Loyalty Key Point #4

#4 Turn Your Loyal Customers into Brand Ambassadors

93% Trust Recommendations from Friends and Family the Most

In Loyalty Key Point #4, we show how the personal relationships you build with customers are also an investment in new ones. When you reward loyal customers, they become your brand ambassadors. The connection you have created becomes word-of-mouth marketing, one of the most credible forms of marketing there is.

Why Does Word-of-Mouth Matter?

We live in an increasingly digital world, with less physical mail and paperwork and more emails and online forms. This development has also influenced marketing, which today is largely conducted online through SEO, SEM, social media, podcasts and much more. Older forms of marketing still exist, however. While newspapers and news media are increasingly read online, we still tell other people about positive experiences with a brand through good, old-fashioned conversation: word-of-mouth marketing. Which do we trust more—a newsletter or banner ad, or a recommendation from our best friend?

What matters in word-of-mouth marketing is not the content, wording or tone. It is who the recommendation comes from. Research shows that up to 93% of consumers place the greatest trust in friends and family when a product is recommended. Review sites come second at 91%, while traditional advertising ranks much lower at 38% (MarketingCharts.com, 2020). In general, we trust other consumers most, particularly those we already know. A business looking to attract more customers can benefit from this. The product must, of course, be worth recommending in the first place, but a well-designed loyalty solution makes the process easier. Research has shown that around 73% are more willing to recommend a brand that is part of a good loyalty programme (The 2016 Bond Loyalty Report, 2016).

Create Brand Ambassadors with Card-Linked Technology

The usual formula is simple: give customers a good product, and they will do the rest. We are happy to recommend our purchases to others when the shopping experience is positive. Card-linked technology gives customers an even stronger incentive to recommend a product. They receive an extra reward whenever they shop, and are reminded of it. This creates a positive experience with every purchase, automatically, without customers needing to find membership cards or discount vouchers.

Card-linked technology helps attract customers who might otherwise have shopped elsewhere if the participating partner had not offered these benefits. It also helps retain customers who may not even have known that they could earn benefits at that business. Above all, it consistently creates positive shopping experiences. This turns loyal customers into brand ambassadors who give the participating business the world’s most credible marketing.

In Loyalty Key Point #2, we explored how investing in customer loyalty can often deliver greater value than investing in acquiring new customers. In #3, we highlighted the opportunity and importance of building personal customer relationships. Now you have seen how those personal relationships are an investment in new customers. In our fifth and final Key Point, we explain how card-linked technology helps you get to know your customers and their shopping behaviour better, and use that knowledge actively in your marketing.