With the right approach and strategy, loyalty customer cards can be a great way to build customer loyalty and drive more sales.
According to research, 84% of consumers stay with a brand if it provides a loyalty program, while 95% of those participating in a loyalty program feel closer to a brand.
Launching loyalty customer cards doesn’t need to be difficult and time-consuming. With PassKit, you can start your loyalty program without custom app building.
Our user-friendly platform helps you create digital membership cards, loyalty cards, or coupons customers can store and use with Google Pay and Apple Wallet. When they collect enough points, customers can redeem rewards for their purchases.
Start your 45-day free trial to see how PassKit works.
In this article, we’ll discuss the critical features of loyalty customer cards and explain how to use them effectively. We will also show you how PassKit streamlines the whole process, from creating to promoting and distributing loyalty customer cards.
What is the primary purpose of loyalty customer cards?
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Customer loyalty cards are a marketing tactic brands use to acquire, engage and retain consumers. They allow a business to collect customer data and understand its audience better.
Customer data helps you target the right audience, send them relevant incentives and deliver a personalized customer experience.
The primary purpose of loyalty customer cards is to encourage consumers to return to your gym, hotel, restaurant, coffee shop, or airline and continue spending money with your business.
What types of businesses typically offer custom loyalty cards?
Companies of all sizes can distribute custom loyalty cards. It does not matter in which industry you operate.
We at PassKit know that best. We collaborate with businesses from a range of industries:
- Food and Beverage
- Hospitality
- Aviation
- Venture Capital
- Wine and Spirits
- Insurance
PassKit makes the process of launching loyalty cards for businesses easy.
You don’t need tech skills to use our platform. Our customer loyalty platform lets you design loyalty cards and deliver them to customers’ mobile wallets in minutes.
What do custom loyalty cards bring to consumers? Let’s find out now.
How do consumers benefit from loyalty customer cards?
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According to research, more than 60% of loyalty programs make customers more loyal to a brand. It doesn’t come as a surprise. After all, custom loyalty cards expose consumers to these benefits:
- They earn points – loyal customers earn points for their spending. A specific number of points unlock different rewards.
- They get a better deal – customers join a loyalty program when they feel they will get a better deal. They can buy a product or service at a lower price, allowing them to get more for their money.
- They receive gifts – discounts aren’t the only incentive a company offers. It also provides gifts to loyalty card members. Consumers can then try a new product or service.
When you expose customers to the above benefits, you automatically increase user retention. Let’s now explain the essential features of custom loyalty cards.
What are the critical features of well-designed loyalty customer cards?
Well-designed loyalty customer cards stand out because of the following features:
- Simplicity – loyalty cards must be simple to use. Consumers shouldn’t move mountains to earn points.
- Relevancy – your loyalty program must bring value to customers. Analyze your customer data to determine what kind of rewards they prefer.
- Connectivity – technology enables you to unify customers’ online and offline experiences. It is impossible with paper or plastic loyalty cards, so you must embrace digitalization. PassKit helps you bring your loyalty program to popular mobile wallets and provide a connected customer experience.
- Personalization – 80% of customers will purchase from a business that offers a tailored experience. Custom loyalty cards should let you collect data on customers’ preferences, needs, and expectations.
Loyalty cards created with PassKit include all features mentioned above to ensure the success of your loyalty program and help you stay ahead of the competition.
How to use loyalty customer cards to achieve your loyalty objectives
We’ve created an ultimate guide to maximize the potential of your loyalty customer cards. From optimizing card design to properly engaging with customers, our 15 tips will help you achieve your objectives.
Let’s explore these tips and see how easy it is to make your loyalty card program a success!
1. Let customers sign up online or in-store
Consumers visit your business online and in-store when purchasing, so make it possible for them to become members and use loyalty reward cards wherever they like.
If you use PassKit as a loyalty platform provider, your customers can sign up:
- At the checkout – your staff can inquire customers if they are members of your loyalty program. If not, they can enroll in the program on the spot, thanks to NFC Pay distribution.
- With a QR code – whether customers shop in-store or online, they can enroll in the program by scanning a QR code with a link to the signup page and storing their loyalty cards in mobile wallets automatically. They don’t have to download an app or navigate complicated websites.
- During online registration – when shopping online, new customers need to create an account before placing an order. During this process, you can invite them to join your rewards program.
These are only some of the options to increase the number of your loyalty program members. To understand all possibilities PassKit provides, start your 45-day free trial.
2. Keep your loyalty program simple and easy to understand
If you want to keep your customers engaged with your loyalty program, you need to make sure it’s easy to understand and use. You can do this by being as transparent as possible about how it works.
Let your customers know what they need to do to earn points, get discounts, and redeem rewards. This way, customers won’t feel frustrated or confused and will be more likely to stick around.
With PassKit, you can choose a loyalty card template and add custom fields to include all relevant information and help your customers easily track their point balance, member status, tier, expiration dates, and more.
Whether you’re running a restaurant loyalty program, an airline loyalty program, or a beauty rewards program, your customers will need just a short glance at the card to understand their options.
3. Train your staff on how to use the loyalty program
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You must ensure your staff understands the loyalty program. Describe the loyalty customer cards you offer, the terms and conditions of the program, and how it works both online and in-store.
Furthermore, encourage them to try out the program independently. Doing so will help them explain the process to your customers.
Since PassKit is straightforward to use and backed up with automation, it reduces the time you need to train your employees. They can start recommending your loyalty program in minutes.
4. Enable customers to earn points per purchase, visit, or action
To keep your loyal customers, you need to help them earn points quickly.
If customers have to buy specific products or services or visit certain stores to earn points, the chances of them staying with the program are slim.
Therefore, it is crucial to make earning points as straightforward as possible. Customers should be able to quickly increase their point balance after every purchase, visit, or action they take.
It will keep them engaged and encourage them to stay with your program.
5. Ensure customers receive the rewards they want
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Customers feel more valued and appreciated when they receive the rewards they want, which helps create a positive customer experience.
You can ensure that customers choose you over your competitors by providing rewards tailored to their interests. It can also help you create an emotional connection, which often leads to increased brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.
With PassKit, you can define the right incentives as it provides you with customer data and information about their purchasing pattern and behavior.
6. Ensure customers receive the correct number of points
You must use a system that captures customer purchase data and assigns points accordingly.
With the PassKit customer loyalty platform and PassReader scanning app, you can easily track, monitor, and manage customers’ points and help members view their point balance, redeem points, and track their purchase history. You can add, burn or set the points and change your members’ tier.
What’s best, you don’t need a POS integration and don’t have to buy expensive hardware. Our platform provides accurate data and helps you prevent fraud, protecting your business and the customer and ensuring everyone gets the most out of the loyalty program.
Start your 45-day free trial and see how easy it is.
7. Use data to improve your marketing and sales strategies
By collecting and analyzing data from loyalty programs, you can identify market trends and opportunities, such as what products customers prefer, when they make purchases, and which channels they use to buy products.
PassKit lets you gather loyalty program data and shows you the number of enrolled members, installed or uninstalled loyalty customer cards, and deleted members.
You can see which mobile wallet your customers use the most and track the success of your distribution sources such as email, SMS, social media post, or similar.
You can also track UTM parameters. It helps you optimize your promotional efforts and stop wasting time on channels that don’t bring results.
8. Segment and target customers with personalized marketing messages
Understanding customers’ buying habits, interests, demographics, and other characteristics help you segment your audience and create personalized messages tailored to their needs. It leads to higher engagement and increased spending.
With PassKit, you can choose one of our loyalty card templates and add your logo, brand colors, hero image, and barcode. You can also include custom fields and collect the following data to segment your audience:
- First and last name
- Mobile number
- Gender
- Date of birth
- Tier points
- Member status
You can then use a multichannel distribution to interact with customers on all brand touchpoints. Once customers add their loyalty business cards to Apple Pay or Google Wallet, you can send targeted messages, location-based alerts, or push notifications through
- Email marketing
- SMS marketing
- Social media
- Receipt marketing
- Retail marketing
- POP marketing
- NFC payment
- Company website
These are just some options to create meaningful connections with your customers.
9. Make changes to your loyalty program based on customer feedback
More than 50% of customers report they have changed their opinion of a brand after it responded to their review. People recognize and appreciate when companies take their feedback seriously, and they expect you to value their input.
Therefore, it is essential to monitor customer reviews of your loyalty program. They may provide constructive criticism that can ultimately help to improve the program, as they are the ones who are using it. Taking their needs and wants into account is paramount to keeping your customers happy.
10. Give special treatment to your most valuable customers
Every business has customers invaluable to the success of their venture. These customers are typically the most profitable, and their commitment to the company is unparalleled. As a result, they deserve special treatment.
You can create a VIP experience by:
- Offering exclusive discounts and promotions
- Offering personalized rewards and gifts
- Providing early access to new products and services
- Offering priority customer service
- Giving access to exclusive events and experiences
Doing so can ensure that your most loyal customers remain dedicated and continue contributing to your success.
11. Improve the overall customer experience at your business
Customer experience optimization is a must for businesses that want to stay competitive.
It involves gathering data from loyalty programs to gain insight into your customers and make changes to enhance their journey across all touchpoints.
It will ensure that your customers get the best service possible, making them more likely to stay with you for the long haul.
12. Cross-sell and upsell customers on other products and services
Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to influence customer buying habits when you understand their past purchase history? PassKit provides you with data you can use for this purpose.
Custom loyalty card makes it easier to upsell customers on a more expensive alternative or cross-sell them on a product or service that goes well with their initial purchase.
Your customers will appreciate the personal touch and the convenience of having all the products and services they need in one place. Plus, the more customers you can upsell or cross-sell, the more revenue you generate.
13. Ensure your loyalty program meets your business goals
Launching a loyalty program is an excellent way for businesses to achieve their goals, such as increasing sales, retaining customers, and boosting brand awareness.
However, it’s not enough to set up a loyalty program. To make sure it’s as effective as possible, it’s essential to regularly review your goals and evaluate how your loyalty program is performing.
This way, you can make necessary changes to ensure that the program achieves your desired results.
14. Ensure the loyalty program is compliant with relevant regulations
It’s essential to have clear terms and conditions for your loyalty program. Without it, you risk legal liabilities due to customer misunderstandings. To avoid this challenge, you can pen down the structure with PassKit.
You can describe in detail how the program works, what incentives members can receive, and the rules and regulations governing the program.
Additionally, you can clarify when and how members can earn and redeem rewards, mention any limitations or exclusions, and inform customers of their rights and responsibilities when using the loyalty program.
15. Offer top-notch customer support for loyalty customer cards
When it comes to customer loyalty, excellent customer service is essential. According to Zendesk, three out of five customers say that excellent customer service is the key to feeling loyal to a brand.
It means that having knowledgeable and helpful customer support representatives is essential to building relationships with customers.
When customers are using a loyalty program card, several issues may come up. These issues can range from not seeing the points from their last purchase to being unable to use their rewards or similar.
Your customer support representatives must be well-versed in helping customers quickly and efficiently solve their challenges to continue using the loyalty program.
Loyalty customer cards: Wrapping up
Loyalty customer cards are a powerful marketing tool for businesses. Not only can they help you retain and attract customers, but they also enable you to build better relationships with them. However, if you don’t use loyalty customer cards correctly, you could miss out on much potential.
Fortunately, with PassKit, you don’t have to worry about making the same mistakes as other businesses. Our platform allows you to design, promote, and distribute your loyalty cards and integrate your loyalty program with Apple Pay and Google Wallet.
What’s best, we provide you with loyalty program data so you can optimize and improve your overall performance.
So don’t wait any longer – start your 45-day free trial now and take advantage of the benefits of having a loyalty program today!
FAQs about loyalty cards
Loyalty cards are a popular topic among businesses. Here are the answers to the most frequent questions they have.
What are examples of loyalty cards?
Some examples of loyalty card memberships include Sephora Beauty Insider, Amazon Prime, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
What are the four types of customer loyalty?
The four types of customer loyalty programs are:
- Points-based loyalty program
- Tiered loyalty program
- Subscription-based loyalty program
- Gamified loyalty program
What are the 6 stages of customer loyalty?
The six stages of customer loyalty are:
- Suspect
- Prospect
- New customer
- Repeat customer
- Client
- Advocate
What is the strongest form of brand loyalty?
The strongest form of brand loyalty is the customer who consistently buys products or services from the same business.
