If you run an online store, a loyalty program can help you grow a stable business and enjoy long-lasting relations with your customers. Of course, such programs entail several elements, primarily related to maintaining constant communication with your target audience. And this is where our role begins. In this post, we want to show you how to automate a loyalty program in your company.
Loyalty programs come with several important benefits. With them, you can stay in touch with your customers, encourage them to spend more money in your store and make regular purchases in the long-term perspective. Additionally, studies show that loyalty programs trigger customers to spend more in order to maximize the benefits they can get. According to the recent Loyalty Report conducted by Bond and Visa, this is true in over 60% of cases:
Given that loyalty programs are not too complicated to set up and run, they can be perfect tools to help you grow your company and make your business more stable.
What’s important is that with our help, you can automate the vast majority of aspects of loyalty programs. Our platform enables you to automate communication with your customers as well as other elements of such a program. In this post, we want to show you how iPresso can help you automate your loyalty program. Let’s start with retargeting.
Retargeting
Retargeting is a marketing technique aimed specifically at people who already know you. Typically, these are customers who have already visited your company’s website or who are participants of your loyalty programs. Retargeting also comes in handy when it comes to rescuing abandoned carts (you can use this technique to remind your customers about their unfinished purchases).
Here at iPresso, retargeting is based on marketing automation scenarios. Here’s an example. You run an online store, and you have a client who had put a product in their cart but never finished the order. You can create a marketing automation scenario and reach out to them with a message reminding them about their purchase. If such a person reacts positively and finishes the order, you can send them yet another message, this time encouraging them to join your loyalty program.
Stay in touch with your customers
The second element you can automate when it comes to loyalty programs is communication. Nowadays, customers have thousands of distractions and offers to choose from; the truth is, they can simply forget about your brand. Thankfully, you can remedy this situation by keeping constant (but not too intrusive) communication with them.
Here, you can use two great tools:
Newsletters and promotional emails
You can use emails and newsletters to promote new arrivals, distribute vouchers, ask for an opinion, and, naturally, also invite your subscribers to join the loyalty program. It’s a good idea to use a mix of promotional emails and newsletters. Make sure you’re not just selling your products but also providing value. Customers will appreciate you providing them with useful knowledge they can use in their life or work. That’s why, ideally, newsletters should comprise both market and company news, as well as some tips and suggestions.
A word of advice, though. Don’t send too many emails. At some point, people will start deleting them and unsubscribing from your list. Send no more than one email per week.
Push notifications
They are amazing when you want to send just a short message. For example, you can use them to send back-in-stock messages, to inform about new arrivals, or to share new special deals. You can think of them as SMS messages for the internet browser or mobile app. Just a small image, two sentences, and a CTA button/link; that’s all.
Push notifications can trigger your customers to take action, usually in relation to a product they’ve already been interested in. We invite you to find out more about push notifications. Both our experience here at iPresso and market data prove that this technique can be very effective in building the loyalty of your customers!
Loyalty tools
The last element we can help you with refers to other loyalty tools, such as e-coupons and vouchers. Our e-couponing module will help you generate unique promo codes for your customers. Of course, everything can be integrated with your online store and even printouts (if you’re manufacturing physical goods). This way, you can create a loyalty program that combines both online and offline experiences, thus enriching it and increasing its efficiency.
Such vouchers and promo codes can be distributed throughout the year or for some special occasions, such as Black Friday.
With our tools, you can create a fully-fledged loyalty program enabling your customers to setup an account, collect points on their account, and exchange these points for diverse benefits (e.g., free delivery or discounts). In fact, you can come up with different monetization mechanisms that will enable you to encourage customers to spend more and build long-lasting relations with them.
The key to success here lies in balancing your profit and customer satisfaction. A loyalty program that requires people to spend $10,000 just to get a 5% discount is not a good idea. Customers will shortly feel discouraged because the gain bleaks in comparison with necessary expenses. Make sure your customers can see the first positive results of your program as quickly as possible.
Let your loyalty program succeed!
Creating a successful loyalty program entails several elements. First off, you need a good offer, both when it comes to products and incentives. Secondly, you need to stay in touch with your customers, e.g., via emails, newsletters, and push notifications. Also, use retargeting to rescue abandoned carts. And thirdly, you need to make sure your customers can truly benefit from your program. After all, no one will stay with you “just because” – they need a good reason. That’s the best recipe for a successful loyalty program that will enable your online store to grow.
And we have some great news! Everything you’ve just read about in this article can be automated with iPresso! Do you want to know more? Start with a free trial.
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