Delivering an unmatched customer experience (CX)  is crucial to retention, and adding a loyalty program to your CX strategy can help create consistently high-rated experiences.

Disruptive brands have the opportunity to reframe how individuals interact with technology, but providing innovative solutions doesn’t automatically equal loyal customers. Delivering an unmatched customer experience (CX)  is crucial to retention, and adding a loyalty program to your CX strategy can help create consistently high-rated experiences. 

Why Offer a Customer Loyalty Program?

The worldwide customer loyalty management market is valued at 5.5 billion U.S. dollars and is expected to reach over 24 billion by 2029. This speaks to how valuable a customer loyalty program is, and why over 90% of businesses have some type of loyalty program. 

Turning one-time customers into lifetime brand ambassadors should be a priority. Retaining customers delivers a higher ROI than acquisition  By increasing retention by 5% you can expect a 25% revenue increase. Loyalty programs can help drive retention and sales by increasing the frequency that customers spend with a company, and how much they spend. 

To be successful, though, customer loyalty programs have to be executed correctly. Simply having one isn’t enough to reap the rewards. Today’s customers have high expectations and many loyalty programs fail to meet or exceed them. 

What does it take to create a program that benefits businesses and customers? Here are the 3 keys for disruptive brands to focus on when building a loyalty program: 

1. Give customers the rewards they want

The biggest reason customers reported when leaving loyalty programs was a lack of value. Saving money is critical for customers. Instead of offering prizes and other things that are either hard to attain or hard to use, reward them with discounts, freebies, and special members-only offers. This will encourage them to spend more and return more frequently. 

2. Make it omnichannel

Today’s customers expect flexibility, especially with loyalty programs. That’s why offering omnichannel support is essential for increasing accessibility and delivering better experiences. Providing options like live chat, self-service, and in-app support and rewards redemption is an excellent way to adapt to their preferences.

3. Provide outstanding support

Reward your customers with a higher level of service through dedicated loyalty member support. For example, have a self-service voice option that makes it easy for people to learn about their rewards and access expedited service if needed. 

Get the Most Out of Your Loyalty Program

To sustain growth, you need to focus on fostering long-term relationships. A loyalty program that rewards customers at every step of their journey is the best way to build connections. Hyper-personalization, omnichannel support, and audience-specific rewards all drive value and strengthen bonds. 

Automation and generative AI technology can help create a loyalty ecosystem built on these elements, leading to consistently rewarding experiences. IntouchCX is a leader in future-led customer loyalty program solutions. Read more about how we transform customer retention now.