Introduction
Using loyalty programmes can be a great way to boost your business, but it's crucial to know how loyalty should be viewed (and how it should not), Hint: it is not simply discounting, or even just rewarding good customers!
How to use loyalty, for special promotions.
If you would like to know more about loyalty, how to think about it and how to best use it read this article.
This article is about using loyalty as a promotional tool. A loyalty programme is of course a type of promotion, but it’s running constantly and typically without exceptions. Customers receive a set amount of dollars (or points) regardless of what is bought or when they shop.
This feature is about adding a promotional element on top of a standard loyalty programme. For example, ‘get double loyalty rewards this weekend only on item or category xyz’.
The benefits of this are that it keeps promotions within a tidy integrated loyalty programme which is more effective than flat discounting, especially if customers value your loyalty rewards.
A quick look at the feature
The loyalty promotions feature is located under the ‘Promotions’ tab in the back office and has been built in the new mobile friendly interface.
The promotions system allows you to set a start and end date for a promotion and can be applied to specific categories or items.
Website discount code promotions are already part of the promotion system (see more about them here). Loyalty as a promotion option is now also available.
If you are not using the CirclePOS loyalty system you will need to enable it to take advantage of loyalty promotions. CirclePOS uses a dollar based system (rather than points) to make it simple and transparent for customers (everyone knows the meaning of a dollar). Typically shops set loyalty at 5 - 10%, so for every $100 worth of books purchased customers will have $5 - $10 added to their loyalty accounts to be used in the future.
A loyalty dollar promotion would override this. For example you might want to run a double points promotion one weekend and offer everyone 20% over this one weekend. During this weekend customers would get $20 for every $100 they spend.
Loyalty dollar promotions work across the system, website, POS and back office. The website checkout process shows both what customers will earn on the purchase and what is in their account. The POS tells staff what a person has in their loyalty account so customers can decide to use it in the current transaction or save it for later.
How to use loyalty promotions in your bookshop
Loyalty promotions are an effective additional marketing tool that allow you to reach out to your customers, and reward them for returning to your bookstore when they may not have otherwise. Loyalty promotions can target customers when you need them the most; It could be a slow month or a special event like Boxing Day or Black Friday. The benefits are that you are not immediately sacrificing revenue (like you do with discounts) and only do so when the customer returns, in which case they often spend more anyway.
Conclusions
Used correctly, loyalty is a great way to grow and better serve your customer base. The ability to use loyalty as a special time-bound promotion adds another option to the marketing toolbox. Loyalty promotions give stores more flexibility with their promotions, along with an additional reason to engage customers, and bring them back into the store. It is also integrated into an existing system, making it easily understandable for customers and requiring no additional effort from staff.
See other features that sets CirclePOS apart as a management system for independent booksellers. Or read more news from CirclePOS and the industry
If you would like to learn more about CirclePOS, email sales@circlesoft.net or book a demo