I’ve got a truckload. I’m pretty good a throwing receipts away, but I’m a sucker for a bargain so keep many rewards cards.
The most common type is “buy 9 cups of coffee, get your 10th cup free”.
From VTNZ Hewlets Road I’ve got “get 2 WOF’s, get $5 off the third, get 2 more WOF’s, get $10 off the fifth.
From BP Maunganui Road (beside the fly-over) I’ve got “fill your gas bottle 9 times, get the 10th free”
From Bakers Delight on Owens Place I’ve got “spend over $4 5 times, get a loaf of bread free”
From Subway I’ve got a Subcard for 20c credit for every 6 inch sub I purchase.
And the more famous nationwide examples would be Fly Buys and Air Points.
Here’s the trick: Some of these actually save me money (I would probably go to bakers delight anyway), but others are a real waste of time (it will take me 5 years to need 9 bottles of LPG), but I can’t resist the promise of saving money at some point in the future.
And in the meantime, I’m carrying around their brand name in my wallet. Their brand name is front of mind, because everytime I open my wallet I am reminded of it.
Is it the same for you? What cards have you got in your wallet?
How can you make this hugely successful tactic work for your business? Can you issue a rewards cards?
What ever you do, don’t be tempted to write an expiry date on them. The couple of times that happened to me it made me really mad and you don’t want loyal customers thinking dark thoughts about you!
Hi Sheldon
I’m glad to hear that you are a regular Bakers Delight customer!!
If you like our current program – you should see what’s coming!! I believe the key point in your very accurate commentary above is the fact that as you stated “you would probably go to Bakers Delight anyway” with the constant reminder in your wallet this will help turn the probably into definitely – don’t want to miss out on that reward – no one does.
Do you agree?
Cheers
Chris
GM Marketing & Operational Support
Bakers Delight Holdings
Yes! Thanks for your message Chris
(And what Chris has demonstrated here folks is a classic example of “how to monitor what people are saying about your brand online” – the subject of an upcoming article of mine, and closely related to another article of mine: What are people saying about your brand online?)
I can’t stand clutter in my wallet, I too used to be a loyalty card whore like you Sheldon but realised that the real estate in my wallet was worth more than the few times I would use a loyalty card. Usually I’d visit the business so rarely that I would often forget to use it when I WAS there! This infuriated me greatly so now I only use two loyalty cards, Subway and AA for the same reasons as you, I go there anyway so might as well take advantage. Also, in regards to wallet clutter I ensure that these cards remain in my wifes purse and that I only visit these places when I’m with her. WIN!
Here’s a brilliant example of the right way to do loyalty cards written by my arch nemisis (because he’s better at marketing than me): Wayne Attwell and Bold Horizon.
I’m surprised anyone keeps their subway card it earns bugger all and expires so quickly not worth it I cut mine up a year ago. It was good back in the day when you had stamps actually got something for your loyalty.