Deepen your customer relationships through digital loyalty schemes
The days of the physical loyalty card are long gone. People’s shopping habits have evolved, from selecting from an array of cards in a wallet or purse, to now tapping their watch or phone to a terminal and in a matter of seconds a transaction is made. Today’s consumer is so accustomed to quick and easy mobile payments.
Merchants are doing a good job at keeping up when it comes to payment preferences, but many are overlooking the benefits that virtual loyalty schemes can provide. Physical loyalty cards are cumbersome when you have everything else on one device, so they often end up left at home. This leaves customers missing out on great deals, and merchants losing a prime opportunity to reinforce brand loyalty and collect vital customer data.
Furthermore, 75% of shoppers have confirmed they would engage with such schemes if they were available on their smartphone – a huge margin retailers are missing out on if they don’t have an appropriate system. However, there is technology available to make this happen quickly and easily.
Customer convenience is king
Technology advancements have made most processes seamless and simple, and it is this convenience that consumers crave today. With a range of companies offering next day delivery and 4G allowing people to shop anywhere at the drop of a hat, consumers are increasingly accustomed to the most convenient offerings.
One area that is lagging behind is loyalty programmes. Many merchants are great at offering a range of preferred payment methods, but they’re missing out on many pertinent benefits by neglecting to update their virtual loyalty offering. Gone are the days of stamping a paper card for a free coffee. Now, as payments capabilities are housed in digital wallets, consumers want everything all in the same place. Solutions such as Ingenico’s Tap & Connect can greatly assist merchants and customers with making this change. With this technology, customers are made aware of existing retailer loyalty programmes at checkout, and either prompted to join or informed of deals via a notification on their phone.
Tap&Connect allows merchants to boost and maximise loyalty program adhesion thanks to an easy recruitment process. After taping their smartphone on the terminal in order to pay for the first time, the consumer then receives a notification proposing to add merchant loyalty card in their wallet. It’s as simple as that and provides a strong benefit to merchants to rid themselves of the previously long process of enrolling new users.
Retailer rewards
Happy customers will keep coming back. With digital loyalty systems in place and solutions such as Tap & Connect, merchants can sign new members up quickly and easily, without relying on staff – an essential for self-service tills!
Data collection is also a fantastic tool often underutilised by retailers. By collecting data insights – such as regular purchases, latest visits etc. – you can forge unique, more personal relationships with customers, offering them a better consumer experience which they then spread via word of mouth.
What’s more, no longer do merchants need to spend time working out what loyalty benefits customers are due – discounts and benefits can be calculated and implemented automatically and in real time, reducing friction for both shopper and retailer.
Deeper insights through loyalty
All this can result in a more personalised shopping experience, meaning that ‘fair weather customers’, and those who used to dip in and out, now have a reason to keep coming back consistently. So, not only can innovations in mobile wallets and ‘tap and connect’ capabilities transform loyalty offerings, provide a source of data-rich insights for merchants, and an easy, convenient way of joining and benefitting from schemes for the consumer, but they ultimately reinforce brand attachment bringing your shoppers back your way even more.
To find out more about how you can benefit from a digitised loyalty scheme and transform your relationship with consumers, get in contact with Ingenico Enterprise Retail today at www.ingenico.co.uk/omnichannel or get a copy of our Forging Fidelity paper https://business.ingenico.com/en/forging-fidelity-position-paper
Philippe Duchene is Head of Marketing & Communication for Ingenico Enterprise Retail in Europe. He is an experienced leader with a strong history of working in the fintech and payments sectors both in B2B and B2C. Philippe joined Ingenico in 2009, leading its digital marketing, group communication, social media strategy and branding to amplify the company messaging and products. Now in his current role, Philippe helps retailers across a number of markets to deliver their omnichannel brand promise through Ingenico Enterprise Retail’s innovative solutions.
