Critical Success Factors For Loyalty
Creating a successful loyalty or electronic marketing program that works for your organization and your
customers requires careful planning and execution. While some people might argue that it is difficult to
go wrong when trying to do something good for your customers, others will be quick to note some of the
unintended consequences of a customer service or loyalty program that might have been avoided with
the guidance of a few "critical success factors".
Here are five critical success factors to keep in mind:
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Ground the program around a core brand - Your Business.
This sounds too simple to be true, but it is absolutely critical to build a program that carries the same values
and beliefs as your organization. Do you have a mission statement? Dust it off and take a look. Is there a list
of beliefs that you try to get your store staff to live by on a day-to-day basis? Let them guide your loyalty
program too. Need to figure out some simple rewards to give to your customers? Look to your top selling items.
Of course you can let your loyalty program dream a little - but keep it grounded to what your customers want
from you - they vote over and over again every time they come to your store.
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Rally management and organizational support in the store and behind the scenes.
Ever heard of a senior management team creating a new customer retention strategy - the loyalty program?
If the store managers and the president don't support it, it won't work. It's imperative to have broad organizational
support for your loyalty program in the planning stages and lots of excitement, education and buzz around its launch
to help ensure store clerks understand how the program works and how to sign up customers once its running.
Loyalty programs have the power to generate interest at the point of sale, give your store staff a way to interact
with the customer, and show your customer they are valued. They also let your business know who the best
customers are - believe it everywhere in your organization!
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Be willing to test and conduct research.
Once you have achieved your number one goal of learning who your best customers are, who's up and coming,
and who isn't, it is time to get down to the real value of your loyalty program. What motivates these folks?
Whether its a spring promotion for your best customers, or those who you've been missing for a couple of months,
a loyalty program gives you an unparalleled opportunity to run a promotion and measure the results to see if it worked.
Don't be afraid to learn. While sticking with your tried and true practices, test a few more - you might be surprised by
the results and you will be surprised at how inexpensive it is to conduct these tests. Today's test just might be
tomorrow's best practice.
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Keep it simple!
Too simple to be true? Not likely. If your customers, your staff, or even you struggle to understand your loyalty program,
you have failed. In fact, if you can make your customer understand it, all will be well - you can be guaranteed that your
staff and you will understand it too. Once everyone has caught on to the basics of your program, feel free to create
promotions that become increasingly targeted at specific members of your program.
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Implement a Strong Point of Sale strategy
There is one place where you can be assured you are going to interact with your best customers over and over
again. In the store. According to a POPAI (Point of Purchase Advertising Institute) consumer buying habits
study, over 70% of purchasing decisions in mass merchandisers and supermarkets are made right in the
store. Perhaps as much as 70% of your opportunity to have effective communication with your loyal customer
base occurs there as well. Have a strong strategy to introduce, support, and enhance your program right in
the store and your customers will notice. So will others that haven't joined yet.
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There you have it. Five critical success factors - a good start when planning your loyalty/electronic marketing program strategy.
So brainstorm, dream, and create the perfect loyalty program. Just make sure you do a quick check at the beginning, middle,
and end of the process so that you aren't ignoring these critical success factors. Look for more critical success factors in upcoming
newsletters (you didn't really think there were only five did you!).
Malcolm Fowler, EVP Products and Marketing
Ernex , Inc.
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