Loyalty Updates For November 2021

The month of November is almost over, and just like the changing leaves of fall, it feels as though it came and went seemingly overnight. In that time, however, a lot of exciting ideas and information were shared between our loyal base of readers and our staff here, at Loyal~n~Save, and to make sure that no one misses out on the action, we’re going to do a brief recap of all of this month’s blog article topics, so that everyone can stay up to date with us as we transition over into December. 

Readers are advised to revisit the original postings for a richer discussion of each of the following topics that will be covered in this week’s article. Links to all of the original postings will also be attached to the bottom of this page for easy access to more complete information.   

Topics for this article will be based on blogs as they appeared throughout the month, in chronological order. Beginning with blog number one, our first posting for the month of November. 

Let’s begin. 

Blog Recap #1:  How To Create Customer Loyalty For The Holiday Season 

This blog was all about using different strategies to create customer loyalty for the holidays. Specifically, it discussed the five most important strategies that business owners need to know before creating holiday campaigns, and those strategies included the following: 

1.    Start marketing early (at least two months in advance) 

2.    Ally with charities and non-profits 

3.    Prioritize the customer’s experience 

4.    Initiate programs that incentivize holiday referral sharing 

5.    Reward customers for doing more than just shopping  

Central to the article was also the idea that the holidays are the most important time of year for securing new customers, which was supported by this quote from Braze.com: 

“Users who are unknown to the brand they’re engaging with… 

account for 86% of retailers’ total user base...92% of those 

users first interact with a brand via the web and are 58% 

more likely to purchase from a brand, compared to known 

users, creating the fastest path to growth.” 

From this, it can be noted that consumers tend to become more adventurous during the holidays when stores are most likely to have sales. In most cases, however-- 

particularly with online shopping-- first-time customers do not choose stores at random when deciding to shop at a new location. Rather, the idea to shop at a certain store should be planted earlier, during the fall months, in either October or November; from there, the lead should be “nurtured” until the time is ripe, when store’s are having holiday sales. 

Fortunately for vendors, there is still time left in the month of November to begin nurturing leads that can be primed in time for sales taking place around Christmas and New Year’s Eve. 

Blog Recap #2: 4 Ways Mobile Apps Can Boost Customer Loyalty 

In the second article from our series of November blogs postings, we went over several ways that mobile apps can be used to improve retention and build stronger customer loyalty. 

In overview, we concluded that mobile apps can be used to boost customer loyalty by improving data analytics and tracking, in order to create a more personalized brand experience; we also mentioned that apps can be used to increase customer engagement while creating more convenience and making customers feel special, by offering them exclusive discounts and access to products and information that are only made available to members of a company’s loyalty program.  

Below is a list of the four reasons why mobile apps can improve customer retention: 

1.     Mobile apps improve engagement 

2.     Mobile apps offer convenience 

3.     Mobile tracking can improve data analytics 

4.     Mobile apps can make users feel special 

In short, the idea behind this article was to establish the importance of incorporating mobile into a company’s marketing strategy. As studies have shown, mobile commerce currently accounts for up to 52.4% of all online sales and is expected to grow up to 68% by 2022. 

With greater awareness about the overall impact of mobile on promoting sales, businesses can begin to focus more of their attention on developing better mobile-friendly apps and websites that can allow customers to access products and information more easily from anywhere while on the go. 

Blog Recap #3: 3 Employee Strategies To Recover Lost Sales 

In last week’s blog article (from 11/16), we went over three strategies that can be used to recover lost sales by turning regular store employees into salespeople. In overview, the article proposed the idea that employees can make up unmet sales margins by selling more products, and through a combination of both skills training and offering the right incentives, employees can feel confident and motivated enough to attempt to make more sales. 

In brief, the strategies mentioned in the article were as follows: 

1.     Find the Right Incentives (e.g., gift cards, cash, time off, etc.) 

2.     Turn Your Employees into Brand Ambassadors 

3.     Offer Customer Support Training to Increase Knowledge of Products 

For most employees--particularly, those who weren’t originally hired to be salespeople--the idea of potentially being rejected for trying to make sales can be a terrifying prospect. However, by incentivizing these employees with SPIFs and developing their knowledge of the company’s products through training, employees can be convinced to get on board with attempting to make sales.  

Also described in this article was a strategy for improving employee sales pitches, which involved the use of writing pre-made scripts for employees to read that can easily be delivered from corporate via the company’s POS system. Put simply, this method can help to remove pressure from employees who might be nervous about being rejected and promote upsells that can eventually add up over time with increased sales. 

The takeaway from all of this is that investing in employees can have big benefits for businesses in the long term and a little bit of training can also go a long way when it comes to recovering sales.   

Reflections/ Looking Forward 

As the month of November is coming to a close, businesses have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming weeks, as the holidays begin drawing near. In the last month, we established the importance of building customer loyalty over the holidays, as well as how to create that loyalty in customers (using a mobile-oriented strategy) and in employees (using SPIFs). 

Next month, when we return to posting in December, we’ll be looking at the leading trends of the last year’s loyalty campaigns to learn what business owners can expect to see in 2022; we’ll also discuss how you can accurately measure the success of your own loyalty campaign, as well as spotlight some examples of businesses that ran successful campaigns in 2021.   

If you’re new to the blog or would like to schedule a free consultation or demo with Loyal~n~Save, then please contact one of our loyalty specialists @ https://loyalnsave.com/ or call our toll-free number @ 845-796-9944. You can also follow us on any of our social media @ https://www.facebook.com/LoyalNSave/ or @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/loyal-n-save/ or you can subscribe to our weekly blog to get more useful tips and tricks about how to increase customer retention. 

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog today. We hope to hear from you in the future! 

Links to Past Blog Posts from November   

●      How To Create Customer Loyalty For The Holiday Season 

https://merchant.loyalnsave.com/blog/strategy/how-to-create-customer-loyalty-for-the-holiday-season 

●      4 Ways Mobile Apps Can Boost Customer Loyalty 

https://merchant.loyalnsave.com/blog/strategy/4-ways-mobile-apps-can-boost-customer-loyalty 

●      3 Employee Strategies To Recover Lost Sales 

https://merchant.loyalnsave.com/blog/strategy/3-employee-strategies-to-recover-lost-sales 

This article was written by Loyal-n-Save, an omni-channel customer loyalty solution for retailers looking to increase customer retention and new customer acquisition.