More Than Discounts & Value-Adds.
Great loyalty programmes often default to a range of tried and true systems, including Point Rewards, Punch-Cards, Value-Adds and Discount Pricing. However, brand loyalty should also be about building a community.
Of course, brands should be mindful of expecting too much time and attention from customers. Products and services are there to solve needs and pain points, not necessarily entertain, but there is also opportunity to drive engagement and fun by gamifying your loyalty programme.
Here are some ideas on how to get started.
Persistant Avatar.
Label loyalty members with a persistant avatar, which can represent their personality, shopping preferences and long-term loyalty relationship events, allowing them to engage with your brand in a more meaningful way.
Does a customer’s product preference categorise them as a particular customer type nickname, have they been a part of your loyalty programme for a decade and deserve a digital badge, have you asked them what loyalty reward is most valuable to them and customised their experience accordingly?
A persistant avatar means you are learning more about your customers as they are shopping with your brand, and their achievements and preferences are being reflected back to them on all marketing channels.
Engagement Examples:
- Caricature of a customer type (Coffee Fiend, Vegan Lover, Family Vibes, etc),
- Self-appointed Nickname,
- XP (Experience Points) earned in promotional challenges and actions (Email Opens, Website Visits, Social Media Engagement, Orders, etc),
- Loot and limited edition badges collected (Coupons, Prizes, Collectables, Anniversaries, etc).
Seasonal Challenges.
A seasonal challenge is a set period of time where a loyalty community can win achievements, after which, prizes are drawn, badges are awarded and ranks are reset. The advantage of resetting a loyalty season on a regular interval is an ability to keep loyalty branding and incentives fresh and relevant, avoiding fatigue.
Video games are king of this behavioural nudge, especially hits such as Fortnite. Take a page out of these profitable franchise playbooks and apply it to your loyalty programme.
Engagement Examples:
- Rank customers on a leaderboard within seasons,
- Record customer engagement streaks (for example, opened 10 emails in a row),
- Relate promotional seasons to brand promotions, such as new product launches or sale periods,
- Run timed events (for example, collect an exclusive loyalty reward by shopping within the next 24 hours).
Interactive Promotions.
Integrated with the above seasonal challenges, consider ramping up engagement with interactive promotions. Elevate your customers’ loyalty relationship above a standard transactional interaction.
Engagement Examples:
- Randomised prize on Email Open (for more information on how random rewards drive engagement, read Hooked),
- Digital skill games (Trivia, Interactive Browser Games, etc),
- Digital chance games (Spinwheel, “Pin The Tail”, etc),
- Real-World Competition (Go to Store for Prize),
- Treasure Hunt / Missions (Long term drip feed of clues over several weeks).
