Going the Distance: Four Ways to Build a Better Customer Loyalty Program for Your Brand

It’s easy enough for a customer to join your loyalty program, especially when you’re offering an incentive such as discounts. All your customer has to do is give out some basic information, and voila! They’re in the fold, a brand new loyalty member with your company. From there, it’s happily ever after. You offer the perks; they stand solidly by you, bringing you their continued business. Simple. Or is it? In reality, just how many of those customers are act ively participating in your loyalty program? Do you know? Sure, loyalty program memberships are on the rise according to market research company eMarketer, having jumped 25 percent in the space of just two years. However, that figure may be a bit misleading. The truth is that, while loyalty program sign-ups may be more numerous, active participation in such programs is actually in decline. At the time of the study, the average US household had memberships in 29 loyalty programs; yet consumers were only active in 12 of those. That’s just 41 percent. And even that meager figure represents a drop of 2 percentage points per year over each of the preceding four years, according to a study by loyalty-marketing research company COLLOQUY.

When discounts just aren’t enough

So what’s a brand to do? How can you make your loyalty program worth your customer’s while—as well as your own? After all, gaining a new loyalty member doesn’t mean much if your customer isn’t actively participating in your program. Consider this: Does your customer loyalty program offer members anything different from what your competitors are offering? Chances are your program includes discounts. That’s a given. And what customer doesn’t appreciate a good discount? But when every other company out there is providing this staple benefit in comparable amounts, it becomes less and less likely that customers will remain loyal to any one particular brand. Frankly, it’s all too easy for customers to get lost in a sea of loyalty member discounts. They’re everywhere. In fact, just under half of internet users perceive that all rewards programs are alike, according to a 2015 eMarketer survey. The key to success, then, is to differentiate your business from the crowd. If you can offer your customers something unique and valuable beyond the usual discount, chances are they’ll be more likely to stick with your brand. Here’s some inspiration from companies who get it.

Virgin: Reward more purchases with more benefits.

That’s not to say you need to get rid of discounts entirely. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Customers still love a good discount. The goal is to be creative in terms of the loyalty perks you offer. Take the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, for example. As part of its loyalty program, the airline allows members to earn miles and tier points. Members are inducted at the Club Red tier, from which they can move up to Club Silver and then Club Gold. Here, it’s not just a discount. It’s status. And people respond to feeling important, elite. Still, even where the rewards themselves are concerned, Virgin is motivating loyalty customers with some pretty attractive offers. At the Club Red tier, members earn flight miles and receive discounts on rental cars, airport parking, hotels and holiday flights. But as members rise in tiers, they get even more. At the Club Silver tier, members earn 50 percent more points on flights, access to expedited check-in, and priority standby seating. And once they reach the top, Club Gold members receive double miles, priority boarding and access to exclusive clubhouses where they can get a drink or a massage before their flight. Now that’s some serious incentive to keep coming back for more. Discounts are still part of the equation – but they are designed with innovation and personal value in mind, elevating them to more than just savings.

Amazon Prime: Pay upfront and become a VIP.

What if your customers only had to pay a one-time upfront fee to get a year’s worth of substantial benefits? It may not sound like the smartest business idea at first glance. But take a closer look. Amazon Prime users pay a nominal $99 a year to gain free, two-day shipping on millions of products with no minimum purchase. And that’s just one benefit of going Prime. It’s true that Amazon loses $1-2 billion a year on Prime. This comes as no surprise given the incredible value the program offers. But get this: Amazon makes up for its losses in markedly higher transaction frequency. Specifically, Prime members spend an average of $1,500 a year on Amazon.com, compared with $625 spent by non-Prime users, a ccording to a 2015 report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

Patagonia: Cater to customer values.

Sometimes, the draw for consumers isn’t saving money or getting a great deal. The eco-friendly outdoor clothing company Patagonia figured this out back in 2011, when it partnered with eBay to launch its Common Threads Initiative: a program that allows customers to resell their used Patagonia clothing via the company’s website. Why is this program important to customers? And how does it benefit Patagonia? The company’s brand embraces environmental and social responsibility, so it was only fitting that they create a platform for essentially recycling old clothing rather than merely throwing it away. The Common Threads Initiative helps Patagonia build a memorable brand and fierce loyalty by offering its customers a cause that aligns with deep personal values. OK, so their customers get to make a little money, too. Everybody wins.

American Airlines: Gamify your loyalty program.

If you’re going to offer your customers a loyalty program, why not make it f un? After all, engagement is key to building a strong relationship with your customer. And what better way to achieve that goal than making a game of it. American Airlines had this very thing in mind when it created its AAdvantage Passport Challenge following its merger with USAirways. The goal: find a new way to engage customers as big changes were underway. Using a custom Facebook application, American Airlines created a virtual passport to increase brand awareness while offering members a chance to earn bonus points. Customers earned these rewards through a variety of game-like activities, from answering trivia questions to tracking travel through a personalized dashboard. In the end, participants earned more than 70 percent more stamps than expected – and the airline saw a ROI of more than 500 percent. The takeaway: people like games.

Stand out from the crowd.

Your approach to your customer loyalty program should align with your overall marketing approach. Effective branding is about standing out, not blending it. Being memorable is key. To this end, keep in mind that loyalty programs are no longer a novelty. That means that yesterday’s strategies won’t work moving forward, so look for ways to rise above the noise, setting yourself apart from the cloying drone of countless other cookie-cutter programs.

Behavior-Triggered Emails: The Secret to Boosting Your Open Rates by 152%

When it comes to email marketing, personalization is the secret to success. But how can you effectively personalize a tool that is by its very nature designed for mass communication?

The answer? Behavior-triggered emails.

Behavior-triggered email is a versatile personalization technique that allows your business to engage with customers at timely touch points. For example, when RunKeeper, a pedometer app, sends a message to one of their registered users with a prompt that reads, “You went running last Saturday at this time. Why not go for a run now?” — that’s a behavior-triggered email. Although highly personal to the recipient, messages like these are easy to automate by taking advantage of data points that are relatively easy to mine and collect thanks to modern technology.

While there is an almost limitless range of ways to execute behavior-triggered emails, the keys to crafting a successful campaign are specificity and creativity. To help you better understand what this is all about and provide inspiration that you can implement in your own marketing, let’s take a look at just a few of the brands that are using this tactic effectively to connect with their customers:

Harris Teeter: Welcome

The strategy: Sending a welcome email is standard protocol almost any time someone signs up for an account on your website or app. However, this message from grocery store chain Harris Teeter goes a couple of extra steps beyond extending the typical thank-you for registering.

First, it offers a discount on the service fee, providing an extra kick-in-the-pants incentive for new account holders to seize the day and place their first order.

Second, it takes advantage of this inbox inroads to remind customers of the benefits of their personal online shopping service and offer a few helpful hints for getting started, thereby reinforcing the sales messages that prompted the user to sign up for an account in the first place.

Soap: Come back

The strategy: In most relationships between customers and brands, there comes a time when the customer begins to drift away, whether because another competitor has caught their eye or because any of life’s myriad responsibilities and distractions have bumped their need for your products or services down in their list of priorities.

If it’s been a while since a customer last visited your site or made a purchase, it’s time to reach out and give them a gentle reminder that you’re still here for them, which is exactly the objective behind this message from Soap.com. Their approach is particularly effective because it is not just a one-time offer that might entice a customer back only to lose them again after making one purchase in order to reap the benefit of the discount. Rather, the offer code is good for every purchase made for two months, a smart sales strategy aimed at coaxing the customer back into becoming a habitual Soap shopper.

Williams-Sonoma: Abandoned cart

The strategy: Another staple of e-commerce email marketing is the abandoned cart reminder. While this strategy is not earthshakingly innovative, it is nevertheless effective.

Williams-Sonoma takes this approach to the next level by including a unique discount code that provides a strong incentive for the customer to return to the site – or the store – to complete their purchase. The code is valid for less than 24 hours, creating a sense of urgency to take advantage of the deal.

One caveat to this approach: You shouldn’t always include a discount offer in your abandoned cart reminder email, or you’ll run the risk of training your customers to put their desired items into the cart and then wait patiently for your message to arrive before checking out with their discount code. Rather, mix up your pitches and include a discount code in some messages but not all. Below is an example of a follow-up email from Williams-Sonoma that does not rely on a special offer to create an urgency to act but rather a mention of limited quantities and a reminder that the previously selected items will soon be cleared from the cart.

Old Navy: Product review

The strategy: If you’ve ever purchased something online, you’ve undoubtedly received one of these emails. Again, the reason they’re so popular is that they’re so effective.

Reaching out to someone who has already made a purchase from you to ask them to share their opinion about the product or services they received is a winning approach all the way around. The simple act of making the request conveys to your customer that you’re a brand that cares about your customers and their satisfaction. Moreover, when they click through to provide their review, you’re getting the benefit of a first-hand testimonial that will help you sell that product to future customers. You’ve also successfully brought an existing customer back to your site, where hopefully something new will catch their eye, leading to a purchase that will begin the cycle all over again.

Grovemade: Survey

The strategy: The survey request is another sure-fire winner. Similar to the product review prompt, the survey request conveys to the recipient that their needs and opinions are valued.

In this example from Grovemade, customers who have previously purchased a related product are sent a link to a survey to provide input to the company on the design of accessories for the new Apple Watch. This accomplishes two smart marketing objectives. First, it gives the company valuable insights to shape their new product line so that it delivers exactly what their customers want. Second, it creates anticipation among their customer base for an upcoming line of products even while they are still in the R&D phase.

Nike: Celebrate a milestone

The strategy: If you have a website or app that tracks customer activity, you likely have data that will allow you to recognize your customer for reaching a milestone, whether it’s a birthday, the anniversary of their becoming your customer or even a personal accomplishment based on activity logged via the site or app.

This example from Nike is a great case-study in how to make this particular approach work for you. In the email, Nike puts the recipient front and center by keeping acknowledgment of their achievement the primary focus. As a secondary message, Nike includes a “reward” for reaching this milestone in the form of a discount on Nike running shoes. While this is obviously a bit self-serving on Nike’s part, it’s also a great way to foster customer loyalty by providing an incentive to buy at a time when the recipient is most likely to be in need of their product.

The proof is in the results

Market research shows that behavior-triggered emails are a valuable but underused tactic. EmailMonks reports that open rates for triggered emails are 152% higher than those for traditional email marketing messages. Even so, over 75% of marketers are not yet using behavior-triggered emails or auto-responders.

A word of caution

Before you go all-in on behavior-triggered emails, take a moment to consider how your correspondence will come across to the recipient.

Online privacy is a hot-button issue these days. Just because you can capture and use data about your customers doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. The last thing you want to do is alienate a prospect or customer because you are blatantly tracking their activities without their consent. The best approach is to apply the principles of trustcasting and allow your customers to opt in to receiving your messages and to tell you what types of communication they’d like to get. The simple courtesy of obtaining permission can make all the difference between being perceived as a helpful partner or an obtrusive snoop.

Also, as with any email marketing strategy, make sure you don’t wear out your welcome in your customers’ inboxes. Use good sense and restraint in the timing and frequency of your emails. For example, if I browse your e-commerce store, don’t make a purchase, get an email, browse again but still don’t commit, are you going to send me another reminder that I still have items in my cart? These are the kinds of rules and parameters  that you’ll need to establish judiciously for your campaign in order to walk the fine line between smart marketer and pushy salesperson.

Getting started

If you’re not so sure about diving in without your water wings, there are tools that specialize in sending triggered emails, like Vero for e-commerce, Intercom for B2B and SparkPage for B2C campaigns. If email marketing is one of the primary vehicles you rely on to win and retain customers, then it may be worthwhile for you to partner with an experienced software development company to design a customized system that integrates with your website and your CRM and SFA systems to effectively capture and leverage the customer data you need to create the most powerful conversion engine possible.

Setting up an automated behavior-triggered email program does require an investment of time and tactical thinking upfront, but once it’s implemented, your company will reap the benefits of having a razor-sharp communication strategy that resonates with your customers by providing timely information that caters to their interests, preferences and habits.

The Anti-Super Bowl Ad: How to Be a World-Champion Marketer Every Day of the Year

So you don’t have the budget for a major celebrity endorsement from the likes of Pierce Brosnan or Brett Favre or even Kim Kardashian. And you don’t have the creative firepower to produce the heart-tugging epic of an adventurous puppy and his friends the Clydesdales. Lucky you.

Why? Because you have something far greater at your disposal.

Super Bowl ads and super-sized budgets: Who needs ‘em?

The Super Bowl might be the most-talked about moment in marketing every year. But that’s just it: after a week of speculation leading up to the big game and a couple of days of chatter after, all of those big-budget blockbusters quickly fade away into yesterday’s news.

Think about the one quality almost all Super Bowl ads have in common: They may be funny. They may be sexy. They may be clever. They may be controversial. But at the end of the day, they are all designed to entertain. The Super Bowl – and everything surrounding it – is about over-the-top, in-your-face, entertainment. And therefore, the commercials that air in between plays in the NFL’s ultimate game and the pyrotechnics-infused half-time show have a lot to compete with to win our attention. Therefore, their only hope is to grab us and keep us entertained for 30 seconds.

While surely many of these spots will succeed in making us laugh or awww or even roll our eyes, that’s where their impact ends. They are too far removed from the products they are meant to promote to make any real connection with the audience. They don’t tell us anything meaningful about the brand. They don’t make a promise that we can evaluate to gauge the company’s merits against its competitors’. They don’t provide any content of substance to solidify our trust in the name behind the hoopla. Therefore, ultimately, they fail the test of good modern marketing.

The anti-Super Bowl advertiser’s playbook

For those of us mere mortals who are tasked with growing a brand without the coins to drop $4.5 million for the privilege of being adjacent to a mega moment in pop culture for 30 seconds, there’s no need to bemoan our lack of deep pockets. Why? Because we have a much more powerful set of weaponry in our arsenal.

In today’s marketplace, which is one founded by, built by and existing for the people, trust is the only valid currency. And trust isn’t built through entertainment. Trust is built brick by brick, day by day, by companies that work hard, communicate honestly, deliver reliably and provide value beyond expectation.

Here are the seven commandments of trust-building that you must practice 365 days a year to conquer your market:

1. Have a purpose.

Your products are not your purpose. No matter what you sell, you have a greater reason for being than completing transactions and making the cash register ring.

Your company exists because you provide a product or service that meets a need or solves a problem. Focus on what it is about your offering that makes your customers’ lives easier, better or more fulfilled. Center everything you are, everything you do and everything you say around serving that purpose.

2. Build a relatable personality.

Stop trying to be a capital-B Brand. The capital-B Brands of the world are the Nikes, the Coca-Colas, the McDonald’s and the Apples of the world: instantly recognizable with a mere glance at their logo – or even their signature colors.

Your brand is more than your icon. Your brand is shaped by the values that define every interaction you have with your customers. Your brand is a mosaic of your people, and as such, it should be inherently human with genuine human qualities.

Don’t approach your customers as a Brand. Approach them from the perspective of someone who understands their needs and wants to solve their problems and make their life easier.

3. Communicate value.

Less than half of consumers trust paid advertising (down about 25% since 2009, according to Nielsen), which just goes to prove that useless, empty marketing content is useless, no matter how comedically, sexily or outrageously it’s dressed.

Today’s consumers are starved for meaning, transparency and utility. So when you communicate with them, forget the flash and focus on the substance. Create content that stands the test of time and provides genuine value, not just a lot of noise.

4. Be present – on every screen, not just the big one.

Wherever it is that your customers live, that’s where you should be. If they’re on Facebook, be on Facebook. If they’re on Twitter, start tweeting.

Listen. Contribute to the conversation – and not just when it serves your needs. Be helpful.

Above all else, be real. Don’t approach the conversation as a self-motivated, faceless corporate salesperson. Come to serve the community and its goals. Be yourself – a person with a budget, family, needs, problems and passions just like everyone else.

Read more: Mastering Tribe Marketing

5. Invest in your existing customers as much as you invest in acquiring new ones.

Never underestimate the value of loyalty. It costs much less to keep a customer than to win over a new one. And if you’re really good, you can turn your customers into fans that will serve as evangelists for your brand and do your marketing for you.

6. Make waves.

Commit to your story. Own your point of view. Don’t be afraid to risk alienating a few people in exchange for being loved by your core customers.

Doing things as they’ve always been done is comfortable and safe. You’re not going to offend anyone. But you’re not going to inspire anyone, either. Everyone who likes you one day can be gone the next. But people who love you stand by you.

In every industry and in every market, there is the opportunity to be revolutionary. Give the tribe of people who share a passion for what you do something meaningful to rally around. Show them that you understand them and you care about meeting their needs.

Draw a line in the sand. Demonstrate what you stand for. Be equally proud of what you are and what you are not.

Be bold. Be unapologetic. Be arrogant if that’s what it takes.

It shows passion. It shows conviction. It’s better than being imminently forgettable.

Let go of the safety net of liking. Make waves of love and hate. You’ll make the choice for your customers an easy one every time.

Read more: Death by Liking

7. Deliver.

To borrow the words of Steve Jobs, “Real artists ship.” At the end of the day, action is your best advertising. Every interaction you have with your customers is a chance to move the chains – either to advance toward the goal line of winning their trust or to lose yardage in the fight.

Don’t go over the top with your advertising. Do go above and beyond in delivering on your promises – every single time without fail.

It all comes down to this: You may never be a Super Bowl advertiser. But you can most certainly become a world-champion trust-builder. And that’s a title that pays dividends 365 days a year.

Read more: What Are You Doing to Move the Chains?