Best Practice: How The Most Successful Retail Businesses Rely on Loyalty and Rewards Programs

Loyal customers are your best customers, spending more money and shopping with you more frequently. With over 80% of customers finding digital loyalty programs to be a motivating factor in deciding where to shop, such programs form a compelling element of a retail business’s marketing strategy.

Customer loyalty programs can do much more than drive transactions. They can create opportunities for increased customer satisfaction, initiate multiple touchpoints for brand engagement, and build foundations for emotional connections.

Want to increase the volume of customers choosing your retail business and keep them coming back? Look to our best performing broadcasts and best practices for tips on implementing the most valuable rewards program, gathered from data across the Bespeak network:

1. Offer a Reason to Join

100% of the top-performing retail campaigns offered a sign-up reward. Overwhelming data suggests that a sign-up offer in a retail campaign is essential to creating an engaged customer base.

2. Bring them in with Strong Offers

Percentage-off offers were the most popular by far for this vertical (86%). Think: “Enjoy the cool weather and hot savings with 50% off storewide today through Saturday!” Specially priced items or services were the next most popular offer type. Experiment, depending on your specific loyalty program goals, product offerings, and customer base, to see what types of offers yield the best results.

3. Know When to Send

Brighten your customers’ days with a broadcast on Friday, and plant the idea for weekend shopping. The top broadcasts in the retail vertical were sent on Fridays (43%). Announce weekend sales and promotions to give subscribers time to plan shopping on Saturday and Sunday.

Also, keep the calendar handy for strategic planning. Holidays and National Days were mentioned in 50% of the top-performing content in the retail vertical. Examples include Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, Halloween, Oktoberfest, and more.

For more tips, turnkey messaging templates, and best practices for growing your retail business, contact us.