Want Customers to Stick Around and Spend More? Then Stop Winging Your Loyalty Program

Let’s cut the crap: if you’re still handing out loyalty points like they’re “just a nice little perk,” you’re missing the damn point. And probably missing a ton of revenue, too.

According to this banger of a study—The effects of loyalty programs on customer lifetime duration and share of wallet (Meyer-Waarden, 2007)—loyalty programs make people come back more often and spend more. Period.

But—only if they’re done right.

If your customers are bouncing between you and three competitors, hoarding loyalty cards like expired gym memberships, guess what? Your program isn’t working. You're just funding their discount tour of the neighborhood.

Here’s the Core Truth:

• Loyalty cards increase how long a customer sticks with you.
• They also increase how much they spend with you over time.
• BUT if your customers have loyalty cards from every business in town, the magic wears off.
• And location matters—a lot. The closer the customer is to your business, the better the loyalty program works.

What This Means for Your Small to Medium Sized Business™

Let’s bring it down to street level—say, you’re a dentist.

You want patients to come back every six months, right? But half of them disappear like socks in the laundry.

So, you start a points-based loyalty program with VivaPoints—but not just for anyone off the street.

First, get sneaky (in a good way):
Collect geolocation data from your users—or just, you know, ask where they’re coming from on their intake form.

Then?
Only give access to the loyalty program to patients who live or work nearby. Why? Because the study shows those patients are the ones most likely to respond. They’re close. It’s convenient. And they’ll stick around longer if there’s a little reward system nudging them.

Now you’ve got patients earning points for checkups, cleanings, maybe even referrals.
And guess what? They’re not price-shopping other dentists anymore.
Because now they’ve got skin in the game—or plaque, or molars—whatever works.

That’s strategic loyalty.
That’s data-driven, revenue-growing, customer-hugging genius.
That’s what you get when you stop guessing and start using the science.

VivaPoints makes it dead simple to do all of this. We give you the tools to stop being “just another place they visit,” and start being the only place they think of.

Reference:

Meyer-Waarden, L. (2007). The effects of loyalty programs on customer lifetime duration and share of wallet. Journal of Retailing, 83(2), 223–236.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2007.01.002