Manufacturers must navigate the many touch points between your sales teams and customers, including outside influences that can impact the customer experience, as well as competitors trying to capture market share. Loyalty can help.

A recent contractor loyalty program generated $2MM in incremental sales for an electrical manufacturer. As an open-ended, four-month campaign, the promotion delivered twice the expected payouts for participating contractors.

We have been delivering these success stories for more than 45 years, and we’ve gathered valuable insights on the subject that we’re happy to share. Here are a few of our thoughts on how to strengthen relationships across the board – between manufacturers and every customer in their network.

Structure your program for loyalty, and for growth.

Segment customers not only by value but also by highest potential value. Enroll participants, then set thresholds to filter out smaller customers and provide incremental value for tier achievement. Tiers offer advancing benefits to loyal customers and give “the middle” something to aspire to. Customers can accrue both monetary and non-monetary benefits as they advance through the tiers.

Run period-based promotions.

We find that four- to five-month promotions work well. Beyond that, sustained programs can produce fatigue. Offer points for every activity, and when the time is right, offer double points for activities like online or inventory purchases, seasonal products or packages, geo-location offers, or other incentives.

Provide flexible, comprehensive rewards.

Allow loyal customers to select the type of reward that suits them. Merchandise, gift cards, tickets, travel, business services, and account credits offer the freedom of choice for the customer.

Target specific customers.

You’ll want to spend time up front strategically selecting the customers who can help you reach your goals. High-value customers are good, but high-potential customers are even better. Don’t include everyone—scattershot promotions will cost you more than you need to spend.

Build interactions over transactions.

Member experiences create increased, repeat purchases. Education cements your value proposition and drives brand advocacy, live forums engage customers and strengthen relationships, gamification builds excitement, and events allow you to share strategies with your best customers. Be sure to offer exclusive access and product previews.

Provide a sales toolbox.

Providing your sales team with the benefits of the program—through scripts, presentations, collateral, and videos—gives them another positive opportunity to interact with their key customers.

Support with sales team incentives.

Use a push/pull strategy to incentivize the customer to buy, and the sales team to sell. Hype the rewards, especially for grand prize achievements like travel. Keep them excited about the reward or destination, and make sure they know how close they are to achieving it—as well as what they still need to do to reach the summit.

Engage channel partners.

Provide partners with a sales kit to present to their customer base. When a distributor endorses a particular manufacturer, your chance of success increases by leaps and bounds.

Monitor analytics.

Track your program against sales goals. Not just to prove it worked, but to improve it going forward!

This isn’t everything. We’ve been at this for more than 45 years, and we can help you overcome loyalty program challenges. Call us today to learn more about our successes and take a demo of our all-new Amplify® rewards platform. Learn more.