Loyalty Programs Really Pay Off
Does your company have a loyalty program? A way to keep customers engaged with your business and encourage repeat business over time? If not, it might be time to get started.
Case Study: Hotel Resort
Take the example of this New Jersey-based hotel and resort that used loyalty programs to encourage 20% of its customers to repeat business just the first year alone.
The resort learned the value of loyalty campaigns when it implemented a program that gathered information on customers on their first visits. It immediately followed up with colorful brochures thanking them for their visit and inviting them to return again. Automated, trigger-based workflow was used to get these mailers into customers’ hands immediately while their good memories of time spent at the facility were still fresh.
The resort was willing to spend a significant amount of time, money, and energy to develop these mailers because it knew that once a customer returns a second time, his or her loyalty is cemented. Thus the extra effort spent getting those customers back in the door would pay off in long-term profits.
The program now has been running for years, and the facility is nearly always booked to capacity. Ongoing CRM programs permit the resort to effectively resell, upsell, and cross-sell to its customers, all the while building additional rapport and trust.
Loyalty programs take a little extra time and effort to set up, but once they are up and running, they are highly cost-effective to maintain. The benefits? They speak for themselves.
Case Study Results
• 20% of customers receiving the direct mailers booked with the hotel or used its facilities the first year — nearly 30 times the industry average for static direct mail campaigns.
• The resort recorded record revenues from its services and had the most lucrative month in the company’s history.
• Quarterly earnings doubled year over year.