5 tips to get the most out of your loyalty card!

The loyalty card is dead - hail to the loyalty card! The old fashioned plastic card is making a come back and offers garden centre a wide range of opportunities. Here are 5 tips from Garden Connect to get the most out of your loyalty card.

1. Data source
   The loyalty card is a source of data: contact details, demographics and transactional data can be analysed easily. Which postcodes areas are generating most profits? Who is visiting more than 10 times a year? Who has a dog? The loyalty card is an important data source and can be used to laser target your marketing campaigns.
2. Smoothen the signup process!
   Tired of processing manually written, unreadable forms? In 2016 you’re using touchscreens, apps or just your website to let customers apply for your loyalty card. And if they have applied properly and provided all details you can reward them with extra points. Garden centres who are introducing a loyalty card nowadays won’t have any time-consuming processes anymore and all data is stored automatically in the back-office or epos software.
3. Use the data wisely
   Using the customer data e-mails can be sent out automatically via a Personal Marketing system. Is a customer visiting 4 times a month? Send them a voucher for a free coffee. Is the cardholder buying a barbecue? Send them a recipe after 30 days and 3 unmissable accessories they should have. Haven’t seen a customer for 6 months? Send them an automated e-mail with an incentive to come back asap.
4. Don’t do it manually
   Time is limited especially in regards to online marketing. Automating the delivery of e-mails and coupons helps you to serve customers the right message at the right time, based on their own behaviour. And because e-mails are sent out automatically you can setup many more e-mails than you normally would do. The system will ensure no one is getting too many e-mails so customers won’t be annoyed. It saves time and is increasing your ROI immediately.

5. Don’t forget the smartphone
   Part of your target audience loves the smartphones: it offers an opportunity to ignore the plastic card and connect your loyalty straight into the smartphone. An additional benefit of this is the ability to send time limited offers. Customers coming in before 10 am can get a free coffee while later on the day, while you’re café is getting busier, the offer is removed from the smartphone automatically.

The loyalty card is an essential link to personal marketing towards your customers. It allows you a proper insight into their behaviour which is essential to deliver personal marketing. The old fashioned loyalty card is making a great revival because of the online era! Go to www.gardenconnect.com for more information about Personal Marketing.