Your current customers are your best customers: did you ever think about it?
Sometimes we tend to focus on new clients: we want to acquire more customers, more prospects and we forget about our current ones.
However, it is definitely easier to communicate with someone who already knows our products and services, so why don’t we focus on them?
As a plus, they may become your Brand ambassadors, but let’s start from the beginning.
It is always important to keep in mind that our customer’ journey doesn’t end with a purchase
Since we have a business, we have customers, but do we really know who they are?
In order to create both a shopper purchase journey and an effective marketing strategy specifically designed for our customers is essential to know who is our buyer persona.
Is a he or a she?
What does he/she like?
Is he/she married?
Does he/she have children?
Which are his/her habits?
Any pet peeve?
Only when we truly have a clear idea of our buyer persona (or personas, if our services and products don’t focus only one target audience) we can start to think about the next moves.
Do you already know them?
Then it is time to think about a strategy: we can’t just pretend that they will become loyal customers just for buying a product of our – correct?
It is not easy to create the perfect Customer Loyalty strategy, but we can learn from others and try to do our best, keeping in mind our clients’ needs.
1. The Point System
The Point System is one of the most common types of Loyalty programs and it is based on one principle: the more you spend the more you get.
If you choose a Point System, you should remember to keep it easy: a customer should have the possibility to easily calculate the points earned by purchasing your products.
What to offer with the Points it’s your decision: will they be able to earn a discount, or will they be able to choose a reward from a catalog?
Sephora USA, with its Beauty Insider Program, is one of the most effective Point System examples. At every purchase, its customers earn a number of points based on their spending which can be spent on the Beauty Insider Rewards Bazaar.
2. The Tier System
Another type of Loyalty programs is the type system, which rewards the loyalty of a customer.
The great difference with the Point System is based on the “continuity”: while in a Point System a customer receives a reward based on his/her spending (and for this reason is more attractive for businesses that encourage short-term purchases), in the Tier System a customer receives a reward each time he/she chooses you and it is typically used in the luxury and in the travel industries, but this is not its only potential application.
An interesting example is Starbucks that, thanks to its brand image, has been able to create a status symbol membership.
Its Rewards Program, which is based on a strong mobile experience, has two tiers:
- A new customer starts as a Green Member, who is able to pay its orders by phone, order ahead, receive free in-store refills, and take advantage of member offers.
- A loyal customer became a Gold Member who, in addition to some exclusive treats, receives the exclusive and personalized Gold Card.
Would you like to discover your buyer personas and the most suitable Loyalty Program based on your target? Contact us for a first advice.
3. The Paid Program
If you are thinking about a paid program you should be more than sure about the loyalty and the soundness of your audience.
It is difficult that a new customer decides to pay for a service if he/she doesn’t know you, but they could also find attractive the possibility to pay a one-time or an annual fee for a wide range of free services (even better if he/she could try them for free for a period and choose accordingly).
This kind of program works very well for eCommerce as one of the most famous companies in this field.
Amazon, with its Prime, offered to its clients everything they need when they purchase on the website and much more. Starting with a free trial, the users have the possibility to test their services and then decide to submit to the program in a simple and easy way in order to get free shipping, release-date delivery and much more.