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Extra Features and Video Online FloristsReview.com R E A D O N L I N E 53 53 By Brenda Silva ong gone are customer loyalty programs with physical punch cards that promised free products or great discounts after making a certain number of purchases. In today's marketplace, those old types of loyalty programs are equivalent to having a rotary phone when your competition off ers Bluetooth and beyond. In order to compete in the current consumer loyalty arena, companies need to fi nd ways for their brands to stand out from a crowd of competitors who are also looking for a sales commitment from new and existing customers. In the same way that companies are looking for brand commitments from their customers, those same companies must also demonstrate a commitment to their customers. One of the most important ways to create and maintain brand loyalty is for companies to demonstrate an understanding of the needs and wants of their customers and to off er loyalty programs that meet those requirements. By doing this, a loyalty program can incentivize customers to continue with their purchasing preferences, ultimately creating a win-win scenario for both the company and the consumer. REAPING LOYALTY REWARDS In its simplest description, loyalty programs are designed to increase the value of customer relationships, as well as company revenue. A recent study by e Nielsen Company, an information, data and market measurement fi rm based in New York, N.Y., shows that 60 percent of consumers consider loyalty programs an important factor in their Tips for creating a modern rewards program that will capture consumers' attention and commitment while increasing your brand awareness and sales. L buying decisions, and they spend 46 percent more, on average, with businesses that have loyalty programs. With this in mind, the question for businesses remains: How do you design a loyalty program that will prove successful for your bottom line? According to Reneé Andrew-Lewis, director of sales at KickBack Rewards Systems (KRS), a customer loyalty program and relationship management marketing fi rm in Twin Falls, Idaho, "Properly designed loyalty programs help retailers make their good customers better customers. For a loyalty program to be successful, it must be easy for customers and frontline staff to understand, and you must have the right value proposition. If the program is too complicated to understand and if customers receive little value from it, they will not participate. You must also off er proper training to your staff up front and plan to continue training throughout the life of your program. If your frontline employees are not ensuring customers receive their rewards, the program will not infl uence their buying habits." Describing how KRS programs work, Andrew-Lewis explains, "During a retailer's fi rst full month on a loyalty program, KRS takes a base reading of consumer buying habits. We measure how often the retailer's customers are coming in, how much they are spending and how much they purchase. Each month thereafter, we monitor how the loyalty program is infl uencing customer behavior. Opportunities and shopping occasions diff er by industry, so these numbers would be vastly diff erent for a fl orist versus a restaurant or convenience store." Adding to Andrew-Lewis' comments, Jennifer orndyke, co-founder

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