Delivering a Healthy Loyalty Program

Love and loyalty are based on treatment and trust. Very much the same way dating and advertising are experienced. Think of a bad relationship: someone doesn’t listen, is pushy, communicates poorly and is self-centered. Your members who perceive loyalty as an invasive and complicated experience will continuously remain uninterested and tune out. If you follow some simple guidelines, loyalty programs can be a beautiful way to prevent this.

Your members require appreciation and adoration, just as they would in a relationship. How can you make sure you keep them engaged for a long-lasting relationship? Here are a few basic steps to help guide in the lifecycle of a healthy customer relationship.

Identify: With a loyalty program, you should assess your best members and create a look-a-like model to identify their characteristics. You can then use this to better target the type of members you want to attract in the future.

Acquire: Direct relevant messages and offers to customers when they are online that make them feel special in a loyalty program. It can make for an awkward conversation if you talk about something that is totally out of left field, so be sure to have a communication plan that is well thought out. And stalking is not cool. You want to engage just enough to keep your loyalty members looking forward to hearing from you.

Inspire: Present your club in a relevant manner. Show your members that results are attainable. You want your club to be easy to engage and easy to communicate with, while showing your members the benefits of a long-lasting relationship.

Engage & Reward: Invest in treating your members in a remarkable way. Use data that has been accumulated to offer engagement opportunities that resonate with your members. Continue to always reward your most engaged members for their loyalty.

Retain, Win Back or Purge: This is the last chance you have with an at-risk member. In any loyalty program, it is critical to decide who to spend your marketing budget on, and when to cut your losses. Knowing the profile of who you retain, win-back or lose is important. Re-target those that may have left, after all they are familiar with your brand and can be more likely to rejoin with a great offer.

A healthy, loyal relationship works because you are enhancing the lives of your members. And I promise you, a healthy relationship will be worth the investment in the long run if you spend time and energy on those especially valuable to you.

Vanessa Hobson is the marketing director of Epsilon. For more information email vhobson@epsilon.com or call 838.900.3655.