9 Apps to Increase Customer Loyalty

Your loyal customers will come back time and time again. Remember our infographic on rewarding your returning customers by giving them the “loyal” treatment? Lift your customer retention efforts one step further by taking it mobile — Read on to discover nine of the top mobile loyalty apps!

LoyalBlocks: Also offers rewards and offers just for walking into a store. As a business, you would complete the online registration, use a mobile device as your “base station,” download the App, and finally customize the rewards (known as “tokens” on LoyalBlocks). As a customer, they download the app to their mobile device, then the system punches their mobile “cards,” sending them your already customized rewards each time they enter your establishment.

Shopkick Local: Offers rewards just for walking into a store! It is already being used by major retailers like Target and Best Buy. Shopkick has started to add small independent retailers to its program in select markets – check out their website if yours is one of them!

SpotOn: SpotOn gives your business a tablet that keeps track of check-ins, rewards and data. After downloading the free app, customers can scan the app to earn and redeem rewards. Customers are given the chance to earn bonus rewards if they share them on social media, which encourages them to spread the word about your company! You can create various marketing campaigns, look at results and manage your campaigns from anywhere.

Punchcard: By using this free app, post a photo of their receipt and “tag” the business to get a “punch.” Rewards are actually set and managed by Punchcard themselves and include things like gift cards, free movie ticket, etc. Even though the downside is not being able to reward items made by your business, it does make it easier than having to manage rewards yourself. Punchcard has other marketing capabilities, like finding and messaging nearby shoppers to bring them to your business.

Perka: With Perka, you “punch” a virtual card on their phone from your Business app. Within the app, you can see each customer’s name and status so you can personally say hello and acknowledge them if they’re a returning customer. Customers can also send you their complaints privately so you can diffuse them quickly. With Perka, customers can use social media to spread the word about your company. There is also provided purchase data that you can use for targeted promotions.

Spendgo: Businesses give out “points” to customers for their purchases, and when they reach a pre-defined threshold, they earn rewards. Customers can easily track their rewards either on their desktop or mobile devices. Spendgo gives each business a tablet where customers enter their phone numbers when they make a purchase. If a customer makes a purchase not on location, they can easily scan a QR code receipts to redeem “points.”

Belly: Gives your business with an iPad to track individual customer visits by scanning their loyalty cards or, as an alternative, customers can use a program like Passbook to store their info. Best of all, Belly integrates with social media, making it easy for your customers to spread the word! You can also customize rewards and offers, export data, and send targeted emails.

LevelUp:  By downloading this free app on their mobile devices, customers can earn rewards when they spend a pre-determined amount at your store. For businesses, there are no payment processing fees! And it doesn’t stop with the customers: by using LevelUp, your business can earn rebates for every new user who purchases, and rewards your employees for bringing new customers into the program.

Swipely: With Swipely, no download is necessary. Customers simply sign up via text message to earn cash-back whenever they use their credit cards at your business. Best of all, as a business you don’t need any new equipment! Swipely also provides data around customer spending patterns, as well as solutions for social media marketing, direct marketing and mobile marketing.

Do you use any mobile loyalty apps at your business? Let us know if we left any off our list! Leave a comment below, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.