An entrepreneur’s goal is to win customers’ hearts and minds. And not just to please them, because satisfied customers become loyal customers. However, we recommend that you understand the decision and respond against it. According to a study published on the Harvard University website, improving customer loyalty can increase a company’s revenue by up to 95%. In other words, keep your customers and improve your financial situation.
Among the various customer loyalty strategies, giving gifts to customers can be an excellent way to get people to love your brand. For example, Kraft pillow boxes are a popular gift wrapping material. Giving a quirky and unique gift to a loved one is one of everyone’s priorities.
Most Important Ways
Here are some techniques that help build customer loyalty while using gif cards:
Incorporate gift cards into customer loyalty programs.
Incorporate gift cards into your customer loyalty program. Offering a gift card for a customer’s birthday or special occasion is a good start and doesn’t have to be a significant expense, and offers enough to keep customers coming back and spending money. These days, most businesses have mobile apps. The next step is to make the gift cards available on the app.
Partner with other complementary businesses
Partner with businesses that use gift cards as a third-party product to meet their customers’ needs. By partnering with these companies, you can use the gift card to benefit their respective businesses and increase customer loyalty.
Attract customers by making the most of the season.
When people think of gift cards, the first thing that comes to mind is buying last-minute gifts—weddings, birthdays, anniversaries when you don’t know what to give. You must remember that more retailers have been starting considering other packaging options like gift boxes and kraft pillow boxes to improve their marketing and branding strategies. Why? Because it increases customer loyalty and retention.
Combine gift cards and discounts
It’s hard to go wrong with combining gift cards and discounts. Some gift cards have the feature to buy those items that can be unaffordable in other cases but your card allows you to do. For example, if the gift card is used in-store or online, you can offer a discount on the purchase.
Respond to complaints
You can use Gift cards to resolve customer complaints. After resolving the problem or complaint, it would be an excellent gesture to apologize, reward them (e.g., a gift card), give them good publicity and reinvigorate their business. It also shows the complainant that you take complaints seriously and appreciate their work.
Competition on social media.
While discussing the best social media platforms, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at the top of the chart. These channels are great for customers, and they can do contests and giveaways on social media with online gift cards. What do you need to do as a retailer to make this idea a reality? First, design an attractive gift card encouraging people to send their feed. Then, create an attractive image with clear and simple rules for participation.
Packaging helps increase brand awareness.
If your company is considering a marketing campaign, you may be looking to increase brand awareness. However, it can also be used to increase customer loyalty. Sweetgreen is an example of a brand that has done this, using gift cards as part of its “Sweet Random Acts” campaign. With the help of brand ambassadors, they send employees out into the field to see who is doing good deeds in the community and give them a gift card.
And they’ve taken it a step further by doing acts of kindness themselves. On rainy days, they put shower caps on the seats of their bikes and place gift cards underneath. These small actions are primarily intended to increase awareness (brand recognition), but they also strengthen consumer loyalty to the company. Athena used to give out $10 gift cards to anyone who sent in a photo of themselves wearing Athena clothing.
If products are left in the shopping cart
How often have you been informed that a customer did not decide to purchase an item in your cart? Make good use of abandoned cart information to encourage customers to purchase the products they are considering. Again, the incentive doesn’t have to be significant; this is where e-gift cards come in.
Imagine you have five items left in your cart. A day or two later, the seller emails you a gift card worth $5, $10, or even $15. What might they do? Check your shopping cart as soon as possible to see if these items are available. The final purchase and return of the item can be quick.
With these small incentives, customers will feel comfortable purchasing, resulting in a positive customer experience and even greater loyalty. Kraft pillow boxes are high-quality packaging with rounded corners and a lid that opens on one side. You can also use folding cartons for various applications, and they can be used to package any product.
Conclusion
Use gift cards more to build customer loyalty. Gift cards aren’t just for last-minute gifts, like holidays or birthdays. Nor should they be gathering dust in front of your store’s cash register or at the bottom of your website’s menu. With more and more customers looking for exceptional service and a unique brand experience, these eight ways to use gift cards will not only attract customers but also increase brand awareness, provide unparalleled service and even boost sales.
