Once you have tailored the plan structure to your business needs and data, it’s time to understand how your vision can be realized and meet the objectives you wish to achieve.
You probably have a variety of creative ideas you would like to implement, but it is easy to lose focus when these ideas do not align with your data and objectives.
A detailed and prioritized list of use cases can help you to decide which of the cases you would like to immediately answer and which can be postponed until the next steps. We do not recommend starting with more than five major use cases.
Sample use cases from a marketer's point of view:
- I would like to run seasonal promotions and sales for members only.
- I would like to drive customers who have not made a purchase for a long time to join Loyalty and make an immediate purchase.
- I would like to use Loyalty to reduce discounts and offer rewards that do not hurt the profit margin.
- I would like to get the birthdate of my customers and reward them for providing me information and for their birthday.
- I would like to keep my customer engaged with my webstore (e.g. product review, surveys, etc.).
All of the above uses are real and supported by Emarsys Loyalty.
Based on these use cases, define, and run Actions and Tactics that will make your program active:
Join default action
The Join default action is your default and basic Join Loyalty campaign. This action is mandatory. If necessary, you can override it with further Join Loyalty campaigns for specific entry points and segments. We recommended setting a basic joining reward (optional) that will be the initial incentive for joining and getting engaged.
Common definition: 50 points (when using a ratio of 1 point earned per 1 currency spent).
If you manage a spend-based plan, it could be an exclusive access or any small gift that will motivate your new members to be engaged.
Tactics
Active Tactics ensure that your plan becomes active from the moment it is launched. Predefined actions in your Loyalty add-on allow you to incorporate Loyalty into your Tactics as quickly as possible. For each Tactic that can be leveraged with Loyalty, a dedicated action has been predefined with the recommended content and rules to incentivize Loyalty members and non-members.
To activate an action, you only need to define the rewards customers will earn when completing it. All Tactic actions can be edited and duplicated.
We highly recommended to start with at least three activated Tactics:
- Onboarding (Loyalty) - Independent Loyalty Tactic that welcomes your new members and drives them to their first Loyalty purchase.
- Win back defecting buyers - Loyalty integration into an existing and active Tactic in which you already offer a discount. As long as the Tactic is active in your account, it can be any Tactic you choose if the integration of loyalty is the same in each of the Tactics.
- Enhance customer data - Independent Loyalty Tactic that helps you to get personal information from your customers, which strengthens your relationship with them to offer them a better experience.
Tactic tips
The following tips can help you maximize your Tactics results:
Rewards
One of our significant considerations when defining actions and Tactics is what rewards to offer and which one works best to your customers. Based on our experience, the following two steps will address your dilemma:
- Sort the Tactics according to their importance and according to the reward value you are willing to offer for each of them.
- Compare awards in each Tactic by A/B testing, which you can easily define in the Automation Program.
The presented Onboarding (Loyalty) program is defined with an A/B splitter for the new members who still have not yet made their first Loyalty purchase. In this case, a Double points vs. a Triple points was tested.
Technically, in this case you have to define two actions, one for each reward, but you can easily duplicate the first one and only change its name and reward.
Voucher vs. Points
Whether for the first purchase, newsletter opt-in or any other campaign, everyone without exception uses discounts as an incentive for their customers. Discount is the most available incentive but also the most expensive, however, it is used intensively and not personally.
One of the objectives of a loyalty program (especially a points-based plan) is to reduce the amount of discounts.
The Loyalty team strongly recommends measuring discount results against loyalty points.
The results can definitely surprise you, to reduce voucher costs and incentivize to more purchases.
While the 10% off (or any other voucher) immediately reduces the Average Order Value (AOV) and creates no incentive for additional purchases, offering points does not hurt AOV and incentivizes at least two more purchases. The next purchase is to earn enough points to redeem them for a 10% off voucher, while the next purchase is to use this voucher.
We strongly recommend offering points or experiences (e.g., exclusive access) as rewards instead of vouchers. Use vouchers only in cases where immediate cash is required. Do not offer vouchers to non-members before they join Loyalty.
In A/B tests the Loyalty team did with a number of brands, we found a minor difference in purchases of those who received an immediate discount and those who were first asked to join the club and only then can receive the discount.
Exclusive access vs. Points
Experience rewards, like Exclusive access, have two significant benefits:
- They increase engagement and make the customer feel special
- They reduce costs or they are without costs
It is highly recommended to do A/B testing between rewards.
There are use cases where we recommend using only experience rewards.
For example when using the Tactic Win back website visitors, this Tactic increases traffic to your website with a focus on customers who have not visited for a long time.
Since you do not want to offer points or vouchers for a site visit, offer a reward without any cost: Exclusive Access (this feature is a part of the Loyalty JS and very easy to operate).
Example of an email that can drive customers to visit the site and find out what surprise (Exclusive access) awaits them:
Members and Non-members
We know that Loyalty members purchase more than non-members, so increasing the loyalty database will probably increase your sales. Using Reward for new members when setting up an action, allows you to offer a specific reward for non-members if they join and complete this action. This is your chance to offer a Loyalty treatment to your whole database.
When defining Reward for new members, the system automatically splits the Target segment into Loyalty members and non-members, so you do not have to split them in AC programs.
For example, the Win back defecting customers Tactic is active and you offer a discount voucher to those who will make a purchase. Loyalty members will earn a discount when they complete the required purchase. Non-members will also be able to earn the same discount (or any other reward) if they complete a purchase, but first they will need to join Loyalty.
If you want to make sure you maximize your results, perform A/B testing of rewards for non-members as well.
Example:
Reminder emails
In all the tests, the Loyalty team found that a reminder email brings positive results and sometimes it can be even more effective than the first email.
With Loyalty, you can use it to offer a small incentive in the first email (or to not offer an incentive at all) and in the reminder email to offer a more significant incentive (to those who have not yet completed the action).
Example Onboarding (Loyalty) program:
Ad-hoc campaigns
We highly recommend running independent Loyalty ad-hoc campaigns and combining Loyalty with your current and planned voucher campaigns. Test and offer other Loyalty rewards instead of vouchers. Use these campaigns to recruit new Loyalty members. Think about continuity even beyond the current specific campaign you are running.
Ad-hoc Join campaigns
Join campaigns override the Join default campaign that is constantly active. This means that customers associated with the relevant segment will receive the ad-hoc reward when they join.
Ideas for joining campaigns:
- Special Join bonus - Create a segment of the customers and offer them a special joining bonus if they join Loyalty within a specified period to create urgency. For example, create a segment of customers who bought in the last three months and offer a special reward for joining.
- Join & upgrade - Offer your loyal customers the opportunity to join the new program and immediately upgrade to a higher status. Create a segment of your VIP customers and define a new Join action with a status upgrade reward. Then define the message and create urgency by defining a limited period for the action.
- Post-Purchase Join - Drive your active customer to join Loyalty immediately after a purchase and reward them according to their cart value. Define Smart Insight segments based on the requested cart value and set an action with different reward for each of these.
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For example:
- $99-$198: get 750 points
- $199-$298: get 1000 points
- $299+: get 1500 points