Investing in a loyalty program can be one of the best things you can do to improve the retention of new customers, avoid churns, and create a great work experience for your employees. Today’s market requires companies not only to be the best and offer quality products, but to be involved with their audience and create a true bond with them. At the same time, as with any investment, incentive marketing is not as simple as rewarding your audience. There are some key factors you should consider and some mistakes that you need to avoid. Here you can find some advice on how to build the best loyalty program.
1. DON’T RUSH IT
Take your time. Understand. There is no point in starting a loyalty program as soon as possible, because if you are not ready and are not sure about what you are doing, it won’t work out that well. You must have a clear idea of why you are doing it, your budget, and what type of campaign you plan to have. What is your end goal, who are you rewarding? You need to make sure that you answered all these questions before starting, because your strategy will depend on it. You can decide to dedicate people, time, and money to building it, or you can seek counsel from professionals, but it is something you should absolutely do. Once you are ready and have the best strategy at hand, it’s time to invest.
2. DON’T FOCUS ON THE BUYING CYCLE
Often, incentive programs only focus on rewarding people for reaching some milestone or achievement. While this is surely important and should be done in a loyalty program, it should not be the only moment when people are given recognition. What you should be aiming at is creating a strong bond with your audience and making them feel recognized and appreciated, therefore they should be rewarded consistently, regardless of their achievements. If you want to know more about loyalty and rewards, you can read this article. Like with any other relationship, it’s about consistency and commitment.
3. BORING STRATEGY
You want to make your audience feel rewarded and you want to make them remember how good it feels. Your incentive program should be fun and exciting. Nothing will bring you more benefits than having happy customers and employees, referring your company not because you asked to, but because they truly love and respect your brand. Make sure that they feel engaged in your loyalty campaign. The process should be fun and exciting. You will be investing your money in this program, make sure they remember, and it is appreciated. Don’t waste your money on a boring incentive program!
4. THINK AS A CUSTOMER, NOT AS A COMPANY
Forgetting to put yourself in the shoes of the people you are rewarding is a great and common mistake. Don’t think as a company, but as a customer. At the end of the day, an incentive program works if your audience feels loved and the loyalty bond grows stronger. It’s about them. Your strategy should depend mainly on the needs and desires of the people you are rewarding, so make sure you know as much as possible about them. If you are not sure about what’s best for them, just ask them. Gather all the information and build the perfect loyalty program for your people. You can find out more in our article on loyalty.
5. DON’T FORGET ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media play a major role in today’s society and it’s important that you are on top of that, especially if you are investing in incentive marketing. You are creating a positive image of your brand, with a strong bond with your audience. You want to keep strengthening that bond through social media too: keep in touch with your audience, and post about the good things your company is doing for its people and their work environment. Also, when people feel good about something, they share it with their friends, and they talk about it. You can have the chance to interact with people outside your audience, possibly new clients that will take a look at what you are doing on social media.
6. DON’T FORGET ABOUT FRAUD
Electronic rewards and gift cards may be a target for fraud, and that is something you should be aware of. You need to know where and how it could happen, in order to be prepared and avoid it. The thing you need the most is a strong safe platform that will manage your incentive program, and also be able to avoid hacks and frauds.
7. CHOOSING THE BEST PLATFORM TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS
Choosing the right platform for your loyalty program is fundamental. This kind of investment can be expensive and needs a lot of time and effort to be managed. You want the best company that will help you increase your return on investment without wasting money. You need to trust the platform you are using to take care of everything for you, helping you in building the best strategy and avoiding all the mistakes we talked about in this article and many others.
We think we are the best platform on the market for incentive marketing, if you want to know more, here are some FAQs about loyalty programs and our company.
If you want to start the incentive marketing journey, you should have a strong platform and a qualified team to help you make the most out of it and get the highest return on investment. If you want to know more about why ROIWARD is the best choice and what we offer book a demo with us and let’s talk about it! We have the best platform, an amazing team, and the highest ROI!
If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us, and let’s talk about it together!
You get ROI they get Rewards.
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