5 Reasons SMBs Need Great Customer Loyalty Programs

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• Publié par: seorumer
• Publié le: 17 juin 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• Langue: English

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5 Reasons SMBs Need Great Customer Loyalty Programs

You know those crazy couponers who rummage through stacks of newspapers, faithfully scan online resources like coupons.com, and hit the stores with handfuls of these little papers in hopes of saving a few bucks? Yep, I’m one of them. I don’t leave the house without my coupon carrier, I never pay full price, and I literally have a separate wallet just for my customer loyalty cards. Here’s the thing: by no means am I alone. More and more big retail chains are offering loyalty programs and their repeat customers are reaping in the rewards. Not only is this causing consumers to make regular visits to these businesses, but the businesses are profiting greatly through offering incentives. While larger retail corporations see the value in the newer marketing method, here are five reasons why SMBs also need to offer great customer loyalty programs: It can grow your business.– Case in point: My Starbucks Rewards, the coffee giant's customer-retention program, greatly contributed to the company’s record growth. Starbucks boasts that the program played a key role in its 26 percent rise in profit and 11 percent jump in total revenue in 2013’s second quarter fiscal results. Best Buy also took their turn in creating a customer loyalty program after experiencing stagnant revenue growth year after year in its brick-and-mortar stores (as the result from intense competition with ecommerce stores such as Amazon.com and eBay). After revamping their loyalty program by raising points from 4 percent to 5 percent, not only did their store traffic increase but their stock more than doubled in a little over one year.

A loyal customer generates more revenue.– According to a report by Manta and BIA/Kelsey, a repeat customer spends 67 percent more on a given purchase than a new customer does. In addition, a great experience can also make a returning customer one of your brand ambassadors. Loyalty points are the perfect way to show your appreciation to someone who faithfully supports your company.

Stand out from the competition.– As a small business owner, it can seem intimidating going up against the mega corporations. However, a loyalty program can help you to compete with their lower prices and their bait of incentives. A customer may not love the products or impersonal feel of a chain store but the lower prices may draw them in. By offering reward points, that customer may feel that they are also getting a deal at your location where actually like your product better.

4. It’s cheaper to keep customers than find new ones.– You might be thinking, “How much stuff do I have to give away in a loyalty program?” Well, obviously the point here is to make money. Incredibly, it’s far cheaper to keep existing customers than to try and

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acquire new ones. Karl Stark and Bill Stewart, co-founders of Avondale, ask these three pivotal questions onInc.com:

What revenue growth will we achieve if we keep our existing customers for just one additional month, on average?

What will it cost us to do this by, say, improving customer service or adding customer benefits?

How does this growth compare, both in magnitude and cost, to acquiring new customers?

How the heck do I keep track of loyalty points?– You could do it the cheesy way th and offer business cards that say “Buy 9 and get the 10 one free” and have your employees stamp it for each purchase OR… you can do it the right way that makes your store look like you are on par with the competition and use POS software with a digital customer loyalty program. This type of software tracks your sales and rewards points so you and your employees don’t have another task to worry about.

If you own or work at a retail store, you can learn more about Vend's customer loyalty softwarehere.Through using customer loyalty programs, you can attract more customers, keep the ones you’ve got, and increase your sales revenue. WithVend POS software, we help you do just that!