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September 30, 2026

Why Most Giveaways Fail to Generate Long-Term Customers

A giveaway wraps up. The entry count looks great, and the team calls it a win. Then three months pass, and none of it shows up anywhere that matters. No bump in repeat purchases. No real growth in the customer list. Just a folder of names nobody opens again.

This happens a lot. Giveaways are easy to run and easy to measure right after launch. Entries are visible, they’re easy to count, and they look great on a recap slide. But entries are not customers. Treating them like the same thing is the root of the problem. The mistakes that cause it aren’t new, either. The same few show up in giveaway after giveaway, and most of them have a straightforward fix once a brand knows to look.

The Prize Attracted the Wrong Crowd

The most common mistake starts before the contest even launches: the prize itself.

A gift card, cash, or a popular gadget with no real link to the brand pulls in a huge crowd. It also pulls in people who have zero interest in what the brand actually sells. These are the accounts that follow every giveaway on their feed, enter dozens a week, and unfollow the moment the winner is picked. Lots of entries, very little interest, and almost no chance any of them become a paying customer.

A prize tied to the product does the opposite. Fewer entries, sure, but the people who show up already care about the category. They’re not there for a free gadget. They’re there because they actually want what the brand makes.

Picking a Prize on Purpose, Not by Habit

This is a tradeoff brands need to make on purpose instead of stumbling into. A big generic prize will always win on raw entry numbers. A relevant prize wins on the number that actually matters six months down the line: how many entrants turn into customers.

Entry Mechanics Never Asked for Anything Useful

Plenty of giveaways ask for the bare minimum. An email address, maybe a follow, maybe a tag. That’s fast for the entrant, but it leaves the brand with almost nothing to work with once the contest is over.

Now compare that to an entry form with a short preference question, a product pick, or a quick quiz. Same effort from the entrant, but now the brand actually learns something. Which product they like. What problem they’re trying to solve. What kind of message might land with them later.

Without that extra layer, every entrant looks identical on paper. A brand has nothing to personalize a follow-up with, so everyone ends up getting the same generic email. Generic emails get generic results.

The One Question Most Forms Skip

A lot of teams drop this question from the form on the assumption that any extra step costs entries. That assumption rarely holds up. One short question barely moves the total number, and the payoff down the line outweighs whatever small dip it might cause on launch day. A brand that asks nothing upfront ends up guessing at everything downstream. A brand that asks one good question skips the guessing entirely.

This has to be fixed at the entry form, not after the fact. Once the contest closes, there’s no way to go back and ask people questions they were never asked to begin with.

The Follow-Up That Never Got Built

This mistake shows up more than any other, and it’s rarely about effort. It’s about where that effort went.

Almost all the planning time on a giveaway goes toward the launch. The creative, the prize, the entry flow, getting the page live. The period after the winner is announced usually gets one “thanks for entering” email and nothing else. Not because anyone decided that on purpose, but because the team is tired, the budget’s gone, and announcing the winner gets treated as the finish line.

But the interest a contest builds doesn’t disappear the day the winner is picked. People who entered are still paying attention right after that announcement. That’s exactly the moment a brand needs a real follow-up plan, and it’s exactly the moment most brands leave empty.

A giveaway with no post-contest plan isn’t really a customer acquisition campaign. It’s a short spike in attention with nothing built to hold onto it.

Everyone Got Treated the Same Way

A flat list of entrants isn’t really an asset yet. It only becomes one once it’s split apart by how each person engaged.

The winner deserves a different message than someone who only submitted an email and did nothing else. Someone who answered a product quiz deserves different follow-up than someone who spent ten seconds on the page. And any existing customers who happened to enter shouldn’t get pushed into a generic “welcome to the brand” series they don’t need.

Skipping this step means every entrant gets the exact same email no matter how engaged they were. That makes a genuinely interested entrant feel like just another name on a list, and it wastes whatever signal the entry form managed to collect.

The Follow-Up Was One Email, Not a Real Sequence

Even brands that do send something after the contest often send just one message, usually the same day the winner is announced. That single email tries to do everything at once. Thank people, promote a product, ask for a follow, and push a sale, all in one shot.

What a Real Sequence Looks Like

A real sequence starts somewhere, builds, and ends somewhere else. The opening message tells people who won, thanks everyone for showing up, and leaves them with a reason to stick around. A second message goes out a few days later with something for everyone who didn’t win, usually a small offer that rewards them without asking for a full purchase. Only after that does the sequence move into an actual product message, ideally tied to whatever the entrant showed interest in during the contest.

Cramming all of that into one email doesn’t just weaken the message. It burns through the best window a brand has to keep the conversation going, since entrants are only paying close attention for a short stretch right around the announcement.

Retargeting Stopped at the Entry List

A lot of brands treat the entrant list as the whole audience worth retargeting, which leaves a big chunk of interested traffic completely untouched.

Anyone who landed on the entry page and left without finishing is a warmer prospect than cold traffic, even if they never actually entered. So is anyone who clicked in from an ad but bounced off the landing page. None of that traffic shows up in the entrant list, but all of it saw the brand and showed some interest.

The other common mistake is running the same ad creative for weeks after the contest ends. Entrants have already sat through a lot of the brand’s messaging in a short window, so that creative goes stale fast. Once the contest wraps, the ad message should pivot toward an actual product or offer instead of repeating a pitch people have already seen.

Lookalike Audiences Get Skipped Too

There’s a second retargeting mistake that’s easy to miss because it doesn’t involve the entrant list at all. A well-run contest produces a useful seed audience for lookalike targeting on paid social, and a lot of brands never build one. The entrants who converted into customers, not just anyone who entered, make the strongest seed group. Skipping this step means the brand only ever markets back to people it already reached, instead of using the contest to find new prospects who look like the ones who actually stuck around.

User-Generated Content Went Straight Into a Folder

If the contest asked people to submit photos, videos, or captions, that content is usually the most wasted asset from the whole campaign.

Real customer photos make better social proof than studio shots most people don’t fully trust anymore. UGC often performs better than polished brand creative in paid social. A recap post brings back people who didn’t enter this time but might next time. None of that happens if the submissions just sit in a folder after the winner is picked.

The other piece brands miss is permissions. Reposting UGC on social and running it in paid ads usually need different levels of rights, and that has to be checked against the official contest rules before any of it goes back out. Skip that check, and content that could have been an asset turns into a legal headache instead.

The Data Never Made It Into the CRM

Even a contest with good segmentation and a solid follow-up plan can still fail long-term if the data dies with the campaign. Contest data sitting in its own spreadsheet, cut off from the brand’s real CRM and lifecycle marketing, is only useful for as long as that one email sequence runs.

Tagging contacts by entry source lets a brand compare contest-driven leads against other channels later on. What matters is how many entrants become paying customers, not how many opened an email. Get quiz answers and preferences into the brand’s personalization work, and a contest stops being a one-off and starts paying off long after it ends.

Nobody Defined What Success Meant Before Launch

The last mistake is the quietest one, and it’s why so many giveaways get called a win when they really weren’t. If a brand only decides what success looks like after the campaign wraps, entry count becomes the default measure, since it’s the easiest number sitting right there.

Setting a thirty- and sixty-day checkpoint before the contest even launches changes that. A target open rate for the follow-up emails. A conversion goal for the retargeted audience. Several UGC pieces cleared for reuse. Picking those numbers ahead of time is what forces a team to actually check back in two months later, instead of letting the whole campaign’s success rest on how big the entry count looked on day one.

Measuring the Right Numbers

Part of why entry count sticks around as the default metric is that it’s the only number that exists the moment the contest closes. Email engagement by segment, retargeting conversion, repeat purchases among entrants, and cleared UGC all take weeks to show up, and by then attention has usually moved to the next campaign.

That’s a reporting problem more than a results problem. A brand that builds a short checklist ahead of time, reviewed at thirty days and again at sixty, gets to see the real outcome instead of guessing at it.

Did entrants from the relevant-prize group convert at a better rate than the ones chasing a generic prize? Did the segmented sequence outperform a single blast email? Those answers only exist if someone bothers to check, and checking only happens when it’s built into the plan from the start rather than left for whoever remembers later.

Fixing the Pattern

None of these mistakes are really about the entry phase. That part usually works fine. Brands are good at getting people to enter something when there’s a decent prize attached.

Where things fall apart is everything the entry phase was supposed to set up. A prize that attracts the right people. An entry form that collects something useful. A segmented list. A real follow-up sequence with an actual arc. Retargeting that reaches past the entrant list. A plan for the content people submitted. And a way to feed all of it into the CRM so it doesn’t disappear the moment the campaign ends.

A giveaway that skips all of this can still hit its entry goal and still fail at the one thing that actually matters: turning a stranger’s five seconds of attention into someone who sticks around. The entry count was never the finish line. It was just the point where the real work was supposed to start.

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  • Digital Marketing, eCommerce, Gamification, Loyalty Marketing, Retail Marketing

Repeat Customers: A Deep Dive Guide

Customer retention is crucial for businesses as it directly impacts their long-term success and financial performance. A strong focus on customer retention can be a competitive advantage. Businesses that consistently meet and exceed customer expectations are more likely to stand out in the market and differentiate themselves from competitors. By retaining customers, businesses can achieve a more predictable and stable revenue stream, reducing the reliance on constantly acquiring new customers. A few reasons why retention is a more affordable model than acquisition; meanwhile you must have both.

Acquiring new customers typically costs more than retaining existing ones. Marketing expenses, advertising, and promotional efforts are often higher for acquiring new customers. Retained customers contribute to revenue without the same acquisition costs.

Satisfied and loyal customers often become advocates for the brand. They are more likely to recommend the company to friends, family, and colleagues, contributing to organic growth through word-of-mouth marketing.

Retained customers are more likely to make repeat purchases. A positive relationship with the brand encourages customers to return for additional products or services, increasing the lifetime value of each customer.

Financial Impact of Repeat Customers

The financial impact of repeat customers can be significant. According to various studies, it’s often more cost-effective to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones. Here’s a simplified example to illustrate the financial impact of a 5% increase in repeat customers:

Let’s assume:

  • Average Order Value (AOV): $85
  • Number of Transactions: 1 per month per customer
  • Number of Customers: 10,000

Without a 5% Increase in Retention:

  • Monthly Revenue: $85 (AOV) * 10,000 (Customers) = $850,000

With a 5% Increase in Retention:

  • Assuming a 5% increase in customer retention, the number of customers retained would increase by 5%, resulting in 10,500 customers.
  • Monthly Revenue with Increased Retention and increased AOV for loyal and trusting customers: $90 (AOV) * 10,500 (Customers) = $945,000

Impact:

  • The 5% increase in repeat customers leads to an additional monthly revenue of $95,000.

This is a simplified illustration, and the actual financial impact can vary based on factors such as the business model, industry, and customer behavior. However, it highlights the potential for increased revenue with a relatively small improvement in repeat customers’ sales.

The New Customer Expects New Service Level in Exchange for Loyalty

Navigating the ever-shifting landscape of customer retention demands more than just transactional approaches; it requires a strategic blend of innovative techniques to build genuine and lasting connections. This comprehensive guide unveils a spectrum of customer retention strategies that transcend routine transactions, laying the foundation for authentic and enduring customer loyalty.

Learn what new customer demands look like as well as brands that are appealing to these demands with innovative solutions.

Prioritize Convenience and Empowerment

Seamless customer experiences start with adopting cutting-edge customer service tools. These tools not only streamline communication but also solve problems swiftly, enhancing the overall customer journey. Simultaneously, prioritize convenience at every touchpoint, from user-friendly interfaces to hassle-free returns, empowering customers with a seamless and empowering experience.

A notable example of a company that exemplifies the seamless integration of cutting-edge customer service tools and prioritization of convenience is Amazon. Amazon utilizes state-of-the-art customer service tools to streamline communication and problem-solving. The company’s robust online help center, chat support, and automated tracking systems ensure that customers can easily find information and resolve issues without extensive wait times.

Convenience is at the center of all changes in consumer demands. Customers migrate to brands that understand them and cater to their needs. The power has shifted, and consumers are driving – brands are rewarded with repeat customers when they oblige the services consumers want.

Genuine Apologies and Transparency

When mistakes inevitably occur, transparency becomes the cornerstone of trust-building. Sincerely apologizing humanizes your brand, fostering trust and loyalty. Transparency during moments of error signals authenticity, reinforcing the customer’s confidence in your commitment to their satisfaction.

One of the prominent examples of a company that exemplifies the importance of transparency and sincere apologies in building trust is Starbucks. Starbucks has encountered various instances where mistakes happened in its operations. In these moments, the company has consistently demonstrated a commitment to transparency, acknowledging errors, and taking corrective actions. This approach has played a crucial role in humanizing the brand, fostering trust, and building enduring loyalty among its customer base.

In 2018, Starbucks faced a highly publicized incident where two African American men were wrongfully arrested in one of its Philadelphia stores. The company responded swiftly by publicly acknowledging the mistake and taking responsibility for the incident. Starbucks’ CEO, Kevin Johnson, issued a public apology, emphasizing the company’s commitment to addressing racial bias and implementing corrective measures.

Starbucks didn’t stop at apologies; it took concrete actions to address the issue. The company initiated a nationwide training program on racial bias for its employees, reinforcing its commitment to creating an inclusive environment. This commitment not only aligned with the company’s values but also reassured customers that Starbucks was actively working to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Tailored Offerings and Personalization

Leverage data-driven personalization to tailor offerings to individual preferences. Making customers feel seen and valued is the essence of this strategy, deepening their emotional connection to your brand.

Spotify stands out as a prime example of a company that effectively leverages data-driven personalization to tailor offerings to individual preferences, thereby making customers feel seen and valued. Spotify, a leading music streaming platform, employs advanced algorithms and machine learning to analyze user behavior, preferences, and listening habits. The platform tracks the songs users listen to, the genres they prefer, and even the time of day they listen. This wealth of data is then used to create personalized playlists, recommendations, and content tailored to each user’s unique taste.

Spotify’s “Discover Weekly” is a prime example of data-driven personalization. Every Monday, users receive a curated playlist of songs they might enjoy based on their listening history. Similarly, “Daily Mix” playlists are dynamically generated, combining favorite tracks with new discoveries, ensuring a personalized and diverse listening experience. These features not only showcase Spotify’s commitment to personalization but also make users feel that their individual musical preferences are being acknowledged.

The essence of Spotify’s personalization strategy lies in making users feel seen and valued. By curating content that aligns with individual preferences, Spotify deepens the emotional connection users have with the platform. Users don’t just see Spotify as a music streaming service; they perceive it as a platform that understands their tastes, creating a more intimate and personalized relationship.

Spotify has shown that they understand what their audience wants; evidenced by 330 million repeat customers showing up every month.

Open Communication and Active Listening

Engage in open and genuine communication by actively seeking and listening to customer feedback. Understanding their needs on a profound level enhances your ability to tailor your offerings and services to exceed their expectations.

Zappos is an excellent example of a company that excels in engaging in open and genuine communication with its customers.  Zappos has built its brand around exceptional customer service. Zappos actively seeks and listens to customer feedback, demonstrating a commitment to understanding their needs on a profound level and exceeding expectations. The company is renowned for its 24/7 customer support and a customer-centric culture that prioritizes going above and beyond to satisfy customers. Zappos actively encourages customers to reach out with questions, concerns, or feedback, fostering an open channel of communication.

Zappos makes their phone number readily available on their website and social media platforms. This is rare – take note!

Build Credibility with Social Proof

Capitalize on social proof by showcasing positive reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content. Building credibility and trust is essential in cultivating loyalty.

Airbnb, a global online marketplace for lodging and travel experiences, effectively capitalizes on social proof to build credibility and trust among its users. The platform relies on showcasing positive reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content to create a sense of reliability and foster loyalty. One of Airbnb’s key features is the ability for guests to leave reviews for their hosts and vice versa. These reviews are prominently displayed on the platform, providing potential guests with valuable insights into the quality of accommodations, the hospitality of hosts, and the overall experience. The transparency of real guest feedback builds trust and helps users make informed decisions to become repeat customers.

Airbnb recognizes and rewards hosts who consistently provide exceptional hospitality through the Superhost program. Superhosts receive a badge on their listings, signaling to potential guests that they can expect a high level of service. This program serves as a form of social proof, instilling confidence in users and encouraging loyalty.

Airbnb integrates user-generated content from social media platforms into its website. Hosts and guests often share their experiences on Instagram, Twitter, and other social channels using the hashtag #Airbnb. By curating and displaying these posts on the platform, Airbnb leverages social proof from real users to showcase the positive moments and experiences shared within the community.

Education as a Value Proposition

Offer valuable content and resources that educate customers, positioning your brand as an authority in your industry. Providing ongoing value reinforces your brand’s significance beyond mere transactions.

HubSpot, a leading provider of B:B inbound marketing, sales, and customer service software, is an exemplary company that demonstrates the strategy of offering valuable content and resources to educate customers. HubSpot positions itself as an authority in the industry by providing extensive educational content that goes beyond mere transactions, reinforcing its brand significance.

HubSpot offers a comprehensive and free online learning platform called HubSpot Academy. The academy provides a wide range of courses covering topics such as inbound marketing, content marketing, social media strategy, and sales techniques. These courses are designed to educate users on best practices, industry trends, and the effective use of HubSpot’s tools, positioning the company as an educator and thought leader in the marketing and sales space.

Multi-Channel Support and Presence

Be present where your customers are. Provide support through the channels they prefer, whether it’s social media, chat, or email. A multi-channel approach ensures accessibility and responsiveness.

Apple exemplifies a multi-channel approach to customer support, ensuring accessibility and responsiveness through various channels. The company’s commitment to being present where customers are, whether on social media, chat, or email, contributes to a seamless and comprehensive support experience. Apple has an active presence on major social media platforms, including Twitter. The company uses these channels not only for marketing but also as a means of providing customer support. Customers can reach out to @AppleSupport on Twitter for assistance, and Apple’s support team responds promptly to address queries and concerns publicly.

Apple offers an online chat option on its official website, allowing customers to connect with support representatives in real-time. The chat support feature is easily accessible, providing customers with a quick and convenient way to seek assistance without the need for a phone call.

The Apple Support app is a dedicated platform that centralizes customer support resources. It offers a variety of self-help articles, troubleshooting guides, and the ability to schedule appointments at Apple Stores. Users can also initiate a chat with support representatives directly through the app.

For certain technical issues, Apple offers remote assistance with screen sharing. This allows support representatives to view a customer’s screen and guide them through troubleshooting steps, providing a more hands-on and personalized level of support.

Traditional phone support remains a crucial component of Apple’s customer service strategy. Customers can call Apple Support for immediate assistance, making it an essential channel for those who prefer verbal communication.

Apple’s retail stores serve as physical touchpoints for customer support. Customers can schedule appointments with Apple’s Genius Bar for in-person assistance, repairs, or product consultations. This in-person support option enhances the accessibility of Apple’s customer service for those who prefer face-to-face interactions.

Apple has proven a commitment to customer support that remains paramount to any other brand support we can find.

Consistency, Transparency, and Reliability

Build trust as the foundation of loyalty. Be consistent, transparent, and reliable in all interactions, ensuring customers can depend on your brand.

Costco, a multinational retail corporation, serves as an exemplary case of a company that builds trust as the foundation of loyalty. Costco’s commitment to consistency, transparency, and reliability in all interactions has played a pivotal role in cultivating a loyal customer base. Costco operates on a membership-based model, requiring customers to pay an annual fee for access to exclusive discounts and benefits. This upfront transparency about the membership cost fosters trust by providing clarity and demonstrating a commitment to delivering value in return for customer loyalty.

Costco is known for its stringent quality standards. The company consistently offers high-quality products, and customers trust that Costco’s commitment to quality remains unwavering. This consistency reinforces trust in the brand’s reliability and dedication to delivering products that meet or exceed expectations.

Costco’s success in building trust as the foundation of loyalty lies in its consistent pricing, high-quality products, transparent business practices, employee satisfaction, clear policies, and community engagement. The company’s commitment to transparency and reliability has created a sense of trust that extends beyond individual transactions, contributing to a loyal customer base.

Foster Community and Connection

Foster a sense of belonging by creating a community where customers can share experiences and connect with each other. Community engagement adds a social dimension to your brand.

REI excels in fostering a sense of belonging by creating a community where customers can share experiences and connect with each other. Because they operate as a cooperative, and customers have the option to become members, it fosters a sense of belonging by making customers feel like they are part of a community with shared values. Members receive exclusive benefits, dividends, and voting rights, creating a unique bond with the brand.

REI organizes in-store workshops and classes on various outdoor activities, from hiking and camping to rock climbing. These events not only educate customers but also provide a platform for like-minded individuals to meet, share experiences, and learn from one another. The focus on education and shared interests strengthens the sense of community.

REI offers adventure travel programs that allow customers to embark on guided outdoor trips. These trips, led by experienced guides, provide an opportunity for participants to form connections while enjoying outdoor activities together. It goes beyond selling gear – it’s about creating shared experiences and memories.

REI hosts member-only garage sales were returned or gently used gear is sold at discounted prices. These events not only provide economic benefits to members but also create a sense of exclusivity and shared opportunities. Members bond over their love for quality gear and good deals as well as for upcycling and a commitment to keeping this world better than when we found it.

With a focus on outdoor activities, REI has successfully integrated community engagement to add a social dimension to its brand.

Become Integral to Daily Lives

Align your brand with the lifestyle and values of your customers, becoming an integral part of their daily lives. This deep integration reinforces your brand’s relevance beyond occasional transactions.

Yeti is as an excellent example of aligning a brand with the lifestyle and values of customers. Yeti has successfully become an integral part of the daily lives of outdoor enthusiasts by offering durable and reliable gear that aligns with their active lifestyles. Just walk into REI and you’ll see!

Yeti specializes in manufacturing durable and rugged outdoor gear, including coolers, drinkware, and bags and is renowned for its quality by uber fans. By creating products that withstand the demands of outdoor adventures, Yeti aligns itself with the lifestyle of customers who value durability and reliability in their outdoor equipment.

Yeti employs storytelling and authenticity in its marketing efforts. The brand shares stories of real adventurers, athletes, and everyday outdoor enthusiasts who rely on Yeti products in their daily lives. This approach humanizes the brand and reinforces its relevance to the target audience. Their marketing campaigns often focus on showcasing how its products seamlessly fit into customers’ lifestyles. Whether it’s a camping trip, a day at the beach, or a backyard barbecue, Yeti positions its products as essential companions in various aspects of outdoor living.

Yeti allows customers to personalize their products through customization options, such as adding logos or choosing specific colors. This personalization fosters a sense of ownership and individuality, making Yeti products an integral part of customers’ lives that reflects their unique preferences.

Yeti has successfully aligned its brand with the lifestyle and values of outdoor enthusiasts by offering durable products, actively participating in outdoor culture, and engaging authentically with its community. By becoming an integral part of customers’ daily lives, Yeti reinforces its relevance beyond transactional moments, establishing a lasting connection with its target audience.

Establish Loyalty with Uniqueness

Develop unique offerings that set your product or service apart, making it a must-have for your customers. Uniqueness is a compelling factor in establishing lasting loyalty.

Dyson excels at developing unique offerings that set a product apart, making it a must-have for customers. Dyson has consistently pushed the boundaries of innovation, creating distinctive and groundbreaking products that have become synonymous with cutting-edge technology in the home appliance industry. They also are synonymous with incredible branding – holding their line that the MAP price barrier will not be broken. The only way you will get more value is a bundled product as added value but never via a discount.

Dyson revolutionized the vacuum cleaner market by introducing cyclone technology. Unlike traditional vacuum cleaners that rely on bags, Dyson’s cyclone technology uses powerful centrifugal forces to capture dust and debris. This unique approach to cleaning set Dyson apart, making its vacuum cleaners a must-have for consumers seeking superior performance. Dyson disrupted the conventional fan design with the introduction of bladeless fan technology. The Dyson Air Multiplier uses a bladeless design to create a smooth and uninterrupted airflow. This unique approach not only enhances safety but also sets Dyson fans apart in terms of aesthetics and functionality. A genuine blue ocean strategy.

Dyson has embraced smart technology integration in its products, allowing users to control and monitor devices through mobile apps. This commitment to connectivity and user-friendly interfaces adds a unique and modern dimension to Dyson’s offerings, appealing to tech-savvy consumers.

Dyson has embraced smart technology integration in its products, allowing users to control and monitor devices through mobile apps. This commitment to connectivity and user-friendly interfaces adds a unique and modern dimension to Dyson’s offerings, appealing to tech-savvy consumers.

Problem-Solving with Focus

Address specific pain points effectively rather than attempting to solve every problem. Focus on excellence in your niche, offering solutions that resonate with your target audience.

HelloFresh addresses specific pain points related to home cooking rather than attempting to solve every problem in the broader food industry. The company focuses on excellence in its niche, offering a specialized solution that resonates with individuals seeking convenient and enjoyable home-cooked meals.

HelloFresh tackles the common pain point of meal planning by providing a solution that streamlines the process. Customers can choose from a variety of chef-curated recipes, and HelloFresh delivers pre-portioned ingredients along with step-by-step cooking instructions, eliminating the need for extensive planning and grocery shopping.

HelloFresh addresses the issue of food waste by providing precisely measured ingredients for each recipe. Customers receive only what they need for the selected meals, minimizing unused perishables and reducing the environmental impact associated with excess food waste.

HelloFresh provides a solution for individuals who want to explore new cuisines and recipes but may lack culinary expertise or access to specialty ingredients. The company’s meal kits come with diverse and globally inspired recipes, offering customers an opportunity to enjoy restaurant-quality dishes at home.

In weaving together these customer retention strategies, businesses can elevate their approach beyond mere transactions, fostering enduring connections resilient to market fluctuations. By placing a premium on customer satisfaction, personalization, and a commitment to continuous improvement, brands can cultivate a loyal customer base that not only withstands the test of time but forms the very bedrock of your loyalty program.

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  • Gamification, Loyalty Marketing, Marketing, Marketing Communications

Retaining Customers: Adding Fuel to the Fire

Retaining Customers in a Competitive Market

In the dynamic landscape of retaining customers, businesses are on a perpetual quest for strategies that not only entice customers to return but also cultivate profound and enduring connections. Below, we present a comprehensive roadmap of effective customer retention strategies that transcend mere transactions, fostering authentic loyalty.

Mission-Inspired Connections

Forge a deeper connection with customers by sharing your brand’s mission and values. Create an emotional bond that extends beyond mere transactions, aligning your brand with their beliefs and aspirations.

Patagonia serves as an exemplary case of a company that has successfully forged a deeper connection with its customers by wholeheartedly embracing and promoting a strong brand mission and values. At the core of Patagonia’s brand identity is a commitment to environmental sustainability. The company has consistently and passionately communicated its mission to “build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” This environmental focus is not just a marketing tagline but a deeply ingrained mission that guides every aspect of Patagonia’s operations.

Patagonia doesn’t merely talk the talk; it walks the walk. The company has taken concrete actions to align its practices with its values. For instance, in 2011, Patagonia pledged to donate at least 1% of its sales or 10% of its profits, whichever is more, to environmental causes. This commitment is part of the “1% for the Planet” initiative, showcasing the company’s dedication to making a positive impact beyond its own bottom line.

Patagonia actively engages its customers in its environmental mission. The company urges customers to buy only what they truly need and offers repair services to extend the life of its products. The “Worn Wear” initiative encourages customers to buy used Patagonia items or trade in their old gear for store credit, promoting a circular economy and reducing overall environmental impact.

Memorable Experiences and Positive Associations

Craft memorable experiences around your brand, leaving customers with positive associations that inspire a desire to return. These experiences contribute significantly to building a lasting emotional connection.

Disney is a prime example of a company that excels in crafting memorable experiences around its brand, leaving customers with positive associations that inspire a strong desire to return. Disney’s theme parks are renowned for their ability to create magical and immersive experiences that contribute significantly to building a lasting emotional connection with visitors. Disney theme parks, such as Disneyland and Walt Disney World, are synonymous with creating magical experiences. Every detail, from the architecture to the landscaping, is carefully designed to transport visitors to a world of fantasy and wonder. The immersive environments, enchanting attractions, and iconic characters contribute to an atmosphere that captivates visitors of all ages.

Disney’s commitment to entertainment is unparalleled. From parades to live shows, each element is crafted to provide a magical and memorable experience. The attention to detail in performances, costumes, and storytelling contributes to an emotional connection that lasts beyond the visit.

Disney hosts special events and celebrations throughout the year, adding an extra layer of magic to the experience. Whether it’s holiday festivities, character meet-and-greets, or exclusive events, these occasions create memorable moments that stay with visitors long after they leave the park.

Many visitors have a nostalgic connection to Disney, often rooted in childhood memories or family traditions. The sense of nostalgia, combined with the continuation of beloved traditions, fosters a deep emotional connection that spans generations.

Subscription Models for Enhanced Experiences

Embrace subscription models not just for regular business but also to enhance the customer experience. Curate content and provide personalized offerings through subscriptions, adding value beyond the basic transactional relationship.

One standout example of a company that has successfully embraced subscription models to enhance the customer experience is Netflix. Netflix, a leading streaming service, has revolutionized the way people consume entertainment by leveraging subscription models to curate content and provide personalized offerings. Netflix offers a vast and diverse library of movies, TV shows, documentaries, and original content that caters to a wide range of tastes and preferences. The subscription model grants users unlimited access to this extensive content library, creating a value proposition that goes beyond a one-time transaction.

Netflix offers multiple subscription tiers, allowing users to choose plans based on their preferences and budget. This flexibility adds an extra layer of personalization, enabling subscribers to tailor their experience according to factors such as video quality and the number of screens.

Surprises that Exceed Expectations

Go above and beyond routine transactions by surprising customers with unexpected perks, discounts, or personalized gestures. Exceeding expectations is a powerful driver of customer loyalty.

Lululemon, the popular athletic apparel brand, is a notable example of a company that exceeds customer expectations by going beyond routine transactions. The brand’s commitment to surprising customers with unexpected perks, discounts, and personalized gestures contributes to a unique and memorable shopping experience, fostering customer loyalty.

Lululemon’s Sweat Collective is a membership program designed for fitness professionals. Beyond routine transactions, members receive exclusive benefits such as a discount on Lululemon merchandise, early access to product launches, and invitations to special events. This personalized approach recognizes and supports the active lifestyle of fitness professionals, creating a sense of community and exclusivity.

Many Lululemon stores host complimentary in-store yoga and fitness classes, providing customers with an unexpected perk beyond shopping for activewear. These classes contribute to the brand’s commitment to promoting a healthy and active lifestyle, creating a holistic customer experience that goes beyond traditional retail transactions.

Express Gratitude and Exclusive Offers

Thank your customers for their loyalty through personalized thank-you notes or exclusive offers. Demonstrating their value to your business fosters a sense of appreciation.

Sephora demonstrates the expression of gratitude by thanking customers for their loyalty through personalized gestures, specifically within its Beauty Insider loyalty program. The brand goes beyond routine transactions by expressing gratitude in the form of personalized thank-you notes and exclusive offers, fostering a sense of appreciation among its valued customers.

Sephora’s Beauty Insider program is a tiered loyalty system where customers earn points for their purchases, receive exclusive benefits, and move up in status based on their spending. This program serves as the foundation for expressing gratitude and personalized appreciation. Sephora often includes exclusive product samples or early trials of new releases in the purchases made by Beauty Insider members. This not only serves as a token of appreciation but also allows customers to experience new products firsthand, creating excitement and loyalty.

Sephora occasionally sends personalized thank-you notes to its Beauty Insider members, expressing gratitude for their loyalty and continued support. These notes may be delivered via email or included in physical mailings, creating a sense of individualized acknowledgment.

Sephora is bringing it with gratitude and exclusive offers – learn from the best – Kudos Sephora!

Anticipate Needs with Incentives

Anticipate customer needs and offer incentives or exclusive benefits to prevent churn. Proactive measures to retain customers before issues arise can significantly bolster loyalty.

Peloton strategically designed their customer retention practices to proactively anticipating user needs and offering incentives to prevent churn. Through personalized fitness experiences, exclusive content, and value-added benefits, Peloton has successfully retained a dedicated user base in the competitive home fitness industry.

Peloton offers a wide range of live and on-demand fitness classes led by expert instructors. This exclusive content not only caters to diverse fitness preferences but also creates a sense of community. Users feel a connection to Peloton’s exclusive classes, making it less likely for them to explore alternative fitness platforms. Peloton incorporates gamification elements into its platform, allowing users to participate in challenges, compete with others, and earn badges for achievements. This proactive approach taps into users’ desire for a sense of accomplishment and friendly competition, preventing boredom and maintaining user interest.

Gamification and Referral Programs

Gamify the customer experience and incentivize referrals to turn engagement into a rewarding and interactive journey. Encourage customers to be active participants in your brand story.

Fitbit gamifies the customer experience through its activity tracking devices and incentivizes referrals, turning engagement into a rewarding and interactive journey. Fitbit encourages customers to be active participants in their health and fitness journey, fostering a sense of community and achievement.

Fitbit’s devices track users’ physical activity, including steps taken, distance traveled, and calories burned. The data is presented in a gamified interface where users set goals, earn badges for achievements, and compete with friends in challenges. This gamification element transforms the pursuit of fitness goals into an engaging and competitive experience.

Fitbit facilitates challenges where users can compete with friends or join community challenges to reach collective goals. Whether it’s a step challenge or a weekend warrior competition, these challenges encourage users to stay active and connected with the Fitbit community.

Fitbit awards users with virtual badges for hitting milestones or achieving specific fitness targets. These badges serve as a form of recognition and reward, tapping into the psychological aspects of gamification by providing a sense of accomplishment. These badges are also made readily available for social sharing and bragging rights. “Climbed to the top of Mt. Whitney – In awe of the beauty I am fortunate enough to witness. #humblebrag” – this is what Fitbit is trying to elicit from their fandom.

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  • Digital Marketing, Loyalty Marketing, Marketing, Promotion

How to Set up a Customer Referral Program That Works

How to Set up a Customer Referral Program That Works

Word of mouth remains a valuable marketing tool, so you should learn how to set up a customer referral program that encourages loyal customers to recommend your business.

Studies report that up to 94% of satisfied customers would recommend your business to family, friends, and work contacts. That represents a lot of active promotion and extended reach. Don’t let that potential slip away!

Creating an active, robust referral program turns satisfied customers into amateur sales associates, bringing in new customers for your business at a fraction of the cost of other marketing strategies.

Referral Program Basics

A referral program offers incentives for loyal customers to bring in new business.  Happy customers know what your business offers and can easily demonstrate the benefits of your product or service, making them excellent advocates and walking testimonials to your business’s value.

Additionally, your satisfied customers understand who in their lives would benefit from your product or service, so the leads they bring in tend to be high-value and well-qualified. When the referred customer makes a purchase, the loyal customer receives a referral reward, which incentivizes them to refer again. A good referral program generates a feedback loop as new customers bring in their contacts and receive their rewards.

Starting a referral program produces results, both in the form of increased business and in securing ongoing loyalty and positive opinions from existing customers.

Referral Program Benefits

Using a referral program offers many powerful benefits, such as:

  • Standardizing the referral process sets up a clear and easy-to-follow roadmap that energizes active referrals.
  • Referral programs lead to higher conversion rates. Not only do 90% of consumers trust referrals from family and friends, but studies list referrals as a key motivator in almost half of all purchases.
  • Referred customers also have a 37% higher retention rate, bringing your business lifetime value from repeated patronage.
  • Supporting a robust referral program boosts consumer loyalty and retention by keeping your clients engaged. Your customers get positive feedback and feel stronger connections to your business through referral rewards and acts of appreciation which prove to them the value of the relationship.
  • A customer referral program costs your business very little, and well-managed programs carry proven track records of results.

Guide to Starting a Referral Program

Follow these steps to guide you through the process of how to set up a customer referral program.

Design a Referral Template

Templates provide structure for how to present, collect, and process referrals.

Lay Out Your Goals

Think about what you hope to get and what your measures for success look like.

Plan Your Best Practices by Researching the Path of Previous Referrals

Figuring out the recipe for successful referrals lets you adjust your plans and build from where you stand.

Identify the Referral Program Type That Suits Your Business Best and Incentivizes Your Customers

Fine-tune your program to the nature of your business and your customers and calibrate it to fit your optimal cost/benefit ratio.

Single Out Your Strongest Leads

Identify the customers that value your business the most and that move in the right circles to promote it most effectively. Start planning how to approach and engage these customers in your referral program.

Pinpoint the Platforms That Can Host Your Referral Program and Create Resources to Advertise

Develop a multilevel approach that informs, promotes, and updates customers. Create social posts and share the referral link throughout your web presence.

Also, prepare a system to track referrals, so you can manage your program effectively and take advantage of the valuable data it provides.

Set Standards to Thank Customers for Referring Others

A little bit of appreciation goes a long way! Even when the customer receives a direct benefit by doing so, they deserve to feel valued and respected for their efforts.

Set Up Quick Response

Neglected referrals grow cold and can backfire with poor attention. Be ready to move on referrals and fulfill the program terms swiftly. When people get fast results, they stay engaged to become loyal customers.

Never Stop Improving

Success takes trial and error sometimes, and even the most effective referral program can grow stale. Stay on top of changes in customer needs and values and take advantage of social trends and customer feedback to keep your program relevant and responsive.

Generate Renewed and Continual Interest in your Referral Program

Keep your referral program fresh with contests, fundraisers, social gifting campaigns, seasonal offerings, and customer loyalty incentives. These details take a successful referral program and make it better, avoiding the pitfalls of stagnation and loss of interest.

Referral Programs Work

A comprehensive customer referral program works to retain customers and incentivize word-of-mouth marketing. Forbes rates referral programs as one of the top customer loyalty strategies with the highest return on investment. Use this guide for how to set up a customer referral program to harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing.

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  • Digital Marketing, Loyalty Marketing, Marketing

2023 Top Growth Hacking Strategies

As digital marketing has dominated general marketing initiatives in the past couple of decades, there have been new emerging efforts in marketing, coined, growth hacking.  Growth hacking is the process of identifying the most efficient method of traffic through untested methods. This is where marketers and coders develop their own hypotheses and methods to find alternative ways to beat the market in attracting new followers.

Marketers and coders continue to challenge themselves to find a new method that can deliver mass interest with less effort and cost. In recent years, many new opportunities have come and gone.  Let’s see what 2023 is considering the best growth hacking initiatives to grow your audience.  These subjects are being actively discussed in forums, LinkedIn groups, and leadership communities. The goal of learning what others are doing in this area is to see how you can slightly tweak it and create your own blue ocean of growth hacking.

  1. Social media marketing: Use various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube to reach your target audience.One growth hacking strategy that has emerged since social media platforms have been in existence, is the use of hashtags to group information. Tagging your content with #relevantphrase enables users to search for like-minded content and can extend your reach significantly.  Using multiple hashtags extends your reach even further. Now consider you do not know which hashtag is the one that propelled your content virally; this is where testing comes in. Start small and try small new variants as you go.Another social media evolution is the ability to tag people and brands. This alerts another social media friend, friend of a friend, or brand that you want them to see your post. At first this is exciting and earns extreme response, until, like most new things, they become old and provide diminishing returns. Brands of course are excited when you tag them, but then the overwhelm, and impossibility of keeping up.  As in all things, early adopters are rewarded until the fanfare dies out.
  2. Influencer marketing: Partner with influencers in your industry to promote your product or service to their followers.Influencer marketing is a distant relative to the old, “product placement,” you could only get when working with the movie studios. The Apple computer in the teenage angst movie, or the Calvin Klein’s in Back to the Future, and one of the most iconic of them all, Reece’s Pieces in E.T.  The evolution of this practice is influencer marketing, which crowd sources exposure by using more influencers to deliver the same result that product placement has historically delivered.Brands are now using micro-influencers to reach different personas as well as the traditional Beyonce or Taylor Swift when possible to hit it out of the park.  Influencers of all sorts exist, from the yoga influencer to the gamer or gadget product influencer. Influencers create followers on social media and talk to their audiences about products they like. They receive spiffs and or product from the brands to promote the brand products. They often are provided an affiliate link from the brand that they may share with their audience for a discount or value add. This link allows the brand to track their success and reward them accordingly.
  3. Content marketing: Produce high-quality content that provides value to your target audience and helps establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry.Content marketing is not new to marketing, but the hands that are able to create it have evolved significantly.  You don’t need a journalism degree or film and sound crew to produce some fantastic quality content in 2023. You need to plan, research, and develop the messaging you want with the best delivery medium for the message; this may be written form, video, diagrams, animations, or a combination to deliver a compelling message to your target audience.  Consider your audience age, interests, and media tendencies when determining your message form factor.
  4. SEO optimization: Optimize your website for search engines to improve your visibility in search results. SEO is one of the original growth hacking tools that emerged after the internet became mainstream. This is the practice of optimizing your website for Google, Yahoo, Bing and the other global search engines to rank you in their search engine results. This entails backwards engineering the Google algorithm to determine which variables help you rank higher. Over the years, this has evolved significantly as Google understands user search intent. The initial algo rewarded national publishers as they offered free content. As time progressed Google learned that searchers are looking for locally relevant content and they often are looking to spend money and not just get free information – this is where local usurped global publishers and tilted search results in favor of the local business.Current opportunities for growth hacking reside in the voice search category – all new technology provides a green playing field for innovation and opportunity. Learning voice search optimization for local businesses will be pivotal for future growth. This will include variables you may not consider, like tagging your videos with audio script, and voice search tags, as well as structured data and the typical SEO players.
  5. Email marketing: Build an email list of your target audience and regularly send them relevant and engaging content. Email marketing has not always been considered a growth hacking strategy, rather good communication as well as an economical marketing communications channel. The real growth hacking element in email marketing is list growth – not any list growth, but qualified leads list growth. You want folks to want your message or it’s wasteful on any level. Your time and energy should always be focused on qualified leads. This means the audience that is interested in your product and service. Growing this list will certainly grow your business.Consider growing your list through non-competitive partner marketing. This is a similar product or service that is not competitive but shares people with like minds and needs. An example of this would be a health food company and a fitness company. Collaborating and placing ads in each other’s email may be beneficial for both of you and cost you nothing.  This is a dual-upside partnership and well worth your time to identify more in your industry.
  6. Referral marketing: Encourage your current customers to refer their friends and family to your business by offering them incentives or rewards. Refer a friend campaigns are some of the most successful marketing campaigns available. This is the original word-of-mouth marketing that has proven to be so successful that customer review indices have been built around it.
  7. Community building: Build a community around your brand by engaging with your audience on social media and creating a forum for discussion. This may not seem as obvious of a strategy but it’s creating a community before the community creates their own; this gives you ownership, leadership, and influence in the community. Consider the ever-popular Red Bull brand developing events that drew masses from far and near to see what has, “WINGS.” Flugtag was born from a tagline, “Red Bull gives you wings.” And then the global sensation of flying “things” dawning the Red Bull brand began and has kept its popularity over decades.
  8. Mobile optimization: Optimize your website and content for mobile devices to ensure that your audience can easily access your content on-the-go. This hack seems like it may not be growth oriented until you run the numbers. This is the first place you want to optimize as it delivers immediately. Ensure your eCommerce is dialed in using testing scenarios and getting feedback from existing customers. You want to ensure you are meeting the average, “add to basket” rate, the average conversion rate, and the average order lines, and order value in your industry.If you are not familiar with usability testing, this is where you want to spend some time learning. Understand what your users expect online and how then think when adding to basket and checking out. Compare your process to others to understand best practices and possible opportunities you may have not considered.

Remember simply copying growth hacking strategies is merely keeping up with the Jones’, you actually need to speed right past them so that you are the leader of the pack. Review what others are doing and then start creating your own blue ocean by strategically testing nuances to these strategies. Continue to read, hypothesize, strategize, test, optimize, repeat – this is how growth hacking wins.

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  • Loyalty Marketing, Marketing Communications

Loyalty Programs that Move the Needle

Once your sales funnel has done its job and converted a lead into a customer, how do you encourage them to return? Customer loyalty is good for business because it is much easier to re-engage a previous customer than convert a cold lead into a first-time customer. By focusing on customer loyalty and retention, you keep them coming back.

With a loyalty program, you can grow your customer retention rate by making customers feel valued and offering perks, contests, and discounts to encourage repeat business. Our engaging and unique services create the best customer experience, increasing the value of your marketing campaigns.

What Is a Loyalty Program?

A loyalty program is a marketing approach that rewards existing customers with incentives. For example, you could offer a 10% discount after a customer spends $100.

Prompting customers to repeat purchases is the goal, and discount codes or redeemable point systems encourage long-time customer engagement. Eighty-eight percent of customers consider themselves loyal to a brand after three or more purchases, and loyal customers make up about 8% of US retail customers but make up a whopping 40% of the revenue! The bottom line? Loyal customers are valuable customers.

The benefits of customer loyalty programs include:

  • Helping your customers feel appreciated and more likely to return
  • Promoting word-of-mouth marketing
  • Driving growth because loyal customers spend more than new customers

To benefit from a loyalty program, you must personalize your brand—creating a strong enough hook to keep customers returning and purchasing, and a loyalty program is an easy way to do that.

Types of Loyalty Programs

A loyalty program tells your most loyal customers how appreciative you are. Successful companies will use a combination of strategies in their loyalty programs to gain the best customer reach.

The O.G. Loyalty Programs

Rewarding customers for their loyal business did not start in retail. It started in bars – you order a few drinks and next thing you know, your bartender sets an upside down shot glass down in front of you – good for a free drink. After this, small local restaurants started offering loyalty cards that they would stamp with an ink stamp or punch with a unique hole punch. Loyalty programs are as old as the day is long. And you may recall collecting stamps you could redeem for product – same exact principle, rewarding folks for trying to shop with you more to meet a  goal.

Since the beginning days, they have become more complex, more options, and more small print.

Subscription-Based Loyalty Programs

Although a newer customer loyalty strategy, subscription-based loyalty programs are only growing; unlike other rewards systems, subscription-based program range from monthly to annual services. One of the most popular, Amazon Prime, will have special benefits such as free shipping, percentages off every order, and cheaper, fixed prices on certain products.

Point-Based Loyalty Programs

The most common loyalty program, point-based systems, has existed since the 70s. It’s simple—the more a customer buys, the more points they can redeem. Customers can redeem free products and unlock exclusive benefits and perks.

Point-based loyalty programs are also a great way to draw in potential customers. Leads who have yet to make purchases at your company can gain discounts through social media engagement, games, or a free birthday reward.

Tiered-Programs

Tiered loyalty programs allow customers to choose their level of benefits. There are usually three tiers representing loyalty status:

  • A free-to-use tier that gives a limited amount of perks
  • A middle tier that unlocks at least half of listed perks based on the target amount spent
  • A premium tier that offers all perks and benefits

Tiered programs promote access and encourage new customers to spend more to receive special offers. The more they spend, the more they get back.

Gamified Loyalty Programs

Nothing is more fun than a gamified loyalty program—it is the ultimate engagement tool for all types of customers. Gamified programs include instant-win games, giveaways, sweepstakes, contests, and big prize awards. Your company can make any game free to enter or reward existing customers with entry into a specific, exclusive contest.

Value-Based Programs

Value-based programs satisfy customers who wish to support charitable causes. If you need help highlighting your brand’s core values, this is also a perfect loyalty strategy. For example, a beauty company that does not test on animals could donate a percentage of each purchase to support animal rescues.

Successful Merchant Loyalty Programs

There are hundreds of thousands of different programs amongst the global merchant make-up; from card stamps to sophisticated app based loyalty programs, they each have their benefits and their limitations. Brands cannot afford to break the bank in rewards – after all, the goal is to gain more sales than you give away. Let’s review some of the more popular programs out there so you can pick and choose the features that will move the needle for your brand.

Amazon Prime Loyalty Program

Amazon Prime is a loyalty program offered by Amazon that provides members with a range of benefits, including free two-day shipping, access to streaming services, and exclusive discounts on select products.

Amazon Prime has been highly successful since its launch in 2005, with millions of members worldwide. According to a report by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), as of April 2021, there were an estimated 147 million Prime members in the United States, accounting for more than 70% of Amazon’s customer base in the country.

Amazon Prime members spend significantly more annually than non-members. According to a report by Statista, in 2020, Prime members spent an average of $1,400 per year on Amazon, compared to $600 spent by non-Prime members. This demonstrates that the program has been highly effective in driving customer loyalty and repeat business.

In addition to generating revenue through increased customer spend, Amazon also charges an annual fee for Prime membership. The annual fee for Amazon Prime is currently $139 (moving to $179 soon) in the United States, with additional fees charged in other countries. While Amazon has not disclosed the exact revenue generated by Prime fees, it is estimated to be in the billions of dollars annually.

The cost of operating the Prime program is also significant, with expenses related to shipping, content licensing, and other program benefits. Despite the significant costs associated with operating the Prime program, it has been highly successful in driving customer loyalty and generating revenue for Amazon. As the program continues to evolve and expand, it is likely to remain a key driver of customer acquisition and retention for the company.

Starbucks Loyalty Program

Starbucks has a highly successful loyalty program called Starbucks Rewards. The program was launched in 2009 and has since grown to become one of the largest and most successful loyalty programs in the world. The program is simple, like airline rewards programs, spend money and earn points. Points can be redeemed for product. You need a certain threshold of points to redeem for a coffee, and another for food, etc.

As of 2021, Starbucks Rewards has over 24 million active members in the United States, accounting for over 50% of all Starbucks transactions. Globally, the program has over 25 million active members. This indicates that a large percentage of Starbucks customers are members of the loyalty program.

According to data released by Starbucks in 2021, Starbucks Rewards members spend on average 80% more per year than non-members. On average, a Starbucks Rewards member spends around $620 annually, compared to non-members who spend around $340 annually.

The Starbucks Rewards program is designed to incentivize customers to make repeat purchases and increase their overall spend. Members earn points, called “Stars,” for every purchase they make at Starbucks, and these Stars can be redeemed for free drinks and food items.

While Starbucks has not disclosed the exact cost of running its loyalty program, it is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually. However, the program’s success and ability to drive significant revenue growth for Starbucks make it a worthwhile investment.

Overall, Starbucks Rewards has been highly successful in driving customer loyalty, increasing spend, and driving revenue growth for the company.

American Airlines Advantage Program

American Airlines operates a loyalty program called AAdvantage, which is one of the oldest and most successful airline loyalty programs in the world.

As of 2021, AAdvantage has over 115 million members globally, indicating that a significant percentage of American Airlines customers are members of the program. The program has been successful in driving customer loyalty and repeat business for the airline.

AAdvantage members are estimated to spend more than non-members on American Airlines flights. According to a report by Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), in 2019, AAdvantage members spent an average of $906 per ticket, compared to $590 spent by non-members. This shows that the program has been successful in incentivizing customers to spend more with American Airlines.

AAdvantage members earn miles for every flight they take with American Airlines, which can be redeemed for free flights, seat upgrades, and other travel-related benefits. Members can also earn miles by using American Airlines’ co-branded credit cards, shopping with partner retailers, and participating in other promotional activities.

While American Airlines has not disclosed the exact cost of running the AAdvantage program, loyalty programs are generally costly to operate, with costs running into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually. However, the program’s success in driving customer loyalty and repeat business makes it a worthwhile investment for the airline.

In summary, American Airlines’ AAdvantage loyalty program has been highly successful in driving customer loyalty and repeat business, with a significant percentage of the airline’s customers being members of the program. AAdvantage members spend more on average than non-members, and the program has been effective in incentivizing customers to spend more with American Airlines.

Tips for Designing a Successful Loyalty Program

The most innovative customer loyalty programs use the brand’s strengths to establish innovative programs.

If you want to move the needle in your retention or revenue through loyalty programs, you must focus on your customers. A successful loyalty program can push sales forward and engage your audience.

  1. Know your customer. Analyze your target audience’s motivations for purchasing your products. Not only will this increase a better customer experience, but it will make you aware of what will attract future purchases.
  2. Personalize the experience. Many brands selling higher-end products allow customers to accumulate exclusive freebies and choose what benefits they want. These elite memberships are often that of a tiered-loyalty program.
  3. Incentives are gold. Customers enjoy the appreciation for using your services. By providing rewards, they will count your business as a good experience. Many fashion retailers incorporate a point-based program, offering cashback rewards for every dollar spent. This successful tactic works as customers receive a store credit reward for every item they buy.

By implementing customer loyalty strategies like loyalty programs, contests, and surveys, you can drive growth and build your base of loyal customers.

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  • Loyalty Marketing, Marketing

Customer Retention Best Practices

Why Customer Retention Is Important: Best Practices

Why is retention important?

In today’s hyperactive, interconnected online business environment, a good product and a good message isn’t enough. Online marketplaces have no shortage of new products and brands to lure bored or dissatisfied customers away from existing brands. Businesses that want a lasting presence in online communities must prioritize consumer loyalty and retention.

We understand why customer retention is important. To give them stability, we help them develop targeted, adaptive digital marketing campaigns that stand out amid internet advertising to create deep and lasting engagement.

Consumer Retention Strategies

Successful marketing campaigns often include time-tested elements that rely on core principles of consumer psychology. Consumers respond to the psychology of gamification much like the addictive behavior of gambling. This is why a small population absolutely loves loyalty programs; these people seek out the best reward opportunity and spend their dollars in exchange for these benefits. This can provide a significant increase in market share for very little gross margin on the seller’s end.

Often companies are concerned that this could negatively impact their bottom line, but it’s exactly the opposite. The most successful loyalty programs in the world have 20% participation. So now add on the fact that these folks become brand ambassadors and spend 20% more than the average customer. This is a significant bonus to the bottom line.

The Customer Retention Math

Acquiring a new customer is much more costly than retaining existing customers. Once you have their contact information, you now have free marketing opportunity. Simply email, SMS, or direct mail and your only cost is sending. New customers cost 5X as much as retaining customers to get repeat purchases. After the second purchase, the chance of a 3rd purchase increases significantly.

Personalize communication

Once you enroll a customer in your loyalty program you have gotten the keys to the kingdom for interacting and engaging your customer.  You ask for basic demographic data that includes birthday and immediately you have a marketing opportunity by offering a special that will bring your customer in to spend money. You can also offer sign up bonus that gives them an immediate reward of points or a discount.  You can gamify your program further by making mini games to earn more points; you could provide digital badges for a challenge and once all badges are collected, you get a point value. All the while, your customer is immersed in your brand.

Reward Loyal Customers

Consumers are sensitive to periodic rewards. Precisely why gambling is addictive, the excitement and pleasure consumers feel when you reward them can attach to your product.

A loyalty program conveys a commitment to customer satisfaction and a generous spirit—powerful incentives to maintain brand loyalty.

A loyalty program can also confer membership in an exclusive community. Consumers who need to belong and enjoy feeling special will often pay a premium to earn the perks of membership in an elite or VIP club.

Communicate Future Rewards

Providing your customer with the opportunity for participation in a program that is fueled by gamification has them strategizing over, “how to win,” all the while fixating on your brand. Be sure point accumulation is clear and concise. Be sure to share future opportunities with promises of bonus points where you more offer double points during slow season to infuse your sales during times where there may be less traffic.

Offer reliable email communication with points updates, bonus point opportunities, accompanied with your most gorgeous product and service shots you can provide. The reliability of the messaging supporting the gamification of shopping will have them hooked before you know it.

Customer Retention Bonus

Retaining customers provides stability in your business model as well as more affordable to sell more to existing customers than it is new. Nurture relationships with the important tips provided and you’ll earn exponentially.

 

 

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  • Loyalty Marketing, Marketing, Retail Marketing

Retail Self-service is Increasing Sales

Retail Self-service solutions are proving valuable.

Self-service solutions became a necessity during the pandemic, but now they are a customer preference and indispensable. If you did not add self-service to your retail tech stack, you are missing the boat. Self-service solutions are not limited to self-checkout. There are a myriad of solutions that shoppers have fallen in love with. A staggering 73% of shoppers reported preferring self-service checkout at retail over engaging with employees. Remember we are now dealing with children of the future, they grew up with phone in hand and less face to face engagement than any other generation in history – and they have disposable income now. It’s time to level up your retail self-service technology, if you have not already.

Retail Self-service Solution Types

Self-checkout: This is the easiest to fathom and the lowest hanging fruit to increase customer satisfaction in your retail store, increase cross-sells, and up-sells, as well as increase loyalty and market share. Imagine being able to free up your cashiers to support other store needs while customers take care of the repetitive check out process all on their own. This leverages your talent to do what you need humans for, including checking in inventory and getting it on the floor faster or merchandising your racks or ensuring the store is spick and span beautifully clean.

Now re-imagine the customer checkout process and everything you want your self-service POS to do to support the best experience possible. Be sure to offer additional products and services at the checkout as this is a likely time with card in hand that customers may more easily say yes to a complimentary item. For example, customers that buy this often also buy this – this item will be delivered to their door within days. In addition, you can offer extended service plans and options. Finally, be sure to have your loyalty program sign up and login first and foremost as folks in loyalty programs shop much more often with you than those that do not. Also include smart wallet payment solutions enabling your customer to skip the credit card process altogether and enabling them to use PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Checkout with Amazon. This is a life saver for the customer that finds they left their wallet at home.

Price checker: These have become popular in large chains like Target, where price checking becomes laborious and time consuming for their staff. You’ll find convenient price checkers on almost every other aisle in Target -they may know something. These same price checkers also have a touchscreen that may be used for advertising or promotions. Customer are more likely to put something in their shopping cart if they know the price. Imagine them not picking it up, not knowing the price, when in fact, if they did, they would purchase it – this is a bigger issue than most retailers understand. Enable your customers to do the jobs you’d rather not pay your employees to. Consumer’s report preferring to solve their own customer service issues than having to ask for help. This is a major conversion aider. Don’t miss out on this one.

Endless aisle: The endless aisle enables you to have touchscreens in store showing your entire selection, as most stores cannot merchandise 100% of their inventory due to store size limitations. In addition to enabling more product to be seen, you are also able to find items that are out of stock in the size you want. The customer now can simply buy online and have the item shipped direct to their home. Add free shipping to make this even more appealing.

Endless aisle image

Digital dressing room: We’ve all been there half dressed in the dressing room when the sales associate asks, “how’s everything working out?” And the immediate reaction is to flinch and grab your clothes quickly. This uncomfortable situation is completely eliminated with digital dressing rooms. In the digital dressing room, you have a touchscreen with the ability to scan the item you need in another size; and before you know it, it’s been placed over the door for your convenience. Plenty of shoppers leave altogether as they don’t want to engage with the sales associate and after getting fully dresses, they don’t want to go find the right size and return to the same shenanigans. Retailers can even take this one step further enabling new size look up at other stores as well as buy in the dressing room and have it shipped to your home.

The future is here and innovation is peaking with retail self-service solutions that make customers happy and increase operational efficiency for the retailer. Now consider all these devices talking to each other to create the perfect customer journey. There’s so much marketing opportunity here, it feels like Christmas. Best wishes in leveling up your self-service solutions in your retail store.

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  • eCommerce, Loyalty Marketing, Marketing Communications

Customer Journey Mapping: The Ultimate Guide

How to Create a Customer Journey Map in 2022

While most companies get the strategic value of optimizing the customer experience (CX), far too few go through the process of breaking down what a good customer experience looks like from the vantage point of their actual customers.

This is why the customer journey map exists —a visual representation outlining how your customers experience each stage of their journey interacting with your brand, from engaging on your social platforms to purchasing online, and beyond.

In an era when customers value experience over price or even quality, understanding and influencing your customers’ journey can pave the way to your company’s success.

Let’s review how to develop a comprehensive, effective customer journey map that will bolster the CX and your bottom line.

  1. Set clear objectives for your map

Before you dive in, it’s important to get clear on your “why.” Most organizations use customer journey maps to identify and remedy any gaps or sticking points in the customer experience. You want to get as specific as possible, both to achieve your end goals and to avoid scope creep. Your first go around will be purely documenting the current experience as you methodically navigate your marketing in the shoes of your different personas.

Once you see what you have today, you may start defining new journeys with specific goals in mind —improve conversion rates, expand your audience, or perhaps find ways to break down silos within your organization?  You may find in your current customer journey that you have low social followership – identify where integrating your customer into social makes sense and add that element with an inducement. You will continue to elevate your gaps or deficiencies and identify where these fit into your perfect customer journey.

  1. Identify your buyer personas

If you haven’t already, you’ll want to define your buyer persona/s. Knowing who you are engaging is essential for establishing how best to engage them—this includes demographics, psychographics, socio-economic factors, as well as previous customer interactions. When done well, your buyer personas should capture a lot of essential information that will feed into your customer journey map.

Most likely, your audience is made up of more than one persona, which you want to consider when mapping out the overall customer experience. That said, incorporating too many personas into one journey map could dilute your results or overwhelm your capacity to implement viable change.

You want to consider the various perspectives but narrow your focus to the most common customer personas and how to best optimize their path to purchase experience.  Below you will see an example of a Buyer Persona Template to help you build out your buyer personas. You may download the Buyer Persona Template here.>>

Customer Journey Mapping

3. Talk to your “personas”

Regardless of how developed your buyer personas are, you still need to consult your prospects and current customers to get feedback on what is and isn’t working at each stage of the journey.

You can use everything from questionnaires and surveys to good old fashioned phone calls and one-on-one interviews.

Some good questions to ask include:

·         How did you hear about us or find our website?

·         What needs/problems led you to look for us/our products?

·         Have you purchased our products/services before? If so, what influenced your decision?

·         How was your purchase experience?

·         Did you find it easy to navigate and purchase on our website? Why or why not?

·         Do you have any recommendations or complaints you want to share with us?

4. Factor in customer emotions and stressors

“People don’t buy for logical reasons.  They buy for emotional reasons.”  – Zig Ziglar

Most every purchase decision a customer makes is motivated by emotion…as is every decision not to make a purchase. This is why it’s not just important, but essential to uncover what, why, and when emotions are triggering your customers.

If this seems daunting, remember that emotions are usually driven by an acute need or desire in the present, a pain point experienced in the past, or a perceived stressor that might happen in the future.

5. Capture every possible touchpoint

Touchpoint analysis is another crucial process for capturing a 360-degree view of your customers’ entire journey. This is important, because each of your touch points, no matter how fleeting, has an impact on the overall experience…and each has the potential to make or break your customer relationship.

Start by brainstorming at all the ways in which your customers or prospects might find and interact with you throughout their entire journey, both online and off. (Be sure to include a list of those not being used, as well).

Here’s a list of key touch points to get you started:

You can use the template below to document all the touch points you have at each stage of the customer journey.  Click here to download the Customer Journey Mapping template now.>>

customer journey mapping

6.    Optimize your CX across touchpoints

After you have a complete picture of your customer journey, start to finish, it’s time to take action.

You should have a detailed list of all the improvements you need to make at each touchpoint. You’ll also want to take inventory of the resources you have and the ones you’ll need. Whether it’s new technology, data, or human resources, if your investment results in a more personalized, meaningful experience for your customers, it’s worth it.

And don’t worry if you can’t tackle everything at once. Ideally, you’d want to prioritize what will have the biggest impact. But even small changes can strengthen trust and build rapport if you are genuine, transparent, and consistent in your efforts.

And remember, companies that leverage tools like customer journey maps reduce their cost of service by 15-20%.

Forging the Path to Customer Success

Mapping your customer journey isn’t necessarily the easy path, but it’s the best route to longevity, success, and satisfaction, on all sides. No matter how big or small the initial changes may be, you can act with confidence, knowing you delivering the right message at the right time to provide the ultimate customer experience.

Mission accomplished.

 

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  • Digital Marketing, eCommerce, Loyalty Marketing

The Ultimate Guide to Optimize Your Conversion Rate

Conversion rates are like little money multipliers — the more you learn about them, the more you will find yourself daydreaming about their increased efficiency and rolling in a pile of money.  While it is tempting to sit and calculate your win fall, you don’t have time for that – you have work to do.  Every little thing you can think of surrounding your product can impact your conversion rate.  This ranges from product functionality to positioning, copywriting, available information, financing, and more…including your website functionality.  Some of these methods to increase your conversion rate will have costs associated, so you will want to be sure to calculate your risk with a break-even analysis before jumping into paid efforts.

The average conversion rate is 2.42% – certain industries have higher and lower conversion rates; the crafting industry has the highest of them all, landing at 5.08%. Holy cannoli, that would double the sales of company with a 2.5% conversion rate, literally, overnight.  Now you can see the multiplier and temptation to daydream with a sill example like that.  Now let’s focus on how we can incrementally increase your conversion rate with some tested tools and tips.

If your product is a couple hundred dollars or more, you want to be sure to offer one of the new pay over time services.  These are not credit cards, rather the new way of teaching financial responsibility by allowing a customer to pay over 6 weeks, and even payment amount with no interest.  The merchant, you, pay the increased credit card transaction fee to accommodate such a transaction.  More fees do not sound appetizing, but keep in mind this will increase your conversion rate, which will in turn provide more gross margin to use on new efforts and initiatives.  Some of the new services are Affirm, After Pay, Per Pay, Pay Pal 4 Payments, Klama, and Sezzle.

Accept as many types of payment as you can without causing undue burden or cost on your accounting department.  Starting simple with credit cards, you would be surprised by the number of folks with only an AMEX or Discover card.  And these often are not accepted at all places; Amex has a higher processing fee, so consider this, but even more, consider a 20% increase in your conversion rate…now consider again.  Discover used to be a lesser used card with easier approvals (thus my only college credit card – and why I know you can’t use it at a lot of places).  So be sure to accept all the regular credit cards and then consider the newbies, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, PayPal, and Google Pay.  All of these types of payments enable the prospect to checkout without digging into their wallet, without crossing the threshold of where budgets kick in mentally, pulling out the card or cash.  Most of us will buy something on our phone when we can simply use a known password to checkout versus getting up and grabbing your wallet to place the order.  Make it easier and your conversion rate will surely go up.

Add a loyalty program and now you have poured a little gasoline on your conversion rate. Not only are you offering benefits to your customers to return, but you’re also making it fun. You are essentially gamifying your brand with a loyalty program; gamification increases conversion rates up to 7X.  This is the greatest gift you will ever give yourself.  You pay your customers to engage with your brand and most of the activities are free to you.  Give your clients points for sharing your content, reward them for following you on your social channels, reward them for referring friends…it becomes addicting to think about all the self-serving things you can ask your customer to do in return for added value or a discount.  Remember added value can always be free – you can offer first access to new inventory, secret sales, closeouts, and even valuable content not available elsewhere.  It will take some programming to set up your loyalty program or you may use an off the shelf plugin and get a head start.

FREE Delivery – did someone say free? The most powerful word in the world… now say shipping.  People have been used to getting what they want the same day without a delivery fee all their life; now enter the internet where it has a hard cost to get your merchandise to you.  Again, remember we are increasing conversion rates, so we must give to get.  You see free delivery everywhere because it works. Merchants typically account for this in their margin – some offer free shipping over a certain amount so they know they cover it and under that amount they make profit on the shipping to help cover the free portions.  Let us not forget expedited delivery – this comes at a cost, and we’ve all been there where you will pay anything to have that special item delivered tomorrow because no price is too high for your Mom, but you’ve been busy.  Be sure to increase the prices on your expedited shipping so you may also use that as a profit center.  Though the winner for conversion rates has been the same since the beginning, FREE.

Free gift with purchase is another fantastic conversion rate optimizer. Sometimes this can be the video that accompanies the product and its a 1x cost and you’re done – everyone gets it and it adds value that you are providing free.  Peleton seems to be doing pretty well here when they were faced with a shortage of inventory, they focused on content.  Pay once and use a million times if you are lucky.  Selling a dutch oven? Send it with a QR code for a digital cookbook with award-winning family recipes.  When folks think they are getting more than they paid for, they consider it a good value and are more likely to purchase.

Product descriptions are more important than you may think. Another piece of trivia you may not know is that copywriters can make more than data scientists because it has that much value in selling your product.  What you write matters – it matters a lot.  Simple copy changes have resulted in 200% difference in conversion rates.   From product name to description, specifications, and warranty information, it all matters.  From brand affect to actual necessary data to decide whether to buy or not, this data is consumed in detail.  You do not want to overwhelm either.  The simple spot to start is to test a more detailed and less detailed page so you can see yourself.  Now set up another test where you write a lot more copy and spend more time detailing out the product name with specs.  You will continue with these tests and implementing the winner, your whole eCommerce life.  And you will incrementally change conversion while you are at it!

Product page layout is another animal that needs testing.  Where does the product image go? Well enough testing has happened that we all agree this image goes in the top left.  Now the rest of the items you will find a hodgepodge of locations across different businesses.  You need to find what works for you. Consider changing the color of your add to cart button – people universally like green, it may be a good test.  Test moving your SKU lower and your benefit bullets higher.  Be sure to show all payment methods accepted close to the product page – 4 even payments over 6 weeks may be just the push that prospect needed to convert.

When you set out to do your tests, there will need to be a technology piece to connect the dots above.  You can use Google Optimize, Optimizely, or VWO.  These are platforms that make executing your tests easy for the non-programmers among us – probably most of us.  The software simply splits your traffic in a percent you choose (you want most of your traffic going to a proven page) and then say, 20% goes to the test variant page; the software will report on the visits, bounces, conversions, and sales from the test variant page.

There are so many ways to improve your conversion rate that we will need to revisit this topic with another round of, “good ones”.  These should get you started and then you, yourself will find yourself marveling over the possible A/B tests you can do to improve your conversion rate.  Best wishes for crafting like conversion rates!

 

 

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  • Digital Marketing, Loyalty Marketing, Marketing Communications

Why You Need an App

Apps is short for applications, which we all know have been around since software was created. After all Microsoft Office is an application just like Word Perfect is a former application we used for word processing in 1992.  Apps are the new hip term for software and have altered the colloquial definition for such software to be the software or a software shell accessible from a bookmark on your phone.  The difference between software and software shell on your phone is determined by whether you need the internet to access the software; you need the internet to use Pandora, therefore this is merely an icon used to access the mobile version of Pandora the website.  An app that would not require the internet would be a self-contained game like Dots.

Now that we know what an app is, let’s think about creative uses for apps – as you need one!  The reason you need one is that consumers are now spending 90% of their phone time on mobile apps.  And consider if your prospect adds your app to their home screen; your opportunity is even greater when they can see your icon right when they tap their phone.  Let’s talk about what gets folks engaged on apps.

There are the obvious utilitarian apps; banking, airlines, review sites, career sites, and investments sites.  These are sites that you need to use daily or get valuable information.  Checking your bank balance, planning travel, checking frequent flyer points, finding a new restaurant or handyman, following up on a job lead, and seeing how much you’re worth is very utilitarian and something you may do daily. Your business may qualify for a utilitarian app. Consider whether you could make your basic desired behaviors better with your user interface optimized solely for phone engagement – would this make your prospect and client experience better?  You may have your base app foundation here.

If you do not believe that your product or service would benefit from a consumer app that enables utilitarian behavior for frequent access, then we need to start looking at our business for opportunities.  Just like the pandemic brought back QR codes and made them utilitarian for menu retrieval at restaurants to be touchless, we can also pivot and find something you can brand an app to make your brand be found on the home screen of hundreds of thousands of users.  If you’re a retailer, it may be a great place to save wish lists, collect coupons, buy gift certificates, and access your loyalty program.  If you provide services, it may be a great place to enable your clients to access your calendar to schedule services, review loyalty points, and buy gift certificates.

Let’s consider neither the retailer nor service provider works; consider something that you think may not work, an attorney.  Let’s flip this will all the tools available in your phone. Scanning, photos, copy, paste, etc. An attorney or insurance company may leverage the technology to use an app as your communication tool to share evidence, upload notes, and communicate statuses with your client.  The same type of communication tools could be used by your remodeling firm, your doctor, your esthetician, and your dentist.  Another potential use is if your product has refills, enable you to have your customer login and get their refill.

Let’s say you’re in the fitness market – apps are built for this market, but not something that has been done, how many steps until you need to replace your shoes. How many sleeps on your mattress produces skin debris build-up?  How many toothbrush uses with the same toothbrush head?  Daily companion quotes that are complementary to your product or service. All of these are simple timers for ensuring you know when to replace a product.  Consider a retailer that offered all of these in their app or each brand that is important to you offering them.

Another fantastic use for an app is an event; your brand hosting a unique event will not only want the app to support it, but now you have an app you can repurpose for any event. Remember technology can be used for different purposes and save money on reinventing the wheel. You will want to have your event schedule, map of the event, social media posts with event hashtags scrolling, hostess FAQs, and contact the hostess.  You may also have event surprises that include treasure hunts, challenges, ice breakers, and more.  You may even use your app for a virtual event.

And if you do not have a loyalty program – now is the time. This is a fantastic way to announce your program – you must sign up for the program with your app; you may ask the benefit to this and that is that they now have it on their home screen and just as we know advertising works, that little icon on their phone will make them access your brand that much more.  Though you do need to incent users to continue to use the app.  Consider making this the preferred points tool with gamification – doing any interactions on the app will multiply rewards, making users continually engage with your brand in an easy and intuitive format.  A marketers dream.

Now that you have some creative solutions for your app, you will want to be sure to get in front of the folks that want your app.  Forty percent of app users find apps in the app store; this means there really are app enthusiasts looking for apps that make their life easier. Can you imagine finding these folks looking to be a regular user of your app. These same folks that seek out apps consider themselves influencers and share their favorite apps with friends. You want to be that app!

Of course, you also want to go to your gravy base and offer it to your customers.  You will also want the refer a friend option in your app to give your users the ability to also become micro-influencers. Each referral can earn you more rewards or coupons based on your brand goals.  You should be well on your way to noodling a genius app for your brand; when you are ready to add gamification to your app, give us a ring and we’ll be sure to help make an app that keeps them coming back!

 

 

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  • Loyalty Marketing

Revolutionize your Results with CRM Technology (before it’s too late!)

CRM software is now at the heart of the success of every growing business, expected to generate more than $80 billion in revenue by 2025.

From marketing automation to improved customer service and sales processes, CRM gives brands endless opportunities to streamline their workflow and provide a more comprehensive and personalized experience for their customers.

Not sure where to start? Here’s everything you need to know about CRMs and how to advance your marketing and sales systems and revolutionize your results.

Improved Sales Team Management & Performance

Companies using CRM showed that 50% of teams using CRM mobile and cloud-based solutions improved their productivity and 65% met or exceeded their sales quotas.

CRM makes it easy for companies to organize contacts, marketing, and sales opportunity information that can be accessed by any team member on the device of their choosing. At the end of the day, your marketing is only as good as your data.

For example, automatic triggers could launch a process tied to new contract creation or alert a particular sales rep in that territory to follow up with the potential customer.

But CRM software does more than just improve team efficiency, it ups the ante on sales performance while cutting the amount of time wasted on mundane tasks.

Focused Targeting & Audience Segmentation

CRM capabilities go far beyond just centralizing data and actions, making it easy for you to translate customer information into meaningful insights to create highly individualized messages for specific target groups. And the more personalized the content is, the more likely you are to see improved rapport, response rates, and revenue.

You have the option to segment your audience by one or a combination of demographics, such as industry, location, age, or even their clothing size. Or, you can follow their entire journey from beginning to end, tracking recent purchases or social media activity, for example- so you can present the perfect content at the perfect time.

CRM also gathers up the information you need to customize your content to grab your customers’ attention, greeting them by name or title and tailoring messaging based on individual data and preferences to officially win them over.

Improved Customer Relations Management

With the growing number of social platforms, staying on top of customer relations can feel impossible. But CRM’s automated customer service features literally do the work for you, allowing you to nurture ongoing relationships and lead the user seamlessly down the path to purchase.

Here are just a few automated responses you can set up to assist your customers:

  • A “thank you” email post-purchase
  • A birthday discount with promo code
  • Welcome email with free content download
  • Notification for abandoned shopping cart
  • Sale alerts for wish list items
  • Post-sale “how-to” or customer satisfaction survey

Predictive Analyses Provide Accurate Insights and Points of Improvement

The analysis capabilities of CRM are yet another priceless feature that lets you know how effective your campaigns are. By compiling feedback and report data, you can quickly hone in on what worked best and what didn’t to guide your future approach and budget strategy.

You can also use predictive analytics to anticipate customer pain points, get an end-to-end view of the sales processes, and uncover opportunity indicators to drive sales in the right direction. It’s like having your own crystal ball, which is a dream come true for marketers.

***

There is no denying the value CRM holds for businesses, regardless of size, to increase employee productivity and performance, elevate the customers’ experience, spend less, and earn more. As brands continue to optimize their CRM, customers will continue to expect more from their competition (that means you!). The time is now to find the CRM solutions that will best serve your company’s needs and give your audience the purchase experience they deserve.

 

 

 

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  • Advertising, Digital Marketing, Loyalty Marketing, Marketing, Social Media

4 Ways to Harness the Power of Nueromarketing

According to marketing mastermind, Gerald Zaltman, 95% of purchase decisions are dictated by our subconscious, which makes understanding what is going on in your customers’ minds imperative to affecting their behavior and experience.

This is where neuromarketing comes in. Neuromarketing is essentially the study of neuroscience, behavioral economics, and social psychology, using biometric measurement tools- such as eye-tracking, facial coding, FMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), EGG (electroencephalogram)- to assess consumers’ emotional responses, level of engagement, and recall in relation to branding and marketing techniques.

If this sounds too complicated (or outside your budget), not to worry. Here are the latest insights and how you can use them to drastically improve your marketing campaigns and customers’ experience.

1. Optimize Branding & Content Strategy

Neuromarketing has been a game-changer for brands looking to optimize ads, website design, and packaging. Technologies like eye-tracking and EEG can measure consumers’ emotional and psychological responses to various visual cues so brands can adapt their design and messaging accordingly.

Frito-Lay put neuromarketing strategies to the test in an attempt to boost snack sales among calorie-conscious women. The company used FMRI brain scans to analyze how their current branding was impacting women’s reactions to their products. Results revealed that the company’s “guilt-free” terminology was still conjuring up feelings of guilt for women on an unconscious level. In addition, it turns out that the brand’s shiny packaging and color scheme were also triggering feelings of guilt and shame in a certain part of the female brain.

Within 6 months of changing its packaging and reframing content, the company experienced record-breaking sales and doubled its initial goals.

2. Influence Behavior & Build Influence

Neuromarketing has also revealed the huge influence social proof has on purchasing behavior, giving brands more insight into how to tap into our innate desire to belong and fit in.

Coca-Cola has played to social influence with great success, creating a sense of community and “togetherness” throughout their messaging.

 

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Another powerful technique for harnessing social proof is through customer reviews and testimonials. Studies show that 92% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase and 72% credit peer reviews with the level of trust they have in a business

Leveraging social influencers is another way to skyrocket your brand’s popularity. Stats show that 86% of women reference social influencers’ posts for purchasing advice and more than half make a purchase as a result. As you research and court your target influencer, you can simultaneously build relationships with their following by commenting and engaging in interesting and genuine ways.

Even making small copywriting alterations can attract more paying customers. For instance, framing or emphasizing how many people liked your products vs. how many people purchased them has proven to be an effective persuasion tool to boost conversion rates.

3. Make it “Now or Never” 

Neuromarketing has also confirmed that people hate to feel like they are missing out. So, if customers believe a particular product or service is in short supply, they are more likely to snatch it up before it’s gone or no longer on sale.

There are various ways to use this “get it before it’s gone” technique to drive demand. For example, you can create a sense of urgency by sending a targeted text or email offering limited-time discounts and exclusive offers or the popular and very effective “only 1 left at this rate” or “offer ends in 1 hour.”

Loss Aversion is another framing tactic that consistently results in more compelling ads and increased sales. This entails presenting the impact of NOT buying your product or service as a loss instead of a gain or focusing on the risks associated with the purchase rather than the potential benefits. For example, “stop losing money on ads, switch to….”, or “Avoid sun damage by protecting your skin with…”

4. Evoke the Power of Emotions

For marketers, knowing what is going on in people’s brains on an emotional level is much more valuable than hearing their thoughts, especially in the company of others, as most people will adjust their opinions according to groupthink.

How valuable? Studies show that 70% of customers who feel an emotional connection to a brand will spend twice as much at checkout, and over 80% will recommend their favorite brands to their friends and family.

But there are other compelling reasons to connect with and influence your audience on a deeper level beyond just financial gain as demonstrated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

NCI set out to create an ad campaign that would evoke a strong enough emotional response to encourage smokers to quit. Using focus groups and fMRI data, NCI analyzed smokers’ responses to three different ad campaigns, “A, B & C,” asking viewers which they felt would be most effective, and then measuring the part of the brain that is most influential in persuasion. The results were mind-blowing.

The participants told researchers they believed Campaign A would be the most successful, but their brain patterns revealed that Campaign C was actually the most persuasive. In the end, Campaign A did succeed in doubling the volume of phone calls to the QUIT-NOW hotline, but Campaign C increased calls by thirty-fold!

***

Neuromarketing is taking advertising and product development to the next level by deepening our understanding of why consumers feel and act the way they do. Even if your organization doesn’t have the resources for in-depth research, by simply integrating some of the insights above, you too can use the power of the mind to better understand, influence, and serve your audience.

 

 

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  • Loyalty Marketing

Loyal to the End: Top 5 Customer Loyalty Strategies

B2B (business-to-business) marketing is very different from B2C marketing. Where B2C markets directly to the consumer,B2B markets directly to other businesses such as small, medium, or large (enterprise) companies, which in turn sell to their customers such as distributors, VARs (value-added reseller), or direct mail businesses.

Since the B2B business model is so complex and has lengthy sales cycles, these businesses understand the importance of loyalty programs in order to retain current customers. Businesses know that online customers have a lot of options to take their business elsewhere, making B2B marketing all the more necessary in this highly competitive industry.

What is a Loyalty Program?

A loyalty program rewards customers’ buying behaviors, which encourages them to keep coming back to the same brand for more. Loyalty programs are not all punch cards enticing the loyalty of a customer. While each program may differ in concept and implementation, the theory is the same. With B2B, the competition is fierce and keeping a customer is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. According to Forrester, it costs 5x more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.

B2B uses a personalized strategy for each account and different value propositions depending on the client’s needs. The loyalty program cannot be a “one size fits all”, they must be customized to each account’s needs and customer base.

Top 5 B2B Customer Loyalty Program Strategies

  1. Tiered Incentives

Sales reps love the tiered approach as each level brings in rewards of different values, making them competitive with their counterparts to see who can sell the most and win the big prize. It is usually set-up by their sales performance over a period of time. Each tier is a different sales quota and the sales quotas are set based on the company’s yearly revenue performance. Or, if you are like many B2B organizations, each of your customers fit into a “Partner Performance Level”, such as Platinum, Gold, and Silver, all depending on a variety of factors.

A basic program to start with is a membership reward to encourage customers to sign up for the loyalty program.

  1. Customer Events

B2B partners will tend to build long-term relationships with their vendors. Customer events, such as golf tournaments, mini trade shows, retreats, or customer appreciation at a sporting event gives your sales rep a chance to speak candidly and understand any issues your account may have with your product. Once a rapport has been established, both parties strive to keep this partnership thriving, and this creates customer loyalty.

  1. Third Party Partnerships

A strategic partnership with a company that compliments your product or service can help position your brand as a one-stop shop for all of your customers’ needs. Partnering with a reseller or distributor helps build brand awareness, lead generation, and a strategic network of revenue opportunity. Third party partnerships offer extra value to your product, brand, and the company.

  1. B2B eCommerce Website/App

Personalizing the buying experience using a rewards website or mobile app helps manage discounts, monetary rewards, and trip incentives. Customizable content is available for each of your partners such as product catalogs and pricing, and like most online commerce experiences, it is a 24/7 self-service tactic.

Many B2B customers have portals where you upload the specifics of the rewards program. Customers will alert their sales reps of new and important messages on programs, features, or pricing. The alert can be a call to action to open a certain message and receive a number of points towards their rewards.

Using CRM software and integrating it will allow access to your customer data from which you can see where changes need to occur.

  1. Co-Marketing Activities

Co-marketing campaigns are a great loyalty program and tactic in retaining customers as well as acquiring new ones. By partnering with your customers, you build trust in supporting both businesses. Expenses can be split between the parties to tie up more funds for other loyalty programs such as email marketing, trade shows, content marketing program, or charity events.

In Conclusion

Loyalty programs are an effective B2B marketing tool and strategy for increasing brand awareness, retaining customers, lead generation, and improving your brand and company reputation. Loyalty programs are easy to implement and maintain, and should be an essential part of your B2B marketing strategy.

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  • Loyalty Marketing, Marketing

Lead Nurturing: 9 Ways to Keep Your Customers Loyal for Life

Every B2B company knows how to acquire leads, but many of those companies don’t have a follow-up plan, or a talented sales rep that’s able to convert leads into customers and sales. Approximately 79% of leads are never converted to sales, with many of them not even followed-up. When this happens, your company misses out on major opportunities.

As every business owner knows, it is harder to acquire a customer than it is to keep a customer. In order to keep those channel partners you’ve already acquired, you simply need to keep them happy and consistently engaged with your product and company.

Successful B2B companies will lean towards a lead nurturing marketing strategy that builds relationships, qualifies and converts prospects into clients, and most importantly, into sales. Lead nurturing campaigns educate, develop brand and product awareness, and build trust so that the prospect will eventually convert.

Customer Retention Campaign Strategies

After conversion, keeping your customers engaged and motivated is essential for them to continue purchasing your products or services.

There are many ways to boost engagement with your customers. Here are some ideas for a few lead nurturing or drip campaigns to increase retention.

  1. Onboarding Campaign

Once you have the prospect on board, they are now a customer that you must retain. Sending out automated product kickoff information and timelines, FAQs, training resources, image/data sheet downloads, and MDF (marketing development funds) information can be applied without waiting for assistance from a sales rep.

  1. Product or Customer Satisfaction Surveys
  • Your customers are what keeps your company successful and in business, so listening to what they have to say about your product and company is paramount.
    • How did they like the product? What improvements can be made? How easy is the product to use?
    • How does your customer service compare with your competitors?
  • Keep in mind that a survey should be no longer than 10 questions or many customers will lose interest and end up not giving you any feedback.
  1. Brand Ambassador Campaign
  • Brand ambassador programs help get the word out about your products, services, and brands. With social media now influencing so many aspects of a business, it helps to have your best customers actively talking about your company online.
  • Use quotes from long term accounts that are positive about your products, company, and services, and post them on your website and social media channels.
  • Award the account for having the best training techniques to sell your products and services.
  1. Referral Campaign
  • Incentivize your customers with discounts, awards, gifts, and special promotions for referring other prospects.
  • Create themed contests that challenge your customers to submit as many referrals as possible.
  1. Loyalty Campaign
  • Re-engage inactive customers.
  • Set-up tiered sales incentives based on the level of the partner.
  • Award each level of your partner program with an extravagant trip for the top-selling partner and sales rep.
  • Encourage training incentives like surveys, daily product trivia, and quizzes where they can immediately receive awards.
  1. Appreciation Campaign

This is a great customer-centric campaign that shows your customers they are appreciated.

  • Feature partners in an email, newsletters, and a page on your website that go above and beyond to sell your products.
  • Encourage customers to write a blog, testimonial, case study, or industry article about their experience with your company.
  1. Cross-Sell Campaign
  • Incentivize your customer base to expand their list of products by focusing on the benefits of offering an overall solution for their end user.
  1. Payment Option Campaign
  • By offering a variety of payment options it will entice your customers to increase their purchase amount.
  • Offer a number of payment options in the form of checks, ACH, e-procurement, extended credit, and good old cash.
  1. Renewal Drip Campaign
  • Remind current customers that it is time to renew their contracts.
    • Begin sending out email reminders that their renewal date is approaching over a specific timeframe.
    • Set-up an automated notification to the user when no action has taken place. This can also be used to notify the sales rep about account renewal.

 In Conclusion

When it comes to retaining your B2B customer, the ideas are endless. Overall, implementing simple and easy programs through email drip campaigns, newsletters, and social media will make them feel valued and important.

 

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  • Loyalty Marketing

Set Your Brand Up For Success With a Renewed Focus on Customer Loyalty

Customer Loyalty Metrics Strategy and Tactics Tips:

It goes undisputed among sales and marketing professionals that it is easier to make a sale to an existing customer than it is to sell a product or service to a prospect. Not only is it easier, it costs less too. With all this gravy, it’s no surprise that Loyalty Marketing is an industry all unto itself.  There are thousands of organizations dedicated to building your custom loyalty program and off-the-shelf reward programs you can join to brand for your corporate identity to reward your loyal customers.

Whether you select an off-the-shelf loyalty program, custom development, or in-house creation, you need to ensure your efforts and investment are bringing in the desired outcome. This is something you should consider, set goals and forecast prior to implementing a program.

Focusing on Customer Loyalty Means Tracking Customer Loyalty

Just like all campaign efforts, your loyalty program is going to require a lot of testing and experimentation, which means that you’ll need to be able to track your progress as you deploy new techniques moving forward.

First, document your baseline Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) so that you can see the genuine impact that your loyalty program is having. Measure these KPIs before, during, and after the launch – tracking how they improve over time once the program itself goes into effect.

Depending upon the type of loyalty program you offer your members, they may self-select into the program and you can use these events to track each member’s opt-ins and watch your signups grow. You will need to use Google Tag Manager to deploy Event tracking. This will enable a non-coding marketer to create the events. To see the results of tracking this information, click BEHAVIOR in Google Analytics’ left navigation pane.  This will expand and provide sub-categories. Click on events to expand the events sub-category menu to view your data.

Consider the following:

  • To learn more about the people who have requested more information from you and who want to find out more information about what your brand has to offer, keep track of newsletter signups. In Google Analytics, use the “Admin” dashboard to create a new goal using the “+ Goal” button. Select the “Event” option at the bottom of the page and further customize your tracking capabilities around those specific people who sign up for your newsletter or perform a similar action.
  • Track the number of people who visit often, otherwise known as people who visit your page over a certain number of times in a defined period. In Google Analytics, use the Segment Builder to configure an individual filter that isolates the behaviors of people who visit X number of times over Y number of days (whichever you prefer). Then, compare those behaviors to your total population using Google Analytics’ reporting feature to get a much better insight into those loyal users. This should show you the impact your program is having on customer visits, page views, sales, buying cycles and content preferences.
  • Track the people who visit you frequently, otherwise known as tracking the time between visits. Google Analytics will do this for you automatically based on a very simple calculation. This is one of the metrics that you can view right from your dashboard. Just view the “Channels” report for the appropriate domain.
  • Finally, you can get to work tracking loyalty sales themselves. To do this, you’ll need to use custom variables to better track not only the activities, behaviors, and patterns of your loyalty customers, but their transactions, sales, and times between purchases as well. To do this, you will need to enlist the help of a developer who can both make sure that everything is set up correctly and that you’re also tracking the right users over the long-term.

 

 

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  • Loyalty Marketing

Renewed Customer Loyalty Focus: Set Your Brand Up for Success

Customer Loyalty

It goes undisputed among sales and marketing professionals that it is easier to make a sale to an existing customer than it is to sell a product or service to a prospect.  Not only is it easier, it costs less too.  With all this gravy, it’s no surprise that Loyalty Marketing is an industry all unto itself.  There are thousands of organizations dedicated to building your custom loyalty program or off-the-shelf reward programs you can join and brand for your corporate identity to reward your loyal customers.

Whether you select an off-the-shelf loyalty program, custom development or in-house creation, you need to ensure your efforts and investment are having the desired outcome.  This is something you should consider, set goals and forecast prior to program implementation.

Focusing on Customer Loyalty Means Tracking Customer Loyalty

 Just like all campaign efforts, your loyalty program is going to require a lot of testing and experimentation, which means that you’ll need to be able to track your progress as you deploy new techniques moving forward.

First, document your baseline key performance indicators (KPIs) so that you can see the genuine impact that your loyalty program is having. Measure these KPIs before, during and after launch – tracking how they improve over time once the program itself goes into effect.

Depending upon the type of loyalty program you offer, members may self-select into the program and you can use events to track each member opt-in and watch your sign ups grow.  You will need to use Google Tag Manager to deploy Event tracking.  This will enable a non-coding marketer to create events. To see the results of tracking this information, click BEHAVIOR in Google Analytics left navigation pane.  This will expand and provide sub-categories.  Click on events to expand the events sub-category menu.

Consider the following:

  • To learn more about the people who have requested more information from you and who want to find out more information about what your brand has to offer, track newsletter sign-ups. In Google Analytics, use the “Admin” dashboard to create a new goal using the “+ Goal” button. Select the “Event” option at the bottom of the page and further customize your tracking capabilities around those specific people who sign up for your newsletter or perform a similar action.
  • Track the number of people who visit often, otherwise known as people who visit your page over a certain number of times in a defined period. In Google Analytics, use the Segment Builder to configure an individual filter that isolates the behaviors of people who visit X number of times over Y number of days (whichever you prefer). Then, compare those behaviors to your total population using Google Analytics’ reporting feature to get a much better insight into those loyal users. This should show you the impact your program is having on visits, page views, sales, buying cycles and content preferences.
  • Track the people who visit you frequently, otherwise known as tracking the time between visits. Google Analytics will actually do this for you automatically based on a very simple calculation. This is one of the metrics that you can view right from your dashboard. Just view the “Channels” report for the appropriate domain.
  • Finally, you can get to work tracking loyalty sales themselves. To do this, you’ll need to use custom variables to better track not only the activities, behaviors and patterns of your loyalty customers, but their transactions, sales and times between purchases as well. To do this, you will need to enlist the help of a developer who can both make sure that everything is set up correctly and that you’re also tracking the right users over the long-term.

To find out more information about how to renew your focus on customer loyalty, or to get answers to any additional questions you may have, please contact us today.

 

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  • Loyalty Marketing

The Art of Loyalty Marketing: Keeping Customers Engaged

Loyalty Marketing

If you really want to better understand why loyalty is so important in marketing, all you have to do is look at the following statistic: according to one recent study, the probability of selling to an existing customer is between 60 and 70%. The probably of selling to a new prospect, on the other hand, is only between 5 and 20%. Likewise, it is usually between five and 25 times more expensive to sell to a new customer than an existing one.

But loyalty itself isn’t something that you can command – it’s something that you earn by placing a heavy emphasis on the engagement of your campaigns. People aren’t going to be loyal just because you want them to – they must want it themselves. This is where gamification comes in to play – it can get your existing customers to engage with your brand. Gamification gives your customers a reason to want to engage by challenging them, giving them goals, and making it fun to play.

Loyalty Marketing and Gamification 

When your brand offers a customer loyalty program (such as an account people sign up for to earn points and other reward credits for future purchases), you’re unlocking multiple benefits at the same time. Engagement levels increase as people now have an active relationship with your brand, and customers that are actively engaged tend to make purchases about 90% more frequently in transactions that are usually worth about 60% more than average.

By virtue of such loyalty programs you have already gamified your brand. You have given your customers an account that they can log into and see points they’ve earned from their activity and the rewards those points can redeem. The activity should always be the focus of your gamification. Ask yourself “WHAT is it that I want my customers to do?” Then, incentivize your loyal customers to do what you want.

Let’s look at a couple popular travel brands and their loyalty gamification strategies:

Lyft

Lyft would like you to use their ride sharing services more often. Therefore, they have recently started sending statements to their riders. These statements don’t just have ride history and spend, but have added badges that you can earn for reaching goals in various categories such as:

Early Riser

Night Crawler

Busy Bee

Planning Pro

Happy Hour

TGIF

Weekend Social

City Hopper

Ride Share Champion

Referral Pro

These badges have “random reward” associated with them. “As you earn more badges, you may be surprised with a reward down the road — so make sure to keep an eye on your inbox”, according to Lyft’s website.

Lyft is tapping into the basic human instinct to accept challenges and the desire to succeed and win. You already start with a badge since you have ridden and fallen into a badge category. This too makes the customer feel invested in the game by giving them something before they even knew they were playing.

American Airlines AAdvantage Program

This is an oldie but goodie. For every mile you fly with American Airlines or its partner, you earn points towards travel. That’s the basic game. American has since upped the ante with gamification and rewards when it launched the Virtual Passport, challenging members to share their travels socially, track friends’ travel and answer trivia questions. Members earn points for these behaviors and may redeem them for traditional AAdvantage Travel awards. This played out very well for American Airlines, tapping into something we already love sharing, our travels, and adding brand engagement with trivia, fueling the fire to want to travel. And who do you suspect these folks will be traveling with? They do have bonus points on American!

This program was a smash hit for American, delivering over 70% more stamps than forecasted and ROI in excess of 500%.

Gamification and Loyalty Marketing have been holding hands since they were born. It is how you decide to implement these strategies that really impact your results. You need to identify the triggers you want to happen for your brand and build your game around them. Remember, people like playing games, so make sure you are getting what you want and build a game around it. People will play so long as you continue to give them challenges and value.

If you would like a FREE consultation on how to GAMIFY your brand to increase engagement, please click here to book your complimentary appointment.

 

 

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Protected by U.S. Patent numbers 7,162,433, 8,019,641, 8,655,715 B2, 10,891,642 and pending applications.

Copyright © 2000–2026 Contest Factory. All Rights Reserved.

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Engage. Capture. Convert.

Your Partner from Concept to Completion.

End-to-end promotional marketing solutions that bring strategy, creative, technology, compliance, administration, and fulfillment together.

Explore
Company
Popular Products
Get Started

Have a promotion in mind? Tell us what you’re trying to accomplish.

Let's Talk

Protected by U.S. Patent numbers 7,162,433, 8,019,641, 8,655,715 B2, 10,891,642 and pending applications.

Copyright © 2000–2026 Contest Factory. All Rights Reserved.

Facebook X-twitter Linkedin