Acquiring new customers is important for the growth of your business, but retaining loyal customers is even more crucial. With changing consumer trends, cultivating customer loyalty can mean the biggest difference in your business. This makes it important to create a customer loyalty program and revamp it continually to keep it fresh. An effective and efficient customer loyalty program never stops evolving, because consumer behavior and interests are also constantly changing. This essentially means that how your company engages with customers and encourages loyalty should be constantly improving and evolving to meet new demands and trends.  Here is how to maintain and improve your loyalty program over time to keep it fresh and effective. 

1. Get Personal with your Customers 

It's important to treat each customer as a person and not just a mere transaction. Your customer loyalty program should focus on personalized targeting and not just the general view of the clientele. Each customer in your business has personal needs different from others even though they are buying the same products or services. Research shows that about 62 percent of consumers are more likely to make a repeat purchase from a brand that treats them as individuals.  

You need to learn your customers' names, birthdays, buying habits, preferences, and their individual needs. With today's technology, such as that offered by Glow Loyalty, understanding unique customer needs is achievable. Personalize your marketing by not just mentioning your customer's names but also creating content that appeals to them most. 

2. Utilize Valuable Data 

Your business should be collecting valuable information from your customers through your online platforms, such as the website and email. For instance, if a customer subscribed to your loyalty program makes a purchase, your system should be able to collect the date of the transaction, amount spent, products or services purchased, among other valuable information that can't be accessed on paper. This information helps you to tailor your offerings to each individual customer and appeal to their specific needs. So, utilize the available data to clearly segment your customers and reach each individual with personalized content and offerings. This makes your loyalty program effective and efficient in addressing the customer needs.

3. Turn Your Employees into Loyalty Program Advocates 

Your employees are the people in direct contact with the customers. They should therefore be at the front-line of winning customers in your loyalty program. However, you need to equip them with the necessary skills and expertise to convince customers to join the loyalty program. The better equipped your employees are, the easier they will find the task of enrolling customers into your loyalty program. 

Your employees need to know everything about the program, all the perks available, features, as well as terms and conditions. If your employees are knowledgeable and passionate about the program, then it's an easy thing to promote. You can also consider having a training session that helps employees understand your loyalty program better and it benefits your organization as a whole. 

4. Communicate and Fully Engage your Customers 

You need to connect and communicate with your customers across all your online platforms. Think about your social media pages, engage your customers and learn what they have to say about your loyalty program. Don't shy off from criticism but focus on clearly understanding what they think can be done better. Engage them in meaningful discussions by asking them to comment on various offerings and rewards. You can also request your customers to fill out online forms available on your website and give their personal take on your program. Synchronize all your messages from customers to create in-depth customer profiles. This will help you to clearly understand what your customers think about your loyalty program and what can be done to better it. 

5. Reward your Customers, and not just with Discounts 

Rewards are effective in creating customer loyalty. Customers usually love surprises and gifts of all forms. Think about a personalized thank you card, free access to an event, or even increased loyalty points. These are just some ways to show your gratitude towards your customers for their loyalty to your business. You can do more than just sending your customers marketing campaigns that send discount coupons. By rewarding your customers with all forms of gifts, you make them feel valued and this boosts their loyalty.

6. Offer Premium Membership Programs 

In some instances, your customers could be willing to actually pay more to do business with you as far as they get enough back in return. For instance, Amazon Prime usually offers 2-day free shipping, TV and movie downloads, free music streaming, photo storage, and much more for customers that have a $139 per year plan. Offering premium membership programs can get you more profit and increase the number of loyal customers. However, ensure that you're offering the customers value without costing your business too much. Provide premium plans that strike a balance between your business and customers. 

7. Offer Freebies to Repeat Customers 

Your reward program can offer customers extra benefits for continuing to do business with you. You should offer benefits that are related to what they usually buy. For instance, when someone buys a specific product severally and in large amounts, you can think about offering them extra free products or free shipping services. A digital loyalty program app like Glow Loyalty can help you to tally the number of times a customer has purchased in your store and give something back in return. Once a customer has invested some time and money along the way and gets a reward, they are much more likely to continue coming back for more.

8. Enhance Customer Experience 

No matter how much you have invested in improving the user experience, there is no end to it. User experience is ever evolving and new technological developments make it easy to implement new things that improve your customers' experience at different contact points with your business. Think about streamlining the checkout process so that customers can get in and out, answer customer's questions on social media platforms, and always listen to their requests. When you make life easier for your customers, they will automatically keep coming back for more.

At Glow Loyalty, we believe that running your loyalty program on Shopify should be easy & fun. Get the tools and features you need to run a successful customer loyalty program. Easy-to-read graphs and charts help you measure your program's performance at a glance. View a demo to learn more or get the app and get started already.