Why print loyalty cards for your business?

Are you a business owner looking for another way to reach out to current and prospective clients? Loyalty Cards are a great way to reach out to those who are faithful to your brand, encourage new customers to come back and even advertise your company.

Print loyalty cards for your business and you’ll discover just how they can offer new opportunities to promote your products or services and develop greater rapport with those who give you their custom.

1. Reward customers

Attracting customers through the door is hard enough, and even once you tackle that feat, getting them to come back can be a significant challenge. Research shows that 45% of first time customers don’t go on to purchase again from a business they’ve visited.

Even those who have come back a few times may be difficult to retain – brand loyalty is at an all-time low amongst certain demographics. As a result, smart business owners are looking for ways to say thanks to those who do return and keep them coming back.

Loyalty cards are a great way to encourage and reward repeat business. By providing practical, tangible reasons for continuing to purchase a specific company’s products or services, consumers are drawn to return.

2. Provide options

Far more than just offering a free coffee, loyalty card schemes present business owners with the chance to offer a wide variety of rewards to their faithful clientele. Some examples include:

• Percentage discounts on services costing more than a specified amount
• Special pricing on key treatments or services
• Free “treats” like a drink or a dessert
• Special discounts in tiers for different levels of loyal customers
• The option to skip lines or gain priority of other clients for cardholders

3. Win back defected customers

It’s bound to happen, regardless of what your business is or how much care and attention you put into it – your competition opens up in the area, and a few clients slip away and check them out. Chances are, if you offer great products, prices and customer service, it’s just curiosity that has sucked them in and a few will likely trickle back.

In such a tight economy, however, you can’t afford to lose any of your clients, and should be focused on retaining as many as possible. Why not print loyalty cards and send them to a few of your top customers, if you feel they may be tempted by your competitor or you’ve noticed they haven’t been in as much lately?

Loyalty cards are an effective tool to bring straying customers back into the fold – and if you have a programme set up in advance, they’re also a great way to track customers and see who “jumps ship” when a competitor opens up shop nearby.

4. Build relationships

Print loyalty cards are great starting point for developing rapport. Pinpointing and thanking your best customers will make them feel recognised and appreciated, and the perks they’ll receive will likely do more than just entice them to come back.

One of the best things that can happen, marketing-wise, is that those faithful and frequent customers become brand advocates; people so happy with your products or services that they tell their friends and family members. And these days, word of mouth comes in much more public forms – recommendations are often given via Facebook, Twitter and even photos on Instagram.

5. Generate buzz

Once customers start redeeming their rewards and experiencing the benefits of your print loyalty cards programme, they’ll get talking. Enthusiasm and engagement with your brand will increase, and those aforementioned “brand advocates” will feel a renewed sense of excitement about what you’re offering to them.

This is especially true if your loyalty scheme has an air of exclusivity to it. If there are tiers of involvement or it’s only available for those who purchase a certain amount, then a sense of desire can be created not just for your company but for the loyalty card itself.

6. Help with market research

The other side of business cards is how they benefit the retailer or service provider who has cleverly offered them up to their customers. Not only do they help bring customers through the doors and encourage sales, but they offer valuable information to the company itself.

Print loyalty cards for your clients and the insight you’ll gain from the programme will more than make up for any discounts or freebies you give out. Loyalty cards will allow you to gain information on your customers’ buying habits, which is excellent for targeting them with tailored marketing.

That insight will also help you service your clients more effectively, by revealing what is most important or popular with them. The data you’ll receive from monitoring the effect of your print loyalty cards should be kept in mind when selecting stock lines, planning your merchandising techniques, deciding which meals or services to cut from a list or even training staff in how to serve people.

Loyalty cards are ideal for structuring prices, too. You’ll learn who buys more (or less) as your pricing changes or promotions are offered. Furthermore, loyalty cards can help businesses to identify changing needs, trends and buying patterns.

The key to using print loyalty cards effectively is to have a clear objective in mind before you start handing them out. Are they just for those who visit the most often? Do you want to use them to create general awareness of your brand, increase sales or bring in more traffic? Know what your loyalty programme should accomplish from the start, and you’ll be able to make the most of your efforts.