How to use a loyalty program in B2B business
Many loyalty programs are associated with retail sales: customers accumulate bonuses and spend them on new purchases. But how to use different loyalty mechanics in the B2B segment, where the target audience is another business? Let's look at the article.
Why loyalty programs are important in B2B
In the field of corporate entrepreneurship, competition is as high as in B2C, plus the cost of one customer is often much higher here. Therefore, B2B companies increasingly borrow methods of loyalty programs from the consumer segment in order to strengthen relationships with their business partners and provide them with a unique user experience.
Here are a few reasons why loyalty programs are important in B2B:
- Attracting new customers . At the first stages of cooperation, a loyalty program can stimulate partners to conclude the first agreement, which will allow the company to expand its customer base and increase profits.
- Customer retention . By providing valuable incentives and privileges, the company improves relations with customers and supports their interest in long-term cooperation.
- Reconstruction of competitors . A loyalty program designed with customer needs in mind can become a company's competitive advantage and help it stand out from other players on the market.
- Improving communication with partners . According to statistics, offers in the framework of the loyalty program arouse more interest among customers than regular marketing communications. Accordingly, their use has a positive effect only on the level of sales.
- Collection of customer information . Loyalty programs can also be a tool for collecting data about customer preferences and behavior. By analyzing this information, you will begin to better understand the needs of the target audience, and you will be able to develop more targeted and attractive offers.
Differences between loyalty programs in B2B and B2C
Relationships with corporate customers are usually more complex and deep than in the consumer sector, and a successful B2B loyalty program must take this into account. Compared to bonus systems in the B2C segment, it has four key differences:
- Division of motivational tools . A business-oriented loyalty program always contains two types of motivators - rational and emotional. Rational ones are aimed at the benefit of the client company, and emotional ones help to form and strengthen relationships with decision-makers: directors, accountants, procurement managers, etc.
- Focus on long-term cooperation . Programs in B2C are more transactional, and in most cases focus on individual sales. In B2B, on the contrary, the main focus is building long-term and mutually beneficial relationships.
- Audience segmentation . The structure of sales in the corporate environment implies a series of communications at different levels, accordingly, for each of them, it is necessary to provide optimal mechanics of loyalty.
- Types of incentives . In B2B, in addition to traditional methods of motivating the target audience, such as discounts, bonuses and cashback, more specific incentives are often used, for example, discounts for large orders, free training programs or consulting services.
Despite the fact that the basic principles of loyalty programs may be similar in both segments, their specific implementation and emphasis may differ significantly depending on the specifics of a specific business and the needs of the target audience.
Implementation of loyalty system in B2B company
When developing a loyalty program for B2B, companies need to consider many factors: multi-level relationships with customers, a long sales cycle, specifics of business processes, and others. Therefore, the process of introducing such bonus systems is usually carried out in stages. Here are the basic steps you need to take:
- Research and analysis .
Assess your company's current position in the market and in customer relations. Study the needs of the target audience, as well as form clear goals and expectations for the implementation of the loyalty program.
- Concept development.
Based on the received data, develop a loyalty program strategy, define its goals and objectives. Also, at this stage, it is necessary to think over KPIs - key metrics that will allow you to assess the system's effectiveness.
- Choice of platform and tools .
Choose a functional platform to automate and manage your loyalty program. Typically, specialized software such as EfirCards is used.
- Program testing.
Launch a loyalty program pilot project with a small group of partners or a specific segment of your customer base.
Then evaluate the response of the audience, the effectiveness of the system from the point of view of your business and, if necessary, make adjustments.
- Marketing and communications .
Develop a marketing plan for the implementation of the loyalty program, including communication with existing customers and attracting new ones.
- Implementation and training .
Implement a loyalty program into the company's processes and conduct staff training. To provide partners with a positive experience and achieve planned business results, it is very important to provide reliable user support at all stages of interaction with the system - from registration to receiving an incentive.
Launching and implementing a loyalty program is just the beginning. Next, to be successful, you need to organize effective tracking of its results, including by monitoring key metrics and analyzing customer feedback. Based on this data, you will be able to optimize the system or its individual mechanics so that they work more efficiently and bring the desired result.
The role of Efir electronic loyalty cards in the B2B loyalty program
EfirCards is a specialized service for launching, automating and managing loyalty programs. It is based on the use of interactive virtual cards, which are comfortable to use and functionally cover the needs of any bonus systems in the B2B segment. Virtual cards have a number of significant advantages over outdated plastic counterparts:
- Easy to apply through the online form.
- May be added to Apple Wallet or Google Pay of decision makers.
- You can customize their design to match your brand's signature style.
- Collect and provide real-time analytics.
- They cannot be lost because the data is stored on the server.
Practical use of Efir cards in B2B
On the EfirCards platform, there are four types of virtual maps. Let's consider how each of them can help your company win the trust of partners, improve its image in the market and stand out among competitors' competitors:
- Discount cards . Offer loyalty program members a discount on all of your products or specific product categories to motivate them to make large purchases.
- Discounts with accumulation . Segment your audience and give bigger discounts to partners who bring you the main income. The discount percentage in such cards increases depending on the amount spent by the client.
- Cashback card . Return to partners a part of the amount spent by them from each purchase. This will minimize the outflow of customers, as they will have a financial motivation to cooperate only with your company.
- Card stamp . Give partners valuable gifts after a certain number of purchases. This will allow you to increase the number of transactions, and therefore your profit.
How much does it cost to use the EfirCards platform
For new users, we have provided a temporary free tariff plan - just register your company on our website and use all the innovative features of EfirCards without any investment.
We also provide clients with qualified technical support at all stages of development and implementation of loyalty programs.
