How Can I Promote My Loyalty Program?
Not every marketer or business owner asks themselves, “Do I need a loyalty program?”. Fewer ask themselves, “Have I made my loyalty program as good as it can be”, and even fewer still ask themselves, “How can I promote my loyalty program effectively?”.
So the fact that you are researching loyalty program promotion strategies is fantastic. After all, promotion is key to spreading awareness of your program, and building registrations to a size in which you’ve successfully created a loyal community for your business.
In the points below, we’ll start by covering the easily implemented stuff, before moving on to clever techniques for maximising your loyalty program promotion and awareness.
1. Create a dedicated webpage or blogpost for your loyalty program
In order to pull off your loyalty program promotion effectively, you first need to give customers a place where they can find all the information they need to know regarding your loyalty program.
A dedicated “about our loyalty program” webpage not only provides this information, but it can be easily shared with your customers via emails, social media posts and other resources on an ongoing basis.
This webpage should be as clear and succinct as possible, without omitting any details. Make sure you answer the following questions:
- How does the loyalty program work?
- How do customers accumulate points and redeem rewards?
- How are points and rewards issued?
- How do customers join?
- What other perks and benefits are included with the membership?
- Can customers accumulate points and redeem rewards across multiple locations (if applicable)?
- How much personal information is the customer required to give?
- What devices is the digital loyalty app compatible with (i.e. Apple and Android)?
- Anything else you can think of that customers might want to know before deciding to join your loyalty program
For inspiration, check out how Miami Bakehouse has gone about its loyalty program info page. You might also choose to create a blog post, or a short video tutorial on how to sign up – it never hurts to have a stockpile of quality content that can be periodically recycled for more engagement!
At Stamp Me Loyalty Solutions, we can help you create and refine this webpage to ensure it leaves a lasting impression on your customers. You’re also welcome to use this template we put together:
“Introducing our Stamp Me loyalty program – the new way to earn rewards every time you spend at [business name]. Get one stamp for every [$X spent]. Earn [Y] stamps and get [a free Z] – simple!
Download the Stamp Me app from the Google Play Store or Apple Store on your mobile to start earning [and get your first stamp free just for joining!]."
2. Email your subscribers (if you have an email list)
If your business has a list of email subscribers, be sure to let them know about your exciting new loyalty program. The fact that they are on your email list means these people are probably already loyal (or at least repeat) customers, so conversions are likely to be high.
Be sure to link back to your dedicated webpage or blog post in the body of this email, so that readers can learn more information and easily signup right there on the spot.
Don’t worry if you do not currently have an EDM (electronic direct mail) system in place – we can take care of this for you as part of our loyalty program subscription service. You can learn more about this on our Stamp Me App Integration page.
It’s also worth noting that, by making email registration part of your loyalty program signup process, you can rapidly expand this email subscribers list as your memberships grow.
3. Implement some fun and engaging social media campaigns
Social media is a key resource for promoting your loyalty program, especially when you get creative with it!
There’s the basics, of course – a few short, sharp and spirited posts to catch people’s eye, letting them know about your fantastic new loyalty program and all the perks and benefits they can enjoy by signing up.
High quality license-free images from sites such as Unsplash are a great way to attract attention to your updates, while LingoJam allows you to quickly and easily convert your text to bold and vibrant fonts for social media posts.
As an example, a coffee shop might post a bright and colourful image of a steaming mug of coffee, with a caption like:“It’s our pleasure to announce the launch of our brand new loyalty program. Download the Stamp Me mobile app and get a digital stamp for every $5 spent in-store. After 8 stamps, we’ll treat you to a free coffee of your choice on us!”
Then there’s the other techniques you can employ, such as awarding loyalty points or rewards to existing members who share your loyalty program announcements on their own social media pages, for all their friends to see.
You can even incentivize customers to create their own original content that promotes your loyalty program for you, such as blog reviews, YouTube tutorials and more. This is referred to as UGC (user-generated content), and the Nielsen Consumer Trust Index revealed that an incredible 92% of customers trust organic UGC over traditional advertising.
A Facebook/Instagram story showing a customer collecting their final stamp and redeeming their reward is another highly effective way to get the word out, while also showing audiences how the program works.
You might also consider creating a paid social media advertisement which targets specific audiences based on their location, demographics and other key factors that indicate their likelihood of being interested in your business.
4. Utilize in-store materials (if you have a brick-and-mortar shop)
Now that we’ve gotten the digital stuff out of the way, we can focus on the other methods in which you can promote your loyalty program and retain more customers.
Obviously if you are running an ecommerce business exclusively, then you can go ahead and skip this one. But for those of you with brick-and-mortar businesses, it’s important to make sure that a customer couldn’t possibly enter your shop, browse the aisles, pay for their items and leave without being made aware of your loyalty program.
There are numerous ways to ensure your loyalty program is being adequately promoted in-store, but signage is still key.
At Stamp Me, we recommend placing posters in the windows, brochures on the shelves or tables, signage at point-of-sale, and even in the toilets (if applicable).
As time passes, you will get a better idea for what level of loyalty program promotion best suits your business. Once registrations have grown and engagement is good, you can perhaps ease up on the in-store promotional materials a little, but at the beginning it’s worth going big!
5. Train and incentivize your staff to know (and love!) your loyalty program
When it comes to promoting loyalty programs (or anything, really!), there is no better resource at our disposal than our own employees.
By educating your staff on the ins and outs of the loyalty program – why it’s good, what it offers, how to join, etc. – you can rest assured that your team is able to competently promote your business’s loyalty program to customers in store.
However, it’s one thing to teach your staff how the program works… this doesn’t necessarily make them passionate ambassadors.
To ensure your team is actively seeking new loyalty program signups during their shifts, why not offer an internal rewards system as well?
Encourage your employees to download the digital loyalty app and teach themselves how to troubleshoot and thus answer any questions customers may have. By offering your staff incentives and bonuses for securing new registrations, you can grow your loyal customer base much faster.
At Stamp Me, we even offer businesses a Loyalty App Cheat Sheet to serve as an instructional guide for their staff.
6. Include a join card with customers’ receipts
Join cards are a great way to persuade that customer who is undecided or apathetic towards taking a moment to join your loyalty program. It’s essentially a small card with a few simple bullet points instructing the customer how to join your loyalty program, alongside a unique QR code.
The customer downloads your digital loyalty app, scans the code printed on the card and voila – they are registered and good to go! Your employees can offer these cards to customers at POS, or simply include one with their receipt.
Ecommerce businesses can place these cards inside the packaging when they prepare an item for delivery, and you can even offer them to other businesses in your area that typically share a customer base.
When you sign up with Stamp Me, we send your business 250 join cards for free, to help you get the ball rolling on signups. All we require is your company branding/artwork, or alternatively, our creative team can design the cards for you.
7. Offer an enticing upfront reward, just for signing up
Why wait until customers have accumulated 8 stamps (or whichever system you’ve implemented) to indulge them with their first reward? By rewarding customers just for signing up, you can build registrations three times faster than if you don’t.
It doesn’t have to be much – a free coffee, a 25% discount on today’s purchase… whatever small token of appreciation works for your particular business model.
This gesture does wonders for brand loyalty, as it shows customers that you are prepared to invest in an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship, rather than chasing transactions.
If you choose to offer an upfront signup incentive, be sure to highlight this point on all of your promotional material. Nothing grabs people’s attention faster than a free giveaway!
8. Build hype around your loyalty program, with a signup competition
If you aren’t sold on the idea of providing every customer with a signup reward, you can still utilise this technique to encourage signups without rewarding every single new registration.
Have a think about an enticing signup competition that might appeal to your customers; with a cash prize, a freebie or perhaps a voucher for the winner.
From there, all you need to do is continuously promote it on an ongoing basis, check your Merchant Dashboard for signups between your allocated competition dates, and arrange the customer’s prize.
9. Reward existing loyalty program members for referrals
Referral rewards are another excellent way to get your existing customers involved in the expansion of your brand. When used in conjunction with the “upfront signup incentive” technique, this approach to gaining new loyalty program members is highly effective.
The existing loyalty program member is delighted with their additional reward on top of their standard loyalty progress, while the new customer (who is already trusting in their peer’s endorsement of your brand) receives a reward just for joining.
This creates a strong emotional connection between your brand and your customers that rapidly builds loyalty and retention.
10. A decent loyalty program will promote itself
At the end of the day, the best way to promote your loyalty program is to make it irresistible.
No one is going to be enticed by a rewards program that offers them a $10 discount for every $1000 they spend. Nor is anyone going to see the value in a free meal upgrade with every 20 purchases of $10 or higher.
To create buzz around your loyalty program, you must decide on a rewards structure that balances great value for the customer, with profitable customer retention for your business.
As loyalty experts, the Stamp Me team is happy to assist you in designing a quality loyalty program that mutually benefits the business and the customer – at which point, all you need to do is promote it in the ways listed above and watch your signups grow!
Never stop asking yourself, “How can I promote my loyalty program?”
And finally, it’s important to keep in mind that the loyalty marketing space is constantly adapting and evolving as new technologies, trends and techniques emerge. It’s worth periodically revisiting your loyalty program promotion strategies to make slight adjustments and ensure your campaigns remain targeted and effective.
Thankfully, our blog is an ideal resource for any businesses looking to stay on top of customer loyalty trends. For regular updates and industry news, subscribe to our newsletter below.