SINGAPORE: While a big discount may still attract lots of eager shoppers, buying items at regular prices may also get you more than just what you are looking for.
Advertising veteran Chris Riley said that from a simple pair of jeans to high-end luxury items, more brands are using reward programmes to keep customers happy.
An increasing number of companies are using this customer retention style of marketing because it will cost them up to 10 times more in attracting new customers than to keep them.
“The fact that they’re still engaging customers means they’re deriving some competitive advantage from this activity,” said Chris Riley, managing director of OgilvyOne Worldwide, an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency.
“And they’re actually seeing some kind of payback, whether that’s as much as they’d like is another matter.”
Take Performance Motors, the distributor of BMW cars and motorcycles in Singapore, for example.
When customers drive away in one of its top end luxury cars, they are entitled to free games on a golf course and outings on a private yacht while staying in an exclusive seaside resort.
Advertisers like Riley agree it is well conceived customer rewards that set the benchmark.
“As much as you and I would like to be treated well financially, we’re also quite human when it comes to relationships with brands based on social bonds,” he explained.