by Colleen Volheim for our 99 Ways to Make a Positive Difference in Your Pharmacy series
You have a variety of shoppers. You definitely want to keep them all coming back, and a loyalty program will help you do just that. To begin, you need to know who is shopping your store. Information you capture about your customers will help you develop a more meaningful loyalty program. Knowing customer shopping habits and preferences will help you develop rewards that they will value. You don’t want to provide a coupon or special promotion on something they would have no interest in. Sure, you may have school supplies left over, but you don’t want to necessarily use them as a customer reward just to get rid of them when you have a large percentage of customers that have no need for such items.
Personally, I appreciate a loyalty program where I don’t have to do any work to reap the rewards. The grocery store I shop at offers points based on your purchases. Last week I earned a free jar of peanut butter and I was thrilled! Your rewards don’t have to be elaborate or expensive – most customers will appreciate simple gifts. A percentage off a prescription or OTC would likely be much appreciated, just like my jar of peanut butter was.
Utilize your POS system to help you track your loyal customers’ purchases and when they have earned a bonus. Keeping it seamless to the customer will further increase their appreciation of your store and the program. If your POS system isn’t sophisticated enough to use in this way, a punch-card is a popular way to track purchases. Design it so it fits easily in a purse or wallet, and remind patrons to pull it out every time they make a purchase. You can also keep them on file in a rolodex as long as you remove them after a year or two of non-use.
A customer loyalty program is a great way to keep customers coming back and is easy to implement. When it offers rewards that your customers will value, it will be successful and keep them LOYAL to your business.
Colleen leads the Category Research & Analysis department in gathering category information, reviewing new items and analyzing data to develop the industry’s best planograms to maximize category results. Colleen actively supports the Account Development team by working directly with clients to understand needs, define solutions, and deliver results.
