As an eCommerce store owner, you must have heard about loyalty programs. They have been around for more than 10 years and every year more brands are riding the loyalty wave. These programs are designed to increase the number of returning customers and repeat purchases for your store and are a great way to build brand loyalty. However, they can’t stand alone. If you want to power up your loyalty program, use other retention marketing channels (like email and SMS) to really make it achieve its whole potential. Keep reading to see how you can get the most out of your rewards program through loyalty email campaigns and SMS marketing.

1. If they are in your loyalty program, they should be on your list.

It’s important to create synergy between all your marketing channels. One of the most important relations is between your loyalty program and your email/SMS lists. One way to do this is by offering an incentive for people in your program to subscribe to your email and SMS lists, so you can have a more direct and personalized contact channel with them.

This baby apparel brand does this through pop-ups, opt-in landing pages, and their rewards page on their website. If people leave their email and phone number, they get $5 in rewards points they can redeem in their next order! This is a great alternative to giving out a simple $5 coupon.

2. The key is in repetition

It’s important to, every now and then, send your email list a reminder about your loyalty program. Refresh the copy a little or the design of the email and resend it each quarter or every two months, depending on your mailing frequency. The key is found in repetition. However, remember to exclude people that have already signed up for your program from these campaigns, or send them less regularly to that segment, to avoid overwhelming them with the information they may already know about.

Some of the most important things you need to include in your loyalty email campaign are:

1. Benefits of signing up for  the loyalty program
2. How many points they can collect per $1 spent
3. Actions they can take to collect points
4. How many points do they need to collect to be able to redeem them

Here are a couple of examples for you to get inspired.

This apparel brand summarizes beautifully all the details related to its rewards program: the what, the how, and the why. All in one short email.

It’s always a great idea to offer more rewards points for signing up. This will get people excited about your program and will motivate them to start spending more or leaving reviews to get more points and redeem them. Highlight that in your loyalty email campaign.

This supplements store found a super easy and short way to explain their entire loyalty program in just one email! You can do something similar for your own brand.

3. Make promotional campaigns

Loyalty programs are also a great way to boost sales if you convert their benefits into the visible promotion you can send through email or SMS. You can either give out double points or remind people about the actions that allow them to collect the most amount of points, like referrals.

Check what this baby apparel eCommerce company sent out to their winback segment to boost repeat purchases. They created a double-points campaign in their loyalty program, so instead of giving out 1 point per $1 spent, people get 2 points. This is a great way to increase sales without affecting your margins too much or getting the list used to get super high discounts too frequently.

Since referrals are usually one of the actions that give out the highest rewards, consider sending loyalty email campaigns reminding your list about this benefit regularly. And you can count it as your promo email of the week!

4. Include the loyalty benefits in your flows

It’s a great idea to mention your referral rewards campaigns as well as your reviews campaigns (if you have them) in your post-purchase flow! Happy customers will take charge of referring a friend or leaving a review for extra points to redeem, and you get the mouth-to-mouth promotion that we always strive for.

You can do this through your email flows or through your SMS flows as this brand did:

5. Create loyalty-specific flows

Depending on the loyalty platform of your choosing, you’ll be able to integrate it differently to your SMS and email marketing platforms. Therefore, your options to create loyalty-specific flows can be different. However, we’ll walk you through some of the most common and useful flows you can set up to bring out all the potential of your loyalty program.

• Bonus reminder flow: This flow will be triggered when a customer hasn’t engaged with your loyalty program after a certain timeframe. Use this opportunity to remind them how many points they have collected and how many points are needed to be redeemable.

• Redemption reminder flow: Has your customer recently unlocked a loyalty redemption? This flow will be triggered and will remind them about getting their favorite products from your store using their rewards points.

• VIP tier earned flow: If your loyalty program includes tiers, it’s a good idea to have a flow triggered every time a customer enters a new tier. Don’t forget to include the benefits they will get with their new status.

6. Add short reminders in your loyalty email campaigns

Make sure all your subscribers are aware of your rewards program by adding reminders in your email or SMS campaigns/flows.

For example, take a look at this National Compliment Day campaign. The CTA is to compliment someone by giving them $10 off with the referrals program. The email itself treated a different topic, but they saw an opportunity to mention it and it fit perfectly.

You can also add their points balance in your flows and loyalty email campaigns!

This is the footer a brand uses regularly to remind its subscribers on how to earn points and their balance.

You can do something similar in your SMS campaigns or flows.

If you want more SMS inspo, check this A+ texts list created by SMS Bump!

7. Make them VIPs

If they have signed up for your loyalty program, it’s worth adding them to your VIP segments too. This way you add an extra benefit to all your rewards campaigns. Give out early access to new releases or offers, special and exclusive discounts, or ask for their opinion often.

People like to feel seen. And your rewards program is one way of seeing your customers and their needs. Creating a synergy between your loyalty program, your email marketing plan, and your SMS marketing strategy is a must. Here at Hustler, we deal with these synergies on a daily basis and we’re ready to help you with yours. Book a free call with us today.

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