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March Loyalty Updates
Loyalty

March Loyalty Updates

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In the world of customer loyalty rewards programs, standing out from your competitors can be challenging. If you're subscribed to the Loyal~n~Save blog, you're a savvy business owner who understands that their rewards program is the most important marketing tool in their toolbox. You're determined to improve your rewards structure in order to best serve your program members, but you might not always have time to catch every article we put out.

Here is a quick recap of all the topics and tips we covered this March. Each post offers a wealth of information to anyone interested in achieving their business goals by retaining shoppers. After reading the following summaries, you'll understand:

●     How to incorporate SMS text messages into your loyalty marketing without turning off your members

●     The unique challenges that liquor stores face when attempting to build customer loyalty, and what owners can do to succeed

●     Why personalizing your loyalty marketing campaigns is a must, no matter what industry your business falls under

●     How your Point-of-Sale can increase customer loyalty and what to do to ensure you're getting the most out of your POS system

As always, we strongly encourage you to read the full articles if you want to get the most out of your customer loyalty rewards program. For a more personalized touch, you can always contact our loyalty specialists for direct assistance with your Loyal~n~Save rewards program.

SMS MARKETING THE RIGHT WAY

Marketing a business effectively requires the coordination of multiple marketing strategies. The most effective marketing strategies include direct mail marketing, email marketing, and SMS marketing, as well as having a strong customer loyalty rewards program in place.

In our article How To Use SMS In A Way Customers Actually Want

we went over how to properly use SMS to increase brand awareness, boost customer engagement, generate more sales, and achieve the ideal result of causing your customers to feel excited to hear from you every time they receive a text message from your business.

First things first, always get expressed written permission before you use a customer's cell phone number for direct marketing. Using an opt-in form as part of your website, loyalty app, or POS will do the trick. Next, be sure that when you contact your loyalty members via SMS, you are informing them of a deal, discount, or special sale that will be of interest to them. This is where personalization really comes into play. You want to use interactive content without texting your customers so much that they reply with a dreaded "STOP".

How interactive can you get with SMS? When you connect your SMS campaigns to customer order histories, you can auto-generate text messages to follow up with customers on their recent activity. For example, once a customer has received the shipment of their order, contact them with SMS text asking them to leave a product review by clicking the provided link. If a customer recently spoke with your customer service department about an issue, you can follow up with an SMS text to make sure their issue was fully resolved. If it was, you can ask them to rate the service they received. The more interaction you automate, the more customer insights you'll be able to leverage in future promotional campaigns.

Specific SMS marketing ideas that we covered in the article included:

●     Welcome Offers

●     Birthday Discounts

●     Special Time-Sensitive Deals

●     Cart Abandonment

●     Order Confirmation & Delivery Updates

SMS can work great for alerting customers to CTAs they might be interested in, such as:

●     Newsletter Sign Up

●     Discount Incentives

●     Surveys

●     Redeem Points Reminder

And lastly, we wrapped it up with a short list of additional SMS best practices:

●     Only use the mobile numbers of customers who have given you permission to contact them via SMS.

●     Make sure your SMS marketing uses as much personalization as possible, and only contact customers when the sales offer or incentive is relevant and absolutely necessary.

●     Automate your marketing campaigns with SMS triggers, and target customer segments to maximize personalization and relevancy.

●     Compose short and sweet messages to get the point across clearly, and always include calls to action with clickable links.

●     Set up automated workflows for shipping updates, cart abandonment, and special occasions like birthdays.

CUSTOMER LOYALTY FOR LIQUOR STORES

Liquor store owners face unique challenges when it comes to building customer loyalty. How do you know your shoppers are truly loyal and not just stopping in your store because it's conveniently located? Can you, as a business owner, influence your customers to buy all their beer, wine, and spirits from your store exclusively? 

There's plenty you can do to secure a greater share of your customers' wallets, which is why we dedicated our second March article, How Liquor Stores Can Build Customer Loyalty, to the subject.

Liquor store owners can build customer loyalty by hosting in-store promotions, using SMS marketing strategies, and enhancing their loyalty rewards programs. Let's take a look.

When liquor store owners create opportunities to interface and mingle with customers, they are able to learn a lot about each shopper and also gain valuable insights about consumer preferences and favorites. This is why it can be highly beneficial to host in-store promotions. Here are three in-store promotional ideas that will leave a positive impression on your customers.

●     Wine Tastings

●     Liquor Samplings

●     Mixology Classes

Liquor store owners who are able to directly contact and communicate with customers even when those customers are not inside the store location succeed at fostering deeper relationships with their customers, especially when personalization is used while communicating. Using SMS, or short message service, to contact your customers via text messages provides one of the best methods of directly alerting your customers to upcoming discounts, deals, and sales. SMS marketing is great for:

●     Personalized Deals, Discounts, and Sales Incentives

●     Monthly Text-to-Win Sweepstakes

●     Loyalty Rewards Program Incentives

You want customers to become so familiar with your brand that they consider visiting your liquor store a celebratory part of their week. Studies and market research have shown that rewards programs are one of the most successful marketing methods among retailers who aim to increase revenue by increasing foot traffic at their location. The more rewards you offer and the simpler it is for loyalty members to cash in on those rewards, the more they will spend at your liquor store. Want to learn more? Read the full article here.

PERSONALIZE YOUR PROMOTIONS

Marketers have discovered the benefits of using personalized promotions. A whopping 96% of surveyed marketers noted that when personalization was implemented during sales campaigns, customer spending increased. The trick is to recommend only the most relevant products and services to your customers. These recommendations must be based on the most valuable customer data available--each customer's personal browsing and buying histories.

Implementing marketing personalization in your customer loyalty reward program can boost program engagement and lead to increased revenue, which is why our third March article was all about Why Personalization Matters.

What can you do to amplify personalization? There are three key strategies to accomplish this--collect customer data, send personalized emails, and use opt-in forms. Let's take a look:

The first key strategy is to collect thorough customer data, but that's not all. You must also analyze and leverage that data if you want to use it to your benefit.

●     Simplify and Streamline Your Customer Data

●     Align Goals with Data, Sales, and Marketing

●     Optimize Your Customers' Experience  

The second key strategy is to send personalized emails. Using personalization with every email marketing campaign will make the difference between sales that increase or plateau, so be sure to take these measures:

●     Personalize by Using Segmentation

●     Personalize by Using Dynamic Content

●     Personalize with Product Recommendations & Special Offers

Finally, using opt-in forms was the third key strategy that we covered in the article:

●     Newsletter Subscription Opt-In

●     Customer Loyalty Rewards Program Opt-In

●     One-Day Discount Code Opt-In

This was a meaty article, and summarizing it here doesn't do it justice, so be sure to check out Why Personalization Matters in full as soon as you have time!

YOUR POS CAN INCREASE CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Ask any retailer what a Point-of-Sale (POS) system is and they'll most likely tell you it's the central component of their business. A combination of software and hardware, your POS system is so much more than a cash register. It's the main hub at your business where everything comes together!

There are ways to optimize your POS system to build long-term and profitable relationships with your customers. In our fourth article, 5 Ways A Point Of Sale Can Increase Customer Loyalty, we went over why every business owner should pay special attention to these five areas:

●     Easy Sign-up

●     Data Storage

●     Customer Engagement

●     Relevant & Personalized Offers

●     Instant Gratification

Your Point-of-Sale system should streamline your workload, engage your customers, and drive sales. Having the right POS solution will not only make your operations more efficient, but can actually grow your business and loyal customer base! If it doesn't, then it might be time for you to look for a new one. The loyalty strategists at Loyal~n~Save love FTx POS Solutions for precisely this reason. FTx's custom software was built by retailers for retailers. We consider it the best POS software tool on the market for:

●     Developing more personalized customer experiences

●     Encouraging customers to engage in new experiences

●     Creating automatic customer profiles

●     Viewing transaction data in relation to marketing campaigns

●     Generating in-store analytics to quantify business performance

That concludes all of the articles you may have missed throughout March! If you're new to our loyalty blog, be sure to hit the subscribe button!

Interested in launching a loyalty rewards program at your store? Contact us anytime to learn more and get started!

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.
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Douglas Nolan
Written by Douglas Nolan

He believes in solving real problems with realistic technological solutions that stand the test of time. Seeing his clients struggle to retain consumers, Douglas decided to help his clients by offering affordable and top-class loyalty solutions. Doug loves transforming the lives of his employees by assisting them to develop a solid blend of TQ (Technology Quotient) & SQ (Spiritual Quotient) to excel in their professional & personal lives.

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