SUCCESS FACT: A Wide Variety of Rewards Will Capture the Largest Audience

Today, loyalty programs are a mix of creativity, innovation, marketing and technology that are changing behaviors and driving benefits for both businesses and consumers. But when it comes right down to it, people first and foremost are “gonna buy what they’re gonna buy.” So the best way to engage or re-engage the widest number of members is to have them experience rewards on the items they personally like and purchase most.

Once they are rewarded over time on their favorite products, they are happy and feel good returning to your stores. From then on, the fact that humans are generally creatures of habit becomes a good thing. This is because now you have the ability to see what they buy, when they buy it, and what else they are NOT buying at the time. This is when the door opens to offer them something new and potentially change their buying habits. The change may be to add one more item per visit, add one more visit per week, or even simply coax them into the store. In any case, that’s a change for the better.

Another important element of human nature to remember is that we all like to be entertained and surprised. Repetition of the exact offer, tune, or sweepstakes will make many people stop listening over time. Similarly, having a chance to win a sweepstakes, random rewards, or hit the next point level reward creates more excitement than if the loyalty reward options are strictly one type of reward.

If there’s always a monthly sweepstakes, but it’s changing all the time, then two things are drawing the people in; their hope of winning AND their curiosity. By doing a revolving sweepstakes your program will throw the net wider and appeal to different types of people, who are perhaps motivated and entertained differently.

“How can you fund such broad variety of rewards without costing you your shirt?” you ask. One key is to use self-funding reward strategies when creating each reward. That way you remove the risk of your rewards. Other possibilities for bringing in more reward variety are third party funding from vendors and local business exchanges (they sponsor a reward item in exchange for playing an audio message through the system).

The most successful loyalty programs offer a wide range strategic rewards. If you offer a wide variety of program choices and rewards, your loyalty program will stay fresh and customer interest will stay high. Your members will know they are benefiting from your loyalty program because they are rewarded in a way that THEY personally value. End result: they win and you win.

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