Loyalty Reward Points for eCommerce Shoppers: Ingenious Implementation Techniques

Since loyalty programs for small businesses or large ones are not a novel idea for business owners, you should be aware of their benefits. A loyalty program is already in place among your competitors. Therefore, even though there are many benefits of a loyalty program, the key element to think about is how you intend to launch your loyalty reward points program to address customer interests.

Customers will favor a specific business since, in the opinion of 75% of shoppers, earning rewards and loyalty points is one of the most valuable components of the purchasing experience. Without a doubt, you must have considered using the identical strategy but with a special twist. In this blog, you will learn more about how to give your customers more creative ways to earn points and how to use those points in enticing ways.

How users of your eCommerce website can earn loyalty reward points

Customers are enthralled by winning loyalty reward points and are encouraged to interact with the website, brand, or store more frequently. The encounters subsequently raise your revenue rate and demonstrate a rise in customer satisfaction. However, you must be extremely clever in your approach to prevent the organization from incurring excessive costs while rewarding customers. Nowadays, there are a lot of websites and eCommerce platforms that offer loyalty reward points for customers being part of their retail sales incentive programs, and in many ways, too often falling into one of the following three categories:

The product display page

The most popular pages on your website are those that display products or act as a catalog. Allowing customers to earn points for various actions taken on this page increases the likelihood that new customers will sign up for your loyalty program.

The cart page

After adding items to the cart page, customers typically check for deals and promotional codes for more discounts and saving options. As a result, it presents a chance to entice customers to sign up for your loyalty rewards program.

The activity page

Numerous websites, both e-commerce and non-e-commerce, create game pages like the morning quizzes, and a spinning wheel. An example would be allowing customers to spin a wheel to receive a special reward. Let’s say you own an eyewear store. You could introduce a wheel that customers could spin to win, let’s say, 20% any pair of eyeglasses or a free glasses case, just to name a few options.

The goal of establishing these sites is to draw in stronger traffic. Additionally, these pages give customers the opportunity to earn coupons and receive extra rewards. Allowing loyalty reward points on these types of web pages is a special chance to inform both current and potential customers about the advantages.

The practices used by businesses in the eCommerce sector fall under the aforementioned categories, but what are they and how can they help you create a successful membership program? But before we get started, let’s talk about the many advantages of these reward programs and the reasons why retailers are incorporating them into their plans.

What advantages do loyalty programs offer to businesses?

The purchase and sale of goods and services are simply the tip of the marketing iceberg. You progressed from selling vinyl records at the local street fair and occasionally reselling your prized finds online to establishing your own store, developing a devoted following, and emerging as the go-to vinyl record seller in your town. The second and most important step is to fully utilize your customer base once you have successfully presented the product to the market and have established a substantial customer base.

Businesses can do so by building customer loyalty programs for small business ventures as well as larger ones. You may easily find ways to thank your customers and give them extra benefits, regardless of the niche your business is in (whether that’s a vinyl record shop or a retail store with any locations). We’re all enrolled in some sort of loyalty program. Indeed, it is that widespread. In actuality, these loyalty programs give you a great opportunity to set your business apart from that of your competition. Loyalty programs provide your company with a distinctive quality that raises its credibility. Here is a list of some of the numerous advantages of these.

Gain an advantage over competitors

A loyalty program gives businesses a prime opportunity to outperform competitors. Making your customers feel important while actually making them a priority is the key. Show them their savings and thank them for their loyalty.

Contributes to customer retention

Customers may be preserved, and you can turn prospects into actual sales. These initiatives maintain customer interest in your brand. This reveals whether or not they’ll support your brand in the long term. In this day and age, people are making purchases based on more than merely the price; they are also motivated by things like shared values, beliefs, engagement, and emotional connections to the brand. These initiatives aid the brand in extending interactions between the customer and brand past the point of purchase.

Cost-effective

You’ll be shocked to learn that obtaining a new customer is 5–25 times more expensive and challenging than doing it before. Rather than losing these customers, why not think outside the box and construct a loyalty program?

Enhances the reputation of your brand

Your marketability can be improved by developing an appealing loyalty program. By rewarding them for sticking with your brand, you can attract customers who make repeated purchases. Customers are more likely to recommend you to friends and family when they feel valued, especially when referral programs for businesses are established. When they purchase from you, they might feel good because you helped them form these pleasant connections in their thoughts.

Additional advantages involve:

• Builds enduring relationships with customers
• Cuts down on slow seasons
• Increases the business’s earnings
• More customer recommendations
• Promotes word-of-mouth marketing

Ingredients for a successful loyalty program

We can imagine that you have already made up your mind to implement a loyalty program for the benefit of your business. If you’re still not convinced, we kindly ask that you read the rest of this post because, by the time you’re done, you’ll be prepared to launch your own special program. However, you must be aware of the requirements before starting anything. It is essential for developing a successful loyalty program. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

Decide on a name that sticks

Your loyalty program should have a distinctive name that embodies your business’s core values and ideals. It should also be original and innovative. Maybe you only sell 80s music at that vinyl record shop you own, in addition to hosting virtual karaoke every Wednesday night. Maybe you should start rewarding people who volunteer to sing their favorite throwback song and display their vocal talents. Grab a pen and paper and brainstorm some ideas for a program name that will make people happy and nostalgic while remaining brief, easy to understand, and memorable.

Bring about a sense of belonging and purpose

Customers may believe that businesses are creating these programs solely to extract as much money as possible from them. Due to this, it is even more crucial for the business to launch a campaign with a sense of community and purpose. Let’s think about the well-known Chipotle for a moment, a business that rewards loyal customers and gives them the choice of how to use their points. Each dollar a customer spends results in 10 points being awarded. When these points are accumulated, customers can choose to benefit from free food, special brand items like totes or hats, or the chance to contribute their points to a charitable cause. This adaptability demonstrates how much the brand values its customers’ needs.

Incorporate loyalty reward points: uses for points

If the customers’ earned points cannot be exchanged for further perks, they are useless to them, and the options you give them for doing so add exclusivity and excitement to your loyalty rewards program. Here are a few ideas for using the points that customers have accrued.

Coupon vouchers

To redeem the points accumulated, you can let your customers generate discount vouchers. To indicate how many points correspond to what percentage of the coupon value, you can simply mark a range of points on a scale. Let’s say you own a vintage makeup store and you have integrated a loyalty rewards program into your business. As a thank you for their business, you can offer your customers an opportunity to treat themselves over and over again to your services.

Consider the following for example:

• 5,000 points = $100 discount off any makeup purchase
• 10,000 points = $250 discount off any makeup purchase

Discounts

The customers’ favorite method of using points to make purchases is to receive an additional discount. As a result, you may provide the option to use points on your cart page so that customers can redeem their earned points for more loyalty discounts.

Gift cards

This type of point redemption is offered to customers by very few businesses. However, it is a fantastic approach to get more new leads by using loyal existing customers. If you give your customers the option to redeem their earned points and turn those points into gift cards, it stands to reason that they will give those gift cards to their friends and family, who will then need to make purchases from you in order to use the gift card’s full value. Additionally, giving customers the option to use their points to create gift cards with personalized messages would encourage them to continue earning points because they will be able to give their loved ones gifts without having to spend any additional money.

Purchases with no payment

The eCommerce industry also considers this to be a very unpopular way to let customers use their points to buy products valued at their points. The customer would know that after paying you for a few transactions to gain points, they’ll be able to shop for a product free by using their acquired points, thus if it were implemented, it would be really beneficial. However, few companies are content with just point and reward transactions. They want to create a whole community for their devoted customers and show them how much they mean to them.

A different take on a loyalty reward points program: the membership program

Many variations were created to qualify for the benefits of the loyalty program in a way that set it apart from the competition due to the increasing trends of customer loyalty programs in various industries. A membership program is a comparable illustration. Although any business can use this program, IT and/or hospitality sectors are particularly interested in finding them.

Craft the perfect membership program

Designing a membership club that gives you the same benefits as your customers is the first step. Recognize that the membership program is being developed to show your appreciation for your customers.

When creating the membership program, you can base your decisions on the following principles:

• Create a membership structure that includes Basic, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond levels
• Set criteria for achieving each level
• List the conditions that must be met in order to advance to the next level at each level
• To get your customers excited, only partially reveal the benefits of the next level

Where do loyalty programs stand in the future?

Brands can use loyalty programs to cultivate relationships with their customers. The future of loyalty will follow this course, but because customer behavior has altered so much recently, it may not resemble what we see today. According to MarketsandMarkets, the global loyalty management market will reach $18.2 billion in 2026, up from $8.6 billion in 2021.

Making the transition to a more emotional loyalty program structure

Additionally, 86% of customers with high emotional engagement claim to always think of their trusted brands when they need something, and 82% claim to always purchase the brand when a need arises, according to Capgemini. Since there are so many loyalty programs available, the question is how to get customers’ attention. The heart, not the pocketbook or discounts, is the answer, as customers are no longer interested in those things. You could, for instance, hold events for members and invite them to join you. Let’s go back to the vintage makeup store example. You could offer customers the chance to join a livestream of a vintage makeup expert discussing 1970s makeup as a thanks for being a loyal customer. They’ll feel valued by you and you’ll create a stronger emotional connection as a result.

Getting rid of obstacles to get immediate satisfaction

People now anticipate having their purchases delivered the next day since the world is so focused on convenience. They want everything at the touch of a button on their phone, whether it is new furniture or an ice face roller. In recent years, rewards programs have become more popular as a method for retailers to express their gratitude.

Are you prepared to launch your own loyalty reward points program?

In order to build its own base of devoted customers, an ecommerce business can greatly benefit from loyalty programs. These initiatives assist companies in enhancing customer satisfaction and retention while reducing supplemental advertising costs. Additionally, creating a loyalty program and keeping it active over time will help you retain your existing customers.

You can find the ideal customer loyalty program solutions with Loyal-n-Save. We assist companies of all sizes in maintaining their customer base with tailored, easy-to-use solutions developed around business goals. A dashboard made for marketers can be used to quickly and easily create a loyalty club that works for your company. You can change the incentives, tiers, and earning requirements for your loyalty club using Loyal-n-Save. To schedule a consultation and a demonstration with one of our specialists, give us a call.