Creating & Developing a Pet Store Loyalty Program: Your Guide

The pet care market is one of the fastest growing industries around the globe. In fact, the latest data out of the United States shows that the market grow by 6.1% between 2021 and 2022 and is projected to climb again over the next 12-months.

So, with so many new pet owners and an existing market of pet lovers that are looking to spoil their two, four, six, and eight-legged friends, how can your business make the most of the increased demand? In this article, we’ll take a look at the purpose behind creating and developing a pet store loyalty program and how the right rewards program can facilitate business growth in 2023 and beyond.

Understanding the Value of Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs, in different forms, have been around for hundreds of years. Dating as far back to 1793 when American retailers started incentivizing customers with a copper coin following purchases, loyalty programs are designed to incentivize and reward loyal customers.

Today, loyalty programs form an integral part in some of the world’s most successful companies. From Amazon to Starbucks, and millions of other businesses around the globe, these programs can be highly valuable for businesses looking to increase customer retention, encourage repeat business, and help to build a loyal legion of followers.  

From a customer perspective, loyalty programs mean that they feel appreciated by their favourite companies and enjoy exclusive offers and early access to products or services. Ultimately, the success of a customer loyalty program comes down to the specific program, how well it is executed and the needs and preferences of the customers that it is targeting.  

Designing Your Pet Store Loyalty Program

So, you’ve decided that you want to integrate a loyalty program or stamp card into your pet store – what’s next? Here are some simple steps that you can follow to develop, create, and implement a successful rewards programs that will increase retention and reward your most loyal customers:

Determine the type of program you want to implement: Based on your product offering and the nature of your customers, decide on the type of program that you want to offer. Do you want to create a tiered rewards program or a points-based system for your customers?  

Decide on the rewards: Choosing the right rewards is one of the most important steps when it comes to implementing a customer loyalty program for your pet store. Do you want to offer discounts, free products, exclusive access to events, or a combination of multiple rewards?

Create a pathway for customers to achieve rewards: Every loyalty program needs to set a clear pathway towards rewards and make sure that they are attainable for all customers – not just the ones that spend the most.

Make it simple to join: No one likes a clunky rewards platform. With Stamp Me, you’ll be able to create a customized, easy-to-manage rewards program that is easy to join and change as your business grows. Additionally, our loyalty program app makes it easy for customers to join and check on their rewards balance.

By following these simple steps (and with the right loyalty program app) your pet store can create a simple, engaging, and mutually beneficial pet store loyalty program that your customers and your bottom line will appreciate.

Launching Your Pet Store Loyalty Program

Launching a loyalty program for your pet store doesn’t need to be difficult. By following these simple steps you can make sure that your customers are excited and aware of your new loyalty program when you go live:

Train & incentivize your staff: Behind every successful customer loyalty program is an educated and willing team of staff.

Promote the program: Promote your loyalty program through social media, email marketing, and in-store signage. Whatever you do, don’t launch a loyalty program without telling your customers!

Measure, learn, adjust: Let’s face it, you’re going to need to make adjustments along the way. Make sure that you are updating and improving your loyalty program in-line with feedback from customers. With Stamp Me, you can use the data that you collect to inform and grow your loyalty program.

Maintaining and Improving Your Pet Store Loyalty Program

Launching your pet loyalty program is just the beginning. In order to create a successful loyalty program in retail, it’s essential to keep customers engaged and excited. Here are some steps that you can take to maintain and improve your loyalty program over time:

Collect customer data/feedback: Customer feedback is a valuable way to understand how your program is performing and understanding the steps that need to be taken to improve. Use this feedback to make changes to the program and tweak the program as required.

Create new, seasonal rewards: Keeping your program fresh is essential for those customers that sign up from the beginning. Consider new ways that you can incentivize your loyal customers by providing rewards that they can’t get anywhere else.

Personalize your rewards program: Use customer data to personalize the rewards and incentives that you offer. For example, if your customer only purchases dog food or cat food, then make sure that their reward options are tailored towards their pet – not towards one that they don’t have.

Simplify the program: Keep it simple. Understand any sore points of bottlenecks in your program. For instance, if customers are not redeeming or using rewards, then it’s important to understand why that is and create a solution.

Use data to track performance: When it comes to customer loyalty programs – data is your best friend. Using a software like Stamp Me means that you will be able to easily visualise and understand data which will make it easy to make changes and improvements.

Continue to promote and market the program: Remember, marketing doesn’t stop once the program goes live. Make sure that you continue to market and promote the loyalty program through social media, email, and all of your other marketing channels to continue to build engagement.

Sources

·      Common Thread Collective: Pet Industry Trends, Growth & Statistics in 2022 and Beyond: Unleashing Your Ecommerce Pet Marketing Strategies

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