Making a loyalty program feel rewarding without cutting too deeply into your margins?

[sacredheart926]

Hi everyone! I’m reviewing our loyalty program and thinking about how to make rewards feel worthwhile while still keeping them sustainable for a small business. What kinds of rewards do your customers respond to most—dollar-off discounts, free products, or something else? I’d love to hear what’s worked for you.

[homeprogreen]

I set mine up years ago when loyalty was first introduced. I do 1 star for every 20 dollars of their purchase. Once they have 10 stars they can redeem for 10% off their entire purchase ( except gift cards) customers have always seemed to like it and it helps to drive bigger tickets since it’s 20 before tax

[BofBArtStudio]

We set up ours many years ago and haven't changed it since but it is one butterfly for every $15 spent and when you get 10 butterflies you get 20% off up to $20. Save your butterflies and grow them to the second tier which is 25% off up to $25

[sacredheart926]

Do you use the square loyalty for that? 

[drenn]

I use Square Loyalty for my Loyalty Program. 

[David-BG]

I keep mine pretty simple. I use Square's loyalty program with the monthly fee.

Basically, points are earned at a 5% rate. Spend $200 and earn $10 worth of points. Those accumulate until spent. They are spent in $10 increments. These are only automatic with re-using or updating their existing payment card with their phone number, though I am flexible to add missed points when the payment card is changed. 

My return customer ratio is pretty good and many of the return customers are enrolled in the loyalty program.

[drenn]

My Loyalty Program is simple ... I own a record store so for my rewards they get 1 RPM Point for every $12 spent. Once they hit 33 RPMs they get a free Record up to $29.77 (or $29.77 off a record over that amount).  YTD my Loyalty Customers spend an average of $310 per month vs. $61 per month for Non-Loyalty with a 4.2 Average Visit rate per month for Loyalty vs. 1.2 visits per month for Non Loyalty. My loyalty customers have received about $2500 in rewards based on their $33,000+ in sales generation. My philosophy is to take care of those who take care of you, and then best way is to give them a good reward in return for their loyalty.