In every business, 80 percent of your sales come from only 20 percent (or less!) of your customer base. Simply put, the most important asset in your business is loyal customers.
So why do most business owners spend 90 percent of their marketing budget and time on acquiring new customers? I argue that this happens for two main reasons. First, they don’t understand how important their best customers are. Second, getting a new customer is exciting!
But spending all of this time and money finding new customers while taking your best customers for granted is the biggest mistake you can make! Your best customers will buy more, buy more often, and buy your higher-profit items. Your best customers know you, trust you, and like you. They want to help you succeed.
One of the best ways to reward your best customers is with a frequent buyer program. The frequent buyer program (often called a customer loyalty program) is designed to:
- Make your customers stick to you like glue rather than switch to a competitor.
- Get them to return more often by rewarding them with greater discounts when they spend more with you. Statistically, loyalty program customers visit twice as often and spend four times more than customers who don’t belong.
- Be easy for your customers and your employees to understand.
You can send a special VIP card to the customers who spend the most. You can also have special sales just for these customers.
The frequent buyer program design can be as simple as offering $10 off for every $100 spent during a three-month period. You would have to work the numbers to see what you can afford to offer. Don’t forget to include a call-to-action expiration date.