Food manufacturers must always be on the lookout for ways to win their customers' trust and then grow their business relationships, especially in today's turbulent and competitive economic times. One cost-effective way to get the edge is to create a customer loyalty program. Why? An effective customer loyalty program not only results in higher revenues, it can actually become a powerful part of your company's marketing program. Here is a short list of the benefits a loyalty program can offer.
Identifies Loyal Customers
We know distributors seldom provide foodservice manufacturers their customer lists so having a loyalty program helps you identify your customers. The program is a way for you to reward and incent the users of your brands and products so that these customers stay true to your company and continue purchasing year after year. A loyalty program isn't a one-and-done offer. It's a continuity program which rewards your loyal users.
Increases Sales
A loyalty program gives your salespeople and brokers another selling tool in their tool box. It gives them a reason to get in front of the customer and make a sales call. Even when they might not have anything new to offer, a loyalty program provides sales an opportunity for continuing dialogue. When structuring a loyalty program, make sure it not only rewards your operators' current purchases but allows you to try to sell them more cases of the same product or incents them to buy additional brands or products they currently are not using.
Captures Customer Purchase Data
Many companies have loyalty programs but fail to get data and analyze their customers' purchase habits. You can perform a gap analysis on customers to find out what they are buying and more importantly — not buying — from you. You can also discover how many categories they are purchasing. Data can also be used to target prospective customers, as well as different segments or a certain geographical region you want to pursue.
Counters Competitive Threats
Let's say your competitor's product costs less than yours. The loyalty program is a way to counter the cost of the product and allow that operator to continue purchasing the higher-quality product. This program can help overcome cost objections and give the customer and their patrons the product they prefer.
Helps Determine Your ROI
Using the data from the loyalty program, you can get down to the cost of running the program, understand the redemption spend that you are paying to your operators, and determine your ROI. You can calculate how much a loyalty program costs per pound. Knowing the program spend will help you forecast your budgets accurately for the following year.
Ultimately, having an effective loyalty program becomes a valuable asset to the food manufacturer's marketing program because it helps grow your company's bottom line. Interested in finding out how a loyalty program can work for your brand? Call us at 877-424-8725 or fill out our contact us form with any questions and to learn more.