LOYALTY CARDS, REWARDS
CARDS, PUNCH CARDS:
Success Tips & Concepts
Everyone's common sense tells
them that it is critical for any size company to stand
out from their competition -- especially so during a
tough economy. Customer loyalty cards (also known as
reward cards or punch cards) are an excellent way to
stand out from your competitors -- IF
YOU DO THEM CORRECTLY!
Let me explain by example.
Sally's coffee shop is offering buy 9 coffees and get
1 free. You are a short distance from Sally's and you
also have a coffee shop. Should you duplicate Sally's
offer? Should you cut into your profit margin by bettering
Sally's offer along the lines of buy 8 and get the 9th
free? Or should you use a returning
customer loyalty reward to actually increase your profit
margin? What if your offer was buy 9 coffees
and get a (fill-in-the-blank) upscale drink for free...
thereby introducing a higher profit margin product to
a customer that may not have been as inclined to buy
it because they never had one before? Yes, your offer
is now better than Sally's AND you have the potential
to turn a customer on to a higher profit margin product
with the hope that the customer will like it and buy
the higher profit margin product more often instead
of "just" a coffee.
The key ingredient
to success is to KEEP IT SIMPLE, keep the customer coming
back (or keep them in your establishment longer), and
reward them for a particular behavior you want increased.
CASINOS, who can afford
expensive marketing campains, use the concept of GOOD,
BETTER, BEST (clients)... regular
card holders, gold card holders and platinum card
holders. Monster Cable's owner is a marketing
genius that took a rather bland product that came
free with a stereo system and turned better sound
quality cables into a huge success using this very
simple concept and not only gained a huge marketshare
but gained control over how his product was displayed
in major retailers! Clients start out with the good
card, get the gold card when they turn in the completed
good card, etc. You can use the same concept (which
is a huge success) to your advantage!
Get co-op
help from one of your suppliers. Many vendors
offer co-op advertising assistance (marketing dollars).
Some want you to include their company logo, some just
want you to promote their products (or services) along
with yours. Example: Nail polish vendor wants you to
carry their (more expensive) line in your salon. Your
"rewards" offer could be "after 5th haircut
get your nails polished for free with super fabulous
xyz brand polish". Vendor co-op could be negotiated
as either the cost of the punch cards and/or getting
a certain number of polish bottles (to the salon) for
free. Just remember to keep the offer simple and easy
to understand.
We strongly
recommend that our clients test a marketing concept
by only buying 1,000 cards and then LISTEN to the feedback
of your clients as it relates to your marketing campaign.
If necessary, tweak or change your offer (even if you
throw away some cards) until you find what works for
your business and in your area. Then, and only then,
it is savy to buy a larger quantity (so that you never
run out) once your concept is working...
At Business Card Source, we
can design to your specifications (you can tell us colors,
professional fonts, etc) or you can let our design team
come up with a concept for you -- as long as you tell
us about your business. Items such as what is your average
ticket sale helps determine what the punch values should
be (if you are doing dollar values) to be effective.
You decide what information, logos, or images go on
your loyalty rewards punch card. Remember that gloss
coating will prevent you from writing (or stamping)
the surface of the card (unless you order a 4-1 card
where the front is color and gloss coated and the back
of the card is black text on white background without
gloss coating). If you need to write on the front of
the card, choose uncoated within the shopping cart
(it's a pull down selection).
Go to the SOURCE -- Business Card Source --
for assistance that will help you INCREASE sales and
INCREASE your bottom line profit margins!
See
what our clients have said about us!
Business
Card Design Secrets |
