Rewarding Loyalty

Remember S&H Green Stamps? It was one of the first loyalty programs that I remember taking part in. When you bought items at the store, you got stamps. Save up enough, and you could redeem them for a reward. I couldn’t tell you any of the items we got from saving the stamps, but I bet my mom could.

There was another one that I remember as well. Del Monte had a promotion to get some cute little stuffed animals if you saved enough points from their product labels. I helped my mom collect and save because I really wanted those cuddly vegetables. And I got them, eventually. I especially remember a little pea pod. It’s probably still at my parents or in my garage, stored away until my little one can use them.

And what about saving soup labels for school? I think we all did that at one time or another. Save those labels, give them to the school, get money to help the school! It’s not a bad idea, really. It actually beat all of the fundraisers that go on now. Sure, we had some fundraisers for the clubs we were in. But now it seems like even the regular classrooms have fundraisers. Eating a can of soup was much easier.

Loyalty programs have been around for a long time. Now they are just more sophisticated. Join a grocery store rewards program, get extra discounts on sales. Use a rewards credit card, get frequent flyer miles — or points to redeem for gift certificates or household items. Everything is tracked electronically. No more carefully peeling labels off of soup cans or sticking little green stamps into a booklet.

But you know what? There was a sort of anticipation that came from collecting and saving. Now it’s so easy. Or maybe there are just so many programs out there that we’re used to them all. Maybe even a little bored with them.

Yet they work.

Do you encourage your customers to spend with you? What are you giving them for their loyalty? It could be fantastic customer service. Or better sales discounts. Find out what drives them, what incentives work for them.

Or maybe you can make your service, your product so wildly amazing that customers don’t need an incentive to spend with you. The product IS the incentive. Are you working on that? What are you waiting for?

image: Newscom