4 Secrets to HVAC Customer Loyalty Management

4 Secrets to HVAC Customer Loyalty Management

Korina Skhinas

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If you’re an HVAC supplier looking to build better channel partnerships, improve customer retention, or gather more end-user data, a loyalty program is a great tool to have at your disposal. Today’s loyalty programs are much more than just plastic, points-collecting cards you get at the grocery store. Loyalty management software is as full-featured as sales enablement or marketing automation software. Here are the best ways launch and manage an HVAC customer loyalty program:

1. Get assistance from experts when you set loyalty program goals.

Avoid having to hire a full-time loyalty program manager or a dedicated internal team by partnering with a company that offers both loyalty management services and software. An experienced loyalty partner should have a formalized, proven path to success that begins with helping you set the right goals in the beginning.

Your provider should have both loyalty program expertise and a knowledge of your specific business needs and challenges. For example: do you need to improve distributors’ understanding of energy-efficiency concerns? Do you need to educate end-users about long-term vs. short-term cost-saving? You can collaborate with a loyalty program provider to develop unique loyalty solutions that meet objectives like these.

2. Utilize technology to make your loyalty program more efficient and easier to manage.

Loyalty management software makes it easier to reward channel partners, while encouraging greater engagement and activity in the program. Depending on the loyalty management software you use, it could help you accomplish the following:

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  • Track the loyalty program’s performance in real-time with easily-digestible imagery showing your progress toward your goal.
  • Capture new end-user data with open enrollment registration to your loyalty program.
  • Gather detailed loyalty program performance metrics in the form of raw data exports or visual aids like charts and graphs.
  • Educate and engage channel sales partners by rewarding them for completing training courses, passing quizzes, or answering daily trivia questions.
  • Offer a sales claims uploads tool so channel partners can digitally submit invoices, receipts, warranty registrations, and other sales documentation directly to the program.
  • Provide an incentive mobile app so channel partners can access your loyalty program anytime, anywhere from their phones.
  • Display interactive leaderboards that rank the loyalty program’s top earners, inspiring engagement in the form of friendly competition.
  • Use integration services to sync your loyalty program with your corporate website or sales and marketing systems such as your CRM, marketing automation, inventory management, or sales enablement. This helps you gather complete sales and customer records in order to improve future sales and marketing strategies.

Technology can expand your loyalty program’s capabilities and make loyalty management faster and easier. With a variety of self-contained, add-on tools at your disposal, you can start with basic goals and scale your program, earning higher ROI without increasing time dedicated to managing the program.

3. Outsource full-time participant support and reward fulfillment services.

The last thing you want is for your loyalty program to create negative experiences for participants. Positivity is key to the success of any HVAC loyalty program. Luckily, some loyalty program providers, such as Incentive Solutions, offer loyalty reward management services along with their software.

With full-time participant support teams, a loyalty program provider can completely take on the task of making sure your participants have problem-free loyalty program experiences. Forgotten program login credentials? Lost links to the program website? Questions about reward balances? You can leave issues like these in the hands of experts who are trained to address them quickly.

Additionally, reward fulfillment experts make sure your program participants receive their rewards as fast as possible. Speed is one of the most impactful factors of a reward-earning experience—with outsourced reward fulfillment services, you don’t have to worry about slow delivery or shipping times delaying your participants reward gratification.

4. Utilize incentive travel services.

A group incentive trip is one of the best ways to build lasting relationships and loyalty with your HVAC channel partners. Not only can you build up months’ worth of engagement and anticipation leading up to the trip, but the memories and bonds you create during the trip will last for years. If the loyalty management provider you partner with offers incentive travel services, you can outsource trip preparation and management while relying on experts to maximize the ROI of your trip. These services could include:

  • Destination/site selection to pick the most suitable and cost-effective place.
  • Contract negotiation to avoid undue expenses and hidden costs.
  • Access to all-inclusive group deals exclusive to incentive companies due to their network of partners and the leverage of their repeated, consistent business.
  • Automated, online trip or event registration.
  • Event management, including meal planning, theming, team-building activities, audio/visual set-up, etc.
  • Reports and data that aid with post-event ROI analysis.

Maybe you’ve found yourself wondering, “How does my competition manage such an extensive loyalty program?” The answer may just be that they don’t! They may just have a loyalty management partner providing the planning, strategies, technology, and ROI analysis that makes the program more effective and valuable. Before you decide to shoulder the tasks of implementing and managing your loyalty program, look into the comparative cost and labor of internal loyalty management vs. using a loyalty program provider.