Omnichannel Loyalty Programs to Retain Customers

Omnichannel loyalty programs help seamlessly implement retention marketing strategies across online, offline, and mobile channels simultaneously. Omnichannel loyalty programs enable retailers to offer customers a smooth and enticing rewards experience and analyze data-driven insights into their behaviour. Retailers have started to integrate omnichannel loyalty management systems with their omnichannel retail software.

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Loyalty management is the strategy employed by an organization to acquire, retain, and engage customers. Customer loyalty management has become an essential part of any retail business as existing customers are estimated to spend 67% more than new customers.

Efficiently managing loyalty programs provides your business with positive feedback from your existing clientage. Loyalty management solutions help align promotional and marketing activities to encourage repeat purchases. Your organization should be ready to go the extra mile to build a loyal customer base. Additionally, personalized communication and outstanding customer service will help you acquire and retain customers.

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The most popular types of B2C loyalty programs are as follows

• Point Program: Customers can earn points based on their transactions or recommendations. After collecting sufficient points, customers can redeem points for services or discounts.
• Spend Program: Customers receive a percentage of the amount spent back into their loyalty card or account. Hence, encouraging existing clientele to spend more on products and services. 
• Paid Program: Customers can access exclusive discounts or unique services via a monthly or yearly subscription. Paid programs tend to bring in more revenue, but your business's services should be valuable for the consumer.
• Tiered Program: Tiered loyalty programs are common amongst airlines. The number of flights taken or the distance traveled by the flier determines his tier level. In addition to free services and products, customers receive different privileges. 

Properly managing your customer loyalty programs can enable your organization to build a close bond with your existing customers and acquire new ones.

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What is Omnichannel Loyalty Program

Omnichannel loyalty programs seek to engage customers and improve their shopping experience across every channel. Consumers on various platforms, devices, and channels expect a seamless and engaging experience. In today's digital era, sending one message across all consumer channels is not enough. Retail businesses should innovate their loyalty programs to offer customers instant access on all devices, personalized recommendations, and a seamless purchasing process. 

Omnichannel loyalty programs help businesses build profitable sales and customer retention strategies. A consumer survey in 2018 shows that 74% of consumers choose their retail brand depending upon its loyalty program. Furthermore, brands that have utilized omnichannel loyalty programs have seen a 50% increase in their transaction volume. Omnichannel loyalty programs increase GMV by attracting a diverse base of repeat customers through multiple channels and incentives.

Omnichannel loyalty programs feature various innovative methods to engage customers, including real-time POS, wireless E-tags, and card-linked loyalty programs. In addition to increasing customer loyalty to your brand, omnichannel loyalty programs offer data-driven insights. Businesses can analyze consumer behavior and adapt according to the latest trends.  

Restaurants tend to learn from omnichannel data and attract more customers from specific areas. Furthermore, retail brands can analyze what differentiates their loyal customers from guests and implement new strategies. Centralized customer data enables retailers to provide their customers with relevant offers and personalized recommendations. Additionally, data-driven insights help businesses offer appealing rewards to their loyal customers. Countless retail brands have started to attract customers by incorporating their marketing plans with customer loyalty programs.

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Factors Affecting B2C Loyalty

Customer loyalty holds immense importance for business organizations. A hypothesis testing indicates that customer satisfaction and brand image are directly related to an organization's loyalty program.

"It is pertinent to mention that acquiring a new customer costs six times more than retaining an existing one." Source: comsats ‍

Hence, the retention of loyal customers has become increasingly popular. The massive shift to privatization has triggered businesses to seek customer loyalty for long-term profitability. Customer satisfaction is the most important factor affecting customer loyalty. Satisfied customers tend to make repeat purchases and convey a positive message to other consumers.

Customer loyalty depends upon the trust factor between the brand and the consumer. A brand's trustworthiness determines its ability to deliver the claimed and advertised core benefits. After sale services/warranties and special discounts on events offer extra value to the consumer, improving overall customer loyalty. The market has become more competitive, the customer seeks brands that will value him and his suggestions. Additionally, a strong relationship/bond between the end-user and brand plays an even more significant role in culturally knitted markets. Customer loyalty rewards tend to further strengthen this bond between the brand and the customer.

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Examples of Omnichannel Loyalty Programs

Sephora Beauty Insider

Sephora’s loyalty program has three tiers 

• Insiders
• VIB
• Rouge

Customers in the US and Canada earn one beauty insider point for every dollar they spend. The beauty insider loyalty program offers exclusivity to members at each tier. Customers can enjoy the perks, including early shipping, free makeovers, birthday gifts, and free makeup classes.

Starbucks Rewards Program

Starbucks’ loyalty program rewards stars to members for buying coffee and other products. Members can use the Starbucks app to earn 1 Star per $1 spent. The company also rewards its customers for every dollar they spend using its app. Members can redeem Starbucks Stars for coffee, food, drink, or free beverage customization.

Alaska Airlines Loyalty Program 

Alaska Airlines offers a loyalty program to members who fly with the company or its partners. The “Mileage Plan” awards members one mile for every mile they fly. The members also earn mileage for participating in other qualifying activities like renting a car, dining, staying in a hotel, shopping, and more. The airline grants lifetime MVP Gold status to members who fly 1,000,000 miles, which has its own perks and benefits.

Careem Rewards

Careem's loyalty solution is considered one of the best loyalty rewards programs in the country. Careem users can earn reward points from every ride they take. These reward points enable users to get more Careem credits or help others. Careem's reward schemes require no sign-up as they are updated automatically in the app. In addition to converting Careem points to get free rides, you can also use them to make donations to the cause of your choice. Frequent Careem users can unlock the Gold status, allowing them to earn up to 50% extra on Careem rewards.

K&N's Loyalty Program

K&N's loyalty rewards management system offers customers free membership, enabling consumers to earn points through purchases. Customers can redeem reward points for free K&N's products and special offers. Additionally, points allow customers to achieve the Silver, Gold, or Circle status that entitles them to access exclusive privileges. Shoppers can earn more points on each purchase, depending upon their club status. 

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The Features of XStak's Omnichannel Loyalty Solution

XStak offers one of the best loyalty management system, XStak loyalty management solution features artificial intelligence technology that enables retailers to create highly targeted loyalty campaigns to retain existing customers and encourage repeat purchases. It provides retailers with increased conversion rates by running loyalty and acquisition marketing campaigns. XStak loyalty solution is integrable with omnichannel BI, allowing real-time insights into operational metrics.

• Earnings & Rewards Configuration: Configure highly granular location and time-specific points-based reward system for consumers. Also, conveniently set up accrual and redemption rules for earned points.
• Tier Management: Establish tier ranking with specific qualification criteria and benefits. Impose tier retention criteria and expiry.
• Dynamic Customer Segmentation: Run targeted loyalty campaigns based on purchasing patterns and profile attributes. By splitting the customer base, loyalty campaigns can be made more personalized. 
• Omnichannel Loyalty Program: Have centralized access to data across multiple channels, including POS systems, web, and mobile applications. Conveniently analyze this data to understand consumer behavior.
• Dynamic Hierarchy & Robust Multi-tenancy: XStak's dynamic hierarchical structure allows brands to host multiple loyalty programs simultaneously. 
• Fraud Detection: XStak's fraud detection preset enables instant identification and reporting of members involved in fraudulent activities. 
• Run B2B Loyalty Programs: Efficiently run B2C loyalty programs alongside B2B programs dedicated to corporations and banks.
• Analytic's Dashboard: Access real-time KPIs and in-depth reports that play an essential role in any business.
• Point Management: Set up different segments of point rewards and configure expiry durations for specified point types. 
• User-level Privileges: Define role-wise permission to different segments of users within an organization.
• Activity log: Centrally track member and non-member-related events and functions.
• Member Management: Manage members' accounts and activities to ensure data integrity.
• Transfer Points: Enables customers to transfer their reward points to other members. 
• Bulk Operations: Manually send push notifications in bulk with ease.
• Platform Integrations: XStak is integrable with numerous CMS, CRM, and CSS via developer-friendly APIs.
• Receipt Interceptor: Utilize point balance printing on receipts in real-time. 

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How to Create a B2C Loyalty Program

1. Choose a Great Name: Choose a name for the loyalty program that incites curiosity and urges customers to participate on a personal level. The chosen title should go beyond representing rewards and should represent a strong bond between the consumer and the brand. 
2. Create a Deeper Meaning: The program must have a deeper meaning for the consumer and should represent your brand's values. Adding a personal touch for the customer can make your loyalty program compelling.
3. Reward a Variety of Customer Actions: Increase customer engagement by rewarding non-purchasing customer actions. Consumers watching the brand's videos and subscribing to blogs can improve customer loyalty. Also, rewarding customers for brand advocacy like sharing the brand on social media can help increase the customer base.
4. Offer a Variety of Rewards: The loyalty program should offer more value to customers. Points earned can be turned in for free tickets to events and could even be used to make donations.
5. Make "points" valuable: The value of the rewards should match the value of points earned by the shopper. Creating a monitory value of reward points helps customers visualize the rewards they can redeem.
6. Structure non-monetary benefits: Numerous customers seek to purchase from brands having a positive stance on social and political issues. The loyalty program should tap into these values to get customers excited about helping others.
7. Provide Multiple Opportunities for Customers to Enroll: The brand should promote benefits related to the loyalty program on multiple channels. Social media promotions and on-site push notifications are some efficient methods. 
8. Explore partnerships to provide even more compelling offers: Co-branding rewards programs enable brands to acquire new customers and add value to existing ones. Co-branding partnerships allow loyal customers free access to services from other brands.

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Loyalty Programs for Small and Mid-size Enterprises

Although small businesses do not have the same financial influence that enterprises do, these organizations can still efficiently run loyalty programs. Small businesses need to be innovative and come up with unique programs. 

Ideal B2C loyalty software for small businesses should comprise the following attributes:

• Customizable: The loyalty program may intrigue some customers more than others. A customizable loyalty solution can allow a business to run different rewards simultaneously.
• Omni-channel: An omnichannel loyalty management software enables an organization to accumulate customer rewards online and in-person. The loyalty management solution should be easily integrable with any POS system.
• User-friendly: An organization should choose a loyalty management solution that works seamlessly across all customer transaction points. Choosing a chunky loyalty management solution may discourage consumers and harm the loyalty program.

Features essential in enterprise loyalty management solutions are as follows:

• Efficient Data Management: Secure consolidation of data and data integrity from multiple sources has immense significance to enterprises running customer loyalty programs.
• Personalization: The customer loyalty solution should be able to run multiple reward systems based on consumer behavior analysis. Personalized experiences encourage customer engagement and retention.
• Consistency: Brands should utilize an enterprise loyalty management solution that helps gain customer-specific behavioral data from multiple sources. Cross-channel solutions should consistently feed information into different channels.

It is vital to adopt the right omnichannel loyalty management solution for your business. By doing so, your loyalty programs will engage more customers and improve your brand awareness. It is pertinent to mention that being flexible and listening to customer feedback is essential for establishing a successful loyalty program.