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Trialing a new platform or technology to see if it really can make a difference to your store can be stressful – so many features to explore, yet so little time. To help you navigate your first 14 days with LoyaltyLion, we’ve put together a quick guide to the best features and enhancements to test during your trial period.
What is it? This feature allows you to award customers points when they follow you on social media or like and share your content. Those points can then be redeemed for rewards.
Why is it important? There are three key reasons why using points and rewards to build your social following is important:
Firstly, customers may come and go to your store or your website, but keeping in touch with them in between times is key to making sure that the next visit actually happens. By ensuring that you stay part of their social media feeds, you ensure that you stay front of mind.
Secondly, your existing customers are the most likely to act as advocates, and they can play a huge part in helping you to acquire new customers. Giving customers additional reasons to mention you and share your content online will help you to build your customer base more cost-effectively, via word of mouth.
And thirdly, nearly 70% of consumers say they will be loyal to a brand that shares their values, and your social media channels are a great place to communicate what you stand for. Encouraging customers towards your social feeds provide you with another opportunity to demonstrate that you are aligned in terms of values and beliefs.
What is it? The refer-a-friend rule allows you to award customers points each time they refer a friend or family member. They can make referrals with minimal effort, sharing a link by email, social media, or even via WhatsApp.
Why is it important? Customers who are referred to brands by friends or family members are four times more likely to purchase than customers acquired by other means. They also tend to have a higher customer lifetime value.
Loyalty programs are usually perceived as being all about retention, yet adding a referral element can turn them into a powerful acquisition tool as well. Not only do the customers who make the referral earn points, getting them closer to their next purchase, but those that they refer can also unlock points on their first purchase, making them more likely to convert – a win-win situation that helps you retain your customers whilst simultaneously attracting new ones.
What is it? The customer email feature will allow you to send your customers updates about their member status – from the number of points they have collected to the rewards they have available.
Why is it important? You may be thinking that turning on loyalty emails will simply add to the noise that already exists in a consumer’s inbox. However, loyalty emails are actually proven to significantly outperform other marketing emails.
This is because they are entirely unique, one-to-one communications. When a customer receives a loyalty email, they know it is entirely personalized with a points balance or reward that is entirely unique to them. Therefore loyalty emails are far more likely to get you noticed whether a customer has purchased from you recently or not.
However, as well as receiving high engagement, loyalty emails act as fantastic prompts to encourage customers to return to your store sooner than they might otherwise. A reward reminder gives them a reason to return and make a purchase using that reward. A points balance update prompts them to come back and engage with your program more, taking positive actions in order to earn points so that they can unlock their next reward sooner.
What is it? This feature allows you to award customers points when they sign up to receive your newsletters.
Why is it important? You may be wondering why this feature is important. Assuming a customer has signed up to your loyalty program, aren’t they already opted in to hearing from you over email?
Most importantly, by incentivizing newsletter signups you are providing customers with a very easy and inexpensive way to earn more points. Without having to commit to spending, they can get closer to unlocking their next reward. In turn, that means they are also one step closer to returning to make their next purchase and redeem that reward.
However, you are also opening up the lines of communication for messages outside of just products and sales, and securing a chance to share relevant content on the topics that they are passionate about.
A program member may well be expecting to hear from you with points balance emails, their available rewards, and other transactional emails, but they may not be expecting to hear from you with more general content. By encouraging them to subscribe to your newsletter, you are opening up more opportunities for engagement in between purchases.
What is it? LoyaltyLion’s birthday rule allows you to award points to customers who share details of their birthday with you. In turn, this means that you can recognize their special day.
Why is it important? One of the biggest benefits of a loyalty program is that it allows you to recognize and communicate with each individual program member in a unique way. Capturing their birthday allows you to send them a communication that they know your wider audience has not received that day.
It also gives you the opportunity to surprise and delight your customers on their birthdays, offering them benefits like bonus points, double points on particular products, or free shipping. These are all unexpected treats that will give your customers reasons to return and shop again sooner.
And, similarly to the newsletter sign up rule, the birthday rule provides another way for customers to feel that they are building up their points balance and gaining momentum for their next purchase.
So there’s a quick rundown of the top five enhancements we suggest trialing during your first 14 days with LoyaltyLion. Find out more within our help center, or if you have any questions or problems, don’t hesitate to reach out using our online chat.
