Keeping your customers engaged in your loyalty program can be really difficult, but it doesn't have to be. Here are 4 ways you can help boost member engagement in your rewards program.
The key to running a successful customer loyalty program is engaged members. Members of a customer loyalty program want to feel it gives them value, and value is what pushes engagement. An engaged member can become an ambassador for your company and ensure that they continue to be loyal customers. Is your program engaging your members? Read below to see if you are following these 4 ways you can keep your members engaged.
1) Have a Good Reward Mix
Having both cash and non-cash rewards is important to providing a good reward mix. Non-cash rewards are just as important as cash rewards because it gives consumers a tangible item or experience that they can cherish and remember.
Experiences have become very popular in the customer reward industry - and for a good reason too. Customers are more likely to remember a concert or vacation that they really wanted to go to over being handed straight cash. Members will link experiences with your company and value the relationship more.
Merchandise items should include a wide variety of options. Everything from accessories to computers should be included. Tech products such as Apple merchandise have become the desired products in rewards programs recently.
2) Create Multiple Ways to Earn Points
Creating different ways to earn points will increase engagement by providing different avenues of engagement. Earning points through purchases the go-to and overall best option, you can also compliment this by adding bonus points campaigns on items you are featuring. Another unique way to allow members to earn points would be to award birthday points. It’s a nice gesture that everyone can appreciate on their special day.
Gaming is also a great way for members to earn points because it provides a deeper level of consumer engagement by adding in the fun factor. Games are a fun way to draw members back to your site and increase their earning potential.
3) Remind Members – But Not Often
Sometimes people need to be reminded that you have a great loyalty program running. Sending out reminder emails is a great way to gently remind your less engaged members. A lot of the time we’re led to believe that an inactive member has abandoned the rewards when they could have just forgotten.
You can also use emails for special occasions such as member birthdays. This lets your members know that you value them and remember their special day and can help create a stronger emotional connection with your program like stated above.
Be sure to keep your email notifications to a reasonable level as you don’t want to send too many in a short time frame.
4) Have an Easy to Use Interface
The look and feel of your reward program just as important as anything else. Companies such as Facebook and Twitter spend millions customizing their UI to appeal to the masses. The best interface is one that is simple and doesn’t confuse the members. A live search feed can also go a long way in speeding up time spent browsing rewards.
Also, make sure that the available points and links to the reward gallery are always easy to find as this is likely the reason why your members are logging in most of the time. If the user interface is too busy it makes for a frustrating experience since members will have to troubleshoot.
The bottom line is: if your interface isn’t simple or easy to use, it will decrease customer engagement.
Don’t Stop Engaging
With the right reward mix, having multiple to earn and redeem points, reminding members, and having a clean and easy to use interface, you should start seeing more engaged members. Always remember that customer engagement is an ongoing process that you should never see as complete. It takes some trial and error, but by following the advice listed above, your company should see an increase in customer engagement for your customer loyalty program.
To find out more about how Power2Motivate can help your company create the right customer loyalty program, click here.