Customer Loyalty Programs: 4 Four Problems to Avoid

Are you using a customer loyalty program for your business?

Have you avoided the four main problems for the same?

Loyalty programs are one of the top-grade marketing strategies to retain more brand-loyal customers for a business. It allows a competitive advantage along with increased profitability. Hence, most of businesses are incorporating some kind of rewards program for their customers. Successful programs aim to motivate customers in a business’s target market to make frequent purchases.

However, sometimes the loyalty program fails to offer the intended results. In other words, companies disregard the common problems associated with the same. And, the program fails majorly. This article focuses on the main pain points of loyalty programs and how to avoid them.

Mostly, companies implement a loyalty program that runs smoothly for some time. Then after it does not work as expected because of many reasons; among them, four problems are the most common.

4 Problems to Avoid in Customer Loyalty Programs

Let’s explore the prime problems of customer loyalty programs and understand the ways to avoid them.

Problem 1: Inaccessibility

Customers will not participate in a loyalty program that has complex accessibility. Even though you offer a great loyalty program, customers will turn away because of inaccessibility. You need to design a loyalty program that is easy to access across all devices. Also, the participants should not feel any complexity while enrolling in the program or redeeming the rewards. They can easily turn away because of complicated processes.

Moreover, Keep in mind that some formats that are created for desktops will not be readable correctly on mobile devices. For better results, your loyalty programs need to be easy to access. Also, the signing process should be as simple as possible. If you practice easy processes, it will be easier for the customers to access the program.

Tip: Simplifying a joining program, would be a plus. Acknowledge simple, intuitive access to loyalty programs all the time. Also, allow your potential customers to track rewards points without any complex process.

Problem 2: Confusion

Loyalty programs like rewards points or special discounts have been in business practice for many years. It means that your target audience is familiar with the rewards they will get. Nonetheless, companies these days add additional rules. And, offer multiple compensations without any clear instructions. Even seldom the rules and regulations are much intricate and can not be understood easily. And, this is one of the common problems of loyalty programs nowadays.

Consequently, avoiding this type of confusion is necessary to keep the loyal customer attracted to your business. Creating an explainer guide will be extremely helpful. Make sure all the instructions are intuitive and easy to comprehend. More precisely, clearly explain what value the program offers. Also, motivating them to join the loyalty program will be useful. The clear-cut explanation eliminates confusion and increases their participation.

Tip: always list your contact information. So, if the customers have any questions regarding the program, they can connect with your business.

Problem 3: Unappealing

In most instances, companies follow the same rewards program all the time for all customers. When loyalty programs are not appealing to the target audience, they fail easily. Stereotype programs do not work in a competitive environment anymore. You need to offer diversified rewards programs. Your customers like the same products or services, but do not indicate that they like the same program. For instance, Some may like to get discounts while others will prefer membership.

Hence, understand the target customer’s preferences and allow them to choose rewards where possible. Diversification is the key to enticing customers to participate in the loyalty program. Customer satisfaction will improve when you offer appealing compensation along with choice. This type of action not only improves the customer experience but also increases the chances of getting in more loyal customers.

Tip: Think of adding more value to the product or service the customer purchase and then decide the rewards. Value-added experience is the key to retaining more brand-loyal customers for a business.

Problem 4: Obsolete

People usually get bored of using the same thing over and over again. In the case of loyalty programs, offering the same typed rewards all the time reduces customers’ interest. They easily get bored with the typical rewards and may get off from your business.

Thus, it is vital to avoid this boredom from a loyalty program. Try to offer a variety of rewards the customers are getting from your loyalty program. For instance, instead of offering points, try event passes, or even free membership. Depending on the interest of the audience, they offer them renowned rewards for better engagement.

Tip: Create excitement along with trying new rewards for the customers. And, do not forget to promote the new scheme of a loyalty program.

How LoyaltyXpert Help You

Apart from the above-mentioned problems to avoid, make sure to deliver an exceptional user experience. Customers prefer a brand because of the value-added experience and satisfaction they get from it. Accommodating a loyalty program is a great way to increase loyal customers.

Appropriately executed loyalty programs reduce customer churn significantly. But, sometimes companies overlook the significant problems of customer loyalty programs. As a result, they do not achieve the customers’ participation as expected.

Hence, it is advisable to avoid those pain points. And, design an optimal loyalty program that customers love to use and attract other customers.

How To Connect With Customers While An Economic Downtrend

A decrease in sales threatens all businesses. No matter what causes an economic downturn, all businesses should be prepared for such happenings.

Recession in business means;

  1. Duration of a general decline in economic activities
  2. Uncertainty about market conditions
  3. Lack of access to financial and equity markets

An economic downturn is a critical condition for all businesses, be it a startup, small business, or an enterprise. With such a crucial time of low sales, the business needs to adopt a new approach to survive in a particular period. Whether there’s a recession going on or pandemic like COVID-19, you must not lose connection with your customers.

Wondering how to stay connected with potential customers during an economic downturn? Go through this article and you will get your answer.

Customers are an asset to a business. You need to nurture them regardless of market competition. Employ these five distinct ways to connect with customers during a financial downtrend in the market.

1. Communicate frequently

Communication is the prime element to establish a strong connection with your audience. Whether you want to inform them about new offerings, promotional offers, or other things, frequent interaction is essential. When you regularly communicate with your customers, they can easily remember your business. Send regular emails, newsletters, and do not forget to wish them on their special occasion.

Besides, it allows you to attract and retain customers. Effective business communication is essential in many areas because the business that communicates better wins more clients. And, when there is a crisis going around in the market, streamlined communication serves as a beacon. So, try to stay connected with your customers in any situation, especially in times of financial downward trends.

2. Be transparent

During the time of crisis, everyone is in the same boat.  It does not help to represent that your company is above the crisis. Be transparent about the choices your company is making, especially if you are faced with formidable challenges because of the economic downturn. Customers will possibly understand your decisions and the way you do business.

Talk to your customers. It allows you to deliver the facts and let them know what is really going on. Also, when you get a chance, educate them about the current situation. And, keep them informed about how the company will take actions in favour of their customers. For instance, if consumers have signed up for membership and they can’t get reimbursement, they should be getting similar benefits in other ways.

3. Redesign the offerings

Redesigning your business offerings as the market demand is the best option to survive an unexpected transition. When a market demands, you should modify the way you offer products or services to maintain customer retention. Rework on the contract or offer you have employed. For example, offer special discounts for certain periods of time. Also, change the pricing model for your goods or services. This type of change will help to boost sales of a business along with a better connection with clients.

Moreover, when you reconsider the offerings for the customers, they feel more valuable. And, once they get value-added services, the satisfaction they become loyal to your business. As mentioned earlier, customers are an asset for a business, and reconsideration is one of the great means to win their trust.

4. Adjust the marketing strategies 

Economic downturns rarely happen overnight and they also do not disappear overnight. Generally, businesses define marketing strategies for a certain time of period. But, during the crisis, it must be designed over again.

In the downtrend situation like COVID-19, new marketing strategies should be introduced. This is the time where companies get benefits from having the best loyalty programs. The rewards program is a great way to retain more customers even during the crisis.

Furthermore, try to define a short-term plan. And, define the strategies that should include;

  1. How will you respond to the situation?
  2. How will the market condition impact consumer behaviour?
  3. Is there a need to approach a different service in the market?
  4. How to maintain branding in such time?

Adjusting according to market trends increases the chances of sustaining a business for the long-run. So, instead of laying off from doing business, think about the new approaches you apply.

5. Grab local opportunities 

It is imperative to identify the ways your company can connect with the local communities where you serve. Think about the basics at this time, and do something simple to help schools, nonprofit associations, or small businesses located near your headquarters or retail stores.

Personal interactions with local communities bring confidence and position your business as a trusted leader. By showing authentic interest, you can establish and reinforce positive relationships with community influencers and elected officials (relationships that will be mutually advantageous for the coming years). It will help to sustain a positive brand image along with inviting forthcoming benefits for your business.

An economic downturn or recession is unavoidable circumstances. Each business gets affected by such a situation where sales reduce. But, connecting with your customers is the key to keep them reminded about your business. It builds a relationship with your brand. Also, it will be helpful in the future where customers will stick to your brand over the competitors.

Hence, follow the mentioned unique ways to engage with the audience even during an economic downturn; communicate frequently, be transparent, remould marketing strategies, go local, and reconsider your offerings. These ways will definitely boost connections between your business and customers during a crisis.

How B2B Loyalty Programs can Redefine Value in COVID-19

B2B Loyalty programs are strategic marketing actions to attract and retain loyal customers. Usually, the customers are offered some kind of rewards (discount, membership, rewards points, etc.) to make a repeat business with a particular brand. As brand loyalty customers are an asset for a business, marketers are emphasizing on adopting a loyalty program. However, companies need to change their marketing strategies including rewards programs in a pandemic situation like COVID-19.

It is imperative to adapt the market change and run business operations. Companies should think about productive tactics and encourage the audience to get involved in value-added experience rather than sales behaviour. Maintaining essential engagement and brand awareness is the key while serving loyalty programs in the pandemic.

As such, you need to reconsider the values of B2B loyalty programs in the rampant circumstances. Considering the situation, loyalty programs need to be redefined, here is how to do it. This blog focuses on the top ways that allow redefining the value of B2B loyalty programs in COVID-19.

1. Educate the audience

Now is the time to educate and reward the prospects by offering additional product knowledge, sales skills, compliance, or certifications. Most of the time business clients are willing to educate themselves for the betterment. And, in the COVID-19 pandemic, with the spare time, they will surely walk with you.
Thus, introduce distance learning through short online training modules, quizzes, videos, etc. Those are remarkably competent in upskilling the resellers or business partners and assuring that you remain at the forefront of their first choice when demand returns. Your research has shown that completing education-based tasks has an excellent brand and product recall with longer trailing effects than ordinary tactical promotional executions.

2. Embrace the change

B2B clients are not looking for new widgets, products or services while facing the uncertainty. Instead, they look for a quality experience that helps them to combat the situation and recognize the strategies to overcome the damage. So, use this time as an exclusive opportunity to establish a mindful reputation of a business. Introduce new elements with thoughtful and targeted solutions into the loyalty program you offer.
Listening to customers is beneficial all the time, but uncertain times, gauzing strategies are critical. B2B loyalty programs allow the powers to reach out directly to the customers and get their input expeditiously and efficiently.

3. Communicate frequently with the customers

When there is a pandemic going around like COVID- 19, it doesn’t mean you should stop communicating with the prospects. Even if you can’t be physically present at your business location, virtual presence makes a difference. If it’s a special occasion or your clients like anniversary, make sure to wish them. Apart from this, regular updates about industry or newsletter should be scheduled as per the routine.
Furthermore, frequent, regular communication reminds the client about your business. With the pandemic of COVID-19 do not let your clients forget about the products and services you provide. Solve customers’ queries as soon as possible, and be prepared for virtual assistance all the time.

4. Adapt innovative approaches

When B2B programs are fully integrated, it’s a big win-win for businesses. Identify clients’ pain points and offer strategic solutions for the same. The adoption of an innovative approach is not limited to producing new products or services. Streamlining processes can be an exceedingly relevant innovation for both parties (customers and organizations).
Strategic loyalty programs are tricky to duplicate. It is quite another establishment of a conversation with your participants. And, mobilize resources to respond to your learnings, and create a valuable customer experience for the products and services. Hence, thinks of innovative, unique tactics to imply in the loyalty program and keep the clients attracted.

5. Suggest the best solutions

As B2B clients are always looking for expertise, suggesting pro tips will work. Once you have identified the sweeping concern, consult the industry experts and make recommendations for the prospects. For instance, in the case of COVID-19, you can conduct an exclusive webinar for your clients to inform about the ways of dealing with the crisis in this situation. However, it is crucial to double-check the tips you are offering are from credible sources.

The current marketplace is nothing like it was a few months ago. Responding quickly to gauge the market and approaching concerns could make a huge difference in just surviving or thriving the prevailing circumstances. So, it is the right time to redefine the value of the loyalty program you are offering (by suggesting the best solutions that market demands)and gain a competitive advantage.

6. Encourage Clients engagement

The other way to add value to the B2B loyalty program is to encourage clients participation. You can always reward them to introduce new customers for loyalty programs. And, you can add schemes like refer a friend and get rewards. Besides, online gamification is also an interactive way to boost engagement with clients.
Ask the clients to participate in non-business activities like writing testimonials. And organize contests or surveys to know your customers well. These activities not only encouraged clients’ active participation but also bond a strong relationship between you and your prospects.

Surely, COVID-19 has changed the way of doing business across the world. But, it does not mean to hold back completely. Take your business online and use this time to build a strong relationship with your clients. Identify the strategies to stay connected with the customers by understanding the current scenario. Also, propel a chance to understand how much you value them. B2B customer base always looks for opportunities to gather useful knowledge and relevant experience.

Hence, B2B loyalty programs also need to be modified in some way to approach the prospects. And, the refined program impacts positively for businesses. Contact us for more information about the B2B loyalty programs!

3 Ways to Maintain Loyalty Amid COVID-19 Shutdowns

Today, one thing that is talked about all over the world most is none other than Coronavirus (COVID-19). This pandemic is creating a lot of serious implications for people’s health and healthcare services. Not only the health of the people but COVID-19 also badly affects the business sector and the economy of almost all the countries throughout the world.

As per the analysis done by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting global supply chains and international trade. With more than 100 countries closing national borders, the movement of people and tourism flows has come to a closedown. As per the United Nations, the global economy could shrink by almost 1% in 2020 due to this pandemic.

In recent weeks, there has been a significant impact of COVID-19 on financial markets and various industries including travel, tourism, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, etc. For instance, the travel and tourism industry alone accounts for 10% of the global GDP. Due to this pandemic condition, about 50 million jobs are at risk in this industry throughout the world. The closing down of various companies is directly affecting SMEs globally.

Ways Brands Can Keep Up Their Loyalty Amid COVID-19 Shutdowns

Now the question is how brands can maintain loyalty amid COVID-19 shutdowns. Well, at this tough time of crisis, building brand loyalty can make or break a brand. Some of the key factors that make consumers trust a brand include brands focusing on:

1. The Well-Being Of Customers

During COVID-19 shutdowns, where many brands are trying to gain the trust of their consumers, more than 65% of consumers indicated that brands’ actions have a considerable impact on their trust in a particular brand. To build trust amongst consumers in this time of crisis, brands must find out ways how they can help and what actions can be taken that are steadfast with their values and abilities.
Today brands have the opportunity to create strong bonds of trust with their consumers by using data to help determine which actions will have the greatest impact on their employees, consumers, and communities.

2. The Well-Being Of Their Employees

A company showing care and concern for its employees is one of the key reasons consumers trust any particular brand. At times of uncertainty, employees generally look forward to their employers to lead them more than they look to the government and other organizations. More than 50% of consumers trust brands that show their concern towards their employees in the time of crisis. Currently, COVID-19 is the biggest crisis that the whole world is going through. At this time, any change in trust is largely based on how brands treat their employees.
So, what builds loyalty among employees, is perhaps a clear and frequent communication from the company’s side. About 90% of employees who are satisfied with the actions taken during this pandemic situation of COVID-199 believe that their employees are communicating well, which further results in significantly higher levels of trust.

Suggested read: Why You Should Have an Employee Loyalty Program

3. Not Taking Benefit Of The Emergency To Maximize Profits

In this crisis time, the key to alleviating the impact of public health emergencies on businesses is being responsive. Brands must start rethinking their marketing efforts to make them more relevant. One of the key actions that they can take is, instead of thinking about how they can sell more; they must focus on how they can support customers during this tough time. Focusing solely on making profits amid the current COVID-19 situation will create a negative impression on customers which will directly affect brand loyalty.

Offering services or products to people in need of help at this time, instead of taking advantage of the crisis is the best thing companies can do. This will not only create a good impression but will also help businesses to strengthen trust with customers.

Other factors that make consumers trust brands more amid COVID-19 include:

  1. Brands maintaining reasonable pricing
  2. Go above and beyond the safety standards and recommendations
  3. Don’t overreact or underestimate the circumstances
  4. Giving back to the community, particularly in times of need
  5. Communicating in a transparent and timely manner
  6. Representing strong moral principles, such as integrity
  7. Demonstrating expertise in their industry
  8. Delivering a message of hope and optimism, etc.

Brands that fail to keep up with the above-mentioned factors, especially if they fail to demonstrate leadership and action by taking care of customers and employees, may put their reputations and trustworthiness at risk.
To address the outbreak and connect with potential customers, businesses can take the help of email marketing campaigns. However, make certain that the messages are not focused only on selling products and services. These campaigns should look helpful to customers. For instance, businesses can focus more on their hygiene and safety measures, safe product delivery services, no price hikes policies and various other things that help build trust amongst customers about the particular brand.

Email marketing in the current environment can be really helpful for brands to build and strengthen trust. Some of its key benefits include:

  1. Targeted and personalized emails have 75% more chances of customer engagement.
  2. Data shows customers react more positively to personalized emails than other forms of marketing tactics like telemarketing.
  3. In email marketing, there is always the possibility for follow-up.

Most activities have been closed down and people are now practising social distancing to avert the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). This is perhaps the toughest time for most brands to connect with their customers.
Almost every organization today is dealing with a slowdown. Building a connection with new customers and maintaining trust with pre-existing ones seems to be a more difficult task than it has been in the recent past. To continue their business during this hard time, brands need to work transparently without thinking solely about profit-making. They need a lot of creativity and skill to ensure that the message of the brand is communicated effectively to the target customers.

A Guide to Manage a Channel Partner Network Perfectly

A channel partner is generally a person or organization that partners with a manufacturer or producer to promote and sell their products, services, or technologies. Various organizations including distributors, retailers, vendors, consultants, system integrators, technology deployment consultancies, managed service providers (MSPs) and value-added resellers (VARs) come under the category of channel partners.

To make it simple, a channel partner is a common phrase used to describe a business-to-business (B2B) relationship in which a smaller company partners with a corporate manufacturer to market and sell their products, services or technologies. Channel partners, form relationships, also known as co-branding for various reasons and results.
For the manufacturer, a channel partner can help bring a new product to the market and enhance the visibility of a brand and boost sales. For businesses, a channel partner helps to open the doors to new businesses with a lower cost and a smaller risk factor.

Benefits of a Channel Partnership

A channel partnership can be beneficial for both the parties- the vendor and the partner. It is essential for vendors to choose the right group of channel partners so as to get the best returns on their investment. With channel partnerships, vendors can gain access to the partner’s existing customers, thereby enhance their sales exponentially. On the other hand, the channel partner can enjoy increased revenue by cross-selling a new product to its existing customers. They can even acquire additional customers who are interested in the new offering.

Here are some of the key Benefits of channel partnership, have a look:

• Access to a full suite of products and services:

Channel partnership allows partners to offer a variety of new products and services from numerous vendors. This helps channel partners to deliver an assorted product portfolio to their customers to meet their specific business and technology requirements.

• The Benefit of an established name:

Small organizations can benefit from the established name and repute of large vendors. Utilizing established brands in sales and marketing materials lends immediate credibility to the channel partner’s reputation as it helps small organizations to convey to their potential customers that the partner has a business relationship with a well-established manufacturer

• Additional expertise and resources:

Channel partners can benefit from the additional expertise and resources. They can have access to a vendor’s human and financial resources including product and market training, technical support, MDF (Market Development Funds) or co-op funds, campaign templates, and more.

• Leads:

As many vendors continue to market their products and services on their own and build leads, they then pass the leads onto their channel partners for follow-up.

• Amplified margins:

Additional discounts and revenue opportunities can be achieved based on the number of products sold.

• A swift way to target customers:

Many manufacturers and vendors find building channel partnerships the quickest way to gain market share and work with a partner who already has their target customers as their customers. Channel partners spend a great deal of time and effort building personal relationships with their clients. Their recommendations on new products or services hold a great deal of weight for vendors with the customer.

• Reduced cost of sales:

Establishing an indirect sales channel instead of employing an in-house sales team and help manufacturers to save on employee’s salaries and benefits along with various other expenditures like travel costs to visit prospects, time spent on unqualified leads that never convert to sales, etc.

• Access to new markets:

Several channel partners have a well-established presence and reputation in particular market segments. This benefits the manufacturers and vendors as their channel partners who have a deep understanding of various industry verticals can deliver new customers at a fraction of the time and cost.

Ways to Manage a Channel Partner Network

Below mentioned are some of the most effective ways to build-up a healthy partnership and manage a channel partner network, have a look:

Choose the right partners:

In order to build a perfect channel partner network, it is essential for vendors to choose the right partners. It is important to focus on cultivating the right relationships so as to create an ideal partner profile. Now the question is who can be your ideal channel partner? Well, for each partner candidate, you must ask the following questions:
• Are they ready? Do they have the resources to invest in the partnership?
• Are they willing? Will the partnership help them attain their goals?
• Are they able? Is there a technical fit? A competence fit?
• Do we have similar values?

All these questions along with some thorough research can help you to choose the right channel partners.

Discovery:

The next step in building and managing a channel partnership is to find out what the potential partner is already providing. It is important to talk to your potential or existing partners to get a feel for what matters most to them.

Some of the key questions you can ask, include:

• What is important to you in a partnership?
• What are the key growth drivers of your business?
• What is your unique value proposition?
• What are you struggling with?
• Who are your best customers?
• What will our biggest hurdle be?
• Is there a market desire for our joint offer?
• Can we really stand out in the market?
• Do we have the right information and skills to deliver this?

The result of asking these questions should give complete clarity regarding the opportunities and challenges the partnership will bring.

Set goals and outline commitment:

One must understand that in a partnership, each party has their own interests. Good channel partnerships are those that are transparent about their interests and are built upon the understanding that the success of one partner contributes to the success of the other. Therefore, both parties need to understand what the prospects are, how you are defining success, and what contributions on both sides will help you get there. Some of the key objectives that you must set and discuss with your partners include:

• Specific view of the target market
• Strategies and tactics
• Who’s going to do what
• Resources both parties have committed
• A realistic view of the ROI
Once the objectives are set, the next step is to outline the commitment for both parties that must include:
• What is the partner going to do?
• What are you going to do?
• Are the commitments realistic?
• Do you have everything to deliver them?
• Are there any potential barriers?

Facilitate introductions: After defining goals and commitment, it is vital to invest in relationships. A dedicated resource like a partner manager can facilitate introductions between teams and foster relationships. Knowing partners helps to build trust with them. Moreover, partners can be a source of valuable product feedback. So, connecting with them regarding feedback can be really helpful.

Enablement: It is vital for companies to empower their channel partners in various key areas including technical training, building industry expertise, and sales training.

Technical training: Partners need to be experts in your products. They must be able to use the product for free so they know what they have to sell. Once the partners are trained, make sure to keep them up to date with the products. Also, provide them access to new functionality timely. So that when it hits the market, they’re experts from the starting.

Industry Expertise: Timely and significant industry information shared with partners can put them at a considerable advantage over the competition. To do this, companies need to stay up to date about what’s happening in different industries, keep their eyes open, and inform their partners about the trends.

Sales Training: Since Business-to-Business tech partners are now selling to business leaders, a partner enablement program must consist of strong business training. It is important to provide partners the right consultation regarding how to improve their business and how to set up new service offerings.

Conclusion

A channel partnership that is built and managed perfectly can definitely bring fruitful results. Successful partner marketing programs can boost the visibility of a brand, its capability to access new markets, and its overall sales.
Feeling inspired to run your own channel loyalty program? Contact us and let’s start!

All You Need to Know About Channel Partnership Programs

A channel partner is usually a third-party business or individual that promotes and sells products, services or technologies for a manufacturer or service provider through a partnering bond. This is usually done through a co-branding relationship. For the growth of a company, channel partnerships prove to be a high impact strategy. Moreover, a good partnership can provide access to new customers and references that bring in business.
The different types of channel partners can be independent dealers, distributors, independent sales representatives, vendors, retailers, consultants, systems integrators, technology deployment consultancies, value-added resellers, and other many other organizations.

A Channel Partnership Strategy

A channel partner generally distributes goods and services. The various types of channel partnership options to distribute your products and services can be:
• Selling products and services through your partner: Product companies usually sell their products through a third party storefront.
• Your partner sells with you: In this case, partners sell your products as an up-sell or missing value proposition. Any company that offers your service as a way to expand their offerings comes under this category.
• Your partner sells for you: Any partner acting as the promoter or seller of your product comes under this category.

Benefits of a Channel Partner Program

Choosing your partners wisely and establishing strong relationships and developing a culture of sharing with them can prove to be really helpful for the growth of your business.

Below mentioned are some of the key benefits of channel partnership programs:

• Increased Revenue:

Increased revenue is one of the key benefits of channel partnership programs. Well managed partnership programs can help to create significant growth in sales and distribution of products and services. These kinds of programs are beneficial for both parties. For vendors, it not only generates revenue but also helps to enhance their sales footprint. On the other hand, the vendor’s partners can also develop revenue for their businesses.

• Advanced Expertise and Resources:

Channel partners usually have the authority to access a vendor’s full range of human and financial resources. These resources may include product and market training, technical support, marketing assistance, co-opted funds, campaign templates, and more. All these resources can help to build a stronger market presence.

• Improved Range of Products and Services:

In today’s time, developing a comprehensive range of products and services that meet the requirements of customers while also managing cost and resource constraints is a key issue for almost every company. In such cases, channel partnership programs can be really effective as these can assist in improving the range of products and services that both the partners are offering. Additionally, this helps in fulfilling the demands and needs of customers, without the need for additional development cost or time investment.

• Market Credibility:

The name recognition and reputation being associated with large vendors helps in building credibility with potential customers. This further help to generate new cross-selling opportunities and even provide access to certifications and licenses that may be unavailable previously.

• Access to New Markets and Customer Segments:

Channel partnership programs not only helps to drive new growth by scaling the sales operation but can also be very helpful in expanding a particular business into new markets or customer segments that might be difficult or not possible to reach on your own.

How to Reward Channel Partners?

Without any question, channel partners play a critical role in the growth of business and brand sales. Developing your program around incentivizing the channel can help to augment sales, create new markets, and stimulate greater partner loyalty. Many brand owners have realized the importance of appreciating and offering their channel partners the due rewards that they deserve. Earlier a cash based bonus was the most common way to reward and appreciate channel partners.

However, with the development of technology and its convenience, brands are finding newer ways to engage with their channel partners. Now, many brands understand the importance of offering innovative and more meaningful rewards to their channel partners to gain their loyalty.

Personalized rewards programs are perhaps the best option that most brands are using these days to woo their channel partners. For instance, gift cards and vouchers can be given to motivate the partners. No wonder that gift cards are gaining popularity as they give the power of choice to the receiver. Many channel partners prefer to do their shopping using these gift cards and vouchers. Brands can also avail the option of personalizing the gift cards for various occasions, based on the accomplishment and adding that personal touch.
Other than this, businesses can also use loyalty programs along with Artificial Intelligence to offer personalized rewards to their channel partners. This also gives the flexibility to modify the reward points depending upon the sales on a real time basis. All these innovations have made the entire channel partners reward programs more transparent, enabling the best channel partner to get the reward that he/she deserves.

Apart from the above-mentioned rewards, different types of rewards that companies mostly offer to their channel partners include gift vouchers, away days, meals, points based rewards, gifts, recognition awards, leadership boards, city breaks, etc.

Conclusion:

If you are planning to develop your channel partnership program, it is important to understand that building a strong network of partners is based on factors like trust, faith, and group effort. Just make sure that your partnership is mutually beneficial from the start. For more about channel loyalty program, Get a FREE quote from LoyaltyXpert.

A Guide to Keep Happy and Satisfied Customers

In today’s fiercely competitive business world, a dedicated customer retention program has become utmost importance. A positive bond between a business and its customers can help in spreading word of mouth which is considered extremely valuable. So, how customer loyalty begins? Well, when every customer starts feeling that he or she is indispensable, that’s when customer loyalty starts to begin.
Many businesses today are already carrying out and many others are on the way to build a loyalty program to differentiate themselves from their competitors and maintain their customer retention.

Statistics and Facts Related to Happy and Satisfied Customers

Below mentioned are some of the statistics and facts on how you can keep your customers happy and satisfied:
• It costs 5 times as much to draw a new customer than to keep an existing one.
• Around 68% of people leave brands because they are upset with the treatment they’ve received. (Source: U.S. Small Business Administration)
• On average, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase. (Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs)
• About 48% of customers who had a negative experience shares with 10 or more other customers.
• About 64% of customers cited shared values as the primary reason for a strong brand relationship.
• On Twitter, over 80% of customer service-related tweets are negative or critical about the brand in question.
• A large majority of customers expect a reply in less than an hour.
• About 78% of customers have bailed out on an intended transaction because of a poor experience.
• It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience. (Source: Ruby Newell-Legner, Understanding Customers
• About 68% quit because of the attitude of indifference toward the customer by the owner, manager or some employee. (Source: Michael LeBoeuf, “How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life”)
• It’s 6 to 7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one. (Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs)
• 3 in 5 Americans (59%) would try a new brand or company for a better service experience. (Source: American Express)
• About 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated. (Source: McKinsey)
• Customers usually don’t want to hear things like- We’re unable to answer your question, We’re sorry, but we’re experiencing unusually heavy call volumes. You can hold or try back at another time, etc. (Source: American Express)
• Employees only ask for the customer’s name 21% of the time. (Source: ContactPoint)
• Customers who engage with companies over social media spend 20 to 40% more money with those companies than other customers. (Source: Bain & Company)
• 89% of consumers began doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience. (Source: RightNow)
• 50% of consumers give a brand only one week to respond to a question before they stop doing business with them. (Source: RightNow)
• U.S. consumers prefer to resolve their customer service issues using Telephone (90%), Face to face (75%), Company website or email (67%), Online chat (47%), Text message (22%), and Social networking site (22%) (Source: American Express)
• Consumers are 2 times more likely to share their bad customer service experiences than they share their positive ones. (Source: American Express)
• Top two reasons for customer loss include- Customers feel poorly treated and Failure to solve a problem in a timely manner (Source: RightNow):
• A 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% to 100% increase in profits for your company (whether it is through upsells, repurchases, or even Customer Referrals) (Source: Fred Reichheld, author of the Loyalty Effect)
In order to survive in today’s competitive era, businesses are required to build a customer-centric culture. Below mentioned are some of the most effective ways to develop this kind of culture:

#1. Treat your Customers Properly

Always remember that happy customers are satisfied customers. Talk to them very sincerely, especially with your regular customers. Be personal in your approach as a personal touch makes them feel more valuable.

#2. Don’t Come on Too Strong

Impolite customer service often results in creating a negative impression of business over their customers. Most of the customers are likely to share their negative experiences with their friends and families. This can have a worse impact on a business’s repute. Therefore, it is very much essential to be well-mannered to your customers when dealing with their issues regarding your company. Maintaining patience is very important to give your customers the opportunity to vent their problems. This also enables you to resolve the issue and build their faith in you.

#3. Remember Your Best Customers

It is a good idea to design a monthly calendar to note down activities that will fortify your relationship with your best customers.

#4. Always Listen to Your Customers

Customers are the main source of support for any business to thrive, if you’ll not take actions on their sensible requests, it may result in backlash. Making sensible changes based on the responses of your customers will make them feel important and valuable, which will further help in boosting customer loyalty. Nowadays, there are several tools available such as surveys, social media, communities and groups, focus groups, point of sale, web forms, emails, and more, which can be used to collect feedback from customers.

#5. Provide High Quality Service

Always provide high quality service to your customers. Answer to all their queries promptly. Additionally, be ready to give away some offers or deals in the form of discounts, coupons, gifts and more to encourage your customers to buy more. Provide special care to your best customers by enthralling and rewarding them by designing appealing multi-channel promotions consisting of discounts, giveaways, and contests. You can share these offers through social media pages, printouts, brochures, emails, and other marketing channels to get complete publicity and visibility.

Conclusion:

Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance for today’s businesses as it provides marketers and business owners with a metric that they can use to manage and perk up their businesses. On the whole, customer satisfaction is the leading indicator to evaluate customer loyalty, recognize unhappy customers, reduce churn and amplify revenue.

Here’s How Personalization Can Boost Your Loyalty Program

As the market competition is increasing day by day just offering a quality product or services is not enough. More precisely, ordinary rewards are not making much difference to retain loyal customers for a business. Hence, companies are inventing new ways to retain more customers through loyalty programs. Have you noticed that when you present personalized services to customers, they feel more satisfied?
Well, in most cases, customers delight with the personalized services and they form a strong connection with a brand or business. This emotional connection allows them to remain loyal with a product irrespective of market competition, the price of the product, or any other factor. As long as they are receiving personalized services, they are likely to stay connected with your business. According to a survey near about 80% of customers are likely to make a frequent purchase with a product or service if they receive personalized services.
But, the main concern is how to deliver personalized services that lead the loyalty program to be successful?
What are the ways to boost loyalty programs through personalization?
Are there any specific strategies?
Go through this blog, and you will get the answer. This blog focuses on ways to promote personalization to enrich the success of a loyalty program.

  1. Utilize the analytical data

Analytical data plays an important role to deliver personalized services to customers. Often, brands recognize a lot of disconnected data, but when you can build individual customer profiles and consistently update those profiles, you could build more powerful relationships with customers over time. Collect as much information as you can about the customers. The demographics information is essential to personalize their experience. For instance, if your consumer base includes women, you can offer a special offer on mother’s day of women’s day to entice their engagement with your brand. Targeting a larger demographic with a specified message that is personally relevant helps to promote a loyalty program.

    2. Personalized dashboard

Designing a personalized that is omni compatible dashboard for each customer is more beneficial to cater to their distinct needs and wants. The dashboard overview allows a consumer to view their past purchases, loyalty points, or potential rewards. With the formulation of a dashboard or personal homepage, you are actually creating something that approached individually to the customer.
Further, you can customize each dashboard by adding name displays for each buyer, enabling them to add their personal information like birthdays, anniversaries, and other details. This information will help you send them messages during their special occasion and make a strong relationship with them. Moreover, the idea of creating a dashboard is imperative when you want to offer personalization to promote loyalty programs. It helps to distinguish customers’ behaviours and enable you to offer customized services to potential customers.

  3. Increase social media engagement

Even though automated data collection and sending personalized emails play a vital role in an effective personalization strategy, engaging with your target audience on social media is yet another compelling way to connect them with your business.
You can easily promote loyalty programs on social media and let the audience know about the rewards and perks you are offering to them. Also, send personal instant messages to increase interactions with them. This proactive on social media can have a significant impact when the prospects make their buying decision.

  4. Customized email

Emails are one of the most efficient ways to connect with the audience. But, an average person deals with number emails each day, your email should be distinct enough to increase its open rate. Otherwise, you will not get benefits out of sending emails. Hence, focus on personalizing loyalty emails in order to make your company stand out.
According to a survey, customized emails deliver 6x higher transaction rates. So, it is advisable to use your loyalty program data to go a step further, nevertheless, deliver emails emphasizing products or categories each consumer has shown interest in previously, or use predictive analytics to discover which marketing messages are most persuasive to inspire the customers to purchase.

  5. Offer relevant recommendations

Offering relevant recommendations to your customers is essential to offer them the most personalized experience, Based on their past purchases, you will be able to offer most precise personalization and encourage them to form a bond with your brand.
If you are handling an ecommerce business, you can suggest customers other related products when they buy a product. For instance, when a consumer buys a cell phone, you can suggest its cover, headphones, insurance, etc. These suggestions will not only reduce their efforts to find other products but also increase sales. As per a survey, shoppers who clicked on recommendations are 4.5x more likely to add items to the cart and make a purchase of the products.
In short, personalization is the key to making your loyalty program successful. It helps to deliver a value-added experience to the potential customers and forms a strong emotional connection between brand and end-users. Hence, offer customized services to the target customers and boost loyalty program’s success!

Want to build a loyalty program that increases loyal customers?

At LoyaltyXpert we offer custom-made loyalty program solutions for all businesses irrespective of their size and nature of the business. Our expert team will collaborate with you to curate strategies design a loyalty program that helps to retain more loyal customers. Connect with LoyaltyXpert, now!

The Future Of B2B Customer Loyalty Programs

When we take and have a look at the budget of the majority of the companies that are competing at the top of the chart, it is seen that they devote a large percentage of their yearly budget to targeted advertising in a quest to cover new grounds. Now the question is: What happens to the existing customers? Any attempt to resell them will cost far less. It might not take more than a simple email and deals will be sealed. We shall be taking a look at B2B customer loyalty and how brands can exploit it to their advantage.

1. Customer Retention

The target of sales in any company that wants to cut on the overhead costs that they are incurring should be customer retention. According to Harvard Business Review, It is 25 times more expensive to bring on a new customer than to keep an existing one. If companies can put in a 5% boost in their customer retention drive; they are going to achieve between a 25%-95% boost in their sales index. That is the power of B2B customer loyalty for you!

2. Dealing With a Small Number

In most of the B2B campaigns, you are going to deal with a small number of customers, unlike the scenario when you what to target a wide market of customers that you have to be on your wit’s end to convince before they look in your direction. Retaining this small number of customers is the key to business growth and development. Efforts put into enhancing excellent customer experience will lead to profitable growth.

3. A Great Way To Keep The Customers Loyal

Running a B2B customer loyalty program will keep businesses closer to their existing customers. The customer of today desires a situation whereby they will be treated with an air of loyalty. If you can deliver that to the customer through this campaign, they will remain forever loyal and committed to your brand. You should bear in mind that for every product that a customer intends to buy online; there are at least five contending brands for the attention of the customer.

4. Target Is On VIP Customers

The advert drive we are talking about here is different from what is obtained in B2C. The target of B2B is VIP customers whose impact on sales will push it to the highest height. It is not targeted at every customer but at the VIP customers that have the financial muscle to push sales to a height that will make every CEO beam with a wide grin.

We shall now look in the direction of strategies that one can use to effectively execute a B2B customer loyalty that will push the sales fortunes of every company to an eloquent height.

5. Target Your Brand Values

The content of your ad campaign should have a direct bearing on your brand if you want to effectively keep B2B customer loyalty. The customer wants to know more and is convinced of the merits of your brand and that is why he should remain loyal to you over every other consideration. Any attempt to promote business value over brand value will be counter-productive.

6. Deliver Something Extraordinary

Like it was stated earlier, for every product or service, the customer of today has at least five choices to make. If your brand will be the ultimate, then the customer loyalty programs should be structured in a way that will bring something excitingly new to the experience of the customer. Sit down and look around at what your competitors are doing right and improve on such aspects. Cut out completely the areas of defects in your campaign. You can include something exciting like an open-loop prepaid card that leverages mobile technology and offers freedom, choice, and flexibility.

7. The Convenience of Your Customers

This is the era of mobile technology where you can get your message through to your customers even when they are on the go through their mobile devices. An effective B2B customer loyalty campaign should be a mobile complaint. If you can give a high standard in a way that is convenient for your customers, they will be committed to your brand or service for life.

8. Building A List

If your B2B customer loyalty campaign is to be successful, then you should build a list of your loyal customers. As they come in to buy for the first time, their contact details should be collected and you will use it to build your list. When it is time to resell to VIP customers, it will be pretty easy to use the details of their info to send them custom-made personalized sales content. However, it is not all about sales; first show that you care before reselling to them.

One of the creative ways to show that you care is to send them best wishes on their birthdays. You can monitor their progress and send them congratulatory wishes when they attain a milestone in their career or other personal endeavours in life. They will get hooked to your B2B customer loyalty campaign if you can strategically carry out this campaign.

It can be seen from what we have discussed so far that the future of the B2B customer loyalty campaign is bright. It will become the main focus as the cost of advertising gets higher and brands are looking for ways to cut down on their advert costs.

Loyalty And Referrals: The Things That Work

Loyalty programs and referral programs are closely connected, that’s why people usually confuse these two programs for rewarding the same thing. There are components of each type of program that can easily be twisted. A customer who brings referral businesses continuously, consider as a loyal customer. Likewise, some referral programs require customers to refer many people before obtaining a reward.

Loyalty programs are an excellent source for both retaining loyal customers and acquiring new customers to your business. The classic customer loyalty solution to attract more brand loyal customers often divide into two major standards; Loyalty and referral. For both of these programs, the ultimate goal is the same; to drive more customers for a business. However, sometimes merchants get confused about which program to implement. Go through this blog to get more details on how loyalty programs and referral programs work.

Let’s understand the main objectives for each program before we jump into further details.

The main aspirations of Referral Programs

1. Referral programs are designed to drive sales from new customers and encourage repeat consumers.
2. Employ the existing customers to refer their friends, family members, etc. by word of mouth actions.
3. Generally, rewards issued to both the referring and new customers
4. When a sale is made; rewards are typically earned
5. Businesses use many types of referral rewards such as store credits, discounts, free products, and gift cards.

The primary objectives for a loyalty program

1. It aims towards acquiring and retaining brand loyal consumers
2. Loyalty programs are intended to drive repeat business from loyal customers
3. Typically, customers who make repeat business are rewarded
4. It uses loyalty point systems, punch cards, rewards cards
You might be wondering, how each of these programs works. Well, though the ultimate aim of loyalty and referrals is the same they have their unique qualities to work differently. Hence, you need to identify business opportunities for whether to deploy loyalty programs or referral programs to increase sales.

So, when should you use a referral program?

When you want to drive more customers by word of mouth marketing tactics, referrals programs work best. Usually, a customer refers to family members or friends to make a purchase with your business. Referral programs are a strategic way to attract a continual flow of new customers coming in.

Besides, expanding your pool of consumers, referral programs also keep the program member a loyal customer by customarily offering incentives for spreading the word and bringing in more customers. Further, many businesses use a digital medium such as email marketing, in store recommendation, social media platforms, or online sites to promote referral programs. Generally, referral rewards are easy to redeem when a qualifying purchase behaviour occurs.

In addition, Referral programs are essential for business because marketing is done by the customers instead of an internal marketing team of a company. Customers share your business offerings with their friends and do all the convincing to make a purchase with your brand.

But, when to use a loyalty program?

Loyalty program is the easiest way to entice customer participation by incentivizing customers repeat purchases. Customer needs to make certain purchases before being rewarded. So, businesses provide loyalty cards or use loyalty software to track customer purchases and reward them with the right incentives. Running a loyalty program that is customized to deliver rewards gives better results. Plus, loyalty rewards program customers do not need to be recalled of the program as your product or service is something that they buy on a regular basis. Likewise, referral programs, loyalty programs also promoted via social media, email campaigns to get maximum exposure.

Additionally, when you offer loyalty rewards, your customers feel valued. And, the value-added customer experience keeps them connected with your business. Along with a regular purchase, customers earn extra perks which attract them to get benefits from buying products or services from your business.

Therefore, both of these programs are beneficial for a company that wants to get repeat business. You need to identify the right criteria to introduce a program that helps to drive in more brand loyal customers. In the end, it is going to boost your sales whether it is a loyalty program or a referral program. So, wisely choose a program that helps to drive in more repeat business from your potential customers.

Nevertheless, as the competition is high in every spectrum of business, merchants are trying to attract and retain more loyal customers. And, loyalty programs or referral programs are one of the most efficient ways to acquire more loyal customers for your business.

Want to attract and retain more brand loyal customers for your business?

LoyaltyXpert offers various loyalty program solutions to empower your business growth by enticing customers to make repeat business with your brand. From customer loyalty to building channel loyalty, we render the best suitable programs to increase sales. Depending on your business standards, our loyalty expert team will guide you to fetch the best suitable rewards program for your business. Connect with us to get more details on how we offer the best loyalty program solutions.