7 ways to turn your employees into loyalty ambassadors
The success of a loyalty program depends on offering great rewards and a personalized experience, all while putting data to good use. But we often forget that employees are just as essential in ensuring the success or failure of a loyalty program.
Employees, whether they belong to the sales, after-sales team or customer support, are the ones who ultimately sell the program, onboard new members, answer questions from existing members, allow the redemption of rewards and, finally, personalize the experience for all of your customers.
This begs the question: have you sufficiently equipped and prepared your employees to be good loyalty ambassadors?
Here are 7 things you can do to turn your employees into ambassadors for your loyalty program.
1. Teach them the basics of the loyalty program
Set up a training program for new employees that includes all the benefits of your customer loyalty program: what the rewards are (points, cash or otherwise), how to redeem the rewards, what benefits are offered, etc.
Provide tools like a one-pager or FAQ that they can easily refer to when they have questions. You can also implement a continuing education program featuring modules that review the basics and deepen their knowledge of the program.
Offering short training sessions followed by quizzes is a fun way to provide training while measuring the performance of each employee and offering personalized support to those who need it.
2. Show them how to better present the program and generate membership
It’s one thing to know the benefits of the program, but it’s quite another to properly explain them to customers. Prepare scripts that help employees onboard new members. Invite them to tweak or personalize them as they see fit.
Provide a list of advantages to the most popular or common objections. You might also want to do simulations between employees during training workshops.
3. Encourage feedback
Your employees are in daily contact with the customers and systems in place. Every day they receive valuable comments and insight into user processes. Encourage feedback during team meetings by inviting your employees to share their comments and propose solutions to the issues they have encountered.
Take the time to listen carefully and make suggested improvements. Your employees will feel all the more valued, and the customer experience will be all the more positive.
4. Share your goals
Make sure your employees understand why the rewards program contributes to the overall success of the organization. The goal is not to overwhelm them with reports and numbers, but rather to properly communicate the two or three main KPIs.
Goals might include an increase in the average order value or frequency, in sales generated by the program or in the level of customer satisfaction. Explain why a better performance of these metrics is beneficial to them as well.
5. Set objectives
Once your employees understand the benefits of the loyalty program in terms of business performance, give them clear objectives so that they may actively take part in the program’s performance.
These goals will serve as a tangible tool to measure their impact on the program’s success. These may include objectives such as:
- Number of new memberships
- Penetration rate of transactions
- Rewards redemption rate
Don’t be afraid to think outside the box! Why not launch contests or challenges to motivate individuals and teams with a bit of healthy competition?
6. Communicate on upcoming promotions
Never take them by surprise. It can be upsetting for an employee to hear about a promotion or deal for the first time from a customer. Take advantage of your team meetings or messages on the intranet to communicate details about upcoming deals before they are implemented.
If certain promotions are more complex or of longer duration, include reference tools such as an FAQ to better support the various teams.
Finally, if you make any changes to the program, make sure you always let your employees know beforehand. Update the program regularly so that it does not become obsolete.
7. Encourage them to join the program
It’s always easier to talk about what one knows. By encouraging your employees to join the loyalty program, you are giving them the full experience. They can thus reap its benefits and rewards just like any customer. This real experience will help them talk about the program more naturally.
Their dialogue with customers will be all the more sincere and convincing as a result.
With a little effort, organizations have a lot to gain from turning their employees into loyalty ambassadors. Follow these tips to succeed!
Are you interested in learning more about customer loyalty and engagement solutions for your organization? We offer strategic and operational support for companies wishing to set up or improve a loyalty program. Contact us for more information.
