Category Archives: Customer Loyalty

Customer Loyalty

The Advantages of Customer Loyalty Programs

October 28, 2010 – 11:53 pm

These day’s consumers who are looking for a bargain shop around to see who is offering the best deal before a decision is made to purchase. To encourage customers to buy businesses have quickly embraced the customer loyalty concept because inevitably return business means more sales. Generally, providing exceptional customer service is still a vital ingredient for any business but in difficult times such as a recession or downturn in the economy, it is only natural for customers to look for a supplier or business that is selling the item they want at the lowest price.

In an effort to attract even more customers, customer loyalty programs have swiftly taken off in popularity with many small and large businesses in all types of markets. For example niche businesses like specialty chocolate cake shops and butchers shops can provide a loyalty rewards card for their customers that can be stamped every time the customer spends more than $20 on each visit. With a total of 5 stamps the customer is then rewarded with a free product. This type of customer loyalty program is now run by many small type businesses such as tyre retailers, DVD rental outlets and book stores.

This simple business strategy targets customer’s who have a tendency to buy the same or a similar product from the supplier on a regular basis. Many customers also like the idea of being offered a reward or free product for their business and encourages the customer to return for repeat business.

In a large corporate type business, attractive customer loyalty programs can be offered to customers in return for a long-term contract for those who sign up for a fixed period of time for the use of the company’s products or services. For example this could be a mobile phone company, broadband internet service provider or a television company. The attractive benefits used to entice customers to sign up to a long term contract are generally offered at the time the contract is signed. For example a mobile phone company may offer new customers a free $200 cell-phone in return for signing up to a 12 month contract. This style of rewards program can be very beneficial and customers are enticed through mass media publicity on the advantages and benefits they can enjoy from being a part of such programs.

Another common customer rewards scheme is the combined loyalty program which works by several businesses joining together under the same customer loyalty program. This popular type of program has the advantage of businesses offering its loyal customers benefits such as VIP customer discounts on a large range of different products and services through a wide variety of retail outlets.

Today, businesses have found that the key to having an effective customer loyalty program is in making the extra effort and time to connect with the customer.

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Customer Loyalty

Customer Loyalty Concepts

June 29, 2010 – 11:48 pm

In times of recession and hardship customers worldwide are becoming more frugal with their money and are looking more carefully at products before they buy to ensure they get better quality and value for their money. Despite this fact a high percentage of customers will still remain loyal to businesses they trust and who provide them with good customer service.

Retailers and businesses have therefore found it necessary to refine and improve their customer loyalty programs in order to retain the trust of their loyal existing customers through improved customer service and to attract new customers.

If you want to increase business turnover and sell more products off the shelves then the obvious overall aim would be to get customers to buy more products. By implementing tried and true customer loyalty ideas and programs that are already being used successfully by other enterprises, businesses are finding that they have another strategy to attract and get customers to buy more often and therefore provide return repeat business through loyalty.

Customer Loyalty Cards are becoming increasingly popular as an effective business tool to attract and retain customers through a loyalty program that rewards customers for their business. For example, there many supermarket chains provide shoppers with loyalty cards that offer discounts on a wide range of products, coupon specials and petrol discounts. There are also loyalty card programs offered by bakeries, sandwich bars, cafes, butcher shops and a wide range of specialty stores all designed to give the customer something free after a certain number of purchases.

Another popular customer loyalty concept designed to attract customer loyalty is through a combined loyalty program where a number of different businesses band together in one customer loyalty program. This concept has the advantage of offering customers a number of benefits and discounts on products that can be obtained from a wide variety of different businesses.
Businesses have clearly discovered that building long-term connections with the customer is vital and a very important customer loyalty concept.

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Customer Loyalty

Customer Retention Strategies – How to Keep Your Customers

June 26, 2010 – 11:37 pm

With producers finding better and cheaper methods to produce good quality and more environmentally friendly products onto the market, businesses are looking to implement better customer retention tactics to keep their consumers more informed so that they will continue to retain them as valued customers.
One of the most widely used customer retention techniques used by businesses these days is by using the consulting skills of a proven marketing firm who are able to utilize mass media advertising through Newspaper, television and radio campaigns.

This type of customer retention marketing strategy through advertising can be costly for a business but because it has the potential to reach a high percentage of the population but in terms of attracting buyers it can generate and improve sales and increasing bottom line profits.

There are of course other customer marketing techniques that can also be used such as offering free interest on the purchase of big ticket products, discounts on goods and buy one product and get the second free type arrangements.
The question of retaining customers after all the expense and hard work has gone into attracting them in the first place to the business should not be overlooked.

The following is one of the best customer loyalty strategies that can be applied to ensure loyal customers will want to return to your business.

1. Make available for customers a small loyalty card so it can be easily slotted into a wallet.

2. The loyalty card can be printed with a total of 5, 10 or 20 small squares and are stamped by the shop assistant each time the customer buy’s a product or is provided with a service over a specified value. This could be anything from $5 to $100.

3. When the total number of stamps on the card reach a designated number (from 5 upwards), the customer would then be entitled to a free product from the store, again set at a specified value

4. By providing a loyalty card, customers will be encouraged to shop at your business knowing they will after 5 or 10 visits the opportunity of getting a free product

5. A container of the loyalty cards should be easily accessible for customers on the front counter
The above are some of the key customer retention strategies that any business can adopt to help ensure customers are provided with exceptional good customer service.

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