Virtually every type of business is predicated on repeat purchases, which makes securing customer loyalty a major goal. Looking around, you will find countless examples of loyalty programs, whether that’s the supermarket you use, the airlines you fly with, and much more. Loyalty programs have been operating for decades because they tend to be quite effective. But would a blockchain loyalty program deliver the same results?
The blockchain space is very unique and creating a loyalty program might be trickier than traditional products/services but here are a few ways to go about it:
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Determine Your Potential For Repeat Purchases
Before you do anything, you’ll need to look honestly at your business and determine your potential for repeat purchases. Loyalty programs, while used by businesses of all types, are most common with those that we purchase often with like grocery stores and restaurants. In the crypto space, this manifests a bit differently. A crypto exchange, for example, will see more repeat business than a crypto mining or wallet company.
Depending on what type of business you have, a loyalty program might be more or less feasible. Take a look at your customer base and try to find out how many times the average customer has purchased from your business in a month, day, week, year, and so on. This knowledge is essential in deciding whether or not to create a blockchain loyalty program and if so, how to design it.
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Look at Existing Blockchain Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs are rarer in the crypto than in the consumer goods sector but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. Companies like Binance, Coinbase, and Crypto.com are currently running their own programs and this can act as a template for yours. First, it shows the type of crypto businesses that can pull off and sustain a loyalty program, which is mainly exchanges.
They also show how you can execute a tiered reward system, how to pick, and name and much more. So, before you create your own, navigate to the rewards programs of these businesses and read all you can about them. With any luck, you’ll see both the strong points you want to replicate and the mistakes you want to avoid.
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Choose the Incentive
If you decide that a blockchain loyalty program would be a good idea for your business, your next step should be deciding what incentive you want to give customers. While the program should be adapted to your unique situation, there are a few general rules. First, the incentive should be something the customer will want to accrue, such as points.
After all, if you give away a reward big enough to claim for every small-to-medium purchase, the customers don’t have a reason to keep coming back. You should also decide whether or not you want these incentives to be monetary or not. Some loyalty programs let customers accrue points that can be exchanged for money and some points can only be used for non-monetary benefits like reduced fees. On top of this, you should decide what you’d like to call it and other such things.
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Choose the Rewards Acquisition Process
Just as important as how the incentive works is how people will go about acquiring them. Remember that the ultimate goal of a blockchain rewards program is to make customers spend money more consistently with your business. As such, this needs to be baked into the acquisition process. If you’re a crypto exchange, for example, you can give points based on transaction volume that is high enough that customers want to claim it but low enough that they will need several transactions before they can really do anything with it.
If you choose to launch something like a VIP program, make sure the pathway to entry is accessible to a degree while also requiring significant investment from customers. One way to make your program more appealing would be to highlight the milestones and prizes customers have to look forward to, similar to how a video game would.
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Publicize the Program
When we mentioned the loyalty programs for Coinbase and Binance, there is a decent chance that you didn’t know about them previously. The truth is that a blockchain loyalty program is only as effective as it is known. So, one of your biggest priorities should be drumming up as much publicity as possible for your program. Even before you launch it, begin teasing a new announcement to your audience to get them excited.
Next, you’ll want to leverage all the blockchain marketing channels you have at your disposal. Put up a banner on the website advertising the loyalty program, send out email marketing, put up blog posts, and announce on social media. These efforts also should not stop after the loyalty program is live. Regularly let new and existing customers know about it so they can sign up. If you want to go further, consider running a promotion or contest in the run-up to the launch.
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Work Towards Innovation
Given how innovative the blockchain space is, it is only par for the course that its loyalty programs would be as well. A good way to get more eyes (and sign-ups) for your blockchain loyalty program is to push the envelope and offer perks and processes customers won’t find anywhere else.
Some programs deliver their rewards via NFTs, for example, and this means that they can be easily tracked and transferred. You might choose to create reward tier lists, offer airdrops, and other such benefits. In all these, of course, make sure that customers are well-informed about the program and its features.
Conclusion
If done well, a blockchain loyalty program can secure repeat business from customers indefinitely. While it is more associated with consumer goods, every blockchain business should at least consider creating its own. If you do, make sure that the benefits are palpable, it is well-marketed and tries to push boundaries and deliver the best experience for your customers.