Free one latte cup of coffee or the 5% discount on the next bill? Majorly you will prefer the first option rather than the opting for the second one. What you have chosen is the loyalty reward from the brand for being associated with them for the specific duration.
Customers are happy when their favorite brand offer loyalty rewards as it is personalized for them on the special occasion. Customers are more likely to bond over such brands instead of those offering just discounts or end season sale.
On the general basis, there are two types of loyalty rewards- automated i.e. Digital rewards and the real goods. On the basis of such, we will discuss the loyalty reward mobile application which can be developed for any kind of the business platform such as:
- Individual retail business
- Marketplace for the daily basis
- Loyalty platform for brands
How Does the Loyalty Rewards work for the Retailers?
It allows the customer to earn the points from the brands within the mobile application motivates them to stay loyal on the long-term basis for the specific product/ service. The collected loyalty rewards can be used as the in-app currency or can be exchanged for the real good/ service.
How can thus the retailer know & understand the customer’s loyalty? On the initial stage of the business, it will be difficult to realize the loyalty check of the customers, therefore the market analysis and the research with the proper audit is necessary.
The investigation will help you to understand the customer’s user interaction with your application, interests, and expectations. The loyalty rewards will then bear fruits of the success and potential engagement of the customers on the basis of how they use your application.
SUCCESSFUL LOYALTY REWARDS CAMPAIGNS RUNNING THE BRANDS
Starbucks
When it comes to discussing the loyalty rewards with the high success rates, Starbucks is the first brand that comes to the mind. Starbucks is running successful loyalty reward campaign from own mobile application. How are the loyalty rewards earned by the customers?
The method is simple. Starbuck customer has to collect enough stars as the in-app points. After doing so, the customer earns the free drink with one applicable condition- the customer should pay it with the registered Starbucks/ La Boulange / Teavana Card or official Starbucks app.
The Catch about the Program
There has been a huge amount of the appreciation by the customers for the Starbucks loyalty rewards program. It allows them to check in the cafe on the frequent basis and also the personalized services are offered through the mobile application.
If this wasn’t enough, Starbucks allow their loyal customers to send the eGift cards to their friends via emails. It is the humblest way for the loyalty reward program to run on the highly efficient technological device. The Starbucks loyalty reward program from the first year of the initiation, it was successful since 75% of the loyalty cards were used by their first time visitor.
Success Aspect of the Loyalty Program at Starbucks
Payment gateway of the Starbucks has made it convenient for the customers to make the maximum use of the loyalty program. Also, it ensures that the Starbucks believes to manage its services up-to-date with the latest technologies.
The highlight of the entire program was the usage of the credit cards over the cash. Credit cards became more favorable for the easy payment and to make it more smooth, Starbucks came up with the speedy alternative to swipe the cards via payment terminals.
The one-touch mobile payment system has helped Starbucks to make the customers wait for less time in the queues. The simple method is to pay by scanning the on-screen barcode during the final stage of the sale. On the brand side, it keeps application connected to the already existing loyalty cards familiar to the customers.
To know more about mobile payment systems for loyalty apps, contact Redspark team.
Groupon
It is the marketplace for the daily deals in the partnership with the local retailers focusing on the three strategies-
- Benefits of the daily deal
- Brand promotion
- Customer loyalty strategy
The Groupon platform is simple- it will offer one coupon per day in each category it serves products. The offers are conformed on the basis of the demand customers has made. If the demand is too low or subtle, the chances are the offer will not be redeemed, even if the one customer has signed up.
The Groupon earns the revenue by taking the custody of the half price what the customer pays to them. Take the example- the customer has paid $50 (without coupon $75) to purchase the offer coupon for grocery door-step delivery. Groupon will keep the half amount with them and the store availing the grocery delivery get another half amount i.e. $25.
The Catch about the Program
The deal campaigns are customized as well as the credit card payment process is included for the merchants who are in the partnership with Groupon services. This makes it easy for the customer to swipe the coupon amount which is
powered by Breadcrumb POS system running on the iPad as well.
The idea of the Groupon is to sell and promote the services in the partnership with merchants. The coupons can be for anything- discounts on food/ beverages, reduced rates on the vacation packages/ hotel stay. For the small enterprises, the Groupon do not offer the expected profits.
Success Aspect of the Loyalty Program at Groupon
Not all loyalty rewards campaigns are successful as the Starbucks is. Groupon business model for offering the loyalty rewards in the form coupon has been criticized on several grounds. On some occasions, customers have a complaint about the poor service because the specific coupon was on the huge demand.
Small businesses were not able to meet the inventory demands as requested or claimed on the Groupon due to the limited available stock. Other times, tables had turned and this loyalty reward application attracted the group of the customers who did not pay the complete retail amount nor they were interested in the shopping.
LOYALTY REWARDS APPLICATION FOR THE BRANDS
The distinction between the above two loyalty reward applications will help the mobile app development team to study thoroughly about the application’s pros and cons before building the one. In fact, the loyalty reward applications for the brand becomes the platform for the promotion. These are the loyalty applications working in the association of the retailers offering rewards from the particular brand.
This kind of the loyalty reward applications are categorized in the third-party apps, therefore, the researchers are not sure whether these apps are successful for the brands or not or is it reaching to the potential customers of the specific brand. There are two speculations although about the third party loyalty reward application:
- It is the ideal platform for the retailers to get the customers visiting their store. This will help the small scale based retailers to save the money from creating its own mobile application.
- The third party loyalty reward application used by the customers does not promote the retailer’s store brand.
- This means the association is established between the customer & the loyalty reward application i.e. Third party platform rather than between the customer and the retail store.
Loyalty reward applications on the third party platform will also help the retailer to collect the customer’s information/ data and this same information can be distributed by them to the retailer’s competitors. The ideal example of this source is SHOPKICK.
To learn how the Shopkick loyalty reward application is developed, contact Redspark team.
RUNNING SHORT ON THE FINANCES? WORK ON THE EXISTING APPS
If the retailer is the startup or working on the small scale terms, it will be difficult to build the loyalty reward application from the scratch. Because you cannot create or develop the loyalty reward app for your retail business, the ideal solution is to get in the partnership with the already existing such applications.
Under the same roof, various brands are affiliated with the existing loyalty reward applications. This helps them to promote their products/ services and also on a low budget, the retailer can reach a large number of the potential and the engaging customers.
Take it as an example- PUNCHCARD. It is the location-based shopping application helping the customer to redeem the rewards from the retailers and the major brands such as iTunes and Amazon. To earn the points, the customer has to exchange the snapshot of the purchased item receipt.
To reward the users, the Punchcard has partnered with the POINTS loyalty program. This loyalty program is compatible with different applications and gives the user the chance to earn the rewards such as giftcards, charitable donations, merchandises or the contest entry to win iPad or Kindle.
Loyalty programs are often associated with the commerce therefore even the fitness application can help the user to earn the loyalty points. The ideal example for this is an EveryMove application. It helps the different health and the fitness brands to promote themselves on this platform by rewarding the customers/ users as it works on the proprietary system.
CONCLUSION
To enjoy the complete benefits from the loyalty reward applications/ programs it is necessary for the businesses to offer the unique user experience and the brand should be able to stay consistent with the customer’s customized needs, interests and the desires.
