A growing business lives and dies by repeat customers or clients, especially in uncertain economic times like these.  Every business wants and needs to do their best to retain their loyal customers.  Why, because if you treat them good they keep coming back and spending money.  Not only that word of mouth is huge these days especially with the technology the way it is.  I mean we cannot live without the internet.  Anyhow what is the saying that 1 customer will tell about 5 people and those people will tell 10 people and so on.  So imagine if you are good to your customers not only will they remain loyal customers but they will also bring along their family and friends who could potentially become loyal cusotmers as well.

Some comapnies use rewards and a tactic to retain customers.  One of the chief goals of a successful customer  loyalty program is to enhance the customer experience and forge a strong relationship between your customer and your company.  Some also use points to purchase items at a later time.  Credit card companies such as Citi or Capital One use frequent flyer mile deals to keep their customer coming back.  One of my chase cards has a cash reward program.  For each purchase and the purchase type the cash reward is either $1.00 or $3.00 and once I reach $200.00 they will actally send me a check for $250.00.  So I earn an additional $50.00 for waiting to reach the $200.00.  So needless to say I use that card quite a bit. : )

Of course it doesn’t always have to be a cash or points program especially in a small business.  Paying attentions to your customers such as remembering their names and the something from the last conversation you had with them can be plenty.  Coupons are another tactic that can work.  For example if you have a Kohl’s card you almost every week get some kind of coupon cards or advertisement scratch off to use in a store.  Another example is for Macy’s card holders they have certain promotions where they open the store for certain hours for only those who carry a Macy’s card plus you get a certain percentage off your purchase plus any addional coupons you may have.  That’s a plus for me right there as it is I hate shopping.  Yes you heard right I’m a woman and I hate to shop… I’m going through the weight gain issues, ladies you know how that is. LOL!  Anyhow back to Macy’s that’s a cool deal, they will close the store for Macy’s cardholders only, granted I’m sure there are many but still the way they present it is very appealing.