What is a Loyalty Card Program? 

A Loyalty Card Programme is a way to form better customer relations. This is done through businesses creating a strategy that entices customers to purchase from them again. The types of Loyalty Card programmes can consist of special offers, discounts and other perks that encourage repeat purchases from consumers. 

When setting up shop, businesses cannot expect to open and have customers rolling through the door. Besides a business either selling an excellent product/service or providing amazing customer service, sometimes they need to think outside of the box. 

Forming customer loyalty to a company is the next best trick. Creating schemes that reward those repeat customers can really help. It doesn’t just benefit the business but improves the customers overall experience, meeting their expectations by providing a ‘premium’ feel to their visit.

How does it Work?

A Loyalty Card Programme holds advantages for businesses and consumers. For a consumer's loyalty, a business creates rewards that they benefit from such as exclusive offers, early access to products or discounts. Whereas when a consumer continues to make a repeat purchase, it boosts a businesses income revenue. Each loyalty scheme works differently, however here is a general overview of how it works:

💡 A new customer makes a purchase

💡 The business therefore prompts the consumer to sign up to their loyalty card scheme

💡 The new customer signs up and starts to receive new and exciting rewards through each purchase

💡 For the customers' continued loyalty, they start to receive more rewards for there customs

Companies can implement different types of loyalty card reward schemes per programme.These can each have different incentives based upon the type of system put in place by the business. Different types of loyalty card schemes allow a business to appeal to varying consumers, creating a 1:1 relation to upkeep. 

What Types of Loyalty Card Schemes are There?

There are many variations of a loyalty card programme. However, it is important to utilize one that best reflects your establishment's wants and needs. At kyco, we understand how important it is for our clients to build personal relations with their clients. Therefore we always advise on the following schemes to help hold consumer retention, whilst forming new relationships. Here are the ones that we find to be the most popular amongst our clients:

⭐ Referral programmes

The Referral programme is a reward where customers refer their friend or family to the business. This does rely on word-of-mouth but can help turn your loyal customers into brand advocates. The referred customer can even refer customers for future reference therefore creating a river of new customers discovering your business. This scheme can also reduce the need for customer acquisition costs because your business is relying on your loyal customers to push your brand on your behalf. Incentives normally include discounts across your products/services to encourage your already loyal customers to seek out new prospects for you.

⭐ Stamp Scheme

The stamp scheme is amongst one of the most popular programmes. The customers get rewarded using a stamp system that results in a free product/service through the establishment upon meeting a certain threshold. Some examples of this are as followed:

💡 Receive 10 stamps to receive a FREE drink

💡 Receive 5 stamps to receive £5 discount on your next booking

As you can see from the examples displayed above, the stamp system can be used for credit for their next purchase/service, discounting products/services and for claiming FREE items from the establishment. 

Customers can track their stamp points using their loyalty card through their phone. All loyalty cards are automatically added to the consumer's smart device via their wallet. It is quick and easy to access and it is an easy way to build customer loyalty. 

What are the Benefits of Creating a Loyalty Card Programme?

Besides some of the awesome benefits shown above for the consumer and business, it is always good to cover exactly what both parties gain from creating this new and improved relationship. When creating a loyalty card programme, businesses can expect to see a variation of benefits!

⭐ Boosts Company Revenue and Sustain Retention

One key thing about loyalty card programmes is that it increases your overall revenue and withholds customer retention. Loyalty card schemes encourage your customers to make more purchases to gain rewards as well as stay loyal to your brand.

For example, a consumer may increase their order frequency to gain more stamps on their loyalty card. They continue to obtain more stamps making them closer to the final product of benefiting from your loyalty card scheme. This helps your business build brand loyalty and increase your overall customer lifetime value.

⭐ Builds Stronger 1:1 Relationships

Creating a loyalty card programme can help create the edge that your business needs. It allows you to form stronger relationships between business and consumer. When your business goes beyond purely transactional interaction and offers new incentives, it shows the value that you have for your customers. The continued rewards scheme creates an ongoing relationship between the two as a whole. 

⭐ Stand apart from your Competitors

Having your own loyalty card scheme enables your business to stand apart from its competitors. It makes a scheme personal to your brand and your consumers that only you know they would enjoy. Your loyalty programme can do the following:

💡 Give your customers another reason to engage:

Provide rewards that allow repeat consumers to purchase products at a discounted rate to your competitors. Pushing special offers that rivals may already be enticing but better! 

This way, if a customer is reviewing between two companies, they can clearly see how being loyal to your brand influences their decision making.

💡 Show your customers how much they mean to your establishment:

Whilst some loyalty card programmes can be based upon the volume of spend, you can get inventive with the type of rewards that you offer. Therefore a customer loyalty programme is a great way to show your appreciation. Surprising your customers with special offers/discounts for periodic times such as special events (birthdays/christmas) gives your business the opportunity to give back.

💡 Encouraging word-of-mouth:

By creating rewards solely on word-of-mouth is a great incentive for your customers! An example of this is by rewarding a discount for those customers that leave a google review. This way, they are shouting about your brand whilst also benefiting from it. This can also apply to refer-a-friend loyalty card schemes as mentioned above. Asking customers to refer a friend for a discount/special offer to reflect your admiration for their efforts! 

💡 Motivate your consumers:

All of these programmes can encourage your consumers to take action! Having a loyalty card scheme can be used to ask your customers to sign up to your monthly newsletter by enticing them with a wonderful discount in exchange. 

How do I Implement a Loyalty Card Programme? 

Now you understand all the differences between the loyalty card schemes and have seen the benefits this will have on your consumers and business, let’s apply this to your own! 

Firstly, you need to understand what you want to receive from your loyalty card programme. This could be gaining more sign-ups to your newsletters, increasing business revenue or focusing on increasing referrals. In doing this, you need to understand your audience. The key to a successful scheme is to understand the type or rewards your customers want to see, this way your rewards scheme accurately reflects and meets expectations. This way, you can create a strategy and programme that perfectly aligns with your company's goals and consumer interests. 

Once your loyalty card scheme is in place, spread the word! It’s time to start attracting new members to your rewards scheme. You can do this through pop-ups on your company website, social accounts and through email campaigns. 

Last but not least, make sure you monitor the performance of your loyalty card programme. Reviewing how it performs MoM and adjusting accordingly using statistics and feedback from customers.

Add to my Business!

At kyco, we’re constantly encouraging the clients that we work with to adopt loyalty cards into their marketing plan. As you can see, it is that personal touch that benefits both parties. However, we like to remove the need for constant printing and make this digital. We do this by allowing your customer to download their loyalty card into their smart devices wallet. Making it quick to access, easy to monitor and personal for your customer.

If this is something that you’re interested in adopting to your business but don’t know where to start, we’re an email message away. Get in contact today to review your options and we’ll do the rest of the work for you!