Create Loyalty Experiences That Drive Value
A primary way for brands to increase retention is to drive higher value from low-effort actions — and a loyalty program is the way to make those actions as easy as possible.
The Retention Playbook
By rewarding for the behaviors you’d like your customers to take, your brand can drive more value from each shopper, extending lifetime value with every interaction.
Whether it’s SMS or email, message loyalty members where they want to be messaged
Loyalty programs bring immense value to brands for the amount of first-party customer data they amass. Past purchases and behavior, product and channel preference, loyalty status, point balance, and more — this crucial customer data is essential for a brand to tailor every communication and increase conversion. Once your brand knows a shopper’s preferred communication channel, be sure to tailor communications accordingly.
There are a variety of messages a brand can send to drive retention, including:
- Re-engage by confirming purchase satisfaction, asking for feedback, and encouraging referrals
- Remind shoppers of available loyalty rewards, or if they’re eligible to redeem a balance
- Save sales by turning intended returns into exchanges
- Build excitement around new sales, product drops, and events
- Send updates when it’s time to reorder
Incentivize loyalty members with experiential rewards
As shoppers engage with your brand, it’s essential to ensure you are meeting their expectations when it comes to providing top-notch experiences, especially when it comes to rewards and perks. Experiential rewards, like exclusive meet-ups, in-store sample sales, events, and more, are an ideal way to make loyalty members feel special.
“One of the biggest changes that I’m anticipating is more experiential,” says Jamie Levy, Head of Merchant Engagement at Shopify. “I think a lot of brands, we’ve been limited in how we can test in different ways in which to get in front of IRL customers and prospects and potential audience. And so I think and I’m hopeful — maybe I’m projecting — that we’ll see a lot more experiential activities and events. I think brands are looking for different ways to have direct conversations with their audience and to diversify channels.”
Read the next chapter to learn about additional customer experiences brands can create to drive retention.
