Think of the last time you got an email about an exclusive invite to a sale from your favourite brand. Did you hastily click to open it?
Consumers now are attuned to getting instant, positive rewards right from their mobile phones.
What does this mean for you, as a merchant?
Through knowing what customers want, you will need to grab your customers’ attention and give them something to look forward to. As Seth Godin, famous marketing guru, says, “People buy relations, stories, and magic.”
You need a good customer loyalty program that has elements to get customers coming back to your brand, again and again.
What is a customer loyalty program?
A loyalty program is a marketing strategy that encourages repeated patronage from customers – as they purchase products and services from the business that is running the program.
What are the direct benefits of a customer loyalty program?
Loyalty programs aim to increase existing customer retention by understanding and meeting their needs and wants.
In doing so, businesses maintain sales and profit margins. It also provides additional value to their customers and encourages cross-product buying.
Here are some points to note when you run your customer loyalty program:
- Ensure your customers know the program exists.
This may seem obvious, but to make your customer loyalty program successful, you need to ensure that your customers know about it.
Put a post up on social media to notify followers about it. If you have a newsletter, promote these exclusive offers via your mailing list first.
For efficient management of your customer’s details, get them to sign up for your customer loyalty program when they check out online or at the store. Use a smart POS system that will allow your staff to input customers’ details at the cashier, so you have a database of your customers at your fingertips.
Make it a point to offer exclusive deals to your members first, be it through social media or an e-newsletter. Over time, your customers will associate good deals, and positive feelings through your various mediums of communication.
- Make it easy to track
There are many ways of rewarding your customers for their loyalty. Here are three of the more popular ways:
Points Program
A commonly used customer loyalty program in most industries. Your customers buy something at your shop; they earn points. Your customer could use earned points to redeem rewards or offset the price on their next purchase.
It’s an added incentive for customers to shop at your business, keeping them more invested in the long run.
It’s common to see this in the delivery food and ride-hailing apps, which reward customers points with each purchase. These points usually only work within the ecosystem of the respective app.
Cashback Program
Cashback is a loyalty program that mainly encourages repeat customers by allowing them to collect a certain percentage of the amount spent back. This percentage is stored and will enable them to save money on their next purchase. This program motivates them to return to the shop to spend their cashback.
This customer loyalty program helps businesses keep their customers while enhancing the customer’s experience.
Referral Program
A referral customer loyalty program will rely heavily on word of mouth. With every customer obtained from recommendation, the business will reward the recommending customer with a discount, cash back, freebies, or store credits.
The referral program can often help you keep existing customers while gaining new customers. Existing customers are more motivated to return to utilise their rewards, while new customers will be more likely to spend if someone they trust recommends your business.
There are many other ways to reward your customers for their repeated purchases at your store. The bottom line is that you need to track their purchases and rewards.
Qashier’s easy POS system allows you to customise how you want to run your customer loyalty program. Cashback system or a points program, with QashierX1 or a QashierXL terminal, you can easily implement and carry out the loyalty program that works best for you.
- Make the rewards valuable and relevant
When running a customer loyalty program, you need to remember that the end goal is to give the customer attention. They should feel like interacting with your brand is a win.
Traditional brick and mortar small businesses usually get it right. There’s that perception of a human touch, as they get to know their customers on a deeper level – and reward them with exceptional services and attention.
Whether sending them a message when their favourite products are here or offering them a free product, they know that more value to profitable customers turns them into loyal ones.
As your business expands, you might lose that personal touch. What should you do about it? Experts recommend creating programs that meet the below points:
- Customers want to feel that their rewards have cash value.
- They want options so they can choose their rewards.
- It should also make them feel exclusive, as repeat customers buy based on relationships and emotions. You are on the right track if you can build a premium community around your program.
- Customers should feel that the program applies to them and that it is easy to keep track of their incentives.
A smart POS system like Qashier will help you build a program that meets the above requirements.
You could allow your customers to buy discounted packages if you’re a beauty salon or allow them to purchase store credit.
For instance, you can enable your customers to buy $100 worth of store credits worth $120. Qashier Customer Loyalty Solutions can help you track all the above.
Here are four types of loyalty solutions that Qashier offers:
Cashback
This solution is best for businesses in the food and beverages industry. It allows customers to earn cash back that can be applied for subsequent purchases.
Points
If you have a retail outlet, choose this solution. Your customers can accumulate points for every dollar spent and redeem rewards such as discounts or free gifts.
Credits
Beauty salons will be pleased to tap on this solution. Offer prepaid store credits (e.g. $300 credit) that can be used for subsequent purchases at a discount.
Packages
You can also offer packages with Qashier Loyalty Solution, such as an upfront bundle of products/services (e.g. 10 Haircuts or 10 Lattes) at a discount.
The system emphasises convenience – customers merely need to enter their mobile phones at checkout to redeem their loyalty incentives, and your staff need not stress about the details.
Conclusion
In our digitally connected world, new products and services appear in the marketplace rapidly. It might seem difficult to stand out and capture your customer’s attention.
That’s why it’s important to have a customer loyalty program. You are giving your customers an incentive to return.
But your customer loyalty solution should be manageable so you can concentrate on thinking of new ways to bring value to your customers. Use a smart POS system like Qashier to support your business operations.
Qashier offers multiple digital solutions, including QR code table ordering, table management (F&B), employee management, customer relationship management (loyalty programs), inventory management, data analytics, and cashless payments, in an all-in-one device.
Qashier promises a seamless setup within 10 minutes, without any need for technical expertise. It boasts a user-friendly interface that is simple for anyone to learn and use. If you require assistance, you’ll find 7-days-a-week responsive technical support from your local team.
Qashier is also affordable, with prices starting from as low as SGD1/day (in Singapore with a PSG grant), and this includes hardware, software, setup, training and 7-days-a-week local support.
Speak to us to see if Qashier’s Smart POS can meet your business needs. Schedule a meeting with us here, call us at (+65) 3165 0155, WhatsApp (+65) 8882 8912, or email [email protected].