As an eCommerce store owner or manager, I’m pretty sure by now you are aware of the competition you are facing. In addition, to tackle your competition, you need to come up with innovative strategies every now and then. One such strategy that has helped many online stores make customers loyal is a rewards system.
In order to create a loyalty program, you first need to finalize a structure that is suitable for your business. After that, brand your program and develop a strong marketing strategy for it. Test the program and train your staff to generate new ideas and reduce any margin of error. Once you launch your new rewards system, monitor and make adjustments accordingly. With a successful rewards system for your eCommerce store, you’ll be able to witness a rapid increase in customer retention and new sales.
To assist you in establishing your online rewards system, we have broken down the process into six steps listed below.
1. You need to pick the best reward plan for your business
There are many ways to reward your customers. Some businesses offer cashback opportunities, redeemable points, lucky draw entries, and even special coupons for discounts which encourage customers to spend more. The program you choose will depend on the type of business you run, the outcomes you expect from the program, and the rewards you plan to offer that will attract customers.
Set the Best Goals for your Business
What do you want from the loyalty program? More reviews? Traffic? Or simply a sharp increase in your sales? Once you define your goal, setting up the loyalty program will become easier. For example, say you want your business to be mentioned on social media more often. With the help of a good rewards tool, you can structure the program so that customers get rewards every time they mention your business on any social media platform.
Other things that can be offered rewards for;
• Referrals
• Product Reviews
• Spending more
• Buying more on Sales days
• Uploading a photo
The Rewards you Will Offer
One of the most crucial aspects of this whole program is the reward you are willing to offer. The reward plays a significant role in attracting your customers to spend and will ultimately reflect positively in helping you achieve your goals.
For example, say you sell video games online. In this case, a PlayStation Plus gift card or Xbox Gift card for those who buy more than two games at a time would surely attract customers. However, if you plan to give a free donut coupon, that would be a less effective reward.
Here are a few more examples of rewards you can consider offering;
• Small gifts
• Exclusive offers and deals
• Cashback
• Exclusive Products
• BOGO offers
The Best Rewards Program
Though you’ll come across several loyalty programs, choosing the best one should be your goal. Suppose your eCommerce store is on WordPress; all you need is a best loyalty plugin for WordPress. Such plugins allow you to integrate a rewards system on your website easily. After that, you can reward your customers in the form of points, badges, ranks, and much more.
2. Creating a Brand Loyalty Program
Establishing a loyalty program in line with your online store is much more than just creating the structure. In order to make it attract potential customers, you need to brand it so that you offer an experience worth spending money on.
In order to make that happen, make sure you customize your loyalty program accordingly. Here are a few aspects to consider customizing after you have chosen the right loyalty program software.
Interface
Your online loyalty program should be consistent with the rest of your brand’s website. The portal, rewards tracker, and other interfaces should align with the current theme.
Merchandise
A great way to promote your brand is by offering branded merchandise to your loyal customers as a token of appreciation
Messaging
If you send any message via text, email, or banners, make sure your tone is in line with the voice used on your website.
Rewards Currency
Instead of using the word’ point,’ you can brand your rewards to make them more appealing. For example, if you are operating an eCommerce website, you can use the word ‘coins‘ instead of points.
3. Create the Perfect Plan to Acquire Members
In order for your loyalty program to be successful, you need to initiate a strategy to attract customers to sign up and become loyal members of your store. It is essential for customers to provide their information in order to create their accounts.
To start, you can offer a flat 10-15% discount for all customers who sign up and become members. On the other hand, you can also offer a next purchase coupon or a free gift to make your loyalty program more appealing. In some cases, membership offerings are so good that businesses don’t have to offer any additional deals to convince customers to sign up.
4. Market Your Loyalty Program
How will you tell your target audience that your business has launched a loyalty program? Well, that’s where you have to create an outreach marketing plan. In order to keep your audience connected with your brand virtually and physically, you need to ensure that you use the right channels of communication to reach out to them. Notable outreach marketing strategies for an eCommerce store are;
• Email marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Google Ads
• SMS Marketing
5. Train your Employees
Though you may be the one who overlooks the loyalty program, your employees will be responsible for managing the program’s day-to-day activity. In addition, they’ll also be responsible for pitching it to new potential customers.
Make sure that you train all your employees, considering the program’s functionality. In addition, they should also be aware of how to present it to new customers and tackle any question that arises related to the interface of the program. To make this training process consistent, you can also create a written protocol so that new recruits can also learn everything there is to know to reduce any margin of error.
6. Monitor and Adjust Rewards Schemes
Last but not least, you need to ensure your online loyalty program’s ongoing success and longevity. A reporting mechanism is necessary here to monitor the progress. Most loyalty program software offers such reporting tools. However, if it doesn’t, you should establish a means of tracking for your program to gauge its success.
With the help of a reporting system, you can conclude many things that can assist you in making your next marketing plan. For example, once you extract data related to your customer’s behavior and segmentation, you can target your audience accordingly with the right products. That will save you both time and money, eventually leading to greater revenue.
Wrap Up
Online customer loyalty programs play a significant role in driving business. From choosing the best software to creating the perfect interface with the right branding but you should take care of every aspect to create a rewards system for your eCommerce store that will attract your customers. Use the steps above to get started on your journey to making an amazing rewards system that will make your customers want to spend more and more.
