With marketing budgets being slashed in the face of the global economic recession, corporations across the world are looking to do more with less. Marketing managers are streamlining their efforts and are increasingly turning to cost-effective and measurable tools to justify their marketing spend.
This overhauling of marketing activities caused by the current economic climate has brought into focus the need for loyal customers, and hence, the role of loyalty programmes in maintaining the commercial health of a business. The current market has created a tremendous need for cost-effective and easy to use loyalty programmes that can help businesses retain their existing customers as well as attract new ones.
Re-designing loyalty programmes:
Recognising that consumers have become extra cautious about where they spend their money and are constantly looking for ways to cut down expenditure, businesses across the globe are looking to re-design their loyalty programmes to offer maximum value for money. The noticeable shift in customer priorities is illustrated by the fact that while many card members have traditionally used points as a way to treat themselves to a bit of luxury, harder economic times have caused them to seek more flexibility and choice in rewards.
Welcome Real-time has loyalty solutions that allow cards payment businesses and retailers to deliver personalized offers and redemption alternatives at the point-of-sale. This real-time targeted marketing capability helps increase cards and retailer brand loyalty and billings, while significantly lowering the cost of customer acquisition and retention. Companies with such well-placed loyalty schemes will come out of the current economic downturn with a significant competitive edge.
Many organizations are also looking at rolling out simplified loyalty programmes that don’t make a huge dent in their marketing budgets. An easier enrolment process, elimination of membership fees, offering relevant instant benefits rather than benefits based on points accumulation and extra benefits for customers joining a programme during a recession, are some of the incentives that can go a long way in ensuring the continued success of loyalty programmes.
Strategies for success:
In order for customers to be able to differentiate and react more positively to a particular loyalty programme as against other programmes being offered by competitors, it is important to employ strategies such as customer behavioral tracking, so that businesses understand their customers as individuals and recognize their specific needs. Leveraged correctly, loyalty programme members can be the key to creating a competitive advantage when financial stability returns. Some quick steps to make this happen include:
Innovation in loyalty solutions:
Loyal customers are a company’s most valuable asset and to increase their numbers, companies need to take good care of them. Continued innovation in loyalty programmes is essential to an enhanced customer experience. The next generation loyalty offerings will present advantages like:
As the leading global loyalty solutions provider in the payment integrated value-added service space, Welcome Real-time (Welcome) recognises the changing needs of the customers and is helping issuers and retailers across the globe manage and enhance the rate of their returning customers. Welcome is offering unique business solutions that help simplify the process and allow cost cuts with its Welcome XLS solution. This technology-independent solution allows for any type of (payment) card to receive rewards at any point of acceptance. This flexibility will easily meet fast-evolving retailers’ needs such as those related to mobile and internet based payment platforms.
Such solutions are being used by banks to offer points and cash back schemes as well as promotional offers to their cardholders. The rewards are electronically stored and can be redeemed in real-time avoiding processes and cost of regular loyalty programmes.
Although customer-friendly technological innovations and loyalty schemes have made it easier for businesses to recognize the relevance of loyalty programmes, misconceptions about their implementation still exist. Some people still think that maintaining relationships with thousands of customers is a cumbersome process that can only be undertaken by big businesses that have the resources to do so.
However, the fact is that regardless of size, any business can establish a relationship with its customers, communicate with them on a regular basis, and offer relevant rewards/incentives each time they make a purchase, while maintaining a comprehensive record of all this activity.
By Sebastien Slim, VP Product Marketing,
Welcome Real-time: www.welcome-rt.com