You should avoid these 10 mistakes in your loyalty programs

Everyone makes mistakes. This doesn’t mean you should repeat the same mistakes others did already. This also applies for loyalty programs. Companies can make mistakes even though they try to make their (loyal) customers happy. 

We have summed up some of the most common mistakes: 

1.    Not giving true rewards

If you think your customers don’t know how to perform calculations, you are using the wrong strategy. In points programs customers often have to spend quite a big amount of money to receive a comparatively little reward. This kind of reward, which actually isn’t one, isn’t a smart move for companies. 

2.    Giving away too much

Giving away rewards that are either too small or too big is the wrong tactic. It’s unbelievable, but companies are often too generous to their customers, and this is also a problem. Tesla promised to its new customers six months of free supercharging. This not only weighed on profits but also made cars more expensive and therefore the program was ended.

3.    Being too specific

When a customer purchases a flight and can redeem his air miles only at the next flight purchase, he won’t feel rewarded at all, because the actual reward is postponed to a much later moment in time. However, this changes if the customer can redeem his air miles to use them to book the hotel at the destination right away and this makes him feel rewarded. 

4.    Not being creative enough

The classical “Three for two!” won’t impress anybody. Get creative! The more original and special your offers are – meaning the better customer experience you offer- the more your customers will feel attracted to them. Let your customers try out products for free that go well along with their favorite ones.

5.    Giving your loyal customers poor consideration 

The top 20% of your loyal customers are probably responsible for the same amount of revenue that the remaining 80% of your customers brings to you. Why aren’t you treating them accordingly?

6.    Complicated loyalty programs

One feature and one functionality too many will soon make your loyalty program hard to understand for your customers. Don’t confuse your customers and create an easy and clear loyalty program instead.

7.    Addressing single customers groups

Good loyalty programs are inclusive and offer rewards to old as well as new customers, formers customers and even to friends of recurring customers upon referral.

8.    Bad advertising

A good loyalty program which is not well advertised on your website or by your staff is not valuable. A program nobody knows about will not bring the expected results. Everyone should know about your loyalty program and you should advertise it on all channels. Once again, be creative! 

9.    Lack of practicality

Keeping every little thing in mind all the time is stressful. Digital loyalty programs or loyalty cards can be saved on your customers’ smartphones and will make their life easier. They will be grateful for this. 

10.    Ignoring your customers’ data

Digital loyalty programs provide you with tons of valuable data that says a lot about your customers. If you ignore this data and don’t use them to draw the right conclusions, you will end up ignoring your customers. 

If you don’t want to make these mistakes, you will need to look for a partner who knows how to avoid them and at the same time offers the right solutions. mobile-pocket is a very efficient and effective digital solution for this. Learn more about mobile-pocket here.