Loyalty Blogs

Top Loyalty Program Mistakes and How to Correct Them  

  • Posted on June 18, 2024 by Robert
  • Reading time about 6 minutes
loyalty program platform

Discover the top burning problems with loyalty programs and how to fix them!  

A common scenario: You have put a popular loyalty program framework into action to drive customer loyalty. It has worked wonders for your competitors and helped them bring down customer turnover rates significantly. However, it has failed to produce the same results for your brand, even though you’ve done everything your rivals did to boost customer loyalty.   

We suspect this is a common pain point for many brands that have invested in building customer loyalty. Finding what’s not working might feel like finding a needle in a haystack.  

Can enterprise loyalty software help?  

Let’s find out. Here are the top burning points for every business struggling with establishing a successful customer loyalty program.  

Earning Rewards Feels Like a Chore.   

What’s the point of a loyalty program that fails to make customers feel rewarded? Sometimes, the customer point system can be the root cause behind a poor-performing loyalty program. If earning reward points feels like tedious work for customers, the loyalty framework is failing to engage them.   

Here’s an example.   

An online grocery store rewards 1 point for every $1 spent but stipulates that its customers earn at least 1,000 points to redeem a $10 reward. This turns a rewarding situation into a tedious task. Also, customers must log in to a different portal to see their reward points, and the redemption process is too complex. Any customer would rather pay no attention to the loyalty programs to avoid all the hustle.   

Too Boring Reward Portfolio  

With the basic customer point system, irrelevant deals and offers, promotional coalition loyalty offers, and generic reward catalog, there’s more than one way to put off customers with ineffective customer loyalty efforts.   

A food ordering app offers a 10% instant discount on paying through a new e-wallet. Doesn’t that sound exciting? But it can be a true turn off for a customer. In order to avail themselves of this offer, they have to sign up for this new payment app and go through a dilemma about whether they are signing up for a safe payment app or not. If a brand only features such promotional coalition loyalty offers, customers might find it monotonous and refrain from participating. Rather, a more balanced way to tackle this problem is by finding the right blend of different transactional and non-transactional loyalty benefits to engage customers effectively.   

Sudden Unexplained Changes in Customer Points System  

It doesn’t go well with customers when you go from being lenient to prudent in your loyalty strategy. If you turn the 5 points on every penny spent policy into 3 points per penny, it’s going to upset the customer because they didn’t sign up for such a change. Changing the rules unannounced is a strong reason for customer resistance.  

Instead, you should start with a strict loyalty point system and then loosen up. This strategy automatically instills a sense of reward in customers. If you must make the customer points system prudent, this must be communicated beforehand and in a proper manner. Any unannounced change might upset customers.   

Too Much Generalization   

Offering generic offers to each will turn away a few. That’s the reality of generic loyalty programs. Personalization isn’t a buzzword in the loyalty space. It’s the key to success. If you aren’t offering personalized loyalty benefits to your customers, they are less likely to engage with your loyalty program.   

Offering a generic discount offer on selected merchandise to all customers could turn out to be a fluke. It might succeed in engaging a few customers while ignoring others completely. Data analytics is the key to designing a personalized loyalty program. A robust loyalty program platform comes with advanced data analytics, which empowers brands with valuable insights on customer preferences, behavior, and purchasing history.   

No Buzz about your Loyalty Programs   

Creating no buzz about your loyalty programs will become a steppingstone for failure. There’s no way customers can know about your loyalty programs without proper marketing. Endorse your loyalty initiatives on your website, social media platforms, and through other advertising media.  

You can also invest in influencer marketing and prompt customers to become brand advocates through social media trends.  

Using Outdated Loyalty Concepts   

What worked once upon a time might not work today. Customer needs and preferences are evolving with time. Issuing discount coupons on in-store purchases has been one of the traditional ways to build customer loyalty. However, customers are on the lookout for more. Omnichannel loyalty is a rather new but successful loyalty program that allows customers to seamlessly redeem their reward points and offers across different platforms. Imagine a customer who receives discount coupons on an online purchase through an app and gets to redeem them in a physical store. These seamless redemption options engage customers effectively.   

Tech-Deprived Loyalty Approach  

It’s the age of digital solutions. Customers want ease in everything they do. If your customer point system isn’t supported by advanced technology, customers tend to go for other brands that are. Enterprise loyalty software that is enriched by advanced features like gamification, instant gratification, hyper-personalization, AI support, and easy redemption is widely appreciated by customers.   

If you already have a loyalty program platform in place but are failing to produce the desired results, you must migrate to a better tech solution.  

One Solution to Every Loyalty Miss  

Investing in advanced enterprise loyalty software can address these common loyalty issues effectively. This is a tech era where every business is moving their base online to engage customers efficiently. By partnering with a leading loyalty program platform like Novus Loyalty, you can experience a tangible increase in customer retention.   

Novus Loyalty is one of the leading loyalty management solutions that offers SaaS and enterprise loyalty software to meet diverse loyalty needs. Book a demo today.   

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