Customer Loyalty and Loyaltymaster F.A.Q.s

Do you have a question about customer loyalty programs and/or Loyaltymaster?

If so, you are at the right place.

What is a Customer Loyalty program?

One of the main objectives of a loyalty program is to strengthen the relationship between a business and its customers by improving customer engagement, retention and its customer lifetime value.

The expected outcome is more repeat sales, increased profits, and boosting the value of your brand.

Why does my Business need a Loyalty Program?

There are many reasons why you need a loyalty program.

Do you need help with customer retention to ensure your customers return for more?
Do you want to track what your customers are spending their money on?
Boost your turnover or sales?
Do you need an up-to-date customer database?
Do you need a channel to easily communicate with your customers via Push Messaging, SMS, and Emails?

Customer loyalty programs are about creating brand advocates and stronger relationships between your company and its customers by rewarding them for the above relationship.

It creates a relationship where everyone wins.

What can Loyaltymaster do for my business?

Loyaltymaster can provide your business with data-driven technology that can help you power your customer and data strategy.

Some of the typical use cases we serve:

Help small businesses launch a new customer loyalty program without breaking the bank.
Fixing, replacing or enhancing an existing loyalty program.
You need the latest technology to help you boost your business and build its brand value.
It enables you to find ways to reach your customers without relying on social networks, local advertising media, third-party retailers and wholesalers.

How do customer loyalty programs increase my sales?

There are many ways in which loyalty programs increase your sales.

They can improve the average customer lifetime value.
They heavily increase customer retention.
Your customers support or buy from your business more often than your competition by enhancing your brand awareness.
Building and owning your database allows you to better understand your customers and develop strategies to improve your sales.

Is Loyaltymaster the correct customer loyalty solution for my business?

We take pride in offering our customer loyalty solution, which can fit any small business use case, regardless of industry. You need a customer loyalty program if your business relies on repeat sales.

However, there are better solutions than our platform for large enterprises or multi-store franchises with more than ten outlets.

Why do customer loyalty programs fail?

There are many reasons why loyalty programs fail; here are a few:

It needs to be mobile first. There are over 5 billion mobile smartphone users worldwide, yet over 50% of all loyalty programs are unavailable on mobile.
No personalization. One size definitely does not fit all when it comes to loyalty. Each program should be unique and tailored to a brand’s target audience.
Not flexible. Innovation in loyalty has stagnated. Nine out of ten existing loyalty programs are only transactional.
There is a need to be more flexible in automating the rewarding process of ever-changing customer behaviour and expectations. Convenience is the name of the game.

Some questions you might have:

Is Loyaltymaster available worldwide?
Yes, our cloud-based platform can be used by businesses worldwide and is easily adaptable to most languages.

Can I use my own reward rules with Loyaltymaster?
Our solution allows you to create customized rules, enabling users to earn rewards for any action.

What kind of Reward programs are available from Loyaltymaster?
We offer digital stamp or punch cards, digital reward cards, digital membership cards, discount cards, cashback cards, digital coupons, digital subscription cards, digital gift cards, and so much more!
Changes are that we can find a way to implement the rewards you have imagined.

Is Loyaltymaster GDPR Compliant?
Yes – we are fully GDPR-compliant and secure.

What kind of support do you offer?
Technical maintenance, implementation help, and support are included depending on your pricing plan. We also offer the help of our customer success managers to help you get the most out of your loyalty solution—contact us for more info.

How fast can Loyaltymaster be deployed?
Timelines will depend on your loyalty scheme’s full scope and technical requirements. Still, we can typically deploy a solution in less than a few days.

Which Markets do you serve?
As a cloud-based loyalty engine, we operate globally and can serve clients in any country. Our team is currently based in South Africa and Australia.

What size of companies do you work with?
Our loyalty platform is very robust and was built from the ground up specifically for small businesses and single-store outlets.

Types of Loyalty Programs Explained:

What is a Points-Based Loyalty Program?
This is the most common type of loyalty program that might first pop into your head when you think of loyalty programs. If you are a complete loyalty beginner, here’s the lowdown!

In their simplest form, these loyalty programs allow you to collect points. The more your customers buy from you, the more points they get.

The more points they have, the more desirable rewards they can claim. This incentivises your customers to support your business and buy more to collect more points.

Points don’t just have to be rewarded for purchases; customers can also earn points for referring your business to their friends, colleagues, and family.

What is a Tiered Loyalty Program?
A tiered loyalty program is a type of customer incentive program that rewards different groups of customers differently according to their tier. This type of program creates a hierarchical structure that expects a customer to meet criteria set by the company to receive better rewards. The key benefits of a tiered loyalty program include:

It rewards certain behaviours by moving you up to different levels.

They provide the ability to prioritise specific segments of customers.

Allow you to develop a stronger bond with customers.

Furthermore, tiered loyalty programs tend to be more stable and predictable.

In its simplest form, your loyalty program can have a Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum level to reward different customer groups.

What is a Subscription Loyalty Program?
Customer Loyalty Subscription Cards refer to a loyalty program in which a customer buys a certain number of items (usually the same type) to consume over a set period at a significant discount.
For example, a coffee shop will sell a coffee subscription valid for 30 days.
Option – 1: 5 Coffees for only US 10.00
Option – 2: 10 Coffees for only US 16.50
Option – 3: 15 Coffees for only US 20.75
Rules:
1 – Once you’ve purchased a subscription offer, you can redeem it once a day by choosing from these qualifying coffees: Espresso, Cappuccino, Americano, Caffé Mocha, Caffé Latte, Dirty Chai Cappuccino, Caffé Crème or a Filter Coffee.
2 – All our subscriptions are valid for 30 days from the date of purchase

What is a Digital Membership card?
Digital membership cards are an excellent way to offer extra benefits to your customers/members and create a sense of community. They can be as essential as gym or yoga membership cards but with the convenience of being in a digital format.

What is a Digital Stamp of Punch Reward Card?
Mobile punch cards are a digital version of traditional paper punch or stamp cards that customers can store in their mobile wallets like Google Pay or Apple Wallet. With mobile punch cards, customers receive stamps after each purchase. This is commonly used in coffee shops, pizza parlours, nail bars, and car washes, where customers can buy 9 of the same item and receive the 10th one for free.

Example: Buy 9 Coffees and get the 10th coffee on the house.

What is a digital coupon used for?
Digital coupons are similar to paper coupons but more accessible. They can be loaded directly into customers’ mobile wallets like Google Pay or Apple Wallet.
An everyday use is when customers redeem their digital coupons for free items or the advertised discount. The coupon automatically converts into a permanent digital loyalty card.
Example: A coffee shop offers digital coupons for free coffee on Facebook, Instagram, or another social network. When the customer redeems their coupon, it becomes a digital stamp or punch card. This way, you have a new customer for the price of a free coffee!

What are the main benefits of a digital loyalty program?

The main benefits of loyalty programs include:

Retaining more customers: A well-designed loyalty program can work wonders for customer retention.
You can personalize your marketing: Loyalty programs allow you to personalize your marketing to individual customers based on the data they share with you.
They help to build your brand: A loyalty program is the perfect opportunity to showcase your core values and mission.

Increase your profits: A key benefit of loyalty programs is increased sales, as most loyal customers tend to spend the most.

How do you personalise and customize your Loyalty program with Loyaltymaster?
There are lots of great ways in which you can personalize a loyalty program.
Loyalty program name: Make sure your brand stands out with a unique name.
Create your own named loyalty tiers: If you’re introducing tiers into your loyalty program, be creative with the branding. Avoid the standard bronze, gold, and platinum tiers.
Personalized rewards: You must ensure your rewards align with your target audience. For example, giving a free apple to someone who purchases perfume could be better. This is obvious, but I am bringing up the point.
There must be more than one way to earn rewards, not just from purchases. Any customer action, such as purchases, Visits, Referrals, and so on, must be possible to reward.
Ways of earning points and rewards: You can customize how loyalty points are earned and the rewards they redeem for.

What are the best ways for a Business to promote their digital loyalty program to their customers?

There are lots of ways in which you can promote a loyalty program.

Let your staff do the promotion: Instruct your sales staff to promote your loyalty program to your customers daily.
Packaging: For example, ensure your loyalty program’s QR Code is clearly visible on packaging, such as disposable coffee cups and pizza boxes.
Usual marketing channels: Use social media and your website. Give out Digital coupons for Free Items.
Referral: Word of mouth is one of the most important ways to promote your loyalty program.
Business to business: Ensure you promote your loyalty program to your clients.
Dedicated explainer page: Make sure customers know where to go to learn about your loyalty program, which is updated regularly. A web page, as well as small flyers, works the best for this.

Some of the latest technologies used in Customer Loyalty programs.

Card Linking and how it works.
Card-linking technology lets customers link their credit or debit cards to your customer loyalty program. This way, your customer can use this card as his loyalty card, which will always be available when they pay. How many times have you been asked to provide a loyalty card as a customer that you did not have with you, and in the process, you lost valuable loyalty points?

Card linking is the solution to bypass this frustrating stumbling block for your customers and ensure the success of your customer loyalty program.

Receipt scanning and how it works.
Loyalty programs can benefit significantly from receipt scanning, as it provides detailed customer purchase data. When a customer makes a purchase, they can upload a picture of their receipt using the loyalty program’s app. The app then extracts the data from the receipt and rewards the customer with loyalty points based on the program’s rules. This technology also includes fraud protection, ensuring the reward system is fair and secure. This makes it easy for customers to earn loyalty points without inconvenience or hassle.

APIs are not new but can be powerful when used with a customer loyalty solution.

APIs are tools that allow two software solutions to communicate and share information. This means that software programs that are entirely unrelated and different from each other can still communicate and exchange data.
For instance, you can connect your customer loyalty program with an AI service provider like ChatGPT to give it a voice and a unique personality.