Time to Reward

Business 101: It’s more cost effective to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones. We know this already. We also know that retaining existing customers is best done through making them feel they are appreciated, and that their loyalty will be rewarded.

What we also know is that customers want their loyalty to pay off fast. We are in an age where attention spans have worn thin and customers have endless choices. It’s integral that you keep this in mind when building a loyalty rewards program.

How many cards do you have in your wallet right now? How many points have you been earning in the past year, or multiple years, with nothing to show for it? How loyal have you been to the businesses that provide these programs?

In a few words, the Time to Reward should be as short as possible. It should be carefully calculated so that customers are rewarded quickly enough, but you are not giving away too much as a business. Say, buy 10 coffees, get 1 free could be reduced to 8.

The idea is that the rewards must be super attainable for your customers — especially that first one. The biggest indicator of success for your loyalty program is not that your customers earn points with you, it’s that they redeem them. For your customers; earning is seeing, redeeming is believing.