Helping businesses improve retention is a large part of my job as a MINDBODY business consultant. I have found that one way I can help businesses improve retention is by ensuring their reward program is set up well. Recently I had a client that was upset when a past customer of theirs returned to their business one year after their last visit and redeemed all of their Perkville points. The business owner was very upset because this client had not visited or made a purchase in a year and suddenly cost her a lot of money. This led to a great discussion about what her reward program settings should be for her business. After a little digging, we realized that we could prevent this from happening again with the click of a few buttons. We found other reward program settings that could be improved too. Here they are...
Earning points before activating Perkville
Should clients be able to earn points before they “buy” into the reward program? This may be motivation for some but it also might feel like you are rewarding clients when they shouldn’t be earning. You can set Perkville so that points are only earned once they have activated their account. Here’s how: Preventing Pending Customers from Earning Points
Expiring points
Do your points expire or are you like the above example and setting yourself up for clients redeeming when they shouldn’t? You can set that points expire after a certain period of time based on their past activity such as earning or redeeming. This expiration can also send a notification to clients that points are going to expire motivating them to visit your business again so they do not lose their points. It will also motivate them to redeem their points more often. A client of mine recently made points expire if the client had not visited the business in sixty days. Suddenly clients who feared losing their points were booking classes in order to “save”their points. Some of these clients had under 500 points but they were determined they were not losing them! Here’s how: Point Expiration Due to Inactivity
Member cancellation
If you are a member driven business did you know that you can expire points when a membership is cancelled? This might be a great setting to promote member retention and could be a perk for being a member. You could use this feature so that ONLY members are part of Perkville adding exclusivity to the program. Here’s how: Expiring Points for Cancelled Members or Joining Program for Members Only
Expiring redemption vouchers
When clients do redeem a reward encourage them to use their vouchers swiftly by setting an expiration date. Long expirations or no expirations can deter use of rewards which reduces the excitement and urgency. Set the reward to expire after 30-60 days. We need to create urgency or just like many gift cards, these vouchers will be left untouched. Keep the expiry date for referrals short to drive new traffic into your business quickly. Here’s how: Business Referral Offer
It’s important to have your Perkville settings tailored to your business. This process needs to be simple and it needs to reward the behaviors you want to see from your customers such as repeat visits and recurring purchases. Use these settings to increase the value you’re getting from your reward program.
About Crystal Zakaluzny
Located in Canada, Crystal Zakaluzny is a MINDBODY Certified Business & Software Consultant with numerous years of hands on experience in the fitness industry. Crystal specializes in retention and creating a successful sales process as well as optimizing the MINDBODY program for any fitness or wellness business. She will work with you to achieve a level of financial organization to create opportunities for you, and your business, to flourish. Book a Perkville consultation today.