7 Top Loyalty Ideas For Marketing Your Small Business

By siliconindia | Tuesday, 03 November 2015, 09:31 Hrs

BENGALURU: Loyalty marketing happens when a company focuses on marketing to existing customers with perks and incentives to encourage repeat business, instead of solely attempting to find new customers, according to about.com.

Gamification Process:

Gamification is nothing but introducing elements of game playing into other activities which is an excellent tool for engaging your customers and keeping them motivated to purchase. You can create in-store scavenger days or raffles that can be entered by providing receipts of past purchases. You can even use digital gamification through location-based online check-ins and social sharing that allows customers to accumulate points that can be used in your store.

Providing Perks On Birthdays And Anniversaries:

If a customer’s database is available with you, you can use his information to provide perks that lead to loyalty from them. For example, consider sending out small gifts or greeting cards when your customers are celebrating a birthday or anniversary. This can also be a great way to build an email marketing list for your business and free gifts on special days in exchange for signing up for your list.

Incentives On Customer Survey’s:

Here Customer surveys are an excellent way to find out what your customers think about your business and what they would like to see more of in the future. There are a number of ways to get customer surveys in front of your customers; you can include a link or QR code on a receipt, you can send a postcard in the mail or you can follow up on purchases with an email asking for feedback.

Partner Programs:

Loyalty marketing can also extend beyond your business by creating partnerships with other businesses in your local area for cross-store discounts, shared promotions, and sales events that get customers in your store more often.

Providing Free Upgrades:

If you are selling software or another type of application that has regular updates that improve the user experience, offering free upgrades to the most recent version can be an excellent way to keep previous customers engaged in your business and this also creates a kind of loyalty by customers towards your business.

Punch Cards:

Many businesses, particularly in the food and beverage industry use punch cards to track and reward a customer's patronage. The more purchases the customer makes the more freebies they receive, making a powerful case for your customers to become frequent shoppers.

VIP Club:

A members-only VIP club creates a level of exclusivity that can get customers back in the store again and again. Your VIP club doesn't have to cost your customers anything and it doesn't have to be difficult or costly for you to implement either. You can offer VIP perks like new product previews, time-sensitive deals, an expedited checkout process, free samples and more.