We’ll begin with the most obvious mistake of all: not having a loyalty scheme! 

Every business should have something in place that encourages customer loyalty. You want people to keep coming back again and again, or your company will never grow. It’s absurd to rely on new customer sales to keep increasing your earnings - successful businesses need a thriving customer base that continues to elicit repeat purchases. 

You might have a scheme in place, but it probably isn’t yielding the right results. Let’s look at some obvious mistakes you’re making: 

You’re not offering something valuable

Some small businesses think that having a loyalty scheme is enough to inspire customers to return. In reality, this won’t be the case if your scheme offers nothing of value. The best way to think about this is to put yourself in the customer’s shoes. In fact, as a business, you can easily find a loyalty program that rewards you and your company. But, would you opt for one that promises very little? It may provide trivial rewards you don’t care about, instead of genuine things that benefit your business. 

This is how you should approach your own customer loyalty scheme. Think about what might be valuable to them - like money off future purchases or access to exclusive deals. If you offer something trivial, like a voucher for a local restaurant, it doesn’t really encourage loyalty. 

It’s too hard to receive the benefits

Similarly, too many companies create loyalty schemes that take far too long to become beneficial. For example, you have a points scheme that translates to customer savings. Brilliant, this is valuable. Customers earn points through purchases, which they can then convert into money to spend on products and save cash - it’s like the Tesco Clubcard system. 

Unfortunately, your business makes it super hard for people to earn enough points to actually get money off. If your customers need to spend loads of money to receive the benefits of your loyalty scheme, they’re unlikely to buy into it. 

It isn’t free

The whole point of a customer loyalty scheme is to encourage people to return to your business. Is someone going to do this if they have to pay for the loyalty benefits? Don’t make the mistake of charging an extra fee to reap the loyalty rewards - your program should ALWAYS be free. 

At the end of the day, they have to spend money to activate the benefits anyway. Now, you could offer multiple tiers to the scheme, allowing people to unlock better benefits for an extra monthly fee. This is okay, but only if you keep a free option at all times. Customers should always have the opportunity to be rewarded based on their purchases alone. 

To summarise, your loyalty scheme needs to offer something your customers will value. It must also be easy for customers to see the benefits and take advantage of the scheme. Finally, there should always be a free loyalty scheme available for everyone to partake in. Tiered schemes can work, but there should always be a free option. 

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