In today’s economic climate, it is getting increasingly difficult for small businesses to gain and retain valuable customers. Many merchants are cutting back on anything they feel is optional, including critical business initiatives like print advertising, promotions, trade show attendance and direct mail. This leaves businesses with a problem: how to effectively communicate to customers that they WANT and NEED them? Loyalty card marketing is one answer that many merchants may not have considered.
The concept of adding a gift card to your business has been well-embraced, as gift cards were the most asked-for gift item of the past holiday season. What many small businesses may not be familiar with, however, is the strong results you can see with a loyalty campaign. It may cost up to 10 times the expense to add a new customer than it does to retain a current one. With that in mind, more effort should be focused on keeping your current customers returning. Enter loyalty card marketing.
Loyalty card programs have simple marketing concepts at their core: providing incentive and motivation to your existing customer base to do more business and to provide them with something of added value. An ideally designed loyalty card program will not only give your customers that extra value, but it will also provide you with something of value — insight into the buying habits and purchase patterns of your best customers.