Top 3 surprising ways loyalty programs increase revenue

It’s time to wave goodbye to the age old assumptions around loyalty that are getting in the way of your growth. We recently joined eCommerce Fastlane on their podcast to share our top tricks on how loyalty programs drive revenue, and here are the takeaways you need to know. 

1. You can still drive valuable loyalty with customers who don’t want to spend. 

One reason brands invest in loyalty programs is because they want to drive revenue through repeat purchases, but that doesn’t mean it has to be all about the money – hear us out. One of the best ways to squeeze even more out of a loyalty program is to build up a loyal community of existing customers whose consistent engagement snowballs marketing efforts and generates continuous referrals.

To create a genuine sense of community, your customers need to know that you still want to connect with them even when they don’t want to spend money – this is especially true in the times we’re living in right now where we’ve just faced a pandemic and we’re now navigating a cost of living crisis. 

It’s easy to show these customers that you still care – by sharing blog posts, running competitions, holding focus groups or creating playlists you can make it clear that the relationship isn’t all about purchasing. This can also be a great time to show off your brand

story, and create even stronger long term connections by releasing content such as an interview with the founders. In the example below, you can see that Astrid & Miyu have a whole place on their website dedicated to their community – it’s no coincidence that they’re seeing phenomenal growth alongside all their engagement. 

If you show your customers that you’re there for the long haul, you’ll be front of mind when they’re ready to purchase something. 

2. The connection between conscious consumerism and customer loyalty

When it comes to conscious consumerism, the big challenge that brands face is that it’s just not possible to revamp their supply chains overnight – you can’t suddenly flick a switch and make your operations sustainable. But what you can do is make small steps with your loyalty program to show your customers that you do care about the same things. 

Shoppers today buy with their hearts instead of their heads, but that doesn’t mean they’re blind to false initiatives – they can spot greenwashing a mile away. If you’re committed to taking genuine positive actions then your loyalty program gives you the chance to take those small steps. For example, Edgard and Cooper allow their customers to build up points that they can then donate to dog shelters. 

Using your loyalty program like this is a great way to demonstrate that you genuinely support the same causes as your customers, which will encourage them to keep being loyal with you because it feels great when we are true to the things we really care about. 

3. Loyalty shouldn’t be siloed

Time and time again we see businesses focus on loyalty as a standalone project – but this couldn’t be further from the truth. It can drive such positive results across marketing channels that you didn’t even consider could be connected! 

Loyalty can be a great way to build up your social media following, incentivize product reviews, or even app downloads, and is a fantastic vehicle to help you achieve your wider business goals by rewarding your customers for carrying out certain behaviors. In the below example, you can see how easy 100% Pure makes it for their customers to carry out desired actions and receive points for doing so.

Want to hear more? To listen to the full podcast episode with Fiona Stevens, head of marketing at LoyaltyLion, click below.