There are many different marketing tactics that businesses all over the world choose to use. A lot of these are a means of getting new people to engage with a business; however, many focus solely on the customer retention element, recognizing its importance when it comes to ensuring regular cash flow and business growth.
What Does Loyalty Marketing Actually Mean?
Businesses practice loyalty marketing by using a strategy that is totally centered around retaining customers who have previously bought from or engaged with them. This is usually done using a range of different incentives (as will be discussed later) that normally offer the likes of discounts or bonuses. There are many different rules when it comes to business etiquette; however, though many of these tips and tricks can be disputed, treating the customer as a number one priority is universally accepted. When a business practices loyalty marketing, they recognize this importance and don’t forget about it once a customer has done business with them.
Why Is Loyalty Marketing Important?
There are a number of different reasons why loyalty marketing is an important strategy that businesses should use. Firstly, loyalty marketing is effective at ensuring customer retention. It seems that when a customer is a loyal one who returns to make purchases quite frequently, they tend to spend a lot more than the average customer. To give an example, when it comes to clothing, a returning customer usually spends about 40% more than guest shoppers do.
In addition, loyalty marketing enables businesses to collate data on shopping trends or customer profiles, which can help you to strategize more effectively about how to entice new customers in the future. When you are incorporating a loyalty program into your business model, not only are you ensuring people will come back and buy from your site again, but you are also giving yourself the chance to gather information on who specifically is returning to your site. When you have this kind of information then you are in a stronger position to offer your clients different promotions and discounts depending on what they have previously shown an interest in.
Finally, loyalty marketing can help you to gain more referrals. Not only is having a repeat customer good for continuing to gain revenue from said customer, but they are also a lot more likely to refer people to your business. If they continue to come back to use your services then it means they enjoy doing business with you and are happy with the services that you are offering. This will directly translate to people recommending your business to others.
How Can You Use Loyalty Marketing?
There are many different ways that you can use loyalty marketing within your business. These include the following methods:
Rewards/Bonuses
If you offer a customer either a reward or a bonus on their next visit, it’s inevitable that they are much more likely to return for future services. A prime example of this freebie culture in a real-world context is within the online casino industry, wherein establishments remain competitive against other contenders on the market by frequently updating their promotions and bonuses.
For instance, consider the sheer number of Pennsylvania online casinos across the state and how difficult it must be to stand out from all the rest. Whether it’s offering free spins or no deposit schemes, the power of the freebie is evident as an enticing hook for new players. On casino directories, the quality of the freebies available, as well as the ratings from user reviews, contribute towards a ranking system, which further incentivizes online casinos to keep their ear to the wall when it comes to competitive promotions.
X Purchase is Free
This is an example of loyalty marketing that you see not only in online business but also frequently with brick-and-mortar organizations. Essentially, you will be given some kind of digital or physical rewards card with the promise that after a certain amount of purchases, the next one will be free. This gives people an incentive to come back to your business if they have a plethora of choices as they are investing in their free option.
Promotions of New (But Similar) Products
This is where the gathering of data comes in handy. If someone has purchased a specific product from you and you get more of said product in stock, if you promote the same to that customer then they are much more likely to head back to your site and engage with your business once again.
As discussed above, though getting the attention of new customers is incredibly important, there is no doubt that by retaining existing ones you are also helping your business grow. This is because you are generating more customers, gathering more information, and also encouraging word of mouth. There are many different forms of loyalty marketing but some of the most popular include reward schemes and the promotion of new products.
Barry Lachey is a Professional Editor at Zobuz. Previously He has also worked for Moxly Sports and Network Resources “Joe Joe.” He is a graduate of the Kings College at the University of Thames Valley London. You can reach Barry via email or by phone.
