How to Create Loyalty that Works

What’s best for your program if the goal is to differentiate your organization from competitors, capture mindshare, and drive the bottom line? There are many variables.

The right program has the right goals and targets the right contractors with a choice of rewards. The program should reward new and existing customers for entrusting you with a share of their business and should encourage growth. While more research is needed, a 2019 study by Montoya and Flores highlights the increased perceived value of non-cash rewards. Successful non-cash programs can include merchandise that carries your brand, experiences to create lasting memories and stronger relationships, points that provide the ultimate gift of choice, and group travel to transform the relationship between your company and its customers into one that is personal.

There’s a strong case to be made that it has to complement the programs offered by your suppliers—not compete with them.

Is your program helping you differentiate?

Commit to a  Loyalty “Health Check”

Whether you’re designing your customer loyalty strategy from the ground up, or want to assess your current program, the following three-phase assessment strategy can help create your own loyalty “health check”:

• Phase 1 – Situation Analysis: Begin with an overview to define objectives, a competitive analysis to understand the landscape, identification of trends and benchmarks, and, if you are operating a current program, an economic analysis of your loyalty offering. The outcome will help your team align on your definition of loyalty, and the high-level needs of your customers.
  
• Phase 2 – Define the Vision and Journey: Create a three-year roadmap by clarifying your value proposition, mapping your customer journey, and committing to a high-level timeline for completion. The outcome feeds a go / no-go decision to create a loyalty program that differentiates your brand.
  
• Phase 3 – Program Design: Determine rewards and communications to amplify your value proposition, select knowledgeable partners who understand your vision and bring expertise, and loyalty, to life.

These are just guidelines. Your program needs are unique, and a unique design strategy should follow. For more almost 50 years, we’ve been designing results-based customer loyalty programs that move the needle. Call us today to learn more about our successes and take a demo of our all-new Amplify® rewards platform. Learn more.

This is part two in a three-part series on customer loyalty. Make sure to check out Part One and Part Three in this three-part blog series.