anyone participate in a loyalty program?

**ra at soc** · 05-06-2011, 03:10 PM

Greetings all. First post for me although I have been a lurker for quite a while.

I am wondering if any of you participate in a loyalty program (Airmiles, Aeroplan, or other) and, if so, are you happy with it? Do you think that it would bring any value to your store or encourage your clients to buy more?

Thanks in advance for your input,

robert

**uncut** · 05-07-2011, 11:01 PM

Welcome to Optiboard, Robert....the more the merrier!

We personally do not participate in a loyalty program, willingly. I am referring to the astronomical fees credit card companies are soaking us, over and above their posted rates. Therefore, we do pay, and participate in those programs. We never get any credit for it. It would be nice if your mastercarp statement stated that "your air miles, or groceries, etc., were added to by Dr. XXXX to the tune of________this month".
Fat chance that would happen!
Start your own direct loyalty program, it probably would be appreciated more, by your patients. It also eliminates the "administration fees/percentage" costs.

**eyemanflying** · 05-08-2011, 07:50 AM

There are many simple, cost effective ways to offer patients an added bonus while enhancing your market presence - and is cost shared with vendors! It's been working beautifully for me and is a win/win/win - derived simply from creative ingenuity and loyalty.

**gibby2020** · 05-08-2011, 10:35 PM

I think it's a waste of money and time. As much as we'd like patients/clients/customers to buy form us often the realitiy is glasses are a once every 2 to 4 yr pruchase, especially if we are trying to push the latest digital PAL's and high end frame ($1000 for glasses is crazy). I doubt this type of program is going to drive sales significantly in a recession/depression. I dont want people coming in yrs later wanting to cash in points to "pay" for an eye exam or a pair of glasses or CL's ..Gimme cash. What our buying groups should be doing is focusing on ECP only products eg I'm done fitting J&J/CIBA/B&L CL's. Yes these companies "support" ECP organizations but they undermine our buisness in the long run having their product everywhere. The potential for making any profit beyond the inital fit is very limited.
Shouldnt we be developing an OD/ECP only brand? I realize that is hard given our addiction to $ from the bigs...anyway sorry for the rant. THe cost to benefit doents add up for me for the rewards program.

**eyemanflying** · 05-09-2011, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by asifahmed

I think it's a waste of money and time. As much as we'd like patients/clients/customers to buy form us often the realitiy is glasses are a once every 2 to 4 yr pruchase, especially if we are trying to push the latest digital PAL's and high end frame ($1000 for glasses is crazy). I doubt this type of program is going to drive sales significantly in a recession/depression. I dont want people coming in yrs later wanting to cash in points to "pay" for an eye exam or a pair of glasses or CL's ..Gimme cash. What our buying groups should be doing is focusing on ECP only products eg I'm done fitting J&J/CIBA/B&L CL's. Yes these companies "support" ECP organizations but they undermine our buisness in the long run having their product everywhere. The potential for making any profit beyond the inital fit is very limited.
Shouldnt we be developing an OD/ECP only brand? I realize that is hard given our addiction to $ from the bigs...anyway sorry for the rant. THe cost to benefit doents add up for me for the rewards program.

My two cents...

1. Deal with vendors direct - you may find that increased volume loyalty goes a long way. Buying groups capture alot of margin at your expense; especially Optometric exclusive programs (we know which ones, let's protect the innocent)

2. If your recurrency of patient visits/purchases is hitting a 4 year cycle, this speaks for itself; you need to develop a program.

**gibby2020** · 05-10-2011, 09:53 PM

I understand what you're getting at now wrt the buying group pocketing some of the discount they have negotiated for us....I guess the benefit is that I have access to more suppliers than if I negotiaed with 2 or 3. But then again will I really nedd to use 10 different frame suppliers. Probably not....Hmm somehting to think about down the road.....

Thanks
AA