How To Offer Loyalty Incentives To Keep Good Customers

 

Customer loyalty is the new prevalence and loyalty programs for serviced based businesses are such an enormous source of untapped opportunity.  Not only can your loyalty program be for clients and customers that have been with you a while and have already given you repeat business, it can and should also be for new customers and clients. Since a loyalty program could be just the incentive to keep you front of mind to keep coming back.

But if you really want your loyalty system to work, there are 2 things you absolutely must do first to ensure its success.

Firstly, do everything you can to improve your service BEFORE you offer your loyalty program.  

If you know there are little tweaks here and there you could make so your service would really shine, do it beforehand.

You want your service to be top-notch so that likelihood of people taking up your loyalty program is higher.  If you have been a bit slack in building quality relationships with your customers and clients and know this is an area you could improve on, this is a definite focus area before you offer your loyalty program.  If relationships are weak and trust is low, a loyalty program will be of little use.

Secondly, work out what you can offer the customer or client for their loyalty.  

The best programs and systems make customers and clients feel like they are part of something special and lets them know they are valued.

However, the trick with creating the perfect loyalty offer is that you need to offer something that is appealing, and generous but does not heavily cut into your profit margin.

Below are some suggestions of different loyalty incentives, you could offer as a service-based business.  Some of these will depend on the type of service the business you operate, but I’m guessing that out of this list there will be at least one that you could apply to your business to create your loyalty system.

1.     After a certain number of services, the customer/client gets one for free

2.     After a certain number of services, the customer/client gets a discount on another service you offer

3.     With every 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th service purchased, the client receives a small gift (for example a small consumable such as chocolates, savories, movie ticket, discount lunch voucher)

4.     A free service with another non a competitive business which in many cases you may find you can get for free as the other business is then able to tap into your customer list

5.     Create a VIP club whereby after so many services purchased the client receives extra “perks” that others are not entitled to such as vouchers to other businesses, 24-hour specials, discounts, small gifts, end of month specials – the list is endless, it just depends on how creative you are!)

6.     Give them information on something they are hungry to know more about that they would otherwise have to search for or pay for

 7.       Once a client reaches a certain number of services or predetermined criteria set by you, they could             be eligible to try a special service that you reserve for VIP’s

8.     You could offer special conditions, for example, once a client has reached a certain level or met certain criteria, you may offer, quicker turnaround of your services, less waiting times, reduced fees for weekend/out of hours emergency services, or reduced fees for “rush” jobs if you do project work for clients.

9.     Sending a thank you gift after a certain number of purchases

10.  Introducing a points or dollar system where a certain amount of money spent equals a certain number of points or dollars.  This enables the client to build up their credits to spend it on something else with your business, essentially making them feel like they are getting something for nothing.

The Wrap-up 

In order to get your loyalty program up and running, you need to know how much of your profit margin you are willing to sacrifice.  Only then can you start making some real decisions about the types of offers you could make.

Your turn.  

So what have you had to let go of, in order to free up space so you could have space for your ideas?  Was it harder than you thought?  Do you wish you’d done it sooner?  I’d love to hear your comments about what you’re doing to create space to make your ideas happen.