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Next to earning customers in your retail business is to make them stay. That is where customer loyalty building becomes necessary. Unfortunately, according to a study, acquiring a new customer is six to seven times costlier than keeping an existing one. Hence, as a businessman, you have to try all means to retain your loyalty base.

Naturally in business, you have to give reasons for your customers to stay; once you give them what they really want, they will not think of leaving. One of the many convenient means to retain customers is through incentives in the form of gift cards – something you may often notice near a store’s cash registers. A study from US Prepaid has found out that more than half of the consumer population preferred gift cards over other incentive kinds like bonus bucks or coupons. That said, if business owners only study their customers by heart and provide what they really want, it is like giving them an exceptional experience, making room for a more strengthened customer loyalty base.

Here is how you can boost customer loyalty using gift cards:

Gift cards as gift to loyal customers on special occasions

It is mainly about how you take care and value your loyal customers. The good news is gift cards are a great tool that can help you with that while you work within your budget especially if your business is still building its brand. For instance, although you can sell gift cards too, you can also customize your customer loyalty program by giving gift cards to your loyal customers on special occasions like birthday, Christmas, etc. The number of customers in your loyalty program multiplied by the gift card value does not really hurt when compared to giving them regular gifts or fixed discount percentage that can actually cost more.

Even if it is an online business you own, you can still incorporate gift cards into your loyalty program. All you have to do is make your gift cards access-ready through your website or mobile app. Your customers will surely be pleased knowing that all it takes are a few taps towards an incentive they deserve.

Gift cards in partnership with other companies

To increase customer loyalty, you can work together with other companies that offer complementary product or service to yours. For instance, if you have a jewelery store, you may want to partner with a restaurant and give or sell gift cards that can benefit both businesses. That way, customer loyalty may be doubled as the customer base expands resulting in a win-win for both of the businesses, i.e. increased sales and more discounts for the customers.

Take Merrell and Subaru for example. One day, Subaru presented to sponsor Merrell’s Down and Dirty National Mud and Obstacle Series, offering $100 gift card to every customer of Merrell who wants to take a test drive. It went out to be a successful partnership, driving traffic to both companies while introducing consumers from and to each other.

Gift cards as seasonal gifts

Studies have shown that because receivers are graced with the freedom to choose the item they really want, more and more people are now thrilled over gift cards than with regular gifts. And over the years, business owners have learned to take advantage of this. Oftentimes, gift cards are placed near cash registries as customers tend to simply pick cards up upon checkout.

Gift cards naturally have a personal touch especially when gifted with a handwritten note. This makes it a perfect present especially when one does last-minute gift shopping. Because of it, it is no surprise how more retailers are adding gift cards into their holiday marketing strategies as these naturally boost customer engagement and loyalty. A lot of businesses are even offering gift cards instead of discount coupons for purchases made during holidays or special occasions. If you look at it from afar, you will realize that opting for gift cards make great savings when compared to offering discount percentages as the latter can be pretty costly when a customer has large purchases.

Gift cards to serve both as a gift and a discount coupon

Gifts in the form of gift cards are heart-warming in nature. What more if these include discount coupons? An extra 15-20% discount if the gift card is used perhaps? A customer who receives that will most likely find it hard to ignore such an offer. That is what many retailers apply nowadays. They make use of gift cards with discount coupons to lure customers to visit the physical store.

Gift cards to lessen tensions in complaints

Many business owners maintain customer loyalty by offering gift cards to disappointed customers – those who encountered issues on the product or the transaction itself. Gift cards make a great token for apology for the inconvenience the incident may have caused. But of course, make sure you still offer a resolution.

Gift cards to boost brand awareness

Marketing campaigns are generally aiming to increase brand awareness but did you know that it can improve customer loyalty base too? Take the company “Sweetgreen” for example. Sweetgreen made use of gift cards in their marketing stunt entitled “Random Acts of Sweetness”. It sent out gift cards to people who showed an act of kindness and even went the extra mile by doing good deeds, putting shower caps over bike seats and attaching a gift card underneath each seat.

You can actually do the same by gifting gift cards to those who can send photos of themselves using or wearing your product or services.

Gift cards – a must try!

Although gift cards are targeted to sell best during last-minute gift shopping for birthdays, holidays, and special occasions in between, they are also great as occasional gifts too. With a lot of customers wanting excellent brand experience and customer service, making use of gift cards to value loyal customers aside from boosting brand awareness, is definitely a great move. Gift cards may be small in size but these small incentives do wonder in making customers to come back for more.