09 Feb
There are so many different types of loyalty platforms on the market that it can become confusing as a business owner when implementing the right program. Everyone is so conditioned to seeing what works for big retailers as well, that it is easy to assume that what works for them will work in the SMB world…wrong. Let’s have a look at some of the misconceptions happening in the SMB loyalty space.
Customers love marketing emails
No…they really don’t, do you love receiving hundreds of emails every day? It takes a very special kind of email to blow email open rates out of the water. Mailchimp says, on average SMB email campaigns average an open rate of 21.53% and that’s by creating outstanding email campaigns, but that’s just an open rate. For a customer to actually take action on this email is far less. Think before you implement a loyalty program that focuses purely on email and email marketing campaigns, as you may not see the return on investment you are looking for.
Customers will do anything you tell them to do
Wrong again, it’s incredibly hard to get a customer to behave in a certain way, so don’t leave it up to them. There are plenty of loyalty programs that require a customer to take action in signing up to a loyalty program. They may have to go to a website and sign up or keep a paper or plastic card in their wallet or it may even be scanning a QR code when they arrive in-store. Think about the customer and how much of an inconvenience this is for them. The best advice is removing the friction from the sign-up process and doing it for them, that way you stay in control & don’t leave it up to them to decide.
Birthday offers will generate a tonne of revenue
Totally false again! We’re not saying it’s going to be a total flop but think about what you personally do on your Birthday. You either celebrate with your loved ones maybe have a party at home and in most cases, your friends will take you out for dinner to a place that they think is nice or to your favourite restaurant. In any of these cases, your small business will probably lose out. Now think about it again, is it really worth running Birthday offers in-store?
Reminder: Focus your energies on the things you can control & don’t leave the rest up to chance
SMS marketing works!
This is only half true, it certainly works but remember the saying “too much of a good thing is bad.” SMS campaigns work because they are short, snappy and grab a customer’s attention immediately but if you bug a customer with predictable and constant SMS messages, all you are going to do is make them “opt out.” Make it exciting and keep promotional campaigns between 2 – 4 times a month.
