How to make the most of your loyalty program
Every company has clients who are so excited about their products or services, they want to shout it from the rooftops! Those brand champions can even be imperative to business success since loyal buyers are:
- 86% more likely to recommend to friends and family
- 66% more likely to write a positive review
- 46% more likely to stay loyal even after a negative experience
So, why not kick it up a notch and encourage further devotion with a Loyalty Program?
Our goal in this article is to provide insight on the kinds of incentives customers love, how to use Intuitive Shipping to offer perks to members, and how you can use your program data to increase efficiency and conversions.
Take a look at the apps on your phone and the cards in your wallet. Chances are you are a member of not one but many points programs. A whopping 90% of businesses have some form of Loyalty Program, and it makes sense as they are a great way to:
- Engage your current customers
- Increase conversions
- Encourage referrals
- Capture new clients
- Access valuable consumer insights
- Optimize your rewards structure to offer relevant perks
What Customers Want
To make sure you’re getting the most out of your program, it’s best to have a variety of incentives such as social, personal, functional, experiential, and financial rewards. Loyalty programs are an investment of your time and money, so knowing your customer base and how they respond to various incentives can help you gain a positive ROI.
Imagine if you knew some of the ways consumers in different countries like to be rewarded. Well… look no further as we’ve compiled a list of some of the ways Australians, Canadians, Americans, and Brits like to be rewarded!
- Australians are looking to be rewarded for personal reasons such as healthy behaviours and recycling.
- 64% of Americans want free shipping, 53% look for instant discounts and 46% want free products as part of their loyalty programs.
- In the U.K. 83% of consumers want loyalty programs to save them money; 53% look for rewards that are a treat (like birthday surprises) and 28% want to be a part of a program that helps others.
- Canadians enjoy rewards such as free movies, groceries and are looking for products that are hard to find anywhere else. When shopping online they’re looking for free shipping opportunities as well.
Depending on your business model a paid Membership Program may be a fit. According to the team at Conjured Memberships, “customers are willing to pay to feel like they’re a part of a brand they love – especially if they’re getting exclusive perks as a result. A targeted, paid loyalty program can provide stores whose products don’t lend themselves well to a traditional ‘subscribe-and-save’ replenishment model a mechanism for both identifying and rewarding their highest value customers while also getting a very high-margin recurring revenue stream.”
As you grow your program it is important to review the data and see how your clients are interacting with it. Track the kinds of benefits clients enjoy, how much they spend, their location, and frequent purchases. This helps you understand your best customer, leads to happy program members and an overall increase in sales for your store!
Shipping as a loyatly program perk
Did you know that 90% of consumers see 2-3-day delivery as a baseline with 30% even expecting same-day delivery!? Free shipping is also a consistent factor for Canadian and American consumers.
This means that your customers are now expecting the same speed and ease they experienced when they bought, as they are with shipping. It may feel like a balancing act between protecting margins and exceeding client expectations. Ship ain’t cheap and it doesn’t come free to you the merchant. You have a direct cost every time you deliver locally or send a parcel through your carrier. As an online retailer, you can’t escape shipping! It is a part of every order you make.
Solution – leverage shipping as a Loyalty Program perk to increase sales!
Why not flip shipping to become a marketing tool you can use to increase brand loyalty. By offering free Standard Shipping and discounted Expedited Shipping you can encourage new program sign-ups and continue to entice your brand champions to make repeat purchases.
This is all made possible with Intuitive Shipping’s conditions system that allows you to work with most loyalty program apps such as Conjured Memberships, Loyalty Lion and rise.ai .
To set this up, use our customer tag condition. You can identify your members as “VIPS” or with a unique identifier in your Scenario, meaning they receive their shipping benefits automatically at checkout! The customer tag is also the same rule that allows you to offer retail versus wholesale shipping prices.
Another way to set this up is with our Condition Groups feature. If you have different loyalty groups or different membership levels, you can use this feature to offer shipping benefits to multiple groups that meet varying criteria. For example, you may have “basic” members who need to place a minimum order for certain products, while “VIP” members don’t require a minimum.
No matter the method, make sure your Program Members are tagged with a unique identifier so Intuitive Shipping can access that information and ensure they receive their free or discounted shipping.
If you need assistance setting this up let us know and we will work with you to find the best solution to meet your business needs!
