Cary-Grove Performing Arts Centre co-owner Amy Krigas instituted a pointsbased loyalty program when she opened her Cary, Illinois, studio 20 years ago. “I don’t give scholarships to boys for free. I don’t give sibling or multiclass discounts,” she says.

Instead, parents earn one point per class, per season. “If you have five kids taking one class or one kid taking five classes, at the end of the season, you would get five points,” she says. Once they’ve accrued 10 points, they receive a $75 credit which can go toward anything studio-related. “Some people stock these up and have $300 waiting at registration,” says Krigas. “Some people use their credit to buy recital tickets. Some apply it to their monthly tuition payments.” Once a family has earned their credit, they receive an e-mail from the studio that thanks them for being loyal customers and alerts them that a credit has been added to their account. “Quite often,” Krigas says, “people write back and say, ‘What a great surprise! I totally forgot about this.'”

To keep her summer camps full, Krigas offers half a point for each weeklong summer camp that a student is enrolled in. “People make out like bandits!” she says. “But it gets them to take summer classes. People who take a whole bunch of classes in the summer wind up earning a credit for the fall.”