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What if we said that there was a way to improve customer engagement and give back real value to your customers while building loyalty and boosting sales. It’s as simple as launching a customer loyalty or membership program.

If your strategic team has been thinking about creating some sort of customer rewards program, here are 8 great reasons not to put it off any longer. Start printing those membership badges today!

1. Improve customer loyalty and engagement

First off, regardless of what sorts of benefits you actually offer with your customer membership program (members-only deals, discounts, points, and so on and so forth) simply offering a loyalty program is a great way to improve customer engagement and loyalty, making your patrons feel valued.

According to Annex Cloud, 69% of customers report that loyalty program offerings directly influence their choice of retailers, with 76% reporting that a loyalty program strengthens their relationship with the companies from which they buy.

So, in a word, it does matter to customers, and it does make them feel involved, valued, and appreciated.

2. Create a mailing list for marketing purposes

A mailing list can be your marketing department’s secret weapon, allowing you to create a list of leads around which you can build special sales, seasonal promotions, exclusive events, and so much more.

A mailing list can help you improve outreach, too, but there’s a catch. You need a mailing list first!

Customers aren’t always willing to part with personal information without being offered something in return. A loyalty program can potentially turn that around.

Offer your customers access to a membership program and ask for their email, address, or phone number in exchange. You’ll both benefit!

3. Increase potential purchases

Rewards programs, specifically, have a very high potential to improve your baseline revenue.

This is because if you are rewarding your customers with points, they’ll be incentivized to come into your establishment to redeem them. And, as you may know from your own purchasing habits, very rarely does one redeem only the exact value in points accrued without spending a few extra dollars!

The result is a customer that feels appreciated and a retailer that gave a slight discount to reap a greater total reward. Again, it’s a win-win situation.

Even just getting customers to visit your store because they are a part of your membership program can increase the odds of securing additional purchases.

4. Run targeted promotions

Getting your customers to sign up for loyalty programs and handing out member badges also provides you with an avenue to improve your marketing efforts.

Let’s face it. While you might convince some one-time customers to sign up for a program, the likelihood of the situation is that most people that sign up will already be repeat customers.

Building a book of business with repeat customers can help you refine your marketing strategies for those that already have a relationship with your brand.

This way, you won’t need to blindly broadcast marketing promotional materials. You can target your message to members of your program based on their buying patterns, interest, and behaviors, in order to maximize brand interaction and customer lifetime value.

5. Improve analyses and forecasts

Launching a membership program and distributing membership badges to loyal customers will help you keep track of their purchasing behaviors according to the time of year, season, and so much more. You may even be able to track what times of day they are likely to come into your store, or follow the marketing efforts to which they respond favorably.

Improving your metrical analyses can help you improve your sales forecasts, target your marketing efforts, refine your marketing goals, and even perform A/B testing. For instance, when one marketing program doesn’t work, but another does based on customer behavior, then you will know better how to model your efforts in the future.

6. Stay front and center in the minds of your customers, encourage brand advocacy

Having that membership badge in your customers’ purses and wallets is like distributing mini billboards and flyers. It creates a recency effect, it makes your organization and your brand look more polished and professional, and most importantly, it serves as promotional real estate that can arrest the attention not only of the customer who holds the card but anyone else who happens to see it.

Also, offering rewards programs that make your customers feel valued is a great way to encourage customers to share their good experiences. It’s no guarantee, but it does improve the odds that customers will encourage friends and family to patronize your establishment - even to join your rewards program themselves.

7. Give back to your customers

There are so many ways you can use a loyalty program to reward your loyal customers, encouraging them to spend more with your organization.

You can offer members-only sales and promotions, exclusive deals and events, discounts, rewards points accruals, free shipping, free perks, and so much more. Remember, everything you offer has the potential to benefit you as well as your customers. Rewards are not a one-way street.

All the perks you provide can make your customers feel valued and improve their brand experience, which in turn will encourage them to spend more money with you.

8. Create a competitive edge for your business

Finally, offering membership, loyalty, or rewards programs is just a great way overall to differentiate your business so you can stand out amongst your top competitors.

Here are some more stats for you:

• 84% of customers are more likely to shop with a brand that offers rewards.
• Up to 66% of customers report that whether or not they can earn rewards directly influences their purchasing patterns and habits.
• A small increase in customer retention (which can be attributable to loyalty programs) can be responsible for a massive shift in overall sales and profits.
• Over half of customers (57%) join loyalty programs to save money.

Everything in this post, including the data it contains, suggests that loyalty programs are among the best ways to distinguish and differentiate a brand. Make that a goal of your business and reap your own rewards!