Interested in maximizing the impact of your company’s loyalty program? You’re not alone. Loyalty programs drive improvements in revenue, customer retention and other factors that are vital to your brand’s success.
In the first installment of our three-part series, we focused on the initial stages of loyalty programs: acquisition and education/onboarding. But what happens after customers sign up?
Ideally, loyalty members go on to earn and redeem points, use their membership to make purchases, and evolve into valuable brand advocates. However, that’s not always a straightforward process — some loyalty program members stop accessing their membership benefits over time, while others seldom redeem points.
Therefore, in this second installment, we’re taking a closer look at which loyalty amplifiers increase engagement post-acquisition, particularly to drive sales and encourage members to use their points. (The goals are a continuation from part one of this series.)
Goal 3: Sales
Recent data shows that 67 percent of consumers say it’s important to buy from brands where they are loyalty program members — but it’s important to continue building interest after initial sign-up.
How? With loyalty amplifiers like digital rebates, continuity programs and purchase-based chances to win, you can boost participation, incentivize new channel adoption, and motivate members to purchase.
For example, you could offer active loyalty members a special price on a popular product. Or encourage loyalty members to buy a certain amount of products and earn cash back after submitting proof of purchase. In addition to sparking sales opportunities, these incentivized offerings evoke a sense of exclusivity because they’re only available to loyalty members.
Brand partnerships offer additional opportunities to increase the value of your loyalty program. Nearly 80 percent of customers are likely to make a purchase as a loyalty member if they can use the rewards/incentives earned with other brands. In practice, this could translate to creating a loyalty program partnership with another complementary brand — e.g., Nike and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Goal 4: Point Burn
The financial liability associated with points accrual can present a challenge in points-based loyalty programs. It’s difficult to predict when members will cash in points. In some cases, loyalty members might never redeem their points at all. Why?
Seventy-four percent of consumers say that loyalty program rewards often feel unattainable, require making too many purchases, require too many points, and take too long to earn.
Loyalty amplifiers like sweepstakes, user-generated content (UGC) contests and limited-time rewards generate hype, encourage point burn and give members a quicker feeling of value.
Rewards that require fewer loyalty points like customizable digital products (e.g., a label maker or customized photo frames for social media) can be more effective for achieving point burn than bigger-ticket rewards with larger point thresholds like free merchandise.
And unlike physical rewards and prizes, rewards such as sweepstakes and digital prizes don’t require sourcing, inventorying and shipping.
For example, if loyalty members aren’t redeeming points on current member benefits, you could implement a one-off sweepstakes powered by lower-point thresholds to drive participation. The payoff is that you increase engagement with fresh ideas, showcase immediate value for loyalty program members, and keep your brand and products top-of-mind.
Activate Your Loyalty Base to Boost Sales and Burn Points
Once customers are on board, you can take your loyalty program to the next level with loyalty amplifiers as sales tools. Digital rebates, sweepstakes and UGC rewards are just some of the incentivized offerings that can boost sales, encourage faster point usage, and keep customers around for the long run.
Stay tuned for our final installment in this three-part series when I’ll dig into how loyalty amplifiers accomplish two more loyalty program goals — retention and advocacy.
Tyler Haskins is the executive vice president of marketing at ebbo, an all-in-one loyalty company that has helped leading brands build unforgettable customer experiences for over two decades.
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