Loyalty Program

How do Businesses Benefit from Loyalty Programs?

Businesses operating in mature markets have a unique dilemma- they have to constantly look for innovative ideas to stay close to customers and differentiate themselves from competitors. The proverbial sword of low margins and fixed costs hangs over their head. And there’s also the threat of the low-price players. When price cannot be a differentiator, companies have to look for other differentiators.

One such advantage can be offered through customer loyalty programs. They don’t just discourage existing customers from switching stores, but also give businesses an edge during a price war. When done properly, loyalty programs can generate up to 20% of a company’s profit. No wonder, US companies spend around $25 billion every year on loyalty programs.

How did Loyalty Programs Start?

A lot of research conducted around the 1970s indicated that suppliers who formed a better relationship with customers tend to have ‘better customers’. Further research also indicated that better customers bring better business. It slowly began as a marketing strategy for small and medium businesses that used their database to monitor and manage customer behaviour.

Modern Day Loyalty Programs

There are plenty of loyalty programs, but most of these can be slotted into two different categories; Standalone and Coalition.

Standalone

The most common loyalty membership today is the standalone program where customers get rewarded for doing business with the company that offers the program. Points can be redeemed only within the range of products offered by the program owner.

Coalition

More than one company participates in this program. Customers are rewarded for doing business with all the participating companies. Loyalty points can be redeemed within all the products offered by the participating companies.

How do they compare against each other?

There are advantages and disadvantages associated with both these programs. Benefits of the coalition program include;

Helps attract new customers

Companies participating within the coalition program get to share and thereby attract new customers. And that too at just a fraction of the cost normally incurred on marketing and advertising.

Costs and risks are shared

Costs to set up and operate the program are shared between participants. This also applies for risks if the program fails to take off.

Ideas and practices can be shared

As partners, businesses get to share their ideas and practices through promotions. The organizing contractor often arranges meets to discuss promotion strategies and ideas.

Disadvantages of the Coalition Program Include:

There’s a reason why coalition membership programs aren’t as popular as their counterpart. The greatest disadvantage lies in the fact that they leave the customers confused about which brand to choose.

Difficult for brands to maintain individuality

Although brands are being packaged together, they’re also competing against each other. They have to struggle to maintain their individuality.

Unclear information on customer database

The customer database is the most important factor in deciding promotions and allotting budgets for the program. This database is controlled by the coalition promoter who doesn’t disclose it to avoid misuse. But without knowing and analyzing customer behavior, companies have to devise their own mechanism to derive customer data.

Problems during redemption

In a typical coalition based loyalty program, different kinds of brands may participate. Customers who’ve collected reward points cannot redeem them as they wish. This is because the redemption value of different brands would be different, and it would be low for high end brands.

Advantages of Standalone Programs:

If retaining customer loyalty is the main focus of a reward program, then standalone is the best.

Program can be identified with a single brand

Customers need not be confused about choosing from multiple brands. They can identify the program with a single brand, thus making brand promotion an easy task.

Exclusive access to customer database

Unlike coalition programs, companies choosing a standalone program have exclusive access to customer database. This helps them analyze their promotion strategies and even budget accordingly.

Consistency in strategizing and marketing

The program is designed exclusively for the participating brand. The company has complete control over every aspect including the rules and regulations related to the program. They even get to control communications related to the program. This ensures consistency and reliability.

What do customers want?

The problem with any good customer strategy is that every company wants to copy it. Almost every company wishes to or has already launched a program. Sadly, most of these fail miserably; not because of a fault with the concept, but because it isn’t based on careful judgment. Every loyalty program should include;

Rewards that customers can relate to

The reward program should offer instant rewards and not expect people to wait for a long period until the points can be redeemed. Customers are attracted to a program for rewards, but only temporarily. In the long run, what matters is that the effort taken to maintain relations with the customer.

Never forget the ultimate aim, i.e. to sustain customer loyalty

Rewards are undoubtedly the end result of every program. But they shouldn’t be the ultimate motivating factor. It is about maintaining customer’s loyalty and preventing him/her from switching stores.

Program suited for different segments

The program should be customized for people in the targeted category. It should identify their needs; study their purchasing behaviour, etc.

Common loyalty programs include offering reward points for air travel, fast food chains, etc. Standalone programs promise all of this and much more.

How Brick-And-Mortar Retailers Can Beat Ecommerce Price Advantage

The online ecommerce juggernaut may seem invincible, but players like Flipkart, Snapdeal, or Amazon have a major Achilles heel. Research shows that exceptional customer service is the number one factor influencing how much a consumer trusts a company, and 75% of consumerssay they have done business with a company because of positive customer service experienced in the past and the experience with buying process

Retailers hoping to fight online giants will have plenty of ammunition at their disposal if they use this insight to up their in-store game. Brick-and-mortar retailers can counter razor-thin margins offered by ecommerce sites through superior customer service. But first, they have to listen to what shoppers need and want, and use this data to propel their customers beyond the lone factor of low prices.

Here are 6 strategies that may help conventional brick and mortar store owners compete with ecommerce sites:

Know your customer:

It is now more important than ever for retailers to take a genuine effort in understanding their customers. I’d suggest that you initiate programs that help you know your buyer and his preferences. Some effective ideas include capturing customer data through CRM practices, a loyalty program, social media strategies, etc. Online companies score over conventional store owners, because they know so much about their customers. But with a little imagination and ingenuity, this information can be collected and used effectively. In fact, large retail companies have already started to implement strategies around this idea.

Engage customers:

Large retail companies have data but they have to use this information to communicate and personalize their relationship with their customers. Personal information about buyers is probably the biggest weapon in their arsenal that could help them handle competition from online companies. Retailers, large and small, can use this data to send information about offers, receive feedback and engage customers. With tools like email, SMS, missed call, apps, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, implement such ideas would be a cakewalk.

Blend the good aspects of online and in-store shopping:

Imagine you are the owner of a retail store and a customer checks in asking for a particular material of cloth. Being an earnest businessman, you inform the person that although the material isn’t in stock, you can get it for him in two days time. Problem solved, you’d say? But wait! There’s more that you can do. You can direct this customer to your Facebook page and tell him that he can choose a color of his choice and inbox the preference to your page. You, in turn would see to it that the chosen color is set aside for the customer. This can then continue as a tradition wherein your customer can order from home and yet assure the quality of the product before buying. Another instance where online and offline shopping can be integrated is when retailers blend in-store shopping and online payment. Apple has already marched towards this end. iPhone customers can scan bar codes of products and purchase them through their Apple Pay app.

Enhance the Shopping Experience:

Installing mobile charging pods, keeping children entertained with a separate kids’ play area, matching the customers pace, etc. can go a long way in enhancing customer experience. The last aspect is particularly important. It is more than likely that your in-store customer has already researched about the product before entering your place. He is already aware of the different models available online and has probably chosen your store because yours was the lowest price of all and also because he’d like to be sure about the quality of the product. Understanding such customers and creating a positive experience for them is important.

Service first then sales:

I recently had the misfortune of purchasing a product through a teleshopping network. Whilst everyone in the company was happy to sell me their product, none of them shared the same enthusiasm when I had to complain about the product quality. If I had taken the pain of shopping through a conventional brick and mortar shop, I could at least visit the place and get the problem sorted. But it’s been a month now, and I am yet to speak to a ‘customer relations person’ who could own up to the problem and offer a solution. This is where brick and mortar shops can easily outshine their online counterparts. By demonstrating to your customers that their complaints matter, you’ve not only earned their trust, but also given them the satisfaction that there lies a solution to their problem.

Webrooming:

Webrooming refers to the process of researching products online and then visiting the store to purchase them. A report by Merchant Warehouse estimates that around 69% of customers with a smart phone, webroom. And to put this trend into numbers, Forrester Research estimates that this trend is likely to result in $1.8 trillion in sales by 2017. There are several reasons why customers prefer webrooming as against showrooming. Merchant Warehouse says, 47% of them don’t prefer paying for shipping, 46% wanted to touch and feel the product before buying, 36% of them wanted the store to match the online price and around 37% wanted it to be easy to return the product back to the store if they didn’t like it. So have a great presence online and on social media and run good offers there incentivizing the customer with coupons to use it offline.

Even in the age of online shopping, consumers want to be able to trust retailers before they buy a product. Retailers can take advantage of this factor by keeping customer engagement at the heart of their strategizing.

The Art of Marketing by using Coupons

Coupon campaigns have been around since the launch of the first paper coupon by Coca-Cola in 1887. The first lot of coupons were distributed on the streets and in magazines and newspapers. Wow! that is a good century-old marketing tool. Since then it has grown in popularity, with it being almost a give in American retail and now a part of the marketing mix of the Indian marketing ecosystem. Since then, however, the coupon has evolved and in the new digital times, it’s become a more effective tool.

Why you should use coupons?

Coupons are an inexpensive form of marketing, nearly half of all retailers and brands reported offering consumers some form of bonus coupon program or gift with purchase. This means your competitors are probably utilizing coupons in their marketing plan and maybe should you too. With the advent of digital, it has now become easier for products in the FMCG category to use pack /in-pack digital codes. You should use Coupons – digital or print to
– acquire new customers
–  increase sales of specific products
– Increase brand awareness
– move out unsold inventories
– reward existing customers
– retain former customers
– up sell a higher margin product
– Increase social media engagement
……..add to it that this is a highly measurable activity

How to use coupons in your sales promotions

Coupons should be used in a way that not only motivates the consumer to purchase the product but creates good brand memories. This way there will be good social media stories about your brand. That’s free marketing for you! This can be done by creating a cyclic format where customers just don’t get price offs or discounts all the time ( this will ensure that your brand is not perceived to be a “discount” brand.

– Run programs with coupons that deliver rewards instead of discounts always.
Eg: A free Rs.200 voucher for online shopping on the purchase of a toothpaste

– The reward should be relevant and experiential.
Eg: Free Movie tickets on purchase of shampoo.  Everybody loves the movies!

– The perceived value of the reward should be high, even equal to the value of the product purchased (not too high if you are an upcoming brand, else it will seem too good to be true).
A known food company gave a minimum gift of Rs.150 on purchase of Rs.100

– Add sweepstakes. Everyone loves to win the lottery. Add a contest with a chance to win big. It always works. A large personal products brand gave assured gifts and a chance to win Ipads and it worked!

Applications of Coupons

Coupons can be used in multiple ways for multiple marketing goals

1. Gift with Purchase
2. In pack /On-Pack promotions
3. Contests and Sweepstakes
4. App Download
5. Online registration
6. Product trial
7. Referral marketing

Coupon Distribution Methods

You can distribute coupons in multiple formats in different ways

1. e-coupons delivered online, in-app, SMS, email
2. Paper Coupons
3. M-Coupons – SMS-based coupons for the segment that is not online
4. On-Pack/In-pack

Making Coupon Programs effective

So we have a great coupon idea with fantastic offers which are bound to attract the customer, but that is not all for it to work. There are  certain hygiene elements of the campaign that you must keep in mind before launching the campaign

• Clear, Concise Text Detailing Offer and Terms
• Ease of use along with a clear explanation
• Product Image and packaging
• Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ )
• Any Necessary Legal Copy
• Expiration Date
• Complaint redressal – Company Name, Address & email

Conclusively, coupons are a very effective marketing tool with a proven model of success. If you have not used it earlier try it with a small budget, you will see instant result. If you already use coupons try out the above to get a better ROI.

10 Ways to Build your Business with O2O – Online to Offline

A Garter Survey says that 98% marketers say online and offline marketing are merging. What does it mean for offline businesses who are feeling that they are losing out to online businesses? Simply put they have to embrace a O2O – Online to Offline business strategy.

What is O2O or online to offline Marketing?

The best & simplest definition is “A business strategy that draws potential customers from online channels to physical stores.” Online-to-offline commerce, or O2O, identifies customers in the online space, such as through emails and internet advertising, and then uses a variety of tools and approaches to entice the customer to leave the online space. This type of strategy incorporates techniques used in online marketing with those used in brick-and-mortar marketing.” as defined on investopedia.com

Marketers of large companies have moved beyond digital marketing techniques and are expanding marketing’s role to create new digitally led business models. The sweet spot of the physical and digital worlds represents opportunities for marketers to apply customer insights to create and test new digitally led experiences and business models. Baidu and Alibaba are doing this in a big way in China while on demand services companies like Airbnb and Uber have made these into unique business models.

But what does this all mean for the small and medium size business. How do they adjust to this with limited resources?

Here are 10 things sme/msme can do to embrace this change and increase their revenue without too much investment.

1. Customer Data

Start collecting data of visitors and buyers. This is the starting point and perhaps the key driver of your O2O strategy. The fancy e commerce valuations you see are mostly driven by data. Merchants need to put in place a system where you collect information such as name, email, mobile number and as you move ahead you can add transaction history and other data points. Reward customers with offers and freebies to share data via website, sms or on paper. A simple tool to start with is www.zoho.com to manage the data.

2. Email and SMS

You have now data of visitors and customers. Segment it. The more data points the better segmentation. This is not very scientific. Just segment it by gender, area, age & transaction initially and then evolve to by birth date, preference, days of visit etc. Reach out to them by email or sms. Update them on offers, invite them to events, and wish them on their birthdays. A good DIY tool for email is MailChimp , ConstantContact. SMS is a very cost effective direct to customer tool .There are local vendors who will provide this service for prices as low as Rs.0.10 per sms

3. Facebook

Most likely your customer is on Facebook. Set up your page and get people to like your page. Keep the page active with 4 or more posts a week. Always use images and if possible videos. Unfortunately, now it doesn’t mean that if you post all your fans see your post. So you will need to “boost” you post for a little fee. Use the Audience feature to add your data on Facebook to get people who already know you. This is another effective way to reach out to your prospects and customers. Based on the size of your business it would be a good idea to manage the page yourself for a while and probably engage an agency when your ROI is up. There are many other tools on Facebook to help push your business. Create offers that can be redeemed in-store.

4. Twitter

A recent study by Small Business Customer website shows that nearly 60% of Twitter followers buy from an SMB. One way to initiate more traffic to your Twitter business page is by integrating a “follow” button on your website. Once your profile becomes familiar with existing customers, you can tweet to your followers about your upcoming product launches or trade shows and encourage them to retweet about your event. You can consider offering special discounts or freebies to your Twitter followers when they and their friends attend the offline event.

5. Instagram

Instagram will soon join the 100 million users club and if you haven’t yet used this innovative visual storytelling platform to meet your business goals, it’s high time you considered it. You can build anticipation among your Instagram community about your upcoming offline event by taking instant photos of your event’s stage being set and so on and post it on the website. Another way is to send exclusive invites to your Instagram fans and encourage them to meet up at your store or on the streets and post photos of them using your products or services. It would be a cool idea to host such real life meet-ups among your online community to build your brand offline.

6. Google – Places and Maps

More than 70% of online Google search activity is related to finding local stuff. And nearly 80% of online local searches on Google Places can end up visiting your offline store. It’s time you considered it carefully to build your business. Here’s a way to initiate it. Make sure you have a 100% score on the Google Places listing by filling all details. Optimize your listing description with product/service keywords. Encourage your existing customers to give good reviews on the Google Places & Maps to stand out among your competitors.

7. Strategic Partnerships

Strategic partnership can jointly benefit you and your partner as you can offer value added services to your existing customers. It spreads the marketing load to each partner while promoting their respective products/services. More importantly, your relationship with customers gets strengthened. For example, if you are an offline music training center you can partner with an online music instruments selling website to attract new students. You can distribute to your existing customers a free e-book or an online demo of your product/service that features you and your strategic partner(s). Make use of exclusive online discounts as a way of promoting your partnership among new and existing customers.

8. IOT

With the onset of the Internet of Things, offline businesses can harness it to offer customers a virtual like shopping experience. Take for instance, a fashion clothing store that makes use of iPad or tablets in changing rooms to help customers request various colors and sizes. IOT isn’t just about increasing sales, but leverage it effectively to boost overall shopping experience for your customers. As an offline business, you can access the same level of information just like an online store to improve your new or existing customer’s experience. One way is to follow up data on your customer’s recent online shopping journey and offer special discount on products they looked online. Your message can be something like, “Hello Jenny, the trousers you looked online two days ago is now available at our store at 10 percent off and its available in three additional colors.” The IOT technology can be harnessed to build better relationships with your customers like never before.

9. Wallets

Digital/online wallets can now be used not only for online shopping payments, but even for offline businesses. You can make use of this trend, whether you have a food store or a cab services company. Give your customers the freedom to pay through online wallets anytime, anywhere. This can result in increased revenue, as your customers will be long satisfied since they aren’t required to carry cash or plastic cards to make payments when they avail your services or products. So whether you are a small start-up or a growing offline business, you have the option of choosing an extensive range of digital wallet services.

10. Loyalty

Simply put, there’s no shopper who doesn’t like to get rewarded. A loyalty program should aim at encouraging the loyal engagement of your customers, in other words get buyers to patronize your business. It can’t get any easier than using the digital platform to promote your loyalty program for increased offline revenue with repeat customers. You can reward loyalty points to your existing customers when they subscribe to your online newsletter. You can also reward them when they refer their social network friends to visit your offline store. Another way is to conduct special online loyalty surveys to know more about your customers’ shopping activities both online and offline to gather valuable data. Just ensure the redeem limit is not too steep to reward your customers.

Following all these strategies require time and planning, get a team to work on these and plan accordingly. Similar to online revenue, offline store can gain more profit and revenues by being up to date. All the best!

18 ‘Refreshed’ Sales Promotion Ideas

Over the past decade we have had the opportunity to work with many of the leading brands across the country, have had discussions with the marketing gurus in different sectors on what common promotion ideas works across any of the business segments. We came up with these ideas, which are NOT new, simply being looked at with a fresh NEW perspective, that are proven methods of sales promotion.

1. SALE!

• Promote it well and go all out to make it heard.
• Give preference to  your existing customers, ALWAYS!
• ‘Upto xx%’ – doesn’t work, be honest.
• Sale must be on everything, not on the limited stuff.
• Dress it up and make it an event

2. FREE

• The free stuff should be actually useful.
• Don’t always give your own stuff free, always.
• No *conditions apply.
• Free stuff should lift your product not degrade it.

3. BOGO / 2 for 1

• Keep it simple.
• Apply it on few items & products.
• Must be ‘limited to….’ quantity, time etc.

4. Contests & Sweepstakes

• Easy to participate
• Have as many winners – ‘Assured Prizes’ – ‘Everyone Wins’
• Make the giveaway exciting and what people want.
• Request an action, get data and use it.

5. Assured Gift

• Add a dash of surprise and excitement.
• Make the gift experiential.
• The gift should have a high perceived value.

6. Codes & Coupons

• Use M-coupons & E-coupons.
• Distribute it through partners to increase reach.
• Use it for acquisition but also for retention, refferal & rewards.

7. Like, Share & Get

• Use Facebook not to show off but to engage.
• You don’t brag, let the fans do that for you.
• Reward participation and actions.
• Have conversations not monologues.

8. Tweet & get Free stuff

• Run contests.
• Reward the 100th, 1000th, etc. followers.
• Retweet followers tweets.
• Reward most retweets, best # message.

9. Pin & Get!

• Run competition – Pin & Win!
• Run offers with powerful images.
• Have great images and many of them on the board.
• Acknowledge and reward regularly for ‘pinning’

10. Refer & get stuff!

• Create a simple and easy to understand referral program.
• Make it worth the while for customers to refer.
• Act quickly on the refferals generated.
• Make sure the reference is rewarde too with a great offer to buy.

11. Deal

• price-off on purchase is mostly the best offer.
• Let it be sizable and above competition in your category.
• Don’t make it too frequently but make it BIG!

12. Upsell

• Offer complementary product or services.
• Time the pitch well.
• Be specific with the upsell offer.
• Make assumptions & suggestions.

13. Reward loyalty

• Doesn’t have to always be loyalty program.
• Reward actions other than purchase too.
• Reward not only with points – acknowledge and make them feel special.

14. Engage

• People love to have dialogues & interactions with the brand they buy.
• Encourage participation.
• Engage everywhere – in store, online, on phone.
• Let them have conversations with the brand.

15. Free Trial

• Works for tech products and non tech products too.
• Free trial is a statement of confidence.
• It works for donut, a software or a car – find a way to let the buyer get an experience of what you sell.

16. Cross Promo

• Align with other brands to reach new customers.
• Offer & get privileges from other brands for YOUR customers & THEIRS!
• Choose alliances carefully and in sync with your brand positioning & target group.

17. Excitement

• People love ‘what money can’t buy’ experience.
• Add a dash of fun & excitement.
• Sports & movies can help make the promos effective.

18. Pamper

• Everyone loves to feel important.
• Doesn’t have to be indulging, could be just acknowledging.
• Let it be more personalised and less automated.

AU Special – Loyalty Program

A Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) headquartered at Jaipur, Au Financiers reaches out to low-income groups, self-employed individuals, First Time Users/ First Time Buyers and others, at far-flung locations across 10 states in India. Au Financiers provides financing in three primary segments –

• Vehicle Loan
• Housing Loan
• MSME Loan

The customers:

Customers from : Rural Areas / Semi-Urban Areas/ Tier 2 Cities/ Farmers

Their Presence:

Au Financiers is present in 9 states – Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Goa , where Majority Business comes from Rajasthan (~50%)

The Need:

Au Financiers did not have a customer engagement program. Its customer segment is primarily rural and dispersed in small pockets across the 9 states and doing traditional marketing is not a cost effective method here. Also, low technology penetration makes it inevitable for Au Financiers to use any form of digital marketing campaigns.

RewardPort’s Solution:

RewardPort offered an exclusive program, designed to make Au Financier’s customers journey as rewarding as possible – AU SPECIAL

• A Program developed on SMS & WEB to ensure maximum participation.
• Customers were offered various (Platinum, Gold, and Silver) Tier’s to marry the different/extreme spend patterns, {High/ Med/Low}.
• Personalized membership cards along Individual Login Id & Password.
• Regional language communication for better penetration and understanding.
• Differential Points were offered to Au Fin customer on (On-time EMI payment, 3-month consistency point, 6-months consistency points, add-on purchase points, guarantor/co-borrower, referral)
• An exclusive reward catalogue that offered unique products/ experiences to redeem points earned.
• A unique offer where Au Financier’s customers could redeem the points earned to pay their EMI’s

Result’s of AU SPECIAL Program:

• Increased sales By Including Enticing Awards
• Increase in Market Share
• Repeat Buying
• Retention of existing customers
• It Provided Vital Market Research
• Happy Customers
• Created brand advocates
• Edge over competition

Planning a #selfie contest?

First let us accept the fact – people love taking selfies! According to various reports, the average millennial will take 25,700 selfies in their lifetime; and about 93 million selfies are taken worldwide each day. People are more comfortable taking a selfie than asking someone to click their picture.

So is your brand doing anything to take advantage of this Social (here-to-stay) phenomenon? Selfie contests ensures the most direct engagement and connect between your brand & the consumer.

When planning a selfie contest –

1. Come up with a great idea; the one that is simple & easy for people to connect with.
2. Ask the consumer to feature your brand, this is a must!
3. Give a compelling reason to participate: reward or fame will work well.
4. Incentivise for multiple actions – Post, shares, tags, likes, etc.
5. For a successful selfie promotion, it should run at least for 30-45 days, to have larger reach among your target audience.
6. Engage actively on all the possible social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others.
7. To gain the trust, pick winners and reward them, EVERYDAY!
8. Make it less cumbersome; don’t put in too many conditions – just click, post, tag & win!
9. Promote the contests, online & offline.
10. If your target group is the youth, play around friendship. If its family then involve the participation of children.

Don’t let your brand miss out on the #selfie phenomenon!

10 Ways to make your Sales Promotion actually Work!

Sales promotions are a great way for any organization to incentivize & reward potential customers and motivate them to make the purchase. The key to a successful promotion campaign is the plan – right from the launch of the campaign until the very end of it.

Once you have an idea for the campaign, you need to work on the following points to make it successfully work for your brand:

1. Incentivization – Changing perceived value of the product.

Incentives are keys for a successful sales promotion as it increases customer participation & stimulates brand interaction. While choosing incentives, you should always think of your actual target audience. They need to be relevant. For instance, cartoon toys for the kids or movie vouchers for youngsters. incentives appeal to your target audience, that your brand is providing a value add along with the purchase. These incentives helps you sell more & gets your customers engaged with your brand for a longer time.

2. Communication – Online & Offline

Today, your customers have become more technology, online & offline media friendly, compared to how they were until few years back. Hence, they can be reached by social media or through internet on their smartphones. Combining the offline & online media is an effective & swift way to reach the target audience.

3. Collect, Manage & Nurture Data

Data collected can help in customer acquisition  & retention. While maintaining the database, unusable data must eliminated from time to time to avoid disorder & confusion. To extract a long term loyalty from your customers, you need to make them realise their importance in your organisation, which can be done through the data collected.

4. Be Relevant

Sales promotion must be relevant to the product & target audience, easy to understand. This increases the probability of it resulting into a sale. It is necessary that the promotion hits customer at a particular behaviour stage.

5. Customize and Localize – attitude & behaviour of the target audience.

The sales promotions must suit the psychographics & demographics of the target audience, well adjusted to their requirements & conduct.

6. Clarify objective & provide tangible benefit – gain the customer’s trust.

The campaign should be able to clearly convince the customer that value received is much higher than the amount spent on the purchase. Be truthful about the objectives to foster a trustworthy relationship. Lay the foundation or a long term loyalty by offering substantial benefits & clarified objectives. The customers like to measure the added value they receive along with the purchase.

7. Timing, duration & frequency – maintain them.

If introduced at an appropriate time, sales promotions can yield great results. Being a time driven economy, in India festivals, occasions & seasons are great influencers for customers. If repeated too often, customers will be unable to differentiate between the added value and the original product.

8. Engage your customer – involve them.

The customers wnats to feel special & appreciated; recognize this need & nurture it to witness groundbreaking results. Engage them with the brand and induce a sense of association & bonding with the product. Appeal them with contests, sweepstakes, coupons & rewards.

9. Integrate with the promotional mix

Sales promotion is an aspect of the promotional mix including advertising, personal selling, direct marketing & public relations. Intensify the efficiency of sales promotions by complimenting it with the other elements of promotional mix.

10. Integrate with social media

Promotions must be run on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & others. This generates sufficient word of mouth to increase effectiveness of the campaign.

Customer Engagement in 2015 & Beyond

A customer is not an interruption to our work, but the purpose of it. There may be a controversy about who quoted this, but the inherent truth in the statement can never be contested. Companies spend millions of dollars every year to attract customers, yet they manage to retain very few. Technology can help to bridge the communication gap between customers and brands, yet it threatens to make them lose the human touch. To quote an example from our everyday lives- how many of us have the patience to wait on the IVR until our call is connected to a human customer service representative?

Here’s what every business needs to do in order to engage customers in 2015 and retain them for years to come:

1. Know your customers and know him well

When Wally Urtz, a store manager at the Food Emporium in Hastings-on-Hudson, a New York City suburb was transferred to a nearby suburb, the entire village of around 8000 people rallied around him. A manager may seem to be an unlikely person to set off such an emotional outburst, but he represents ‘a dying breed that is being replaced by something that people are resentful to and very unhappy about because the human element is missing’, quotes an article about him in the New York Times (October 26, 2003). Incorporating the human touch in our business isn’t difficult. Simple steps like calling clients, sending them letters/emails, or meeting them in person can go a long way in knowing customers and making them feel special.

2. Personalize the experience by using technology to automate communication in a scalable way:

Technology can be used to automate communication. This can be tackled by creating interactive documents and integrating elements such as drop down menus, data feeds, etc.

3. Emotionally engage…its beyond offers and discounts now:

Companies are obsessively fighting the price war, yet customers are more fickle than ever. Only those that can move beyond the price tag zone and create real value for customers can survive. As earlier said, know your customers well. And use this information to surprise them and personalize their experience. A discount driven approach cannot sustain for long, but one driven by customer loyalty can. To be successful in customer engagement, make sure that you tweak your business model to rely on loyalty.

3. Engage across channels:

A typical modern day customer refers to not less than 6 to 7 communication channels before deciding on a product. Some of them include website content, in store, or social media. Businesses should ensure that information passed through each of these channels shouldn’t be conflicting or ambiguous. Technology can help in this regard by standardizing enterprise wide systems, thereby allowing companies to send out branded messages via emails, SMS’s etc.

4. Mobile engagement is most effective…get this right:

Smartphone searches are all set to replace desktop search. Companies are now busy exploiting this trend with location based messages and mobile ads, incorporating mobile SEO and adapting a responsive web design.

5. Reward them for actions…even the simplest one:

Don’t we all thrive on attention? Rewarding customers with small surprises can go a long way in creating brand loyalty and increasing customer retention.

6. Make customers feel like a VIP:

The easiest way to show that you value customers is by being polite. Words such as ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ often seem insignificant until someone stops using them. Get to know customers interests and wants by using technology such as Google Think Insights and include these habits by publicizing and praising them openly.

7. Use technology effectively…build or outsource, but do it:

Technology can be used to get your message across its intended audience. Webinars can be hosted on topical issues, using QR codes, Wi-Fi targeting and arranging virtual meetings are some of the things that businesses can do. If adapting to technology seems an overwhelming task or if you are starved of time, outsourcing is a good option.

8. Use the Internet of Things to engage:

Market researchers have predicted that by 2020, more than 212 billion devices are likely to be connected through IoT. To explain IoT in a nutshell, this is a technology that enables people to connect everyday physical objects to the internet, enabling them to communicate with other devices and even transfer data. With IoT, you’d never run out of grocery supplies because your fridge could be preprogrammed to monitor stock and send a message to the local grocer automatically.

9. Participatory engagement- involve customer in your next product development:

A new product development need not necessarily involve inventing something new. More often than not, it involves modifying an existing product by eliminating its limitations. Involving customers in this process not only results in better customer engagement, but also ensures that the end result is in line with customer expectations.

Customer engagement needs patience and creativity. Creating brand loyalty is the ultimate goal because this is directly linked to profitability. But without maintaining a fine balance, your efforts are likely to backfire, because you may end up overwhelming him. There may be different ways of engaging a customer, but at the end of the day the main aim of every strategy is to create happy consumers who can promote your products to one and all.