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Keep Customers Engaged Year-Round with Loyalty Programs
Loyalty

Keep Customers Engaged Year-Round with Loyalty Programs

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Seasonality impacts how you do business, whether you're a bathing suit manufacturer getting ready for summertime fun in the sun or a Christmas tree vendor getting ready for the holidays. Maximizing on-season sales is essential for brands that depend on the seasons. Yet the real issue is how to manage the off-season.  

Brands can deal with seasonality and maximize their on- or off-season with the use of loyalty programs. Programs can be used by brands to keep customers interested during slow months and keep them from making a purchase from a rival. Also, they can persuade valuable customers to spend more money with your company during busy times. Also, brand loyalty means improved CLV (customer lifetime value), increased direct engagement with your top customers, and decreased churn rates to competitor companies. 

Additionally, loyalty programs can be used in any industry. Participants from all over the world desire to take part in loyalty programs provided by brands in a variety of categories, such as food & beverage, cosmetics, and fashion, to name a few.    

Today, we’re going to learn about how loyalty works to solve seasonality.  

What exactly is seasonality?  

Before we get started, let's talk about what seasonality is.  

Seasonality is a property of a time series in which the data goes through predictable and recurring changes on a yearly basis. Seasonal refers to any predictable variation or pattern that recurs or repeats over the course of a year. Seasonal cycles are observed within a single calendar year, but cyclical effects, such as increased sales as a result of low unemployment rates, can occur throughout time periods that are either shorter or longer than a single calendar year.  

Handling the off-season with loyalty 

For many brands, the off-season can be an especially trying time. One problem is the decline in customer engagement and purchasing. Yet, customers may use this time away from your brand to research rivals before the start of the following on-season. Brands can connect with customers through loyalty and stay top-of-mind regardless of the season.  

You can guarantee your brand's relevance by rewarding customers for social media followings, SMS sign-ups, and email sign-ups. Prior to the start of your on-season, you can send out relevant notifications about impending promotions. Alternatively, you could inform customers of ways to accumulate points without making a purchase. You can even encourage a purchase by reminding loyalty members of their remaining point balance utilizing data from your program. 

The off-season is also the ideal time to inform them of the benefits of choosing your brand over competitors. Since COVID-19 hit, more than 65% of consumers tried new shopping behaviors and plan to continue doing so in the future, according to research by McKinsey. Although consumers frequently choose new brands, loyalty programs encourage them to stick with yours. 

With points, exclusive benefits, and personalized offers, loyalty members have a clear reason to take part in a program, which motivates them to find out more about your competitive edge. Shoppers that interact with informative information like blog posts or recipes are frequently rewarded by brands. This gives your brand the chance to reach customers and explain what makes it stand out from the competition even before the next sales cycle starts.  

Utilizing loyalty to boost on-season 

Customer loyalty programs can be quite helpful during the off-season, but they can also be very helpful during the active season. While loyal customers are frequently the highest value customers for brands, loyalty programs can also assist you in maximizing the on-season. Your brand should concentrate even more on marketing during the on-season than it does during the off-season.  

Make sure you're actively promoting your loyalty program before your peak season begins. On-site banners, social media campaigns, emails, and SMS campaigns serve as reminders of all the benefits your program offers non-loyalty members. Consider giving members instant points for signing up to further increase sign-ups. New members have an immediate incentive to use your brand for purchases and redeem their points as soon as they join.  

Give VIP members advance notice of your planned launches just before the on-season officially begins to generate excitement. Exclusive access to product drops before they are on sale is another example of this. Before the new season even starts, VIP members will be anticipating it, demonstrating to customers how much you value their loyalty. Also, you can limit your discount options and promote early sales by providing loyalty program members-only seasonal promotional deals. Make seasonal offers restricted to loyalty members or even certain VIP tiers rather than distributing them to all customers.  

Conclusion  

Brands can directly engage with and grow sales from their high-value customers at any time of year by designing a loyalty program that considers seasonality. The easiest method to differentiate yourself from the competition and keep customers interested all year long is through loyalty. Are you prepared to grow your business to new heights? Explore the possibilities Loyal-n-Save has to offer to help you continue watching your business flourish, regardless of the season. To get started, get in touch with one of our specialists today!  

This article was written by Loyal-n-Save, an omni-channel customer loyalty solution for retailers looking to increase customer retention and new customer acquisition.
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Danielle Dixon
Written by Danielle Dixon

Danielle is a content writer at Loyal-n-Save. She specializes in writing about implementing loyalty solutions proven to help a company grow.

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