By: Erika Stevens

As we are talking loyalty program strategy with prospects and current clients one main discussion point is always rewards. Picking valuable rewards plays an integral role in gaining engaged members in your loyalty program. Because every business and loyalty program are different there is no right way to reward your customers. Thinking of creative rewards that match your brands personality can be the perfect way to make your loyalty program stand out from your competitors.  Rewarding your customers for their loyalty should be more than just discounts and freebies but there is no one reward structure that works for everyone.

One program that I participate in and has always kept me coming back is Express clothing stores credit card based points program combined with agressive couponing. When you use your Express credit card for your purchase you recieve points.  For every 250 points you earn you are sent a coupon for a dollar amount off your next purchase.  Beyond that while you are in the store they are almost always running promotions where you get a certain number of coupons to receive discounts for a specified future time frame.  The coupons are not for credit card users only but they encourage customers to come back in to the store to use them.

While this model is not effective for all businesses it is a great way to encourage your customers to come back and purchase more. Express uses the future coupons along with their points and dollar off discount reward structure that is attached to the credit card. This works because they follow the most important rule in loyalty program clearly communicate to your customers. No matter what rewards you chose communication is still the key when it comes to loyalty program success. Come back next week for a look at more loyalty program reward ideas.