Do you offer a loyalty program?

Do you offer a loyalty program? If so, what are the details?

This is something im considering doing, and attaching it to a gift card.

Im just not sure what sort of details it will have. Perhaps something like 100 points for every dollar spent, and then they can redeem the points for certain photographic services later. Just havent figured out the exchange rate. Like a free 8x10 print for 200,000 points. Or make it 1 point for every dollar spent, and a free 8x10 for every 200 points.

Back in Canada I always wondered why Club Z had such high point values, I always wondered why not make it 1 point for every $1 instead of 100. But does the points "look" better if they are higher?

you should figure out how much profit you want to make before they get a return on their investment with you...then assign point value to reflect that profit margin.

I guess it depends on your business. I shoot real estate photography and I have a couple things I do.

One, at the end of the year, I do gifts for my top clients and I break it down by how much they order. I typically spend about 1% of what I make in gifts at the end of the year. I have a few clients that order more than 50 shoots a year from me, so I spend more on them. I have a few that order between 20 and 40 shoots, so I spend a little less on them but more than those that order less than 20. I also look at other things like referrals. I have a couple clients that only order a half dozen or so a year but I usually get a several new clients a year from those clients. So, I give them a little more to say thanks.

Second, clients that order more than 20 shoots a year get a small discount. They commit in writing to order at least 20 shoots a year and they get a small discount (about 10%) on every order. This has worked great for me. But, like I stated, it depends on your business. Not sure this applies to portrait photography unless someone has a HUGE family. LOL I guess you could offer them a discount on their next shoot for referring a new client to you.

For me it's simple, take care of your clients and they will take care of you. I even do stuff for the clients that only order a few a year. It may be a thank you card with a Starbucks card, but I do something. Take a client that spends very little with you and let them know you remembered them at the end of the year by saying thanks....and you will have a repeat client. Otherwise, you will always be chasing down new clients. The heck with that, take care of your current clients and they will take care of you.

In my marketing class it said something like it costs XX amount more to get new clients than to keep current clients. Which is why im looking into this loyalty program.

unless you have a high volume and turnover rate of clients, its probably not worth it

I recently signed a contract for 50 jobs with one client and gave them a slight discount for volume. That is about the closest thing I have to a loyalty program.

I would advise not doing anything complicated. I have repeat clients, and those I give a bit of extra customer service or a benefit such as not having to put up the session fee immediately on scheduling.

Recently, a repeat client for senior pictures wanted to have the same frames for son #2 as she had for son #1. Unfortunately, my frame dealer no longer stocked that model, so I offered to reframe them all with a newer model (kept the old frames for later resale).

Or you could offer service plans, such as a 2-year "Watch Me Grow" plan for new parents in which if they contract into it into it up front, they get, say, additional prints compared to what they'd get for the same price without the contract.

But I would not get into any kind of complex points/credits/whateve​r system.

Yes. For each four prints purchased of a specific size, I offer 1 free print of the size below it. From the perception of the buyer, it's a nice freebie / discount. But because I do my own printing, the cost is negligible to me. Works well.

I usually just go above and beyond a little for the ones who come back. I'm not an fye franchise so no scanners, punches, barcodes, etc.