In 2020 we heard so much about the e-commerce business is booming. We have even heard about the offline shops losing a lot of their business due to the current pandemic situation. But this is not the reality, both types of businesses have their challenges in retaining customers. Fortunately, we have our smartphones, which have changed the way we experience our shopping online and offline. And with the help of a good loyalty program app, we can make sure that we can retain our old customers and new ones.
1. Shopping behavior has changed
We are loving the experience of shopping online, but we also know that it won\’t stay for long. Majorly because we love to go to our favorite store and look at the product we want to buy, the satisfaction and the feeling that one gets from shopping in a store cannot be exchanged or replaced by an online shopping experience.
Despite all these things, it is very important and difficult to maintain a very good relationship with the customers. People spend a lot of time and thoughts researching a product, the deals they can get, and the pros and cons of buying that product. Therefore, it is very common for a customer to switch from one brand to another.
Even though customers switch from one brand to another in a few seconds, there is nothing to worry about too much. Customer’s loyalty to their favorite brands is still there; it’s just their expectations that might have changed. These days, customers are more concerned about hygiene and safety; therefore, a seller strictly following the safety standards and making sure that the store’s interactions do not require physical touch is at the top of the game.
But that is not the only thing that the shop owners need to keep in mind. They also need to make sure that the customers’ shopping experience is as per their convenience. They need to make sure that they are available across all channels, including online stores, offline stores, mobile apps, and social media.
2. Focusing on mobile is the future
Smartphones that we use are a very good tool. When used with good and proper apps, they can become even more powerful tools that can help you to acquire and retain customers. When focused properly on mobile engagement and loyalty management, you can ensure that the below mention mentioned expectations of customers are met along with your business goals:
- Your customers can look at your products at any time they want and decide whether to purchase them online or from the store.
- A loyalty program app to support touchless initiative for retail business where people can sign up, scan QR code to make payments or even earn some loyalty points.
- Storing a digital loyalty card on a customer\’s phone so that they can be identified easily.
- Planning different engagement plans to help you provide extra details about your customers, which will help you in drafting and organizing different marketing activities and plans.
- Gamified profiling to gather customer data will help you personalize the in-app experience and help you make it more relevant for its uses.
- Triggering of push notification can also be made possible using the app every time the customer is near a store.
- The loyalty program app will open new doors in customer experience, build new habits, and strengthen customer loyalty.
- Utilization of the latest technology will further help lower the barriers faced while app downloads ensure that the engagement is easy and painless.
3. Best in class loyalty program app features
A proper Loyalty program app helps the user to know the exact details about their loyalty account status. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the app you use is up to date and easy to use for your customers.
The best class app must have the following features:
- Redemption reports: A redemption report refers to the report that tells a customer about the points they have already used. Redemption history must always be updated for the customer to know about the loyalty points.
- Loyalty transaction reports: A customer should check and validate all the loyalty points that they have earned over time without any issue.
- Loyalty points: The customer should have a real-time and fresh update about their loyalty points to check anytime they want.
- Scan QR code: You should generate your QR code, which a customer can easily use to make payments.
- Profile management: This section of the app should let the customer or the user create a profile and updated it along with viewing it.
- Offers and promotions: This section of the application should tell different groups about different offers and promotions being offered by the brand and should be visible in the mobile app.
- KYC details: The app should have third-party integrations so that the customers can complete their KYC details easily through Aadhaar authentication.
- Bank details: The application should let the customers use the bank account of their choice to receive to point redemption in their preferred account.
4. Designing a loyalty program app in record time
The only issue with launching a dedicated Loyalty program app is that it takes a lot of time to build. To deal with this issue, many companies offer a robust set of API, and well developed is the case along with an already built collection of Loyalty program features.
While using those app accelerators, you do not need to design the Loyalty program from scratch. You receive a list of loyalty functions already built, which can be integrated into your app without putting in many efforts.
Search mobile app accelerator lets you personalize the elements of a Loyalty program app to fit your brand\’s specific needs. With time they also keep adding new features that can be used to improve the experience for your customers while using the app.
Wrapping up
This year has surely been tough for every one of us, especially for sellers. It has become very difficult to retain customers for offline stores. But with the help of proper Loyalty program apps, retailers can easily retain customers. With good offers and promotions, they can build strong customer loyalty and retain all customers and acquire new ones.
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