Thanks to smartphones, loyalty programs can work for small business.
According to Forbes, loyalty programs help provide a substantial reason for customers to come back to a store. In the past, these programs were cumbersome, expensive and difficult to manage. That has changed.
Many services have stepped into this market to provide an inexpensive loyalty solution for small businesses.
According to MileIQ, Belly is one such service that starts at $159 per month and offers apps for the business to use to let customers sign up in the store and keep track of rewards.
Small Business Trends points out another service, Wilbur, that forgoes apps altogether and relies on just a phone number and text messaging to keep things as simple as possible for the customers.
In both cases, the business can create custom reward programs that maximize the value they are trying to provide. For example, points can be rewarded for each visit to the store, per dollar spent, or even for referrals. In addition to simple coupons or dollar-off rewards, customers could redeem their points for special services, VIP access, free merchandise, or anything else that would get customers excited about participating. Also, many service options can automate email lists and advertising campaigns as well as provide data analysis on their customers to determine the effectiveness of the programs.
