You need to stay ahead of your competitors if you are in the retail business as the competition become fiercer. Reward program or customer loyalty program is a popular strategy in retail marketing to keep customers loyal to you. It entices your customers to coming back again and also give them benefits at the same time.

The purpose of a reward program is to attract your customers to return or shop more. Benefits that are very attractive to your customers to apply for this program special discounts and gifts for members. You can also assign point or token system where they will get points they can exchange for some items. There are wide range of varieties for this kind of program.

To identify members from non members, you can usually give your customer a member or loyalty card. Members will show their card to get the benefit when they are checking out. You can still employ customer loyalty program in an online shop. Instead of physical card, you can assign them an ID number instead.

Customers can get loyalty cards in several ways. The most popular way is to make certain amount of purchase in one receipt or in certain period of time. When you just open your business, you can give these cards without any condition to attract customers to your new shops. You can also ask customers to purchase the loyalty card to gain access to the member benefits.

Stamp system is another version of reward program that is open to everyone, not just to members. In this system, a customer will get a stamp for every purchase that meets the criteria. After they collect some stamps, they can exchange it for certain rewards. Variations of the rewards are items, shopping vouchers, of a chance to purchase something with reduced price.

There is no best system for this program. Every company has their own unique customers and products so that you need to adjust your campaign to suit your business. Some companies are very loose with their benefits programs and others are very strict. Some only give them to select few while others give wider change to gain the privilege.

It is perfectly fine to mix a few strategies in one campaign. You can do this by reserving VIP cards for your best customers. In the same time, you also offer general member cards for regular customers. You may need to employ this strategy if your shop has many kinds of products with wide range of price.

A reward program is supposed to make your customers happy with the rewards and benefits they get. If you place too many restrictions, terms, or conditions on your member cards, you will frustrate your customers. Sometimes they might feel cheated. To avoid this, explain the terms and condition in simple words and avoid hidden fees that mostly will upset your customers. If they think your shop is not worth the bother, they will go to your competitors and you will lose loyal customers instead of gaining them.

If you intend to make sure your customer is satisfied with your products and services for long term success, your customer loyalty program will be successful. However if your intention is merely to increase profit quickly, then maybe Customer loyalty program is not suitable for your retail marketing strategy.

Author Bio: Providing custom strategies for Reward program since 1981, whether your looking for a program update or enterprise-wide solution we can help.

Category: Business
Keywords: Retail marketing,Customer loyalty,Loyalty cards,Reward program,Loyalty One