Shopping center loyalty programs are in a big bright craze these days – What’s on the stake? –Revenue, profit, customers & everything else that makes up a big business. Of course, such loyalty programs are beneficial to businesses but they also offer a lot to customers — cashbacks, gifts, discounts etc., making it integral to positive customer experience. Here you will have to note one thing, just like the rules of the business, customer loyalty programs are also evolving, technology has become its great enabler, leading to the presence of many digital loyalty apps in the market. As a shopping center owner, you will have to ensure that the customer loyalty program is intertwined with the customer experience because a recent survey has found that more than half of the customers will stop purchasing from a brand after two negative experiences foregoing brand loyalty. Marketing managers are under pressure to elevate loyalty program RoI & at the same time better customer retention. As a result, they are expanding their loyalty program to incorporate customer behaviours such as referral & user-generated content. But then again, its success will depend on the right customer loyalty app. But, are these all worth the effort? Many would say yes! Here we will take you through six benefits of a shopping mall loyalty program.
Six benefits of loyalty program
Increase revenue:
Customized loyalty and rewards programs are likely to achieve better customer retention which in turn boosts profit because loyal customers trust your brand and therefore in all probability they will spend more in comparison to a less-loyal customer. As we scratch our heads to understand the nuances of the loyalty programs, researchers are already on their way & a recent study has found that a 5% increase in customer retention amounts to anything between 25% to 90% increase in revenue.
Save money:
Its comparative advantage over other parallel efforts such as investment for attracting new customers is significant. Running customer loyalty programs which tend to increase customer retention is far less expensive than other programs which are crafted for acquiring new customers. As we stated earlier, researchers are up to it – a recent study has found that acquiring new customers can cost 25% more than the cost of retaining existing customers.
Know your customers
Marketers are leaving no stone unturned to understand their customers. Also, customers these days prefer personalized experience over generic experience from the company. In order to run their loyalty programs, marketers are trying hard to get a complete profile of customers which has valuable data. While this data is of utmost importance for running loyalty programs, it also helps in understanding your customers & providing tailored experience to win their heart through best loyalty apps.
Send out warm feelings
Customer loyalty programs through shopping mall apps use various tactics to win customers – one amongst them is ‘surprise & delight’ – such programs create warm feelings in the customers’ heart about your brand. An example is wishing customers on their birthday, will it not really warm up your customers for you? They will appreciate you and establish an emotional connect with your brand.
Improve communication
Communication mediums such as emails, calls, & WhatsApp are the backbone of the shopping mall loyalty programs. If you run a successful loyalty program you are bound to have a strong grip over customers through various communication mediums. These are really helpful. They can help you to exchange information across which can provide a more targeted approach towards customers.
Attract new customers
Shopping center loyalty rewards program has one more important benefit – it attracts new customers who visit the shopping mall but don’t purchase from your tenants. How does it work? It usually promises heavy discounts or rewards on new sign ups leading customers to head towards you. There is another way your loyal customers are likely to refer your shopping center to their acquaintances leading to new customers in your basket. Either way loyalty programs help in attracting new customers.
OKEN SaaS platform
Understanding the importance of the shopping center loyalty programs, WovVTech – a business productivity software company has launched the OKEN, a SaaS platform that can power a mobile app. An app can be easily configured, designed and launched in just within 3 to 4 weeks. Shopping malls can use them to run & manage loyalty programs for their shopping centers & also provide positive experience to customers. Let me tell you some key features of this software:
- One app to manage all the brands within your shopping mall
- Helps you to manage offers & loyalty for customers
- You can even conduct surveys & collect feedback
- Fully capable of guiding you for indoor navigation
- It has a smart car parking facility
- Sends digital copies of bills to customers on purchase
- Your visitor can even upload bill manually to avail reward points
- Share shopping malls offers and events details
Conclusion
Shopping malls have become a melting pot of shopping, dining, playing, using certain services, watching movies & just hanging out. Shopping mall owners don’t want to miss this opportunity of converting these mall visitors into loyal customers & hence they are doling out rewards for anyone who is ready to turn in. In this blog, I have mentioned six benefits of customer loyalty programs for shopping center owners. Towards the end of the blog, I have also introduced you to OKEN Mall App – a loyalty program management app & the best amongst loyalty tools. Let me tell you one more thing, this app is FREE-FOREVER, which means you can use it for free without paying anything & you can use it forever. My suggestion is give it a try, it helps.
