By: Erika Stevens

This past Wednesday morning I attended a business seminar about Guerilla Marketing given by Tara Stern from Imagewërks Marketing.   It was no surprise to me that the subject of customer loyalty came up.  The speaker asked the group how many people currently use a loyalty program for their business.  Of the 50 participants only a few raised their hands.  She then went on to remind everyone how important it is to market to your already loyal customers driving her point with the following statistic –

It is 8-10 times more expensive to obtain a new customer than to retain one. 

We have all heard this statistic before, but it is important to remember it when you are wondering why should I start a loyalty program?  Why?  Because retaining your loyal customers costs less then obtaining new customers!  A loyalty program helps you identify your loyal customers and reward them for their loyalty to your brand or business.