3 Ways To Get Customers To Refer Your Loyalty Program

When was the last time you told a friend about a store you love? In the past, when you recommended your favorite brand to a friend, what was the reason that motivated you? Have you ever loved a loyalty rewards program so much that you couldn’t hold yourself back from raving about it?

If you’ve ever had great things to say about a store or business, it was probably because you found irresistible deals, saved money, and had a fantastic experience there. What would you have done if the store also rewarded you every time you referred their business to a friend who ended up shopping there, too?

We’re willing to bet you would’ve made a lot more referrals!

Rewarding customers for successfully enrolling their friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances into your loyalty rewards program is an excellent way to expand your loyal customer base and grow your business. The best part about implementing a rewards referral marketing strategy is that your current loyalty members will be the ones doing all of the direct marketing, saving you time, effort, and money.

1. INCENTIVIZE MEMBERS TO SIGN UP THEIR FRIENDS

Your customers shop at your store, whether in person or online, because you offer quality products at great prices. When you launched a customer loyalty rewards program, your customers signed up because you clearly presented the benefits they would receive, the biggest of all being savings.

In order to get your rewards program members to convince their friends to sign up, you’ll need to offer them more than promises of future discounts. You’ll need to reward them for every friend they sign up, using these proven strategies.

Reward Both Parties with Dollars Off

Everyone loves saving money, and no one turns down cash, period. One of the best ways to incentivize your loyalty members to enroll their friends is to offer both your current member and their new enrollee an immediate discount that they can take advantage of the moment they complete the sign-up process. Dollars-off rewards work. Even offering as little as $5 off to both parties for their next purchases can be a powerful incentive.

Reward Members with Bonus Points for Successful Referrals

When you reward your loyalty members with bonus points every time they successfully refer your program to friends and family, you provide your loyal customers with the freedom to use their points however they like. Some customers will be excited to gain bonus points that will help them finally cash in on a big-ticket item. Others will appreciate being able to “burn” their bonus points right away at your swag shop.

Reward New Enrollees with Exclusive, Free Products

Who doesn’t want to feel special? Consumers love exclusive products and limited items for their perceived rising value. When a customer has exclusive access to products and services that most consumers will never be able to obtain, they experience a little thrill. A highly effective way to support your loyalty members in their efforts to make successful referrals is to offer the new enrollee an exclusive, free product or service. And of course, don’t forget to reward the original loyal customer for signing up their friend.

To recap, these are the specific incentives we just went over:

• Reward Both Parties with Dollars Off
• Reward Members with Bonus Points for Successful Referrals
• Reward New Enrollees with Exclusive, Free Products

Remember: your loyalty members will be eager to refer your rewards program to their friends and family if there’s an immediate reward in it for them!

2. MOTIVATE MEMBERS TO BUILD REWARDS TEAMS

Rewards “teams” is a relatively new concept within the world of customer loyalty rewards programs. Essentially, your current loyalty rewards members create their own rewards team or teams by providing their friends and family with a referral code to use upon sign up.

The referral code will cause the new enrollee to connect with the original member’s “team”. Once the new member joins the team, both the original and new member will start earning a percentage of the points from each other’s purchases! But what can you as a retailer do to motivate your current members to start building up their rewards teams?

Reward Top Members with a Points Percentage of Their Teammates’ Points

No one in their right mind would turn down passive income. Do nothing and get paid? Yes, please! Offering your loyalty members a percentage of all the points their teammates earn, in perpetuity, is the definition of passive income. And it’s a highly effective motivator when it comes to giving your members a reason to build up their teams.

Reward Top Members with Exclusive Products & Services

We’ve already touched on the rewards strategy of offering exclusive products and services, but it’s such a powerful incentive that we have to mention it twice. The best aspect of using exclusive products and services to reward members for building their teams is that the products don’t have to be expensive. They just have to be exclusive. Likewise any services you want to use to motivate your members to build their teams.

Reward Top Members with Free Shipping & Delivery

Free shipping and delivery is one of the top rewards that consumers want for their loyalty. It also happens to be a reward that can get a bit expensive for the business that’s footing the shipping bill, which is why we recommend reserving this reward for members who are building up their rewards teams. Is it necessary to offer 100% free shipping 100% of the time? Not at all! But you could offer 100% free shipping or delivery on the member’s next order. Or offer free shipping on a single order after the member has enrolled three friends into their team, or even five friends.

In summary, use these ideas to motivate your loyalty program members to build their rewards teams:

• Reward Top Members with a Points Percentage of Their Teammates’ Points
• Reward Top Members with Exclusive Products & Services
• Reward Top Members with Free Shipping & Delivery

Remember: explain to your loyalty members the benefits of building up their loyalty teams so that they get the most out of the program and really have something to brag about!

3. PERSONALIZE EVERY DEAL TO REWARD TEAM MEMBERS

Marketers have long since discovered the benefits of using personalized promotions. When retailers reach out to customers extending discounts, deals, and offers on products that are relevant to their customers’ unique purchasing histories, customer spending increases. The trick is to only recommend the most personalized products and services to your customers.

The great thing about having a customer loyalty rewards program in place at your store is that the software itself uses CRM to collect valuable customer data, which you can leverage in your promotional campaigns. But how can you use the data your program has been collecting to motivate your loyalty members to refer the program to their friends and build up their teams?

Reward Team Members with Discounted Favorites

Amazingly, your loyalty rewards program has been collecting every shred of information about every member from the moment each of them signed up. Operating in the shadows, your program has stored member purchase histories and has exercised machine-learning technology to identify your members’ favorite products. Review your program’s CRM data and leverage your customers’ favorites as rewards for team members shopping at your store and inviting their friends to join their team.

Reward Team Members with Access to New Products Before They Are Released Storewide

Exclusivity, exclusivity, exclusivity! We can’t say it enough! Offering exclusive products and services as rewards works fantastically! But you know what also works? Offering loyalty members access to new products before those products are officially released storewide. This strategy provides the illusion of exclusivity while alleviating you of the burden of carrying specialty items.

Reward Team Members with Personalized Experiences

Did you know that consumers value unique and positive experiences just as much–if not more–than discounted sales items and deals on services? It’s true! When retailers combine loyalty rewards with team building experiences, they create true brand loyalty in the hearts of their customers, who quickly become brand ambassadors. Consider rewarding full teams with a custom experience they can enjoy together in-person, such as a free lunch, group mani-pedi, or whatever fun experience your business has to offer.

In short, keep every team member engaged by offering these personalized rewards:

• Reward Team Members with Discounted Favorites
• Reward Team Members with Access to New Products Before their Storewide Releases
• Reward Team Members with Personalized Experiences

Remember: the more personalized the rewards you offer, the more appreciated your loyalty members will feel and the bigger success your brand will become!

Loyal~n~Save, a premium customer loyalty rewards program, offers end-customers personalized rewards incentives for building up their own loyalty teams. When customers receive rewards points as a result of their teammates’ shopping, you can bet they will be eager to invite more and more friends to join their loyalty team!

Consumers who love saving money love Loyal~n~Save. Signing up friends, family members, and everyone else is convenient and easy, which is another reason why members can’t get enough of our program. All loyalty members have to do in order to add new members to their team is scan your store’s referral code in-app, or invite people to join through social media, email, or SMS text.

With so many fast, easy ways to add people to their teams, loyalty members are able to build up their team–or teams!--quickly, and since there’s no limit to how many teams a member can create, the sky really is the limit in terms of the quantity of bonus points that member can earn.

The best part about Loyal~n~Save, is that members who grow their teams quickly reap the benefits of “Team Tiers”. These “tiers” enable members to sit pretty at the top of their pyramid team, effortlessly earning rewards points as their team below them shop at your location.

The breakdown of Team Tiers:

• Top Members–The capstone of the team pyramid, a top member will earn a percentage of points whenever the members of their team below them make qualifying purchases.
• Teammates–Team members below the top member will earn rewards points when they make qualifying purchases at your store, as long as the top member continues to add to their team. Each team has the potential to grow as many as 5 tiers.
• Friends’ Teams–If a member is not at the top of their own team, but rather on a friend’s team, and that lower-rung member adds more members to their team, the top member will earn a percentage of not only their friend’s purchases but also their friends’ friends’ purchases!
• Points Percentage–Members of a team will earn a percentage of points based on which tier they belong to. The first tier after the purchaser will earn 50%, the second will earn 25%, and so on! Once members experience how easy it is to earn rewards in bulk, inviting new enrollees to join becomes contagious!

Would you like hands-on help getting started with Loyal~n~Save so that your loyalty members are sure to build up teams and reap big rewards as they and their teammates shop with you? Our loyalty strategist can put you on the right track no matter what industry your business falls within, and yes, we serve B2B companies, too!