By: Erika Stevens

We have all seen it happen before.  The stack of loyalty program cards and brochures sits on the counter that no employee makes mention of during your transaction.  Not many customers feel comfortable asking to join a program without being invited.  Even worse is when a customer inquires about the loyalty program and the employee has no idea about how the program works.
 
In order to have a successful loyalty program your employees play a key role.  Loyalty marketing needs to be a part of your culture.  Every employee should understand the way your loyalty program works and the benefits of becoming a member.  Having well trained employees to promote your program will encourage customers to join.

Excellent customer service is reason enough for customers to frequent a business.  Employees that know your loyalty program will create genuine customer excitement .  Empowering employees with a clear understanding of your loyalty program ensures that they will feel confidant when encouraging customer involvement. 

Some tips on how to involve your employees from launch are:

1 – Create a solid, rewarding customer loyalty program that your employees and customers see value in.

2-Train your employees.  Make sure they understand how the program works.  An employee who lacks training will not want to talk about the program.

3- Ask for employee feedback and input throughout all stages of the launch and evaluation.  Since they are the ones interacting with the customers they will have insight into the loyalty program straight from the customer’s mouth.

4-Let your employees participate in your program or create an employee incentive program to go along with your customer loyalty program.
 
5 – Make it fun for the employees.  Store competitions provide focus, fun and teamwork while getting all employees engaged to get new members.  Incorporate loyalty into every aspect of the employees job.