Increase Website Traffic with Creative Rewards Program

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With the help of technology, modern shoppers are more sophisticated than ever. The ability to comparison shop is now immediately possible at the point of sale, and competitors are never further than a click away. And considering today’s tight economic times, customers are looking to stretch their dollar in any way possible. Here are 8 ways to increase traffic on website ecommerce platforms by implementing a creative rewards program.

1. Premium Shipping Clubs: Many online retailers, such as Amazon offer free shipping to their premium members or subscribers. Usually the customer is has paid a low membership fee, they have an added incentive to purchase goods from your online store.

2. Discount Club Memberships: Similar to a free shipping club, a discount club offers a percentage off of products or services to their members.

3. Emailed Coupon Codes: Many companies are now offering exclusive discounts to customers who sign up for their email list.

4. Subscriptions: For companies that sell consumables, such as a nutritional supplement store, can offer a subscription service, allowing customers to pay a set amount each month and receive timely delivery of refill product.

5. Service Extensions: This is more common in the software industry, but essentially offers free service updates and upgrades for a yearly fee.

6. Free Recycling Programs: Many specialized companies offer a discount or free product if the customer mails in used product for recycling. This is common among ink and toner companies, but has recently been adopted by such companies as MAC cosmetics.

7. Loyalty Affiliate Programs: Groups of related businesses can offer a shared discount or loyalty program. Whenever a customer’s credit card information is processed at any of the affiliate retailers participating in the program they earn points that can be similarly be redeemed at any of the affiliate stores.

If you want to increase traffic, whether to encourage repeat business or attract new services, a creative rewards program can help.

Going Electronic With Your Loyalty Program

Giving a little something back to your best customers and making them feel good about their purchase is a competitive necessity in today’s business landscape. The first customer loyalty programs consisted of little more than customer loyalty cards that could be punched as customer’s accumulated more product purchases. After they had made the minimum amount of purchases, they receive a free product. You may still find this in use today in many coffee shops and car washes. In the 80s, American Airlines took the customer loyalty program a step forward with the first frequent flyers program. As long as customers flew on American Airlines, they could accrue mileage for future flights they may take.

A great way to get started in a customer loyalty card program, particularly if you own a local service shop, is to consider a coalition program. This type of program allows dissimilar businesses to work together to offer special benefits to card-carrying members. Many towns and cities use these customer cards to incentivize people to purchase more products from the local market. 

Today, many loyalty programs have moved online to tap into the vast social media and search engine channels to convert prospects, gather customer information, and increase sales. In fact, many companies are offering benefits to their customers who actively promote their products and services through their own social media profiles.

Electronic loyalty programs provide you with an easy and cost-effective means of gathering information about your customers. For instance, you can require customers to ‘like’ or ‘follow’ your companies social media fan page as entrance into the loyalty program and gather valuable information for how to sell product to them again in the future. By using data mining software and techniques, marketing analysts are able to gather highly detailed information about these customers to design highly personalized marketing messages guaranteed to convert prospects.

For more information on implementing an effective customer loyalty card program, contact VPromos today!

5 Benefits of Customer Incentive Programs

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Many seasonal businesses or companies that may be experiencing a lull in sales can take advantage of a well-executed customer incentive program to jumpstart revenues and build brand loyalty. If a business is able to generate a solid base of loyal customer relationship that will choose their products over the competitions, this business is bound to succeed in the long-term. Here are a few of the benefits of using incentive programs to increase loyalty.

1. Takes advantage of the 80/20 rule. It is well known that the majority of profits come from a small percentage of your customer base, your most loyal and dedicated customers. By rewarding these customers for their purchase, and constantly giving them more value than they pay for, you create a stable base from which your company can grow. Always be on the lookout for new ways to give value to your customers. 

  

2. Maintaining customers is cheaper than acquiring new ones. It is also well known that it is far easier and cheaper to maintain an existing customer relationship than it is to acquire a new one. Make your products and services the only feasible option for your customers.

3. Create a viral or word-of-mouth campaign. Incentive programs have the incredible potential to create a viral buzz behind your brand. When your promotions are particularly enticing or interesting, your customers will have no choice but to share the offer with their friends.

4. Capture customer information. Promotions can also be a great way to capture and build databases of valuable customer metrics and information. This way you can make sure your customers receive individually customized and relevant marketing messages from you in the future

5. Increase sales. Finally, a customer incentive program can have a dramatic impact on sales. Depending on the length and details of your incentive program, you can build loyalty and increase sales over the long-term.

If you are still unsure about how you can increase sales with a customer incentive program, click here to talk to one of the friendly customer loyalty program professionals at VPromos!