Over 90% of ecommerce companies have embraced loyalty and rewards programs, recognizing them as effective marketing and retention tools. Such programs are instrumental in cultivating brand longevity and success by fostering a community of loyal customers.
Crafting a well-designed rewards program is pivotal in retaining customers and acknowledging their allegiance to your brand. However, enticing customers to join is the initial challenge.
With expertise in loyalty and rewards programs, we’ve witnessed both exemplary and lackluster implementations across ecommerce platforms. To help you engage customers effectively, we’ve curated seven top strategies that resonate with diverse customer demographics, ensuring they see the value in joining your program.
- Offer welcome points
Offering welcome points as a kickstart to your rewards program is a smart move. By providing customers with points right from the start, even before they make a purchase, you’re showing them immediate value and enticing them to engage with your program.
The beauty of welcome points lies in giving customers a head start towards their first reward. It’s all about striking the right balance – make the welcome points attractive enough to motivate sign-ups, but not so generous that customers can redeem a reward immediately. A general guideline is to offer around half the points needed for the first reward. For example, if your first reward is $5 off for 500 points, offering a 250-point sign-up bonus would be ideal.
By setting the first reward slightly out of reach, you create an incentive for customers to make that initial purchase in order to reach the redemption threshold. Remember, the true value of your rewards program lies in customers being able to use their points, not just earn them!
- Tell them about your rewards program through email
Email marketing stands out as one of the most potent ways to connect with your customer base. Yet, for customers to participate in your rewards program, they first need to know about it. Launching an email campaign serves as the optimal method to spread the word.
Through a concise series of emails, you can effectively articulate the value of joining your program. Highlighting its perks and elucidating how customers stand to benefit from engaging with your brand sets the stage. Some ecommerce brands even integrate points balances into subsequent email series, ensuring that rewards remain top-of-mind at all times.
The crux of any program email lies in a clear call to action. Each email dispatched should make it effortless for customers to join promptly. This direct approach, inclusive of direct links to your account sign-up page, significantly amplifies the likelihood of customer engagement, enhancing overall conversion rates.
- Brand it beautifully
Crafting a memorable and cohesive brand experience starts with the first interaction visitors have with your website. Research indicates that visitors form an opinion about your site in less than a second, underscoring the importance of branding in making that initial impression.
Your rewards program should seamlessly integrate into your overall brand experience rather than feeling like an add-on. This means paying attention to every detail of the customer journey.
A key aspect of this is branding your program launcher and customer panel. These are often the first elements of your rewards program that customers encounter, so it’s essential to make them visually appealing and consistent with your brand identity. This entails choosing colors, imagery, and icons that resonate with your brand’s aesthetic and messaging. By doing so, you create a cohesive and immersive brand experience that resonates with your customers from the moment they engage with your rewards program.
- Make the first reward easy to earn
One common mistake that ecommerce brands make is making all of their rewards difficult to earn. Either by creating a points structure where it’s hard to obtain a reward or by inflating points. By structuring their programs this way, they inadvertently reduce their reward redemption rate and make it less desirable to join.
To avoid this problem, all you need to do is offer a couple of ways customers can earn points quickly. If customers can see that earning rewards is an easy task, they’re more inclined to join your program and take advantage of its benefits. Rewarding customers with a welcome bonus, celebrating a birthday, following the brand on Instagram or TikTok, and engaging with your brand on social media are all great ways to make your rewards more accessible.
- Make your rewards appealing
This might seem like a no-brainer, but understanding what your customers actually want from your program is an important part of building your rewards experience.
Personalization is key in ecommerce, whether your ecommerce brand is large or small. According to insights, “76% of customers said that receiving personalized communications was a key factor in prompting their consideration of a brand.” Some brands find that their customers are simply interested in discounts on future purchases, while others find more value in exclusive merchandise they can’t get anywhere else.
It’s important to understand which rewards your customers value most.
Create surveys, social media polls, and listen to what your customers are saying in their product reviews. What are their pain points? What do they wish your brand did for them? These strategies will not only get you the answer you need but also help you build stronger emotional relationships with your customers by including them in your rewards program’s development process.
Build your rewards program to succeed
If you build a rewards program that is designed well, and GAWAPP will build a successful rewards program with a strong brand community. A rewards program designed and created well does an amazing way to retain your customers and encourage repeat purchases.
