Securing and retaining channel partners and end customers is increasingly difficult.
Higher customer expectations, marketing budget limitations, and intensified competition make it hard to acquire and retain channel partners. Once you do win them, your B2B marketing strategy must go beyond the initial transaction to keep them happy and loyal.
That's where B2B loyalty programs come into play.
B2B loyalty programs are a type of channel partner and customer retention strategy.
Also known as B2B rewards programs and channel partner incentive programs, they reward members who engage with and promote your brand. This includes making repeat purchases, completing surveys, and leaving reviews on social media.
By encouraging engagement, B2B loyalty programs strengthen your channel partner relationships, build brand advocacy, and help you uncover new revenue opportunities.
Where B2C loyalty programs help brands drive engagement and advocacy among individual consumers, B2B loyalty programs are designed for companies that operate within a supply chain. For example, large manufacturers who sell products to local contractors, distributors, installers, dealers.
B2B loyalty programs incentivize these relationships, allowing channel partners to earn rewards for selling your products to their customers. These rewards typically come in the form of rebates. As such, B2B loyalty programs rely on sophisticated customer loyalty platforms to capture and process data from invoices, purchase orders, and delivery orders – as well as receipts.
Building a successful B2B loyalty program requires a deep understanding of your channel partners and their customers. What are their goals? How can you help them achieve success? What do they expect in return for their loyalty?
Here are five things you can do to create the right program for your business.
Not all partners bring the same value to your company. Some are more engaged, spend more money, or are more willing to promote your products and services. To maximize engagement, create a tiered B2B loyalty program that rewards your biggest advocates.
Tiered programs let you divide your channel partners into distinct tiers based on level of spending, engagement, and similar metrics. Each tier provides progressively better rewards and benefits, motivating partners to perform activities that help them move to higher tiers and get better rewards.
Your loyalty program should clearly define how the tiers work, the benefits, and the criteria required to move to the next tier. For example:
Provide dashboards that show members their current program status and inform them of upcoming offers or rewards to keep them engaged long-term.
Whether you create a tiered B2B loyalty program or a single-level program, including the right channel incentives is essential.
While most channel partners expect financial incentives, such as discounts and rebates, others want variety. Think exclusive education, training, and support opportunities or experiential rewards such as invites to special events, networking, and co-marketing opportunities. You can even offer higher-value rewards like holidays or tickets to big events.
The key is to provide the right mix of channel incentives based on your partners' unique needs, preferences, and pain points.
Rebates are a popular incentive in B2B loyalty programs. From digital cash-back payments to pre-paid gift cards and checks, they come in a variety of forms. The key is finding the right distribution method for your partners.
Like gifts and discounts in B2C programs, rebates offer a tangible way to reward loyal channel partners. More than that, they:
Crucially, rebates are a source of first-party customer data. These insights provide a unique window into redemption patterns and customer motivations, which you can use to refine your loyalty program.
Digital rebate management software has streamlined the process of submitting and validating rebates, offering numerous advantages over traditional manual processes.
For starters, rebate management software offers both physical and digital options for submitting and redeeming rebates. These include:
Customers select their preferred channel, upload their invoice or purchase order, and let the rebate management software take care of the rest. From a business perspective, rebate management software lets you receive, verify, notify, and fulfill rebates from one platform – saving time and reducing costs.
Built-in data analytics and reports provide performance monitoring. This enables you to refine and personalize your program in real time, and understand how your rebate program contributes to your goals.
Building strong, lasting relationships with channel partners is one of the primary goals of B2B loyalty programs. B2C brands have thousands or millions of customers, but B2B companies may only have dozens, making an effective customer retention strategy crucial to your success.
Create channels for partners, end customers, and internal stakeholders to feed back on your program. Collect insights on satisfaction, challenges, and suggestions regularly to understand what you're doing well and where you can improve. This helps you refine your program, ensuring you offer the right rewards and incentives, so channel partners feel like an important part of your business.
Loyalty platform software helps you create, customize, and manage your loyalty programs.
Capabilities vary by solution. Some specialize in B2C, while others support both B2C and B2B customers. However, there are some general features you should look out for:
The best solutions integrate with your customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, enabling you to deliver seamless experiences. Other key capabilities include:
Like B2C programs, it's essential to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the success of your B2B loyalty program.
Key metrics, such as retention rate, average transaction value, and engagement help you identify fluctuations in partner sentiment. In addition, utilize data analytics tools to assess program performance and analyze behavior and redemption patterns to identify trends and areas for improvement. Conduct periodic audits to evaluate overall program effectiveness and to ensure alignment with evolving business and partner needs.
Manufacturer Draka (Prysmian Group) worked with Snipp to build a points-based loyalty rewards program that incentivizes installers to purchase products from participating wholesalers.
Running in the Netherlands, Connect & Collect lets installers earn Coins (points) on purchases of Draka electrical products. The number of points they earn depends on the type of product and wholesaler they purchased from. After accruing enough points, they can redeem them for various rewards on the program website.
3M implemented a customer loyalty program targeting dental healthcare professionals to increase revenue and reduce customer churn.
Powered by Snipp, the program lets dentists register and upload purchase invoices to earn points and rewards. This includes both financial and non-financial rewards, such as courses and business support. The program also acts as a valuable customer data collection tool that gives 3M valuable insights into consumer purchasing habits. In turn, this helps them segment customers more effective and deliver more personalized experiences.
Following extensive research, DSI Westbury developed an innovative tier-based loyalty program built around its contractor training ecosystem.
Using the Snipp C.A.R.E platform, the Westbury Pro Rewards program allows contractors enroll in the training scheme to earn rewards for every purchase of qualifying DSI products. As they progress through the program, members can achieve Westbury Certified Master Pro status, unlocking additional rewards.
IKO Drives Loyalty Among Contractors and Distributors
IKO increased contractor and distributor satisfaction in the US and Canada by incorporating Snipp's transaction processing software into its ROOFPRO loyalty program.
The software enables simpler and faster invoice processing, making life easier for contractors and distributors. Additionally, participating in the loyalty program entitles members to rebates, which they can claim digitally or in the mail.
US pool equipment manufacturer Hayward Industries runs a digital rebate program that rewards installers for using its products for daily repairs and upgrades – alongside various tiered offers and promotions.
Get Paid to Upgrade allows channel partners to submit photos of freshly installed Hayward products online to earn a $50 digital gift card from several participating outlets, including Amazon, Home Depot, Visa, and Walmart. Launching the program has helped Hayward engage with and retain program members.
B2B loyalty programs don't have to be complicated. Barilla celebrated National Pasta Month by offering rebates to restaurant owners who purchased cases of Barilla pasta. The more cases they purchased, the greater the rebate.
Along with the rebate, the loyalty program included digital content, such as recipes and tutorial videos, focused on cooking with Barilla products.
Colgate implemented a digital rebate program that rewards dentists for using its Optic White Professional teeth whitening kits.
After each treatment, participating dentists simply upload the unique code included on every kit to the program website and complete a short patient survey. They can also submit an optional before and after photo showing the effectiveness of the treatment. In exchange, they receive a $150 digital gift card.
The mutually beneficial promotion helps increase sales of Colgate's teeth whitening kits, while helping dentists give their patients whiter smiles.
In a B2B environment, keeping your partners happy and loyal is essential.
The best B2B loyalty programs offer financial and non-financial rewards that align with partners' needs and your business goals. Done well, they foster enduring partnerships, drive sales, and help you gain a competitive advantage.
Speak to our experts to discuss how you can enhance your loyalty program with Snipp.