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The goal for every business is not only to grow and attain new customers, but to also maintain a solid base. The way to do this is with a customer loyalty program – rewarding people for coming back.

This can be seen at small pizzerias like Gino’s in Babylon Village, NY, where customers gain points with each purchase and end up with a free or reduced order after so much money is spent. For those who were going to eat there anyway, it’s nice, but there are some customers who may have frequented another establishment just down the road had they not had this program in place.

With a restaurant the concept of how to build a customer loyalty reward program seems pretty simple, but what about other types of businesses?

Guaranteed Overnight Delivery – Kleer-Fax
A few years back the office products factory, Kleer-Fax, saw that the world was changing in its industry. The stores that sold their goods were trying to do their best to hold less and less inventory, but this led to challenges. How could they (the stores) sell goods for a profit if they weren’t going to buy them in large quantities?

This was when Lou Nigro devised a plan to solve this problem, rewarding the mom & pop stores who were being overtaken by behemoth stores by offering two programs that would allow them to sell Kleer-Fax for a profit and carry no stock.

First, Kleer-Fax announced that it would guarantee all their legal index tabs to arrive overnight to the stores’ customers within the mainland United States. Next, it set up a price structure for small orders that allowed small business owners to still make a good profit.

This is a great example of a B2B operation, but what about a B2C one?

Updating Technology and Forming Relationships
For businesses that get to reach customers, one of the best ways to enact a loyalty rewards program is to bulk up your social media and tech presence through your website.

The cost of a website can vary, but for those who want to have the best site, such as one that can obtain secure payments, avoiding costs can be costly down the road, but where do you get the money to take this next step?

The answer for many is to borrow the funds. First off, if you have no plan for profitability and no understanding of why having a good social media and tech presence is a good idea, then do not do this. Odds are, you’ll pull out halfway through and be left with a new expense and no new customers.

However, for those who understand the value of the investment, there are great profits to be made. The key is not only to have a high quality site and approach, but to take on a new team member who runs that area of the company. The costs will mount, but within several months, new revenue will make up for them, and then grow from there.

There are many ways that you can build a customer loyalty reward program. You can be like Kleer-Fax and adjust your entire way of business in order to show the appreciation you have for all of the people who you’ve had a relationship with over the years, or you can enhance your company by creating/building its social media wing. Both may require a thoughtful investment, but when it is done well, the profits that come from these relationships make it worth it.

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