According to Gallup, companies that provide an emotional connection with customers outperform the sales growth of their competitors by 85%. Not only can a customer-centric recognition strategy recognize and retain clients that keep your business going—they also have the power to create strong brand advocates to grow your business and meet goals.

Easily automate customer recognition with a referral rewards program, driven by campaigns. These programs can include resources and communications that make the cause of your goal and values known.

Customer Appreciation Day, generally celebrated on the third Friday in May, is the perfect chance to kickstart or promote your customer appreciation strategy. Below are three different reward program models that can create a lasting impact, boost sales, and create loyal brand advocates.

Promotional

Recognition programs make it possible to recognize and appreciate customers for meeting a goal. From one-off campaigns to long-term promotions—there are many proven rewards models that can help drive sales.

Reward a customer for buying a specific product or brand, or offer a discount for those that purchase a set amount of merchandise. Both are effective examples of how promotions can be used to support customer retention.

Engage your audience by pairing promotions with gamification tools, such as Spin to Win, where a user has the chance to earn a set of unique rewards.

Referral

According to Signpost—92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know—and customers referred by other customers have a 37% higher retention rate. Referral campaigns can be adapted to your internal teams as well as customers.

Referral rewards can be used to recognize brand advocates and partners every time they meet predetermined referral criteria. This could include a reward every time a customer provides potential referral, or when that referral completes their first transaction.

By monitoring referrals, these achievements can be rewarded with points, or by offering a gift of choice from a rewards catalog.

Interested in learning more about adapting referrals for internal customers, like technicians and agents? We have a resource that can help.

Retention

Business.com estimates that current customers spend 67% more, on average, than those who are new to your business. Maximize their potential with rewards for meeting a milestone year, or by completing a set number of purchases. Referral and retention strategies can also work together, as these are the buyers that are more likely to refer new customers to your organization.

As an added bonus, keeping existing customers proves to be cost effective—with costs between 6 to 7 times more to get a new customer vs. keeping the customers you already have, according to American Express.

Enhance recognition programs through messaging, like eCards and video messages, to create a personal experience for long term customers.

Send Great Rewards

Regardless of the reason you want to reward your customers, Next Level Performance can help. We can simply and easily deliver personalized rewards with our code-based Great Rewards platform. In minutes, you can be on your way to recognizing your company’s greatest asset – your customers.

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Next Level Performance has over 45 years of experience delivering effective recognition solutions for customers, employees, sales teams, and contractors. Through our web-based Great Rewards and Amplify platforms, we can help you reach your intended audience and achieve goals through customer retention utilizing a customized reward program.