July 15, 2023
The term customer loyalty means the chances of the customer returning to repeat the use of the services provided by the company, re-purchasing products of the same brand, or recommending his social circle to try this brand. This behavior of many customers is the result of the customer’s satisfaction with the company or brand and his belief that the product offered to him is commensurate with his needs and expectations in terms of price, quality and benefits, in addition to the credibility and trust of the company or brand.
Customer loyalty is the frequency of their dealings with the brand and the continuous use of its services. As for the term customer satisfaction, it is the measure that determines the extent of customer happiness and satisfaction with the company's products or services, as well as its capabilities and capabilities. However, customer satisfaction is not a prerequisite for the customer to have loyalty to this brand or company. Some customers may continue to deal with the brand for a specific product only and not because they have loyalty to this brand. The types of customers for brands are classified into three sections:
1. A marketing customer: This customer will recommend his friends and family to try the products offered by the company or brand and benefit from its services.
2. Neutral customer: This customer may be satisfied with the brand or its products, but loyalty to the brand does not constitute a large percentage for him. If he finds a better value or price with a competitor, he will not hesitate to buy and benefit from it.
3. Critical customer: Unfortunately, this evaluation is considered the most common, as many customers may tend to publish a bad evaluation about the brand or company and its products and harm its reputation.
Customer loyalty is one of the priorities for establishing marketing strategies for the brand, so that its impact will be of paramount importance for its long-term continuity and continuing to attract new customers, as well as helping the brand to develop and improve its performance and customer experience, and the importance of customer loyalty can be identified through five points Main:
1. Loyal customers who repeat business and benefit from the brand or company's products and services
2. Increase and frequency of purchase increases revenue
3. Loyal customers are brand ambassadors
4. Loyal customers defend the brand against competitors
5. Obtaining valuable and useful opinions to develop the brand
The products offered by the brand or the company play their role in terms of attracting and influencing customers, but customer satisfaction with dealing with the brand may be affected by either an increase or a decrease through several factors, which will affect their loyalty, there are seven factors that may affect along with the products The services provided:
1. Convenience, ease of access, and availability: When the customer's access is easy and quick to the brand's products and services, this will result in customer satisfaction and reflect on his loyalty.
2. Matching the expectations of the customer: The brand must ensure that the services and products it markets for will meet the expectations and aspirations of the customers that will be formed based on the advertisements made by the brand.
3. Customer service: Many customers find that their experience with brands does not begin or end with purchasing the product or benefiting from the services provided. Rather, their experience begins with the service provided by the individuals working for the company, and also ends with this service, whether it is pre-sales service, consulting and answering questions. Customers or assistance services at the time of purchase, as well as services such as selling and communicating with customers to obtain their opinions and information about the product or service, and this will, accordingly, involve customer satisfaction, which leads to their loyalty.
4. Formation of the personal relationship between customers and the brand: Effective communication with existing customers and asking for their opinion about the products and services provided to them makes them feel that they are of importance to the brand and success partners and progress to it, which is due to their satisfaction and loyalty to the brand because it has cared for them and appreciated their opinions and this will lead them to benefit from the services and renewable products to give their opinion about them and recommend those around them from family and friends to try them
5. Rewards offered by the brand to its customers: Having rewards offered specifically to customers of the brand or company makes their personal experience closer because through these rewards they feel the brand's interest in them and its search for their satisfaction and appreciation.
6. Brand reputation: Maintaining the brand’s reputation in the market has always been of high importance, not only to the brand itself, but also to its customers as well, because it is part of their daily lifestyle, and when their association and loyalty is higher for the brand, the impact of its reputation affects them, which affects satisfaction. About them they have
7. Spread among members of the community: The greater the spread of the brand’s products among the members of the community who surround the customers, or the greater the number of beneficiaries of its services, this is due to the satisfaction of the customers, because this means continuous quality and trust not only by them, but by all members of society.
Customer loyalty is completely different from customer satisfaction when we talk about how to measure it. Measuring it is difficult because it is a personal matter that varies from one customer to another and from one brand to another. Loyalty also depends on prior thinking about what you may get from adding value to your company or brand through each customer and what the long-term impact might be on them. Although measuring loyalty may be difficult, there are many methods that help the brand raise the loyalty of its customers, regardless of their classes and types, and one of these methods is loyalty programs.
Loyalty programs are a strategy designed to maintain the customers of the brand or company by offering special benefits such as discounts, coupons, gifts and exclusive products, and when the brand develops a strategy to acquire customers or end its inventory by offering discounts, this is a superficial form of rewarding customers . However, loyalty programs are specially designed to meet the needs of customers and meet their expectations in a way that suits each of them individually. where I am
1. Loyalty programs are targeted and intentional: when you design a loyalty program based on providing personal benefits and discounts, you will have a clear picture of which of your customers will offer these benefits, why and when, which will facilitate building a long-term relationship between the customer and the brand more than just buying and selling.
2. Loyalty programs are sustainable: offering discounts is an easy way to attract customers, but it is considered a component of a bad habit they have so that they will stop buying until you start offering discounts, discounts again, and so on.
On the other hand, having a loyalty program, your customers will feel that you value them and that they are part of your brand system, which will make them come back again to buy even if there are no discounts and discounts.
3. Loyalty programs meet different needs of customers: While discounts and discounts meet customers' financial needs, the presence of customized and carefully designed loyalty programs will meet several other needs of the customer, such as appropriateness of his needs at the time he prefers, productivity, and the appreciation he will feel from the brand, which will be reflected It is positively associated with the mark
The presence of loyal customers greatly affects the success of the brand or company, so that the lack of happy customers who keep returning and buying every time from your store or company will be difficult for the brand to continue and succeed to thrive. As for new customers, it is costly to try to keep them, and they will not buy from you as loyal customers will do
Here lies the importance of loyalty programs, as they help improve the customer’s relationship with the brand and make it long-term and personal, which will make these customers recommend their surroundings and their social circle to benefit and buy from this brand, which will be reflected in attracting new customers who benefit from the loyalty programs it offers. The brand, as studies have shown that: 16% of customers who know about the brand or company from their friends and family deal with it and benefit from its products and services for a longer period, and that 84% of other business owners will start the process of buying and benefiting from the products and services of your company through a recommendation Their friends talking about your brand. Studies also prove that 83% of customers confirmed that they would recommend to their friends and family to deal with companies and brands that they trust.
The type of project, its size, and the product it provides or service affects the type of loyalty programs that the brand will offer to its customers, and what should always be one of the priorities when designing loyalty programs is to improve the customer experience and continue to improve it through loyalty programs and through customer aspirations and their satisfaction For this experience, customers are not only looking for the cheapest prices always, but their experience with the brand, its products and services affects their loyalty to it, and loyalty programs are one of the main factors that help improve this experience and thus customer satisfaction, which will increase his loyalty rates. Loyalty is as follows:
It is one of the most widely used loyalty programs, perhaps because it is one of the easiest loyalty programs to design and implement. This program depends on the customer purchasing a certain number of products and obtaining another product for free or obtaining a special discount. It is important to keep the customer always interested and excited about the upcoming reward, and to surprise him with frequent and varied discounts
This program is very similar to (the points collection program). When the customer spends a certain amount to buy a brand's product or benefit from its services, this amount will be returned either with discount coupons, or with a cash amount equal to the amount that he paid, and he will not be able to use it except by purchasing a product Another of the same brand or benefit from its services
This program is one of the methods used by brands to activate rewards for customers and loyalty programs, so that they distribute printed cards and stamp this card every time the customer purchases a product or takes advantage of one of its services, and after the customer obtains the full number of stamps, he is rewarded with a product another or a specific service. Although this method is considered one of the old ways, and some small shops still use actual papers, some brands have moved to a more advanced electronic method that works with the same idea and method, which makes it similar to (a cash collection program).
When you start designing your loyalty program, it is important that you identify several important things that relate to your customers and how your loyalty program affects their loyalty and satisfaction with the customer experience with your brand. It is also important to follow some basics that will make your program sufficiently intriguing with your customers. appropriate to the diversity of your existing customer base and the customers that may come through them. The following steps are essential when starting to design your brand loyalty program:
1. Make the loyalty program meaningful: Many customers are skeptical about loyalty programs and see it as a way to get them to spend more money and buy more (which is true for many brands), but you must make the loyalty program more meaningful than offering discounts and discounts, that Be of moral value to your customers
2. Reward your customers constantly: One of the things that make your loyalty program effective is rewarding your customers even when they don't make a purchase, for example: a customer who subscribes to your brand's website, or a customer who constantly browses products through the application, or even a customer who shares your products Through their social media, all of these customers are showing a sign that they are connected and loyal to your brand.
3. Make sure to diversify the rewards: many customers are not looking for discounts or reductions only to participate in your loyalty program, the variety of rewards offered by the program is very important, for example, customers who reach a certain amount of spending and purchase can transfer their points in the program Rewards for tickets to an event, donation to a charity of their choice, or the purchase of exclusive products from your brand.
4. Make the points valuable: When you ask your customers to subscribe to your brand's loyalty program, make their participation return to them distinct rewards that are worth the time and money they will spend when subscribing to this program. For example, show your customers a metric that tells them what they will get when they spend a certain amount of money or buy a certain amount of your brand.
5. Offer non-monetary rewards to your customers: Many customers are interested in the existence of a valuable and non-profit aspect to the brands they deal with and feel belonging to, as two-thirds of customers spend more money and repeat purchases from brands that have human and moral values similar to theirs, for example The Half Million Café brand donates one riyal for every purchase to the Insan Association
6. Provide many opportunities for your customers to participate in the loyalty program: When you launch the loyalty program for your brand, keep reminding your customers to participate in it, and remind them of the total points they have and how they can get more.
7. Offer rewards in partnership with other brands: Many loyalty programs offer different rewards for brand products, through partnership with other brands, for example, the Saudi Telecom Company returns 20% if payment is made using STC cards.PAY in the application ready
Many companies have been using loyalty programs for decades, and they have become an example to follow for those who want to design a loyalty program for their brand or company, and these are some examples of the most successful of these programs and their effectiveness and customer engagement with them. Local, as well as one of the most well-known programs is (Qitaf program), which was designed by the Saudi Telecom Company for its customers. Banks around the world are also famous for their rewards programs. Al-Rajhi Bank offers its customers (a reward program) that gives them many and varied options to redeem their points, as well as what is offered by a group Alshaya Trading through the (Shukran) program, and the rewards program for Jarir Bookstore
Likewise, the (Bonat) program offered by Bonat Information Technology Company, which is considered a complete loyalty system that is not limited to providing rewards only, but also provides you with a control panel that analyzes customer data, a comprehensive and integrated analysis, in which it tells you about the total visits and the general evaluation of your brand, types of customers, total used and active rewards, pickup requests, and a lot of analytics that benefit your store from a marketing point of view and to improve the customer experience; In addition to the tools that enable you to interact and communicate with your customers. There are also tools to gift your distinguished customers, which contributes to increasing customer satisfaction
This blog included detailed information about customer loyalty, which means the chances of the customer returning to repeat the use of the services provided by the company, repurchasing products of the same brand, or recommending his social circle to try them, as well as showing the difference between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, as customer satisfaction is a measure of happiness Customers about a product or service provided by the brand, but it does not mean their loyalty to it. Then the blog moved on to detail the types of customers, and they are three, a marketing customer, a customer and a critical customer
The next part talks about the importance of customer loyalty through five main points: Customers who are loyal repeat dealings and benefit from the brand or company’s products and services, increase and frequency of purchase increases revenues, customers who have loyalty are brand ambassadors, customers who have loyalty They defend the brand against competitors, obtain valuable opinions and benefit to develop the brand
The blog also detailed the most important factors that may affect customer loyalty to the brand, and the number of these factors was seven: convenience, ease of access and availability, meeting customer expectations, customer service, forming the personal relationship between customers and the brand, rewards offered by the brand, brand reputation and spread among members of society
Next, the blog discussed the difference between loyalty programs and discounts or coupons. Loyalty programs are a strategy designed to maintain the customers of a brand or company by offering special benefits such as discounts, coupons, gifts, and exclusive products. What distinguishes loyalty programs is that they are targeted, intended, sustainable, and that they meet the needs of customers. different. The importance of loyalty programs lies in the fact that they help improve the customer's relationship with the brand and make it long-term and personal. The types of customer programs differ according to the size of the brand and what it aims to offer to its customers and their types as follows: the points collection program, the refund program, the stamped papers program, the progressive rewards program, the paid loyalty program, the combined loyalty program, and the referral loyalty program.
The following part details the factors that help brands increase and improve customer loyalty, and these factors were: painting a clear picture of your brand values, providing excellent customer service, activating customer loyalty lists to help spread your brand, showing gratitude to your customers through loyalty programs And continuous rewards, effective and continuous communication with customers, asking for customers’ opinion and showing interest in it, and finally continuing to develop your customers’ experience.
The conclusion of the blog was in a section explaining how to design a loyalty program for your brand, through the main steps as follows: make the loyalty program reward your customers, ensure the diversity of rewards, make the points valuable, offer non-cash rewards to your customers, provide many opportunities for your customers From signing up for the loyalty program, and offering rewards in partnership with other brands
