Digital customer loyalty ideas for small businesses

A key element in encouraging customers to continue doing business with you is a loyalty programme. In our online world, digital customer loyalty can be crucial for a small business.

Most people are familiar with direct or in-person loyalty incentives. But as more and more customers engage online with businesses, managers have to understand how to grow and benefit from digital customer loyalty.

What are digital customer loyalty programmes?

Digital customer loyalty programmes reward customers for their online purchases made from a website, mobile app or marketplace. While it’s usually given for purchases, digital loyalty programmes can also reward online shoppers for other behaviours.

The rewards may come in the form of physical prizes, coupons that the customers can redeem online or an upgrade to a customer club with exclusive benefits. The more the customer shops, the greater would be their rewards.

The benefits of online customer loyalty programmes

What do successful small businesses have in common? They know how to grow their profits. Considering these benefits, digital customer loyalty programmes are an effective way to do that.

Improves customer engagement

Customers are more likely to buy from a brand if they have an incentive to do so. With the right digital customer loyalty programme, customers will be interested in what a brand has to offer and spend more time going through their online products or services. This would also lead to an increase in their social interactions with the brand.

Helps attract new customers

When potential buyers hear about your digital customer loyalty programmes – and they will through social media – they will be more inclined to buy from you. If they're spending money online anyway, why wouldn’t they go with a brand that rewards them for it?

Increases customer retention

With each point or coupon, your customers will be saving on their next purchase. This would encourage them to stick to your brand. In that sense, yes, a digital customer loyalty programme improves loyalty.

Encourages customers to spend more

Digital customer loyalty programmes usually have certain benchmarks. So, a customer would be tempted to buy more just to meet that cutoff for additional points, cash-back or rewards. You won’t have to repeatedly advertise to them to spend more.

Reactivates passive customers

Some customers may have bought from you a while ago and may have gone dormant since then. One of the most effective ways to bring them back into the fold is by offering a reward through a digital customer loyalty programme.

How to build your small business digital customer loyalty programme

Here are some ways in which you can roll out a successful digital customer loyalty programme, no matter what category you operate in.

Figure out how customers can access it

The first step is to know how your customers can access the programme. Would it be through your website, app, text or a combination of any of these? Would they have a digital loyalty card or will they be informed through emails and SMS?

Decide how customers will earn rewards

There are several ways to reward your customers through a digital customer loyalty programme. You can offer them incentives for signing up on your website, sharing their email address, giving personal details like birthdays or anniversaries, making purchases, leaving online reviews or referring their friends.

Select the rewards you want to give

Your digital customer loyalty programme should clearly communicate what rewards the customers can expect. You can offer discounts, free merchandise, gift cards, free shipping, cash-back schemes, exclusive offers or club memberships. But make sure that the programme is easy to understand and enter.

Manage the customer data

Small businesses can use customer relationship management software or CRM to manage customer data. A good CRM will help you automate your communication when you integrate with other software. It will also ensure that you send out rewards on time.

Customise the rewards

The success of your digital customer loyalty will depend on its level of personalisation. What you offer should be based on the purchasing patterns and preferences of your customers. When they get rewards that they would love to use, they will be happy to spend more on your business.

Download Chalkboard: Business messaging on the go

Among the top-rated second phone number apps, Chalkboard is unique because it’s designed for small businesses to not just communicate better with customers but also effectively market their products through conversational marketing.

Along with a highly affordable and easy-to-use second number for work, Chalkboard also offers advanced messaging features. These allow you to organise your contacts and broadcast messages to entire groups. To put it simply, you’ll be able to talk to your customers like friends.

Download Chalkboard and try it now. Your small business will soon benefit from better communication and digital customer loyalty.