Keeping trade customers loyal
Because they have suppliers constantly courting them for business, trade and channel clients are, unsurprisingly, fickle. The key to encouraging loyalty then, is to persuade them to become involved in a long term reward scheme such as a 'points banking' mechanic.
Such an online points-based solution operates like a bank account where points can be deposited, accumulated and withdrawn, either regularly or at the end of the promotion and exchanged for tangible rewards.
There are several advantages to this centralised approach:
- The overall budget does not need to increase, but the effect of 'banking' points can be much more pronounced than rewarding ad-hoc.
- Tactical initiatives/campaigns can be switched on or off on a per user basis.
- A rewards platform can be used as a communication tool to announce new products, conduct product training, etc.
- The administration of the scheme can be centrally controlled and monitored.
- Individual's, team's, department's or division's performance can be easily assessed.
- An online system has minimal set-up or ongoing costs compared to a paper-based one.
Love2reward have operated their Virtual Incentive Points (VIP) platform for a number of years now and have the experience to tailor it to your needs and make it operational within tight lead-times and budgets, if required.
The solutions we recommend you consider for this initiative are as follows:
Virtual Incentive Points