If you’re only selling loyalty and customer engagement solutions to retail or restaurant clients, you may miss out on opportunities to expand your customer base and grow your business. Businesses in various verticals, like the 10 listed below, can benefit from customer engagement solutions that help them build customer loyalty and improve customer retention.
1. Banking and financial
Consumers love earning points by using payment cards, and they can even be convinced to transfer balances to earn the types of rewards they want most. Banks, credit unions, and other businesses in the finance industry are successful with different loyalty programs. Some enable the consumer to earn cash back, points for merchandise or gift cards, cross-promotional rewards with airlines or hotels, and some even give the consumer the option to donate their rewards to charity. Ensure your clients have the flexibility to optimize their loyalty programs to suit their customers.
2. Grocery
Businesses can build grocery shoppers’ loyalty by allowing them to earn discounts or points toward certain types of purchases. Grocery stores often find success with tiered programs that base rewards on the dollar amount spent in a certain period. Loyalty program enrollment can also track the consumer’s purchasing habits and automatically issue discounts or coupons for commonly purchased items.
3. Travel
Loyalty and customer engagement solutions are also valuable to the travel industry. Enrolling in the program can make paying fares and tolls frictionless – and the program may even encourage commuters to use public transportation through gamification or by offering rewards or discounts.
4. Hotel and hospitality
Most hotel chains have loyalty rewards programs, offering free stays after so many bookings. But customer engagement solutions can work for any hospitality business, including inns and B&Bs. These businesses can provide points for booking – and even encourage people to book directly from their website by offering bonus points. Points may also encourage visitors to write a review or refer a friend.
5. Telecom
Telecommunications companies experience a higher-than-average churn rate—in some cases, it’s more than 60 percent annually. Customer engagement and rewards can help attract and retain new customers. Loyalty programs can include partners’ rewards and free or discounted phones or services.
6. Media and entertainment
Theaters and media companies are using loyalty and customer engagement programs to increase the value of and collect data on their fans. These programs award points for purchases or engagement with marketing assets, such as watching games or movie trailers. Rewards that reflect fans’ favorite movies, characters, or media companies can encourage participation in the loyalty program.
7. Health and fitness
Getting people to join a gym in January after making a New Year’s resolution is relatively easy. To keep them engaged – and renewing their membership – is more challenging. The solutions you provide can encourage members to stay engaged through gamification, points they can redeem for rewards or discounts.
8. Golf courses and clubs
The golf industry is facing new competition from sports entertainment companies and is seeing an increase in “off-course” players. Customer engagement and loyalty programs can help courses monitor trends and give players the rewards and offers they’re most interested in.
9. Pharmacy
As spending on prescription medications continues to climb, pharmacies can help retain customers and build loyalty by awarding points for filling prescriptions and allowing customers to use them for discounts on other products in their stores.
10. B2B
In addition to your B2C clients, your B2B clients may also benefit from a loyalty component in their customer engagement strategy. Businesses are motivated to purchase differently than consumers, but a program that offers incentives or discounts for frequent buyers or high-volume purchases can help increase sales and build loyalty. The solution you provide should ensure offers get to decision-makers at the right times.
Business Benefits
According to Grand View Research, the global loyalty management market will grow to $17.65 billion by 2028, a CAGR of 12.3 percent from 2021 to 2028. Those gains are driven by advanced solutions that track consumer behaviors and enhance customer engagement. Additionally, businesses in competitive spaces are ramping up loyalty programs and digitalized payment methods, such as mobile wallets, are also contributing to growth.
Furthermore, those trends all represent opportunities for VARs and MSPs. With your knowledge of the available solutions and the industry you serve, you can advise your clients on which customer engagement software has the right feature set and will provide the greatest value for their businesses.
Discuss loyalty and customer engagement solutions with your clients and prospects – in all verticals – to see if these applications can fill a gap and help them get closer to achieving their customer loyalty and retention goals. 
