Pet-care business owners with multiple locations or one well-established standalone location know how challenging it can be to retain clients. Yet, new pet-care businesses are popping up every month in towns just like yours. With clients eager to try the newest, trendiest pet-care “hotspot,” retaining existing customers is more important than ever.
Offering a brand loyalty program is a no-brainer for established pet-care businesses. You’ve worked hard to earn the trust of your long-standing customers; it’s time to go one step further and reward - and build upon - their continued trust and commitment to your business.
But creating a brand loyalty program doesn’t just benefit customers, these popular programs are used by companies across all sectors to engage and strengthen established client relationships and to create a framework to entice new and prospective customers to try your products and services.
Starting a new brand loyalty program is easier than ever if you’re using pet-care software like Gingr. In fact, you already have the necessary tools and features to create, track, and digitally manage a customer loyalty program and turn your customers’ passion for their pets into pawsitive pet rewards!
Why are customer loyalty programs important?
If you’ve never implemented a customer loyalty program in your pet-services business, you might be asking why these programs are important in the first place. After all, once a customer is a repeat customer, won’t they automatically stick with you for the long haul? Unfortunately, the answer is: not necessarily.
Customers flock to businesses that provide the best service and give them the best value for their dollars. The more ways you can incentivize these customers to stick with your brand, even when the new doggy daycare down the street is offering a two-for-one special for new customers, the more you can increase customer loyalty and increase client transactions.
Customer loyalty programs act as an all-in-one, low cost and hyper-efficient way to market your pet-care business. These programs increase customer loyalty, allow you to gather and track customer data, help you acquire new customers through word of mouth referrals from existing customers, and incentivize clients to spend more - both in terms of dollars and in the number of services purchased.
Let’s dive a little deeper into a few of these benefits.
Customer data
Business owners love customer data because it gives them insights into things like purchasing behavior. You likely already use the reports feature on your Gingr pet-care software to analyze key customer insights to optimize your business.
Brand loyalty programs give you the ability to create an even more accurate customer profile by allowing you to collect data on how your customers like to “spend” their reward points and which member benefits they use more than others.
Do they like to use points on retail items like treats or plushies? Or do they prefer to use points on money-saving things like free stays and discounted services?
The more you know about your customer base, the more you, as a business owner, can optimize your services, direct clients to special offers, and anticipate their spending habits. For example, if 70% of brand loyalty members use points on grooming discounts, it might be time to hire more grooming staff or build out your brick and mortar grooming space, so you’re able to meet this increased demand.
Incentivizing Spending
Brand loyalty programs are a proven way to encourage customers to continue purchasing services and purchase products or services they may otherwise have passed on.
Some existing customers get into a routine with the services they purchase. Maybe they bring their fur baby to doggie daycare twice a week, buy all-day play, and leave it at that.
Member loyalty perks are an easy way to upsell services and “extras” to customers like this. For example, suppose customer loyalty members receive a one-time free daycare “extra” like an afternoon pup-friendly ice cream sundae or peanut butter Kong, and the client sees how much their pup loves this treat. In that case, this could entice the client to continue purchasing these enrichment toys on their pup’s regularly scheduled visits - especially if you include a photo of their pup enjoying their snack in their Gingr report card!
How do I administer my pet-care brand loyalty program?
Say goodbye to tedious spreadsheets, paper coupons, and physical brand loyalty cards! In addition to managing your grooming, daycare, and boarding reservations, Gingr’s cloud-based pet-care software does all of the work for you, making redeeming points, discounts and other perks a breeze.
The goal of any customer experience is to make things easy for the customer. One of the most significant barriers to getting customers to try a new product or program in the first place is ease of use. The fewer steps a customer must make to receive, track, and use points, the more engaged they will be with your brand loyalty program.
Your customers already use Gingr’s online reservation booking feature for boarding stays and grooming appointments. By linking customer loyalty points and perks directly to their account, you can deliver rewards like refer-a-friend deals, retail discounts, and more with the click of a button! There’s absolutely no need to learn a new software or download a new app.
Rewards automatically appear in their pet profile and can be redeemed whenever they’re ready to use them!
5 best brand loyalty programs for pet-care businesses
Everyday Benefits
Everyday benefits are perks that program members receive without having to purchase something or necessarily take action. These are the small, everyday deals, offers, and resources members receive by being a part of your program.
Pet-care customer loyalty programs could consider offering priority boarding reservations for popular holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s - or any high-demand days that are at risk of selling out early. Giving members priority pick-up or drop-off times is another everyday benefit members might find helpful.
Membership Tiers
Tiered memberships reward members with different membership levels based on factors like points accrued or dollars spent. The more they buy, the higher the membership level they achieve - and the bigger the reward. A bronze-level member may receive a bag of treats once they accrue 500 points, but a platinum member may receive a doggie birthday party, a cake, puppy ice cream, a ball pit, and tons of other fun extras once they reach 10,000 points!
The more creative the reward, the more a customer may be incentivized to spend.
Complimentary Merchandise
Everyone loves free stuff! Member perks like giving clients a complimentary leash or doggie bandana when they sign-up for your brand loyalty program are one way to kick off a member’s customer loyalty journey. You may also consider a complementary pet-care essentials pack filled with treats, a portable dog water bowl for hikes, and a complimentary branded collar once they reach a certain number of points or stays.
Customers love free branded merchandise because it’s free, but they also love it because it's beneficial for their pets. And, anytime a longtime customer (or their pup) wears your products, you also increase your company's visibility in the community!
Mailing List Incentives
Getting customers to sign up for your mailing list gives you another way to stay in contact with your community. Emails are a way to directly connect with your customer base and provide a platform for marketing new services, informing your community of company updates via an emailed newsletter, and more.
Emails can also be an incredibly effective device for calls to action, like refer-a-friend offers, where members receive points, perks, or discounts to get someone they know to try your pet services.
Point Redemption Systems
Point redemption systems are one of the easiest ways to get started with a brand loyalty program. When clients spend more money with you, they earn more points. Once they accrue a certain number of points, they can redeem them for services, retail products, or discounts.
Because so many customer loyalty programs are built around a point redemption system, this is one of the easiest programs for your community to understand how to use because they’re probably already enrolled in a number of these programs with other brands.
Pet-care business owners can get creative on how they want to structure this type of program and where they want to target point usage.
To sum things up
Today, traditional brand marketing can only take you so far. The pet-care landscape is competitive, and even the most loyal customers want a little something extra for giving you their business.
Throwing in an extra service or discounted product gives customers a sense of satisfaction that they're giving their business to a company that values them. That sense of trust goes a long way in customer retention.
A brand loyalty program managed in a cloud-based system like Gingr makes it easy for you and your staff to manage your customer loyalty program from anywhere. Customers will love how intuitive your digital customer loyalty program is and how they can track their progress, check-out member perks and deals, and redeem points for fun rewards with the click of a button.
The busiest pet-care companies rely on Gingr to simplify everything - including brand loyalty programs - to focus on doing what they love, caring for pets and people!
Additional Resources
Want to learn more about improving customer loyalty, increasing brand awareness, and other essential strategies for your pet-care business? Dive into our other additional resources:
- 7 Dog Boarding Website Tips, Strategies, and Must-Haves. Your company’s website is the first point of contact and gives credibility to your brand. An easy-to-read, sleek-looking website can go a long way in turning a prospective customer into a new customer.
- Make Your Doggy Daycare Fun with These 7 Engaging Ideas. Take socializing and enrichment activities to the next level with these fun daycare ideas!
- Engage Customers with Gingr’s Report Card Feature. Report cards are one of Gingr’s most popular features. Find out why both pet parents and business owners love this interactive feature!
