Everybody is doing it; restaurants, retailers, credit card companies, and even health insurance companies incentivize retention. Rewards programs are all the rage, the magic bullet when it comes to retention, or at least that is what the companies creating and administering the rewards programs will advertise. The history of incentivization when it comes to the consumer base as a whole is as long and drawn out as history itself.
Even bartering was based on incentives or promoting the idea of “more for more.” Think about the concept: you spend money, you get points that can be saved and redeemed for something desirable; a free appetizer, a 10 percent discount. The average consumer loves it. The issue is that most plastic surgeons or medspas don’t service the average consumer.
The Truth About Your Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a simulation of comprised data that informs you about the average consumer in your specific market. It is what marketing agencies use to convince you that they know what you need and how to market your agency. The validity and usefulness of the buyer persona have been proven over and over. To market to the buyer persona is to hit the nail mostly on the head after a couple of tries.
The reality of your consistent buyer persona is that rewards programs as they are marketed and administered are beneath your patients as they exist in the real world. Even specialized programs directed at the aesthetics industry, such as RepeatMD, don’t seem to understand the nature of the consumer in this instance. Simply put, they live an elevated lifestyle. They can afford more and are unimpressed by less.
It is the effort that is appreciated by this buyer persona. They want personal touches, something that speaks of the things that cannot be bought such as time, thoughtfulness, consideration, and the willingness to go the extra mile. That is the truth about your buyer persona.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Skip the membership tiers and the silver, gold, and platinum packages or levels. In reality, they matter little to your buyer. Retention is always the desired result, and yet a rewards program that can be used at other facilities does not speak to retention, it speaks to a one-and-done attitude. It says “thanks for stopping by, we hope you’ll choose to use these points here, instead of another medspa.” Futile. But it doesn’t have to be.
What if you gave your patients a tangible reward? What if you knew them well enough to know what fragrance they wore? What if you partnered with a massage therapist nearby and gave them a massage package? What if you partnered with a photographer and gave them a lifestyle shoot as a reward? What if it your rewards program was an actual, usable, reward that came with the possibility of immediacy? What if you give them something that shows you not only give them excellent care but that you care and that is what excellence looks like?
It is not a new concept; most digital marketing agencies and web design agencies would call it antiquated or inefficient. But Caledon Virtual is convinced there is a better way to compel loyalty, primarily because we have examined it in great depth. We want to know the end user, the real person that is the component of the persona. And to do that, we feel the need to get to know the members of your practice.
Please understand, if you are getting the results and the retention that you desire from a current rewards program, Caledon Virtual encourages you to continue using that program. But if you are looking for something different, something more, something that is a bit “extra,” we’ve got an individualized rewards program that speaks to the elite taste of your patients and the expert persona of your practice. Contact us today.
