At times, in the world of social media marketing, when companies are vying for digital dominance, they forget one of the most important building blocks of their business.

Brick and mortar customer loyalty integration.

There is a difference between a “frequency” program and a “loyalty” program. Yes, indeed, frequency of visit is an important part of customer’s loyalty but it is only this – a part. Well-designed loyalty programs can increase your sales and the average spending of your customers. Apart from the crucial financial advantage, customer loyalty programs bear many important benefits:

Retain customers

Gaining customers is the first and most crucial step for your business. But retaining those initial customers might actually prove to be a difficult job. There is an old golden rule, referred to as the “80/20 rule” – which basically means that around 80% of your sales come from only 20% of your customers. These valuable 20% returning customers are most easily retained by utilizing customer loyalty programs.

Acquire new customers

If you want your business to grow and expand, you need more new customers to spread the word. A good loyalty program can easily attract new customers to your business. To achieve this, you need to employ a well-designed reward system, targeted at the particular audience.

Win back customers

There will always be people, who feel dissatisfied with your business. Creating a special loyalty program might be the way to show them that they’re wrong! Also, “lost” customers might be easier to win back than trying to attract new customers. After all, you already have information about your previous customers, including purchase history and their preferred channels and modes of communication.

Positive reputation

There is no better advertisement that a “good word” put by one of your customers. People tend to rely more on personal reference than business advertisement. Loyal and satisfied customers tend to share their positive experience with your business and in this way, spread the word. A tip, employed by many companies is adding a special referral points to your customer loyalty program. This means that your customers will have even more motivation to refer their friends and relatives to your business!

Gain insight

Understanding how your customers think and what they want is the key to a successful business. Customers’ satisfaction is what makes your customers stay and your business grow. You can track your customers’ frequency of visits, typical purchases, amount of money spent with marketing reports, based on the customer loyalty programs.

Knowing your customers’ preferences can help you select your stock lines effectively to suit your customers’ needs.

Don’t forget, loyalty programs can drive customers to your digital presence, and your digital presence can feed customers to your loyalty programs.