英语论文网

purchase. Once they do, they will realize that 'gold' status is not unattainable, and it offers really cool benefits.

The difference that lies between earning points and tiered systems is that customers derive short-term benefit in one whereas the other provides long-term value. But it is a fact that tiered programs work better for high commitment or higher price-point businesses like hospitality businesses, airlines or insurance companies.

Charging an Upfront Fee for providing VIP Benefits 收取提供贵宾福利的前期费用

Loyalty programs are supposed to break down barriers between customers and business. But the question is that if we should inform them that we chargethema fee. In some circumstances, a one-time annual fee can be charged that lets customers bypass common purchase blockers. It is beneficial for both business and customer in a similar fashion. A fee-based loyalty program can be customized to resolve the specific barriers that might influence a customer to leave.

In 2011,a trend of abandonment of ecommerce shopping cart rose to hit a record as high as 72%, and it is still rising. The cause of this was 'sticker shock' that involves the after tax and shipping prices. The biggest player of E-commerce, Amazon, devised a method to combat this particular issue arising in their loyalty program. The method was called ‘Prime’. Prime users receive 2-day free shipping on any number of products with no minimum purchase. This was among other benefits only for $79 annually fee.

This program is innovative as it charges loyal customers and provides sufficient for those frequent shoppers to realize that they are benefited from this program.It has been estimated by analyststhatfor each Prime subscriber, Amazon actually loses about $11 annually. But it manages it through increased transactional frequency that would not have happened if they hadn’t offered these exclusive benefits.

To summerize, this system is mainly applicable to businesses that involves frequent, repeat purchases. In return of an one time upfront fee, your customers could avoid the inconveniences that could have hindered their future purchases. Amazon has mastered this for e-commerce, but there is also potential of this loyalty program model to work for B2B.

Structure Non-Monetary Programs Around Your Customer's Values 围绕客户价值构建非货币计划

To really understand your customer means to understand their values and worth. And depending on industry, customers may find more value in discounted or non-monetary rewards. Among all the companies that offer promotional coupons and discount codes, only those businesses providing value to the customer base in ways apart from direct monetary benefits have an opportunity to know their audience, really connect with them and sustain them for a longer period of time.

Patagonia is an eco-friendly outdoor apparel company that realized that the need of their customer is something more than just points or discounts that they get from a loyalty program. The company invented and implemented its ‘Common Threads Initiative’. They partnered with eBay for this initiative in which they help customers in online reselling of their highly durable Patagonia clothing, through the company website.

This program has dual advantage, firstly it builds on their brand of sustainability while creating a product of high quality, and secondly it