Infographic: The Evolution of Loyalty Programs

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Loyalty programs have come a long way. From the Betty Crocker points to Mooyah’s Cardless Loyalty Solution, the way in which loyalty is administered has been defined and re-defined over time.

From its earliest days when Subway stamps were ‘the next big thing,’ businesses and brands have continued to search for the solution toward rewarding loyalty in an effective way.

To help paint the picture of how loyalty programs have changed over time, we present you with the following infographic titled: The Evolution of Loyalty Programs. Continue reading Infographic: The Evolution of Loyalty Programs

Why Your Loyalty Program Isn’t Working

If you’ve been using a CRM-based loyalty program or a punch card to build customer loyalty, you might be sinking money into a low-ROI loyalty program. Here’s why:

Swipe Cards Don’t Work

Many popular CRM-based loyalty programs use a magnetic stripe-based card that people are supposed to carry around and swipe when they make a purchase. These are really popular at the large grocery chains, so I’ve chosen to use them as an example. I routinely drop $100 on groceries whenever I go, and for years I’ve routinely also saved a significant amount through the ‘club’ prices at, for example, Safeway or Jewel Osco. Despite this, I’ve never actually held a grocery store’s “club” membership — I’ve been using their dummy card or a friend’s phone number for years. Safeway thinks my roommate, whose number I use, loves avocados (even though he hates them) and buys both fat-free and 2% milk. Ever since I’ve known this “loophole”, I’ve used it for two reasons: I don’t want to fill out a 2-page form for a swipe card I’ll forget every other week, and I already know I don’t need to. In the meantime, Safeway’s collecting the wrong info, giving me discounts as a free rider, and fails to engage anyone in the brand. This type of loyalty program makes customers loyal to the program itself, but not loyal to the brand. Continue reading Why Your Loyalty Program Isn’t Working

Supercharge Your Loyalty Program

Loyalty programs are nothing new, from simple punch cards to sliding magnetic stripe cards, most loyalty programs involve some kind of physical card you carry around all the time. Customer loyalty is a major component of any business especially when considering the fact that it costs 5 times more to acquire a new customer than it is to retain a current one.

Traditional Loyalty Program Benefits

For years, loyalty programs have been a proven way to increase repeat customers, increase customer spend, and ultimately increase sales. Businesses have seen consistent returns and continue to pursue some form of customer retention or loyalty initiative. Customers enrolled in loyalty programs become more engaged and build a stronger relationship with businesses that reward them for their loyalty, as they feel the business is giving back to them resulting in an increased perceived value from the customer. Traditional examples of loyalty program setups include “Buy 10, Get 1 FREE” and “Spend $50 and get $5 back.” These linear, standard, and non-dynamic rewards are a very simplistic and basic program. With today’s technology, businesses should look at rewards programs differently, and be more proactive vs. passive to leverage the power of their programs. Continue reading Supercharge Your Loyalty Program

Mobile Marketing: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The growth in smartphone usage is phenomenal – there are more than 200 million smart phones in the U.S. and 100 billion text messages are sent every month.  Utilizing mobile marketing is now a no-brainer; the difficulty is how to use mobile marketing without being intrusive to your customers.

The Scenario

Your best customers have given you their mobile phone number and opted into your Mobile VIP Program.  The first message you send them is critical as it sets the tone for the relationship.

Continue reading Mobile Marketing: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Guests, Not Customers

I recently came back from a conference, the Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference, and at the conference listened to a panel of franchise marketing executives speak on successful marketing and customer loyalty tactics. One of the panelists, a CMO of a Fortune 1000 company addressed the importance of customer experience and brought up the notion of treating your customers as guests. Whether this means literally addressing your customers as guests or maintaining the underlying philosophy throughout your company culture, the bottom-line is understanding this mentality and championing it throughout your entire organization in the direction of building a better brand, increased customer loyalty, and ultimately a better customer experience.

The Disney Customer

Walt Disney made this famous with Disneyland’s iconic customer service and transformable customer experience. Disney called all the employees “cast members” and called all customers/visitor “guests.” Walt Disney may epitomize this philosophy and have taken it to an extreme extent, but if applied to a fraction of the degree as Disneyland, your customer service and experience will translate to a better interaction with your brand for your guests. This is not to say you need to turn your franchise or business into Disneyland, but understand that details matter and every single customer’s experience may be a new one. Continue reading Guests, Not Customers

What Businesses Need To Know About Groupon and Groupon-Clones

Groupon, the nearly $15 billion behemoth of daily deal websites, is one of the hottest internet companies today. From their $6 billion Google acquisition offer to their purported IPO valuation of up to $25 billion, Groupon is making headlines everywhere. More recently, news about Groupon has been turning sour with articles from the New York Times, Reuters, and other numerous media outlets reporting horror stories of small business owners upset and traumatized with their Groupon experience.

How It Works

Groupon and the hundreds of Groupon-clones vying for you to strike a deal and sign up for their deep discount offering can be too much for any business owner to handle. Understanding how Groupon works and what to expect are the first steps in realizing whether Groupon is right for your business. Groupon and the likes provide a service where they offer potential customers a deep discount to a good or service. These discounts to the customer range from 50-90% off retail or face value. As a business, when you sign up for Groupon, they guarantee you increased customers. They do this in 2 ways, first the deal only goes “live” if a pre-determined minimum number of people purchase it and second, they send out your deal to their ever growing email list of subscribers which can be millions of new potential customers per city. Continue reading What Businesses Need To Know About Groupon and Groupon-Clones