Having a loyalty program is a fantastic way to keep your customers engaged and coming back. If customers love your products, and you reward them for their loyalty, they’re incentivized to buy even more. You can boost your sales and reach even more customers with loyalty marketing automation. Why? By putting automation in place, you can draw in more customers with less effort.
You can keep your loyalty program at the forefront of your customers’ minds and even encourage them to refer you to their friends. Referrals are pure gold for adding more customers.
By using these tips, you can focus on the best-automated reward programs to grow your customer base.
Tip #1: Welcome Rewards
Your website may immediately prompt visitors to provide an email address to receive the latest tips or company newsletter. However, all potential customers know that this means more emails in their already-stuffed inboxes.
If this is their first time on your website, they may not be ready to give up their email address or mobile number. Being the case, this is where welcome rewards come into play.
You are doing two things by providing an immediate discount code in exchange for the email address or mobile number. First, you are starting the potential customer relationship with an immediate reward to drive them into your business. Second, you are receiving the contact information to add to your new reward program campaign list for future rewards and marketing.
You can make this reward an automatic part of your website or data collection signup process. Any visitor to your website has the potential to receive the reward and become a reward member.
Tip #2: Check-In Rewards
In today’s world, not all consumers want to make the trip to a brick-and-mortar store. After all, everyone is busy, and why go to a store when they can shop online?
But as a business owner, you know that if you can get customers into your store, they will spend more money. Your merchandise can attract their attention in a way that an online store can’t. So it is to your advantage to get your customers to visit the physical store.
If you offer check-in rewards for store visits, it can help your efforts to track visitors. Once you know which of your customers are shopping in the store, you can target them with additional digital marketing efforts. Check-ins through social media or apps can also boost your presence for other potential shoppers.
The reward has to be worth the trip, whether it is an in-store coupon or free sample. Your follow-ups can encourage these customers to repeat their visits.
Tip #3: Friend Referrals
One of the best boosts for new customers is a word-of-mouth referral. A trust factor is involved when a friend says, “I love this product,” versus reading online reviews from strangers. Referrals can reach potential new customers on a much more personal level than your other marketing efforts.
When you encourage your loyal customers to make referrals, you ask them to do your heavy lifting. They have to make an effort, so the reward needs to be worth their time. You want them to want to make the referral because it is to their benefit.
Referral links and referral codes that your customers share out are easy ways to do this. You can generate referral links/codes with purchases and remind your loyal customers of your referral program through follow-up email campaigns.
Tip #4: Segment Your Audience
More than likely, you have customers that are of exceptionally high value and give you a lot of repeat business. You may also have customers who have signed up for your email/SMS list and want nothing more. The question is: how do you target both?
You don’t, or at least you don’t target them in the same way. If you segment your audience, you can provide messaging that speaks to a specific audience. You can energize your high-value customers and try to encourage the low-engagement audience with less frequent messaging.
Offer your top-tier customers even more rewards. The more they spend, the more they earn. VIP emails and targeted messaging can let them know that you value their business.
For the customers on your list that have not yet purchased, try to spark their interest in other ways. Whether they were just browsing, don’t trust your brand enough, or thought the price was too high, you need to get them over their hesitation. Flash deals, double-points, or other one-time offers might be enough of a deal that they won’t pass it up.
Tip #5: Remind Your Customer of Loyalty Rewards
Customers get frustrated if their rewards expire, so send them email/SMS reminders. If you only show their rewards on your website, they may not visit frequently enough to know they have rewards to spend. You can send automated monthly emails and make sure they understand when their rewards expire.
When you send emails, remind customers how they can redeem their rewards. Whether it is a percentage off or a free product, you want them to know the value of what they are receiving. They may have been waiting to use that “free shipping” code, and your email reminder will arrive at precisely the right moment.
When your customers are on your site, provide them with a reminder of their rewards. Do this when they log-in, check-out, or are browsing. They may be tempted to spend more if they know that they can redeem rewards at the same time.
Customers gain a lot of satisfaction from redeeming rewards. They feel that their money has been well-spent with your brand and that you value their business. They even feel more committed because they feel like they have earned something in return.
Put Your Loyalty Marketing Automation Plan Into Action
You can build customer loyalty through social media shares, tagging photos, and exciting content. While these should be part of your marketing strategy, they take a lot of effort, and it is hard to know how successful you are.
When your strategy includes loyalty marketing automation, you can better reach your customers at the right time with the right incentive. RoboRewards offers loyalty program software and automation tools to grow your business. Contact us today to learn more.
