It is a great question that every serious business owner should ask: what are the best loyalty programs available? There are a lot of available options to choose from.
With each loyalty program comes its own set of rewards and incentives. Some rewards programs are more suited for small businesses, some for larger businesses.
The best rewards programs are the ones that are easy to join and require very little of its members. Some retailers offer great incentives and rewards for their customers and have narrowed their focus through the use of smartphone loyalty apps to offer rewards specific to each of their customers.
How do they do this? The loyalty app tracks their customers’ purchase and “learns” their buying habits, then offers them future incentives based on their purchases. Business owners can review data collected and offer “flash sales” with a limited time offer on certain products or services.
Big box retailers like Best Buy and Bloomingdale’s have programs that offer points to their customers every time they purchase items. Bloomingdale’s gives their customers a $25 gift card for every 5,000 points they accumulate.
Every dollar spent gives the customer 3 points when they use their Bloomingdale’s Store Card, double points for buying cosmetics, and Power Points on certain items.
If a customer spends more than $3,500 in one calendar year, they achieve “Top of the List” status, which gives them 4 points/dollar spent as well as free shipping on any item with no minimum purchase amount required.
There are a LOT of women that shop at Bloomingdale’s and this program most certainly helps them save money while they are at it!
Everyone loves Best Buy! And why wouldn’t we? When it comes to electronics, there are very few places that you can go and find EVERYTHING you need as far as electronics, home appliances, and other gadgets. Truly a one stop shop for all geeks out there! (Geek Squad…hello!)
I love Best Buy! I shop there quite often, mostly for video games and music related electronics. I’ve even purchased cell phones and tablets from Best Buy. They’ve got it ALL!
They also happen to have an awesome rewards program in place for anyone to join. Some of the highlights of their rewards program include:
- 1 point for every dollar spent (doesn’t seem like much, but buy a $2,000 TV and, guess what? You just earned 2,000 points)
- Every 250 points accumulated equals a $5 rewards certificate (not hard to reach considering one PS4 game is $50-$70 @ 1 point per dollar. Not a bad program for hardcore gamers out there, which I may or may not be…)
- If a customer spends more than $2,500 in a year’s time, they achieve “Premier Silver” status. With their Premier status, customers get 25% more points/purchase, free shipping and delivery, and they also receive one free visit from a Geek Squad member to their home to help them with all their electronics needs.
- They also have their Best Buy Mobile App that customers can use to view and track their points and rewards.
For the electronics aficionado, Best Buy’s rewards program is a no-brainer! Simple, easy to use and easy to keep track of with the mobile app.
These big box retailers have figured out what their customers are looking for in a rewards program and have simplified it and modernized the antiquated “punchcard” system and made it even better!
Their customers love it and it is especially helpful for the retailers to be able to review consumer data and streamline their marketing efforts even more.
While these big box retailers and their rewards programs may not be practical for your business or your budget, there are definitely things to learn from them that you can then apply to the rewards program of YOUR choosing!
Pirq is another rewards program that is definitely well suited for small businesses and offers some pretty cool features and rewards, not only for the customer but also for the business owner.
Pirq is an app based “punchcard” rewards program. It is extremely straightforward in its presentation for the customer and is also quite easy for the business owner to navigate.
User-friendly is the name of the game when it comes to app based loyalty program and Pirq has definitely carved out a nice little niche for themselves with their rewards app.
Some of the features of the Pirq program include:
- Pirq gives customers a punch on their digital punchcard every time they purchase an item in your store.
- Pirq keeps record of their purchases and allows customers to redeem their punch card for a free or discounted item (whatever you, the business owner decides on) once they have filled the required amount of punches.
- They can keep track of their purchases/rewards from the app and view any special deals or offers you are currently running.
- Pirq includes a VIP program that you can offer frequent/loyal customers special discounts and offers on certain items.
- Pirq allows you to set a timer on certain deals and incentives so it gives your customers a greater sense of urgency to capitalize on the offer while it is available!
- Pirq allows you to review and track customer’s buying habits. You can see what items are trending and offer specific deals on those and other items based on what is a “hot!” seller.
- Pirq is actually very affordable for you, the business owner. The basic package is $30/month or you can upgrade to the Premier package and get even more useful features!
- Pirq does not (I repeat, does NOT) require you to sign a long-term contract. Great news for small businesses!
These are just a few awesome features Pirq offers both you, the business owner, and your loyal customers. And, here’s the thing (in case you’re on the fence still), you really DO want to implement a loyalty program like Pirq!
Why?
I’ll mention just one statistic that simply says it all: loyal customers spend 67% more on average than the everyday “stopper-buy-er” type.
When your customers that are already coming in on a regular basis join your rewards program, you think that percentage might go up even more? My guess is that you might have to start setting up some cots in the back room!
It’s just simple math. When your customer is saving more they are able to spend more. Who doesn’t love getting free stuff? That subconscious message is always present in your customer’s mind and will keep them coming back for more, and more, and more, and….well, you get the idea.
A couple of other loyalty programs that are worth looking into are FiveStars and Belly. When you compare them here or any other articles you find, we’ll let you decide which is the best loyalty program for you.
For instance, Pirq doesn’t require any hardware in your shop/store. FiveStars and Belly do. They have to set up a whole clunky system right next to your POS. We prefer the “no eye sore” way.
You’ll also find the pricing of each program varies greatly. And what’s even better, when you partner with RedFynn you can get Pirq absolutely free for life!
Crazy, huh? Maybe that’s why we’re biased towards them. That and their extreme functionality. In fact, we’re even working with them one on one to help them improve their system! Check them out; we think you’ll love them.
If any of these loyalty programs sound like something you could get on board with, give us a call! We have a lot to talk about.
For questions regarding these and other methods, give us a call at RedFynn! We’d love to discuss these and other customer retention strategies that will help your business really start to gain “lifers”!
Not only can we help you increase profits in more ways than just using one of the best loyalty programs on the market (that’s constantly improving), but we’ll show you how to increase savings, too.
Here to give no obligation, expert advice! Questions about credit card processing, merchant services, or business loans? Give us a buzz!
(888) 510-9871
