Top Frequently Asked Loyalty Program Questions One Must Consider

Loyalty is an imperative aspect to consider no matter what’s your industry type. While loyalty is now not an option, it’s a necessity to grow the business and have a larger customer base as well. A survey states that loyalty programs are known for enhancing a business’s brand experience for over 80% of customers. Though loyalty is highly demanded, there can be a huge list of loyalty program FAQs which can later be a holdback for any brand. Let’s answer all your queries with a customer loyalty program guide to help you through the process and clarify the major questions popping in mind. Ready to decode? Let’s dive in!

• Will an absence of a loyalty program prove a failure to my brand?

Having a loyalty program can be a plus for your brand but not necessarily a success guarantee. They are a powerful way out that can potentially help you win amongst the hard-hitting competition. Being powerful differentiators, loyalty programs can help you stand out from the competition. It is undoubtedly an effective customer retention solution providing a means to change customer behavior and drive impactful business growth as well. In case you do not have a loyalty program, it’s completely your choice! Though having the same can be considered as a plus.

• Should we consider getting a loyalty program from a loyalty provider or go for building it myself?

In general cases, going for making everything ourselves is quite a time-consuming process. For instance, if you’re willing to set a loyalty program for your brand, you require to invest in employees for researching the latest loyalty trends, analyzing customer behavior, as well as building and looking after the ongoing process.

Talking about the expenses, unless you have the entire department of developers on standby to completely focus on your loyalty program, it will be quite a lot of investment involved. On the other hand, if you’re choosing a third-party loyalty software, it can prove more cost-effective in the longer run. The reason is, it will not require building the system from the scratch. Choosing what’s right is as per your individual situation and conditions supporting.

• Should I prioritize point-based programs over the other kinds of loyalty programs?

The answer to this question completely depends on the kind of program a brand is willing to have. Talking specifically about point-based programs, here the customers earn points for the money they are spending and that’s possibly the easiest way to attract customers, also it is easy to implement for brands and equally convenient for customers to understand. Though we cannot consider only Points-based programs to be successful, there are other approaches too! For instance, tiered programs are also a popular option, focusing on varied customer privileges and perks.

• What rewards will be most suitable for customers?

Every loyalty program’s success depends on how it caters to the customers, most brands consider having alluring rewards to be a success guarantee, however, it is not! There are basically five different reward categories but the major challenge is to choose which one would be the best fit. For example, if a brand has some loyal customers, making frequent purchases every time, they would certainly expect VIP treatment and wish to stay exclusive in comparison to the rest. Every customer is unique, so are their purchasing patterns and so should be the kind of rewards offered to them as well.

• Is it possible to save money through a loyalty program in place?

Most of the brands still think that loyalty programs contribute a huge sum and reciprocate no or very little results. No wonder, brands have never realized the power of loyalty programs which is set with the right strategy and path. One can easily expect a higher ROI and extend their reach as well. To help you know better, here are a few examples-

1. Add minimum spent on the coupons, like a limit below which people cannot get any discounts, this encourages customers to order a higher value product.
2. You can offer rewards from partners, that’s a highly cost-effective method to make your incentives look way diverse and appealing.
3. Offer early access to elite members of your VIP club. It costs nothing but can make the customers feel special.

• Can a brand reward customers for more than just purchasing products/services?

To your surprise, yes! Customers love rewards and there’s no doubt in this! While rewards are not just limited to purchases, they can be much more! Recognizing loyal members, providing loyalty benefits on frequent purchases, rewarding on referrals, and incentivizing on leaving reviews, everything comes under perks and that’s how one can create an emotional connection between a brand and the customer itself.

• Is it possible to move customers from loyalty to advocacy?

That’s surely not an easy nut to crack but, isn’t an impossible task too! The most common method to turn your loyal customers into brand advocates is through incentivizing referrals and having a stronger customer base all together. Following options can be taken into consideration-

1. Hashtag Contest- As a brand, you can announce a contest using your brand’s hashtag, through which the members can post comments for winning gifts. This is quite an effective way of customer engagement.
2. Photo Upload Contest- Offer loyalty points and rewards for the customers who upload pictures of themselves on Instagram using your brand’s products or along with the products.
3. Reward with Badges- Your frequent customers deserve badges to make purchases from your brand, leave Facebook reviews, share posts, and so on.

• Is there a way I can be safe with data as every loyalty program collects tons of data?

Loyalty programs are a pool of data and immense information and they should be protected from any data loss and accidental leaks as well. It is important to protect your system from any data breach. Integrate a loyalty program having a smarter technical and organizational measure to protect your data and authorize only a few people who have access to it. In other words, you can have a limited access network to protect the data and stay secure at the same time.

Final Thoughts

There can be numerous questions to be asked on behalf of a brand or in place of customers as well. Hope this customer loyalty program guide is helpful and is able to sort some of the major queries every brand must be having. Certainly, loyalty program FAQs are imperative and do carry their importance in letting the brands be comfortable in clarifying their doubts and moving towards integrating the right loyalty program. Always get your queries sorted before you step into the loyalty market and stay sure of what you do!