9 Local Business Incentive Ideas to Offer Prospective Customers
To help you find the best incentives to offer your customers, we gathered insights from marketing professionals and business leaders. From offering referral bonuses to introducing free trials, here are nine powerful ideas shared by experts, including Digital Marketing Managers and Chief Marketing Officers, to keep your customers engaged and loyal.
- Offer Referral Bonuses
- Provide Free Shipping
- Implement Loyalty Programs
- Grant Early Access to Discounts
- Exclusive Content for Clients
- Attract with Special Discounts
- Personalize Customer Discounts
- Organize Giveaways
- Introduce Free Trials
Offer Referral Bonuses
Referral bonuses are a great way to both reward your customers to keep coming back and attract new ones, as they are more likely to trust and act on the recommendations of their friends and family members who have used your products or services. Referral bonuses can be a discount, a gift, or even a cash bonus for referring their network to your brand.
Of course, it’s important that you make it easy for your customers to refer to others—most businesses provide a referral link or code that they can share with their friends and family to shop from. Offering a referral incentive will help you build up a strong and positive social reputation and is an easy form of word-of-mouth marketing that lets you thank your current customers for their business.
Joe Acosta
Digital Marketing Manager, BBQ Galore
Provide Free Shipping
Even though it is a joke, free shipping is an incentive that still absolutely works. You can start a limited-time offer on free shipping or set up a system where purchases above a certain level are rewarded with no additional fee, which will definitely bring the customers around. It’s a rule that will almost always be true.
Natalia Brzezinska
Marketing and Outreach Manager, ePassportPhoto
Implement Loyalty Programs
One incentive you can offer your customers is a loyalty program. This could involve customers earning points or rewards for every purchase they make, which can then be redeemed for discounts, free products, or other incentives. This encourages customers to keep coming back and provides them with an incentive to do so.
Jaya Iyer
Marketing Assistant, Teranga Digital Marketing
Grant Early Access to Discounts
One of the best incentives you can offer your loyal customers is early access to special discounts. When you have customers create an account with your business, one perk they can receive is exclusive access to deals earlier than the general population.
Not only does this give your customers a better chance of securing the items they want for a cheaper price, but it creates exclusivity, which is important in increasing loyalty. Your customers will continue to keep their accounts active as long as they can receive these special deals.
Allen King, CEO, Fun Join
Exclusive Content for Clients
If you work in the finance sector like my company does, you might give your clients access to financial professionals who can offer guidance and viewpoints. When you’ve determined the content your clients would find valuable, it’s crucial to make it exclusive.
This means that it needs to be restricted to clients who have subscribed to your service or purchased your product. Customers will be more engaged with your business and more likely to return if you convey a sense of exclusivity.
Making content accessible is a crucial component of providing meaningful information. This calls for the use of approachable platforms and formats, such as a special area on your website or a mobile application. You can establish an interesting reason for your customers to continue engaging with your brand by offering them quality and exclusive content.
Percy Grunwald
Co-founder, Compare Banks
Attract with Special Discounts
Offering discounts on products or services can be a powerful incentive to attract new customers and keep existing ones. Customers often look for ways to save money, and discounts can encourage them to make a purchase or take advantage of a special offer.
By rewarding loyal customers with special discounts, free products, or exclusive offers, you can help to build long-term relationships with customers and increase their lifetime value to the business. In addition, loyalty programs can also encourage customers to refer their friends and family to your business.
Georgi Todorov
Founder, ThriveMyWay
Personalize Customer Discounts
You can offer your customers personalized discounts based on their shopping habits. If your business is in a digital space, then you likely have access to the data necessary to design and implement particular discounts for customers depending on what they are buying. This can be done with brick-and-mortar locations as well.
These types of discount incentives show your customer that your business is taking the time to understand their shopping habits and will provide a personalized shopping experience that appeals to each of them. Your patrons will appreciate your efforts, and they’ll likely be even more motivated to do business with you.
Max Schwartzapfel
CMO, Schwartzapfel Lawyers
Organize Giveaways
Giveaways are great customer incentives. They are often free to enter and require little effort from the customer to take part. These giveaways can be promoted via social media and your website to show appreciation for loyal customers.
In return, you increase your exposure and the number of email subscribers. Since you need their contact information in order to let them know if they won the giveaway, you can get a bit of information from your customers, which can make onboarding customers much easier.
Daniel Climans
Senior Manager, Digital Marketing and Partnerships, Sticker You
Introduce Free Trials
If you’re a business that provides a service, you might give your customers the ability to try your products for free. Customers appreciate the ability to try out a service without having to commit to it right away. It allows them to make informed purchases.
By offering free trials, you can show your customers that you value both their opinions about your services and the money that they spend with you. This will help build a sense of trust and loyalty for your brand.
You can also use free trials to gather data on your product so that you can improve your offerings to your customers. Free trials are an incentive that allows both businesses and customers to win.
Liza Kirsh
Chief Marketing Officer, DYMAPAK
Submit Your Answer
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