyalty program?

Customer loyalty programs are marketing programs that reward your most loyal customers with incentives when they purchase from you or when they refer you to more business through their friends and family. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved. These loyalty programs also track customer behaviour which helps in deeper understanding of how they behave.

Let us look at some of the benefits of implementing a customer loyalty program:

1. Provides valuable data:

Getting to know your customers deeply can help you understand what is the best offer you can give at a price that they will be willing to buy your products. By understanding your customer’s motivations, you can even refine your marketing strategy. Data about potential customers can be helpful for different departments in your organization, here’s how:

1. It will tell your sales team what are the benefits that customers want and you can use the right trigger words to get their attention.
2. Marketers will know the right product that should be recommended and the kind of messaging that will attract the target market.
3. The product team will have a much better idea of the aspects of the product that are special to the customer and design them accordingly.

By using the data of your customers wisely, you will be able to make your customers feel closer to your brand by doing the above.

2. Customers will feel appreciated:

When you have an attractive customer loyalty program in place, your customers are likely to feel valued and appreciated. For those who have been long-time customers of your brand, they will feel vindicated for choosing the right company. They will feel closer to the brand and will be much more patient in their dealings with you. By putting yourself in positions where you can delight your customers, you will make them feel appreciated.

3. Increase sales:

The simple act of adding incentives to customers who are loyal to you will result in a cycle of more sales. Your customers will be more than enthused to recommend your products to their friends and family, not only because they get perks but also because of the way you have treated them and the kind of products you sell.

4. Retain existing customers:

The value of an existing client is much higher than a prospective customer in the pipeline. Someone who has already brought from you and is satisfied with your products are easier to sell to. They would be ready to buy premium products from you and are going to be really easy to upsell and cross-sell to them. When you see more customers being retained, you will understand the importance of customer loyalty programs.

5. Increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV):

CLV is the net profit that a customer gives during their entire lifetime. It is a reflection of how valuable a customer is to your brand. A dissatisfied customer is going to leave your brand soon for a competitor’s. You do not want something like that to happen at all, isn’t it? With the help of customer loyalty programs, you will be able to make them stay for a longer time as a customer, which will automatically increase the CLV as well.

6. Forge stronger relationship with the customer:

The foundation of every business relationship is trust and confidence. With an attractive customer loyalty program, you will be able to make them feel closer to your brand. There will be more interactions with the brand and with each opportunity, you can increase the strength of the relationship with ease.

7. Reduce marketing spend:

Once you are able to retain a huge chunk of your customers and are in a position to get referrals from your existing customers who are a part of the loyalty program, you will be in a position to reduce your marketing spend. Also, retention is much cheaper than bringing in new customers into your fold. Having a good customer loyalty program can be immensely rewarding for managing your money properly.

8. Customers will be more engaged:

With the right customer loyalty program, you will be able to engage them well. Those who feel engaged are likely to spend more money buying your products and even sharing them with their peers.

9. Customers will become brand advocates:

The most loyal customers are those who spend time to speak up for you. They are the ones who refer your business to their friends, family and acquaintances. They are the ones who defend you on social media. They are the ones who are waiting for your products to hit the shelves. It is not easy to gain this kind of loyalty.

To create customer advocates like the above, you should make the customer feel that you are worthy of it. Apart from providing a brilliant product, you need to provide them top notch service that they won’t expect from anywhere else.

10. You can stop competing on price:

All of us have products that we use where we do not care about its pricing, isn’t it? These are brands that we trust and one that provides us exactly what we are looking for. There are too many brands these days and if you have a business plan to compete on price, it might not necessarily work for you.

Why do people use an online retailer like Amazon even when there might be competing products that sell at a cheaper rate? That’s because they know that for the majority of the part, they don’t have to worry about getting defective products nor would they be cheated on during returns or refunds when using Amazon. By providing an attractive customer loyalty program and not compromising on quality of service, you can achieve the same kind of love from customers.

Conclusion:

We believe that we have given you enough reasons to start a customer loyalty program for your business. There is so much that businesses can do for themselves by putting customers into loyalty programs. From developing brand loyalty to spending more on your business, the benefits are endless. It doesn’t take a lot to start a customer loyalty program for your business either. With the help of an online customer loyalty program tool like 99minds, you will be able to create an excellent rewards system that will make the customer come for more.

If you are looking to add a customer loyalty program to your fold, 99minds would be more than happy to help you. Get in touch with our customer success team so that we could tell you how exactly we can be of help.