Why you should consider a loyalty programme

If you’re an avid reader of the takepayments blog (if not, where have you been?) you’ll know we harp on a lot about the value of customer loyalty and the importance of building it.

That being said, customer loyalty is not something you can pluck out of thin air or develop overnight, it requires effort on your behalf but trust us, it’s well worth it.

In this article, we’ll explain the benefits to be had by businesses who go the extra mile to foster customer loyalty, and how our POS system tPOS can help.

Customer loyalty - what’s the big deal?

What is it?

Customer loyalty refers to how willing a consumer is to return to a business time and time again to spend their hard-earned cash. 

Typically, customer loyalty is a reflection of their previous encounters with a business - the better their experience, the more likely they are to be back for more.

Why is it so important?

It goes without saying that the whole purpose of starting a business is to turn a profit, right? You do that by attracting and keeping hold of customers who spend money with you and boost your revenue.

Loyal customers help you grow your business faster, bump up your bottom lines, and aid in your marketing efforts.

The benefits

1. It costs business owners on average five times more to attract a new consumer than it does to keep hold of an existing customer, so benefit one is a pretty substantial cost saving.
2. Your existing customers are heaps more likely to try new products and services you offer, 50% more in fact than newbies. So, when it comes to launching your latest goodies, loyal customers will help you get them off the ground.
3. Benefit three is more pounds in your back pocket, as loyal customers spend on average 31% more with businesses per visit than first-time visitors. Why? Because they trust you, the quality of your products/services, and your recommendations.
4. Last but not least loyal customers are a marketing goldmine, they’ll tell their friends, family, and colleagues about your business. This free word-of-mouth referral marketing will drive more traffic to your business = more revenue. 

How to build customer loyalty

We told you it was worth the effort, but how do you get your hands on all these perks? By providing a top-class customer experience and developing a loyalty programme.

The customer experience will dictate the impression your business leaves on a consumer based on their interactions with you and is a huge factor in customer loyalty. There’s heaps to cover when it comes to boosting your customers’ experience, but if you want to learn more check out our guide.

Customer service plays a huge role in the customer experience, and that’s where a loyalty programme comes into play.

Start a loyalty programme with help from tPOS

tPOS comes with a full CRM module that lets you add and manage customers. This can help you build a loyalty scheme using key information about your customers, as you'll be able to:

• Track your customers’ spending, 
• Identify trends and preferences, and 
• Tailor your service, offers, and promotions to their individual behaviours.

Clever, right? 

Not only that, you can gather invaluable information about the customer and build a customer profile that you can use to:

• Offer the best customer experience possible, as well as,
• Provide unmissable upsell opportunities for you.

Top tip: to get first-time visitors excited about joining your programme, consider offering a discounted bill in exchange for signing up, or a percentage off their next order.

Improve the customer experience while you’re at it

As well as helping you build a loyalty programme, there are a ton of perks up for grabs with tPOS, providing a smoother customer experience from start to end. 

• It’ll show you real-time inventory information - no more waiting for trips to the stock room. 
• For those in hospitality, it shows menu information all the way down to the ingredient level - providing accurate and crucial information on the spot.
• Away from your business but want to see how you're doing? No problem! You can log in to the Management Portal from anywhere you can access the internet to look at realtime transactions and who's on shift etc.
• We could go on and on...

Key takeaways

We’ve covered a lot in this article, but the key takeaway is that customer loyalty is super important to businesses and the customer experience and loyalty programmes can help you get your hands on it. tPOS allows you to:

• Manage your customers' details 
• Understand more about your business and identify key trends
• Identify upsell opportunities, and
• Provide the best possible customer experience.

Next steps

If tPOS sounds like the solution for you then getting started couldn’t be simpler - either fill out this form or reach out and chat with one of our friendly experts on 08082 397003.

Prices start from just £45 a month, and we’ll create a personalised pricing package to suit your business’s unique needs. 

You’ll be in safe hands with us, helping businesses succeed is our bread and butter and has been for over 25 years, that’s why we:

• Are on hand 7 days a week with customer support
• Have a dedicated Welcome Team to get you set up and running quickly
• Offer next day settlement*
• Make it easy to switch to takepayments with our dedicated Switching Team.

*This service is available to takepayments Limited customers who are accepted for Barclaycard acquiring services and is subject to Barclaycard’s approval. Next day settlement refers to the next banking day. Your card machine’s banking window function must be performed before 8:30pm in order to receive settlement the next banking day. Transactions processed via Ecommerce pay pages, pay by link and virtual terminals may be subject to different settlement timescales.

Bryony Pearce

Copywriter