1. Businesses Don't Promote It.
One of the most important things merchants don’t do (or don’t do well) is promote their new loyalty program to their customers. You have a great new program, you’ve worked hard to make sure that the rewards would be enticing and exciting for your customers, however they’ll never know about it if you don’t tell them!
If you don’t have time to develop the point of purchase marketing materials, designate a “program champion” to oversee the loyalty program management. Order some basic promotional materials from your local print shop (or VistaPrint is a great tool) and order a small quantity of signs, banners, window stickers or whatever works in your space. Loyalty Gator offers free table tent cards customized with your own logo that you can place on counter tops (or tables) to create customer awareness in-store. Don’t forget to promote your program on your website and if possible, create a new page dedicated to your customer rewards program. Outline how the program works and highlight the great perks available. Loyalty Gator provides links you can place on your website so customers can easily sign up for your program and check their point balance. Explain the benefits of joining your loyalty program. Will customers receive a free pita after the purchase of 10? Will they get to stand in the VIP express line next time? Could they win a chance to design their own pita to be placed on the menu next month? Ensure your staff is educated about the program and able to promote the benefits to customers in-store.
2. The Program is Too Complicated or it’s Too Difficult to Earn Rewards.
If it takes a customer a year to earn a free coffee they’re likely to lose interest in your loyalty program, and once they’re no longer engaged they’re less committed to purchasing with your business (vs your competitors). When competitors are offering similar products/services at comparable prices, you need a competitive edge to keep your business enticing. Special VIP perks are a great way to give customers an extra reason to choose you however, if your new members realize that they actually have to spend $1000 before they’ll earn a muffin, this will seem unrealistic and will likely cause disengagement with your customers. Additionally, if your program is too hard to understand, the same will happen. Customers don’t want to jump through hoops to chase rewards – remember this is a loyalty program, designed to reward their loyalty. Be upfront about how it works and list the ways your customers can earn points within your promotional materials. Be sure to include your great rewards and perks on your website and clearly outline the program rules. Customers do not want to feel tricked after finding out down the road that their points expired after X months for example. In some areas such as Ontario Canada, point expiration is now banned. Sometimes, point expiry can give the impression that your loyalty program is not in the best interest of the customer, leaving a negative feeling towards your program.
3. Businesses Don't Offer Relevant Perks.
Providing rewards or perks that are not relevant to your customers could cause disengagement with your program. A skateboard shop offering boxes of diapers as part of their rewards will have significantly less appeal than a maternity clothing shop offering these diapers to their mom-to-be customers. Rewards don’t always have to be physical or free products. Some of the best perks are unique items that customers could not otherwise obtain or purchase on their own. The skateboard shop in our above example could instead offer the chance to meet their favorite pro skateboarder or customers that earned X points are invited to an exclusive skate park event – just for them! These offers are not only relevant to the customer but they’re awesome perks that are exclusive to your program and tailored to your VIPs. If you don’t know what your customers want, now is the chance to get to know them better. Your loyalty program will allow you to track customer purchases and review your most popular specials to identify what your customers appreciate. A short customer survey is a great way to ask for their feedback on reward items that are important to them. Customers will be happy to provide input into their loyalty program and you’ll end up with some great ideas as well as some additional insight into your loyal customers.