How to benefit from your loyalty system during times of Covid-19

Industry

The global corona crisis has the world in suspense. Solidarity and loyalty is saving the world right now. More than ever, loyalty is key as your loyal customers are the ones supporting you now. Focusing on your loyalty program at the moment is therefore essential.

 

To encourage you to interact with your loyal customers, we have gathered different options on how to do so and profit from your loyalty program in times of crisis. We see great possibilities to even benefit through the current situation by focusing on your loyal customers, coming from your loyalty program.

The hardest-hit industries by the spread of coronavirus are definitely retail and tourism. When talking about retail it includes fashion, interior, jewelry, etc. but even more affected is of course the world of tourism — mainly including travel and hospitality with hotels, restaurants, eventually also spa’s and beauty places, etc.

At this moment it is of course too early to forecast the full impact of the virus on the whole economy, but the numbers up to date, clearly show the dimensions so far, as the UNWTO estimates that the current crisis will translate into a loss of US$ 30 to 50 billion in spending by international visitors (international tourism receipts). Which is estimated to cut 50 million jobs worldwide in the travel and tourism industry. Once the outbreak is over, it could take up to 10 months for the industry to recover. (The tourism industry currently accounts for 10% of global GDP.)

At the same time, the fashion and luxury category as a whole will lose between $450 and $600 billion in sales during 2020 caused by the corona crisis.

As the retail, and in particular, the travel and hospitality sectors, benefit the most of loyalty systems, we want to see which impact the Covid-19 crisis has on loyalty systems, and what brands can do to keep selling to their customers.

1. Show Generosity

When it comes to loyalty schemes, there are a few strategies you can implement to keep consumers on the positive side through rough times.

Take into account that your customers loyalty rewards might vanish if they don’t keep spending at your store(s).* But at the moment, people are forced to stay at home, and therefore postpone their spendings.* It would be highly unfair if the rewards they received for their hard-earned money would just be taken away.

Therefore, we suggest extending the expiration time level for your customers at the moment until the whole situation calms down and people are safe again when traveling, meeting with friends at restaurants, going to stores, etc.

  • Sausalitos, Germany’s leading cocktail bar and restaurant chain, running their loyalty system on the qiibee ecosystem, has another great approach during this hard time. They are offering 50% on top when you’re buying one of their vouchers at the moment. As Sausalitos is in the Restaurant and Bar business, they are currently not able to run their business on a normal level. Nevertheless, they hope to welcome all their loyal customers again — as soon as possible — and for then, customers can currently purchase vouchers with 50% additional value on top. Let’s say you buy one for € 100.00, you’ll receive a voucher with € 150.00 value.

We suggest thinking about which kind of value you can offer your customers currently — on top. It will encourage them to keep spending at your business and you’ll be happy welcoming them back after Covid-19 is under control.

2. Adapt a digital relationship with your customers

 

People do have a lot of free time at the moment as they are not able to travel, take part in public events, go out with friends, nor go shopping. And people are on the constant outlook on how to spend their free time.* Spending time googling and checking out their social media accounts is one of the activities that people are doing the most at the moment. Now think about ways on how you can ensure that your customers spend their free time with you — online! How? Instruct your team to set up useful content that will help them.

A few content ideas:

  • As restaurant or bar owner: Show how to mix fancy drinks, how to cook easy recipes at home or advise on how to keep food fresh.
  • Working in the fashion / jewelry business: Show how to declutter a wardrobe and / or how to style fashion pieces and show how to organize jewelry; how to make it again shiny and bright again and how to style it with which kind of fashion pieces.
  • Working in the interior industry: Show how to do a spring-clean and re-decorate a home.

While sharing this kind of content you can always add some of your products from your (online-)shop and boost your online sales or offer them additional value if they purchase vouchers — like Sausalitos is doing.

Another great way for your customers to kill time at the moment and for you to benefit from it, is through surveys. Why not use this time to set up a survey where you ask all the things you always wanted to know about your clients and their customer behaviours. And do not forget to reward the participants.

We for example have our ‘SurveyToken’ which we reward the qiibee community with, when they answer our surveys. And people love doing surveys! In a recent survey with more than 740 participants we found out that 40% of customers like to take surveys so that brands can learn more about their buying behaviours and get tailored offers in return.

3. Take care of others

 

 

Especially at the moment, empathy is triggering most of the people and therefore we see it as essential to connect on an even greater level with your customers right now.

As mentioned already, your customers are currently forced to stay home and therefore it might be impossible to shop at your store(s). Letting their hard earned rewards vanish would demolish your hard earned loyalty and most probably also your reputation. Therefore it’s crucial to find ways on how your customers can keep their rewards and subsequently you can keep their loyalty.

So how can you generate new revenue streams and keep providing offers to your customers if your usual products and / or services are unavailable or limited available, and even do something good? Think about charities!

We suggest to connect with a charity that helps people in need during this hard time or that supports hospitals curing people with Covid-19. With that you give your customers the chance to donate to such a charity and keep earning rewards and especially keeping their status. Not only will you benefit from a new revenue stream, you will also make a difference by creating a great impact and staying in your customers mind with a loving gesture.

And chances that your customers will spread the word is high as you’re doing something altruistic during a probably also hard time for your own business.

As you can see, small changes of solidarity can create a huge impact on your business reputation and it can even generate revenue in such hard times.

With the above mentioned we hope that you saw how powerful a loyalty system and loyal customers are— especially at the moment where all is based on loyalty.

Obviously there are many more ways on how an awesome loyalty system can help you conquer any kind of phase in your company.

So if you want to hear them and benefit on an even greater level from your loyalty system during such a hard time, we’re more than happy to assist you and show you how blockchain can leverage your loyalty program even more.

Do not hesitate to contact us any time 🙂

May you stay happy & healthy! ❤

qiibee: Access world-class brands your customers love.

Enhance customer loyalty by offering world-class brands and rewards from our marketplace that your customers love. Simultaneously, expand your customer base by offering your products and services to millions of new buyers.

Most Recent Posts

Stay up-to-date with our newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest industry, product and team news and updates.

You successfully subscribed to our newsletter!

Pin It on Pinterest