B2B businesses need to reward their loyal clients frequently. While B2C loyalty programs are quite popular, B2B SaaS companies have to keep certain best practices in mind. B2B companies need to focus on driving revenue and sales while incentivizing existing loyal customers. As per a report by Forrester, by 2023 B2B businesses in the US is expected to contribute up to $1.8 trillion. Customer loyalty is the base of customer retention. To create lasting B2B relationships, companies need to go the extra mile to keep customers and ensure retention.
What is a B2B Customer Loyalty Program?
As per research by Fundera, nearly 43% of customers will spend money based on how they perceive loyalty with a business. B2B customer loyalty helps expand the customer base and keep repeat customers. As compared to the B2C customer loyalty platform, B2B loyalty programs are restrictive about who can participate. B2B customer loyalty programs solve the problems or pain points of decision-makers as opposed to B2C programs. The focus for B2B customers is how the program will help grow the business.
10 B2B Loyalty Program Best Practices in 2022
To optimize B2B loyalty programs, you need to keep certain best practices in mind. These best practices will help you simplify the rewards system and prove them to be effective.
Here are 10 customer loyalty program best practices that B2B businesses can learn from
Any B2B loyalty program needs to be based on points as it is easy to track and motivate members to collect more. B2B companies have strict rules and dedicated budgets that need to be kept in mind while designing a program. There needs to be relevant material for B2B businesses to look up to and avoid any friction. For example- HP has a loyalty points-based system for their ink cartridges. Once the company has enough loyalty points, they can get discounted HP products or gift vouchers.
Select a bunch of relevant rewards
In B2B companies, the purchaser may not be the buyer. These may be two different individuals. So you need to have rewards that each category may value. The purchaser might value a cashback. The user may hope for easier product upgrades and support. This means you need to have a bunch of rewards that can be mapped as per need.
Like what you are reading?
Sign up for our newsletter
Match reward success with business KPIs
Loyalty programs are meant to encourage repeat sales and access new products. You can map these program details with business KPIs to reach goals faster and drive revenue. For example- If you feel customers are not understanding the new products, you can conduct a quiz to test which customers answer correctly. They can be incentivized and rewarded. This helps you generate long-term revenue.
Choose tiered reward structures
You need to design an exclusive, tiered program. This will encourage engagement from the beginning. For example- If a customer enters the program at level 1, after say 100 points, they will go to level 2. A basic membership reward can help boost the value and volume of loyalty purchases. Tier-based incentives will enhance users to reach that level and perform well. You can also add online events and prize draws to ensure continued participation.
Ensure earning the point or redeeming it is not hard
A customer loyalty program should not be complex. It needs to be simple, easy to understand and offer enjoyment to customers who want to reach a goal. Every activity should add to the points table. For example- sign-ups, referrals, games, emails, and other engagement ways need to add more points. There should also be a variety of options to redeem the points collected.
Create a referral system
A referral system goes a long way in retaining customers. Reward customers by ensuring they get bonuses every time they bring in a new customer. This means the more customers they bring in, the more bonus they will receive. The customer loyalty program thus grows and helps the customer also to grow.
Offer a great customer experience
B2B companies need to keep in mind customer loyalty program experience. The personalization and relevance have to be ultimate. You need to offer self-support choices, self-service options, live support, online platform access, and customizable price lists. The loyalty program also needs to be tech-enabled to understand where customers are finding a problem.
Keep track of what others offer
Sometimes the most important thing to do is know what your competitors are doing. Know the latest trends, propositions, expectations, and technological offerings of others in and outside the industry. This will help you use the right solutions and practices to save money and time.
Educate customers frequently
Customers need to know what makes your customer loyalty program different. You cannot be sure that customers are happy with the exclusivity. They need to know what sets the program apart, the pricing differences, the benefits you accrue, and more. Customers need to know what they will achieve and how they will benefit if they choose your loyalty program.
Ensure getting customer support is easy
Customer support for any program is vital. You need to ensure that customers can connect with your brand in an easy manner. If they are finding some issue with the rewards program, immediate assistance needs to be available. Effortless information availability coupled with great communication will help.
B2B Loyalty Program Example
It is known that on an average, loyal customers are valued at 10x more than their first purchase. Another fact is that loyalty members spend 20% more than non-members. Let us know how tech giant Lenovo has used the B2B loyalty program.
Lenovo
Lenovo has a great B2B loyalty program which is focused on not losing business partners. Lenovo business partners earn LEAP points which can be redeemed for rewards. Sellers or business partners receive points if they learn from the educational modules. These sellers can also track sales performance and meet a points target. Lenovo’s focus was on keeping their existing customers. This worked well for them as they got over 700 firms to join.
Bottom Line
Customer retention is necessary in the B2B company space. A good loyalty program can ensure customers are engaged and happy. Personalized customer support with good processes will help improve customer experiences. Taking feedback from customers about the loyalty programs will also go a long way.
Shivani is a talented CS manager with the skillsets to elicit, scope and manage end-to-end B2B SaaS project delivery. She has a keen interest in depicting her learnings in customer success by writing resourceful blogs and articles.
Published March 17, 2022, Updated March 02, 2023
