I was recently asked by Momentology to provide commentary about why loyalty marketing is enjoying renewed focus and how companies can benefit now.
Retention is a key component to maximizing the lifetime value of a consumer. Loyalty programs focused on retention can reduce customer churn and strengthen the preference for the brand.
From a brand marketing perspective, there is a significant amount of time and energy spent on acquisition and awareness based initiatives. This is represented by the recent shift toward consumer-centric content marketing.
Digital businesses that understand the role that content plays at all phases of the customer journey can create value and loyalty while maximizing retention. The key is to enable the consumer to highlight memorable interactions and provide a platform for sharing or by leveraging social interactions to create social currency. These interactions then become a part of the awareness and discovery cycle decreasing the cost of customer acquisition and increasing the probability of customer retention.
There are five qualities that should be considered when creating advocacy programs to sustain loyalty:
- Authenticity is critical in a highly transparent digital world.
- Creating excellent customer experiences creates opportunities for advocacy.
- Reciprocity with consumers is key and can come in the form of surprise and delight triggers to show appreciation.
- Empowering the consumer to truly carry and own the brand identity digitally is essential to building strong brand loyalty.
- Finally, recognition is a powerful tool that can quickly transform a loyal consumer into a vocal brand advocate.
Follow Tom Edwards @BlackFin360
