As mobile commerce continues to rise in popularity, SMS marketing has become the ideal solution for eCommerce brands looking to reach mobile-first consumers — and it’s also the best way to foster relationships with your most loyal ones. With the channel’s unmatched speed and convenience, you can not only increase adoption of your customer loyalty program from the start, but also routinely engage members with the most timely, exciting, and exclusive updates that drive loyalty program participation. In fact, 70% of consumers say they prefer to use their phones to engage with loyalty programs, while choosing mobile over other marketing channels to access points, rewards, and more when shopping both online and in store.
Customer loyalty isn’t won overnight, though — it takes time and repeated positive interactions for brands to earn it and stand out from the competition. By integrating SMS with your customer loyalty program, you can go beyond “positive” and deliver exceptional experiences for customers, targeting them with highly personalized and relevant messages in the moments that matter most. How? With connected and accessible customer data.
Yotpo SMS & Email gives brands access to over 45 cross-product data points, including more than 14 new loyalty program additions like Points Expiration Date and Loyalty Member Status, to make every message feel personal and unique. Use these data points to define specific loyalty audiences you want to target, such as customers who have an active point balance but have never made a redemption, then send those audiences the SMS campaigns that are most likely to engage them. Take personalization even further by inserting loyalty shortcodes into your texts, like your customer’s VIP tier name or point balance, to make the message sound as though it’s been designed just for them and fuel the success of your loyalty program.
There are countless ways you can improve your customer loyalty program with these data-driven SMS experiences, but here are the top six we recommend to reach the right customer at the right moment with the right rewards.
Promote Your Loyalty Program to SMS Subscribers to Spark Sign-Ups
One of the quickest ways to win brand loyalty is by reaching out to an audience that is already engaged, like your SMS subscribers. Send a tailored text message to your existing subscriber list outlining how your loyalty program works and the types of benefits they can expect to receive as a member, such as a percentage off future purchases. By educating your SMS subscribers in this way, you can generate excitement about your loyalty program and maximize membership growth.
And the same can be true for your existing loyalty members! Leverage a variety of on-brand subscriber collection tools and reward loyalty members with points for becoming SMS subscribers too — 76% of loyalty program members will opt in to communicate with their favorite brand via SMS.
Welcome New Members to Drive Loyalty Program Behavior From Day One
When an SMS subscriber first signs up for your loyalty program, leverage their preferred communication channel to welcome them instantly and keep your program top of mind. These welcome messages are great opportunities to share ways to earn points, VIP benefits, and more on what makes your brand’s loyalty program unique!
Send Point Balance Reminders to Increase Loyalty Program Participation
When customers realize that they finally have enough loyalty points to earn a reward, it may be all the motivation they need to make their next purchase. Keep them informed with targeted text messages that share their current point balance, what they can get by redeeming, or how much more they need to accrue to unlock a new discount or perk. Brands who maintain a steady connection with these updates can expect to see a rise in customer engagement, loyalty program participation, and customer retention.
Share Special Loyalty Offers to Boost Brand Engagement
Run double (or even triple!) points days and communicate the announcement via SMS. Why? More than 46% of consumers say they would be encouraged to complete a purchase if they were to receive a text about the loyalty points or rewards they’ll earn. These exclusive SMS loyalty program offers will not only drive customer engagement with your brand’s SMS marketing messages, but increase your order volume too.
Give VIPs Exclusive Perks and Empower Them to Reach New Tiers
Today’s consumers crave exclusive and personalized experiences from brands, so make sure to treat your most loyal customers like true VIPs. Use SMS to connect with them about VIP-specific perks according to whichever tier they are in. Do you offer expedited shipping to certain members only? Engage them on key marketing dates like Black Friday / Cyber Monday and encourage them to take advantage of this perk to get their orders delivered on time. When a member is getting close to reaching the next tier, let them know and give them tips to level up.
Use Point Expiration to Keep Purchase Rates High and Liability Low
Over 55% of consumers say they prefer SMS to other marketing channels because it’s immediate, convenient, and allows them to quickly get updates, making their phones the perfect place to contact them with time sensitive information like an upcoming point expiration. Let them know how many points they have and create a sense of urgency by sharing the exact date of expiration to encourage them to act fast. Pro tip: target loyalty program members whose points are set to expire in the next 30 days so you can see the highest rate of purchases while decreasing loyalty liability.
Ensure Your Programs Are Perfectly in Sync With Yotpo
To create seamless SMS loyalty program experiences with the above strategies, you need your channels to be deeply integrated, perfectly in sync, and sharing a wealth of data between them. Yotpo SMS & Email and Yotpo Loyalty work together to drive loyalty program behavior and increase customer lifetime value, and they bring data together too, sharing the critical insights you need to make those experiences personal, memorable, and more likely to convert.
Every customer touchpoint, from website to email to text message, presents a huge opportunity for brands to engage in a meaningful way. And loyalty program data can take those interactions to the next level. As marketers continue to shift their focus to customer retention, a strategic loyalty program will deliver hyper-relevant, personalized experiences that keep shoppers coming back. — Jordan Gutman, GM of Loyalty, Yotpo
Yotpo SMS & Email’s new loyalty data points open up even more opportunities to inform your customers about your loyalty program and keep them engaged, all while giving them the ultimate, tailored experience. Our brands have already seen an average of 65x ROI from sending tailored text messages with points balances using these new data points, and we want you to take advantage of them too.
Request a demo with one of our experts to see how Yotpo SMS & Email and Yotpo Loyalty work in sync to create cohesive customer experiences that maximize revenue and customer retention. With the right partner, everything is possible.
