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.

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Mastering Marketing Momentum: Lessons Learned From Five of the Internet's Most Sharable Slices

More than “likes” or even views, shares can benefit your business by extending the reach of your brand. In other words, shares are the key to exponentially increasing your exposure to new audiences – and ultimately garnering even more likes, views and shares. Here’s a quick look at five recent “sharability” success stories and the lesson you can apply to boost the effectiveness of your own marketing campaigns.

1. Samsung Galaxy S III phone bump bests Apple.

Rather than attempt to compete with the Apple "universe of cachet," Samsung wisely zeroed in on one simple, cool thing that the iPhone couldn't do – as shown in their "Next Big Thing Is Here" campaign. And they framed that moment with a context (a loooong line at your local Apple store) that poked fun at Apple's legion of superfans while emphasizing what they might be missing out on. The resulting viral phenomenon generated more views on YouTube (over 17 million in total) than than all of Apple's 2012 ads combined – and more importantly, pushed the Galaxy S III to overtake the iPhone in worldwide sales in the third quarter of 2012, shortly following the release of the commercial. As selling points go, the "phone bump" might not stand on its own for long. But a well-designed product with other strong features (such as leading 4g technology and a larger screen) allowed this clever presentation to capitalize on its momentum and translate buzz into sales. The clip hit home with a huge audience that was beginning to show some brand fatigue with Apple – and Apple’s well-known, easily-caricatured tribe of brand evangelists. The takeaway: In today’s fast-paced world of business, timing is everything. Always keep your radar up for opportunities – whether that’s exploiting cracks in the competitor’s armor or seizing upon the chance to bring something new to the marketplace – and strike quickly (and creatively).

2. "Man of Steel" trailers take flight.

The last Superman movie, 2006's super-sincere Superman Returns, while reasonably successful, didn't energize the comic-book pioneer's enormous fanbase. Instead, the collective reaction seemed to land somewhere between "not bad" and "not great." Which just didn't cut it. A sequel never materialized in large part because there wasn’t a rabid demand for it. The intervening years have been witness to the huge success of superhero franchises like Iron Man, The Avengers and of course Batman. Much of the flaky "comic-book-ness" of earlier films has given way in the new millennium to earnest, darker, more realistic-looking efforts that hit home with an audience that values cool over camp. This time around Superman, first and mightiest of all costumed crusaders, needed to lose the golly-gee and make with the internal conflict and superpowers. And this set of trailers comes through – in speeding bullet fashion.

The trailers carry an angsty theme, to be sure. But the money moment is when our hero puts his fists on the ground and rockets into the stratosphere. It's a fantastic-looking flight that promises a movie filled not only with its share of 21st-century motivations but special effects that are truly...super. The first trailer drew more than 3 million views – and now, as the movie’s release date nears, the third trailer (also containing the definitive flight sequence), driven by thousands of Facebook shares and retweets, has passed 21 million views. The takeaway: It’s critical to be in tune with your tribe. Motivating someone to choose to share your content over all of the other stuff that comes their way in any given day requires you to give them something that resonates deeply with them on an emotional level, whether that emotion is humor, empathy, excitement, anger or any other feeling in the pantheon of the human condition. You can’t strike that chord unless you are truly one with your audience.

3. Lowes’ #lowesfixinsix vine series helps in seconds.

Lowes’ smart, useful “Fix in Six” series, utilizing the six-second video sharing app Vine, is among the first – and best – marketing efforts on the new platform, which Twitter recently purchased and is rapidly integrating into its text-and links-based model. By its nature, Vine’s six-second time limit forces any application for marketing to be all hook and no sinker. Lowes wisely utilizes the app to serve up content that is every bit as helpful as it is brief. And the fact that it’s all happening on Twitter – the second largest social channel on the Internet after Facebook – means that the audience is potentially huge for marketers who get it right. The takeaway: In a new marketing world where trust – and by extension trustworthy content – is king, achieving the perfect marriage of message and medium is paramount. Whether Vine, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest is your weapon of choice, know it well and use it wisely.

4. Old Spice’s "I'm On A Horse" rides a viral wave.

Sure, the whole commercial is hilarious – from the shower scene to the handful of diamonds and all the accompanying dialog. In the rapid pace of online culture, it's already secured its place as an Internet classic. It's also a great example of traditional media creating synergy with online channels, as millions of people flocked from TV to the Web to watch this clip again and again. But it all comes back to the last bit – that second of time when the camera pulls back as the actor proclaims, "I'm on a horse." As a closing punchline, this moment had its work cut out for it. But the "best surprise yet" reveal managed to easily top everything that came before. And just like that the clip is over, motivating many to click the replay button. And the embed button, and the retweet button, and the share button, thereby spreading like wildfire among social networks and personal blogs and resulting in more than 45 million views. The takeaway: Granted, there’s no magic formula that guarantees that your next clip will go viral. However, what is guaranteed is that playing it safe is no way to achieve that “sharability” factor you seek. Go out on a creative limb. Sure, it’s scary out there, but if your grandpa’s aftershave brand can push the envelope with the “Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” you can, too.

5. The Oatmeal’s odd but awesome ode to Nikola Tesla.

The Oatmeal, created by Matthew Inman, is one of the most popular comics on the Internet, garnering more than 4 million unique visitors per month and generating more than half a million dollars in income annually. By turns acerbic and sentimental, the strip relies as much on Inman's writing as his simple illustration style. One of The Oatmeal's most-shared installments – and a defining moment that earned him coverage in media giants like Time magazine and Wired – is a rambling rumination on the genius of 19th-century inventor, Nikola Tesla. Almost entirely a written piece, this selection stands as an example of the mysterious, unquantifiable attributes of what sometimes constitutes "sharability." The subject is obscure to most of the population. The piece is almost entirely text and could simply be labeled a humorous essay were it not interspersed with illustrations like this: Yet because of Inman's built-in audience, his genuine passion for Tesla's lifetime of innovation and the media attention given to his subsequent Indiegogo campaign to purchase and renovate Tesla's old lab and turn it into a museum, this particular strip garnered more than 38,000 retweets and 18,000 Google+ recommendations. And the campaign raised $2.1 million in nine days. No doubt Tesla, an erratic genius who studied all aspects of electricity and invented radar and alternating current among other things, would have appreciated Inman's success at capturing Internet lightning in a bottle. The takeaway: Achieving a high “sharability” factor doesn’t require playing to the lowest common denominator. Sometimes going narrow and focusing on creating something that will catch fire within your specific niche can be a powerful strategy.

Now it’s your turn.

“Sharability” isn't necessarily about appealing to a wide audience, although several of the above pieces do that. It's about creating a deep impression with a passionate audience – and motivating that audience to spread the word. A flash of anticipation, a sense of urgency, a helpful tip or a genuine belly-laugh can all create that fundamental desire to let others in on the good stuff. So now it’s your turn. Go forth and create good stuff.

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Cashing In: 5 Ways to Optimize Your Website's Conversion Rate

Got a website? Check. Strong traffic numbers? Check. Think you’ve got this online marketing thing licked? Think again. It doesn’t matter how many people are coming to your site if they aren’t taking action once they get there. If you want to make those traffic numbers count, you must find a way to convert visitors into customers. Some people would have you believe that all it takes is a nice website and a great product, and you’ll have customers beating down your doors. By this mode of thinking, if your sales are lackluster, it’s most likely an indication that something is wrong with your products, so you work day and night tweaking and tinkering your offering to give the people what you think they want. In reality, it’s more likely that you’ve overlooked some key elements in the design of your website, and now it’s costing you. If your website is performing well in traffic numbers but lacking in sales, it’s time to re-evaluate your site. Here are five key elements to examine and improve to ensure that you’re maximizing your opportunities to capture customers online:

1. Tell them where to go and what to do.

It’s a fact as simple as it is true: when you have a product or service to sell, you want to make sure people know exactly how to buy that product or service. There’s no point in saying you offer consulting services unless you provide a straightforward path to contact and hire you. There’s no point in displaying a product when there’s no immediately visible way to purchase it. Make sure you present a call to action that is obvious and direct. Look at your website through the eyes of the most technologically challenged user – one who has no clue how to navigate through a website or purchase something online. At every step of the way, do you provide the easiest and most direct route from Point A to Point B so that they can progress intuitively through your site? If you have a picture of a product, is there a call to action next to it? Remember, too, that a call to action is not a wordy description that says “Hey, this item is on sale like many others, so look at them all blah blah blah.” It’s a concise statement of action – usually in the form of a button or link – that prompts the user to take the next step. Maybe you want them to “buy now” or maybe you want them to “learn more.” Whatever the next logical step might be, it must be clearly stated. Attention spans on the Web are short; if your site is lacking calls to action, chances are good that you’re losing many conversions to the ever-present element of distraction.

2. Put the kibosh on clutter.

The universal rule of the Web is that less is more. Clutter comes in many forms – too many pictures, too much copy, too many buttons and links. Whatever is clogging up your site, get rid of it immediately. In order to determine what should stay and what should go, you must identify the primary goal of your website and make sure everything is geared toward that one singular objective. If your site exists to sell your products, then sell on every page. Even on your “About” page, your customer cares less about where you went to school and more about how your products came to be. You need a clear message – one that’s easy to understand and easy to share. Don’t stuff every last thing you do down someone’s throat and expect them to make a decision. Give them choices, but don’t make them think too much. You’ll only confuse your visitors, and a confused visitor is not going to stick around and figure it out; they’ll just go elsewhere instead.

3. Focus on feelings, not features.

It’s always difficult to fight the temptation to cover every single aspect and feature of your product or service in painstaking detail in order to make sure that visitors have all the information they could possibly need to make a decision. Sometimes this works, but more often than not, it doesn’t. Why? Because people don’t really spend their money on the products that have the most bells and whistles; they spend their money on what makes them feel good on the inside. They buy things they believe will make them a better person or make their lives easier or solve a problem they face every day. People don’t purchase iPods because they like the device itself; they purchase iPods because doing so makes them feel like part of a greater tribe of iPod (and, by extension, Apple) enthusiasts. Features are really only a secondary consideration. In trying to convert potential customers, your most important job is to convey how you can fulfill their deeper needs. Figure out how your products or services connect with people on an emotional level, bottle up that feeling and build your website around it.

4. Don’t ask for too much.

Don’t you hate when you walk into a clothing store and an associate follows you around constantly pestering you with questions? Doesn’t it irk you when you’re ready to check out and they ask you to sign up for their store credit card and their rewards card and to give them your email address so they can put you on their mailing list? Don’t make the same mistakes online. It’s critically important to provide a user experience that makes your visitors feel at ease. Avoid using pop-ups and other disruptive elements that create hassles during the shopping process. And when it’s time to check out, just let them check out. Don’t require them to create an account, don’t make them answer a laundry list of questions about their purchase and don’t make them give you a bunch of personal information. In short, don’t make your customers jump through hoops to spend money with you. If you try to get more information out of your customers than you actually need to process their order, you’ll raise red flags of mistrust. They’ll immediately recognize your game, and they’ll likely jump ship mid-transaction in order to avoid being bombarded with future marketing. In reality, all you need to be able to continue your relationship with that customer is an email address and permission to send them updates from time to time.

5. Be creative within reason.

Of course you want your website to be memorable. You want visitors to be wowed by its design. You want a unique look and feel that sets your company apart from your competitors. All of these are valid goals as long as you keep the level of creativity within reason. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel in an attempt to be remembered for originality and innovation. If your site deviates too far from familiar conventions, you’ll end up alienating a lot of potential customers because they’ll have no idea how to get around and find what they need. Be creative, but don’t overdo it. After all, less is more.

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