Tried and tested: Agents' schemes to help keep customers loyal

Customers, who can check their balance online, are given 25 points on opening a VIP Club account, then receive one point for every £1 spent, with a point effectively worth 1p. These translate into discounts so, for instance, a £5,000 holiday nets them a future £50 off. They can cash in or build up their balance, though there’s a cap on how much can be redeemed at once. The highest discount to date has been £450 for a regular booker.

The team also sends certain supplier offers like free lounge passes exclusively to their VIP Club mailing list. “It goes down really, really well. We often have customers ring up and ask: ‘how many points have I got in my account?’” says Beverley Travel’s director and co-owner Karl Douglas. For those less engaged, it proves a handy marketing tool. He adds: “It gives us the opportunity to call if we haven’t heard from them in a while to say, ‘Do you know you have X number of points in your account?’”

The agency also uses the scheme to deflect requests for point-of-sale discounting, telling customers: “We give you VIP points, so we’re cheaper in the long run.”

Douglas budgeted to give away 1%. “It’s paid for by the new booking, not an old booking,” he says, “you’re not taking £2,000 off your bottom line.” As for return on investment. “It’s very, very hard to track,” he admits “but we focus very much on customer retention and it has gone up.”

Previously, the agency gifted ticket wallets and luggage tags but, Douglas stresses: “The next time they’re using them, they’re on their next holiday, which could have been booked with someone else!”

MULTI-CHOICE ENHANCERS

Nick Parry, who co-owns Arundel Travel with his wife Helen, says they devised their loyalty scheme alongside their business plan. It has been running successfully since the store launched in December 2017.

Customers’ loyalty cards are initialled for bookings of any value. When they reach three, they gain a “holiday enhancer” choosing from pre-booked airline seats, lounges or parking up to the value of £60. Seats prove the most popular. Some customers take seven months to earn their treat, others three years.

“We thought, ‘how can we make someone’s holiday a bit more special?’” explains Parry. “We looked at various things we could add to holidays and the prices for those. We thought £60 was reasonably generous, but not overly so.”

The pair accounted for travel’s tight margins and sporadic price-matching. The agency, an Advantage AMS member, has a new long-haul lounge and may consider tweaking treats for certain bookings made there.

Already, its most loyal customers have their lounge pass discount bumped beyond £60 to ensure it covers two people.

“I think you have to speculate to accumulate… use a sprat to catch a mackerel,” says Parry, adding: “If a new person is coming in, how we sell it is, ‘if you’re loyal to us we’ll be loyal to you.’”

ROLLING DISCOUNT

Market Place Travel, Burton-upon-Trent, introduced a Gold Card in response to customer requests for a loyalty scheme. It was launched last summer when the agency opened its luxury lounge.

Clients receive the card on their first booking, whatever its value, entitling them to £50 off their next holiday over £500. Subsequent bookings earn them the same discount. To redeem it, they simply show the card when spending over the minimum. To turn newbies to repeaters, the cards have also been handed out at agency events, including last year’s Christmas coach trip.

“It’s a reminder in their wallet to come to us for their travel needs,” says joint managing director Mark Lomas.

“The minimum commission with any tour operator is about 12%, so worst-case scenario £50 off £500 is 10% [we’re giving away] but most bookings are £1,000, £2,000 or more,” he explains. “It can’t be used in conjunction with other discounts, for instance if we’re price-matching online.”

He was keen to keep the scheme simple, partly due to data protection concerns if it were administered by email. “It’s relaxed and friendly… a goodwill gesture,” says Lomas. “They like a bargain in Burton.”