Are you aiming to improve customer relationships and increase your profits? One effective approach is using top business loyalty programs. Customer appreciation is essential for business success, and loyalty programs are a practical way to demonstrate this. In this article, we will review examples of successful business loyalty programs and explain why they effectively retain customers and increase customer lifetime value.
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What Is A Business Loyalty Program?
A loyalty program is a program your business offers that rewards customers for their continuous purchases from you. Rewards can include
• Gifts • Free products • Early and exclusive access to new products or events • Point systems • Awards • Exclusive merch
Anything you want to do to show appreciation for their business. Any business knows it can’t just open up shop and expect customers to come rolling in—they need to be motivated to buy. An excellent product or an outstanding customer experience (CX) will do the trick. Organizations need a dedicated strategy to entice customers to continue buying.
How Loyalty Programs Drive Increased Spending and Customer Retention
According to Merkle’s 2024 Loyal Barometer Report, 77% of consumers belong to up to five customer loyalty programs, and 93% say they earned or redeemed a reward in the past six months. Customers who join these programs tend to spend more money because they receive benefits for their business. They already enjoy buying from your company, and giving them another reason to do so is a win-win situation.
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• Customer Appreciation Day • Closing Gifts For Buyers • Customer Loyalty And Retention • How To Build Brand Loyalty • Customer Rewards • Thank You Notes For Customer Appreciation • Customer Appreciation Week • Customer Loyalty Program Ideas • How To Measure Customer Loyalty • Thank You Gifts For Clients
Types Of Loyalty Programs
A customer loyalty program is a win-win for both buyers and businesses. Here’s how it typically works:
• When a customer shops repeatedly with a business • It boosts the company’s sales • Helps build a stronger relationship with that customer
To show appreciation, the business offers rewards such as exclusive discounts, free items, or early access to new products. Here’s a simple rundown of the process:
• A new customer makes their first purchase or shares their details with the company • The company invites the customer to join its loyalty program • Once customers sign up, they start earning rewards for every purchase • As the customer keeps using the loyalty program, they unlock even better rewards and perks
It’s all about encouraging repeat business and making customers feel valued with perks that grow as their loyalty continues.
How Do Business Loyalty Programs Work?
Points Programs
Among the most popular loyalty programs, customers earn points for various actions and can redeem them for:
• Discounts • Freebies • Credits
Toward future purchases. These programs are simple and effective, making them a great way to build loyalty.
Tier-Based Programs
Reward customers based on their spending levels. Customers can achieve different tiers based on their spending amount, gaining access to exclusive deals or premium services. This tiered structure motivates customers to spend more to reach higher levels and enjoy better rewards.
Mission-Based Programs
Driven by a strong mission, these programs include charitable components, like donating a percentage of each purchase to a cause. They are effective when partnered with nonprofits that align with a company’s values.
Spend-Based Programs
Rewards are directly linked to the amount a customer spends. The more they spend, the more rewards and discounts they earn. This type of program is becoming popular in industries where spending significantly impacts customer engagement.
Subscription Programs
Requires customers to pay an upfront fee for ongoing benefits. Subscribers get rewards that can be used for future purchases, creating a steady stream of revenue while offering exclusive perks to loyal customers.
Referral Programs
Reward customers for bringing in new clients. When a customer refers friends or family, they might receive a reward, and the referred customer might get a discount on their first purchase. This leverages word-of-mouth to attract new customers cost-effectively.
Coalition Loyalty Programs
Multiple brands partner, allowing customers to earn and redeem points across different businesses. This collaboration broadens the program’s appeal and encourages customers to explore new brands while enjoying a comprehensive rewards system.
Community Programs
Customer communities allow customers to connect with like-minded people, share tips on product usage, or learn from each other. These programs offer a way for customers to engage with the brand and each other, creating a differentiated experience.
Related Reading
• Customer Loyalty Analysis • Customer Loyalty Survey • How To Reward Customer Loyalty • Customer Appreciation Event Ideas • How To Create A Loyalty Program • Customer Loyalty Program Examples • Customer Loyalty Programs For Restaurants • Customer Appreciation Gift Ideas • B2B Customer Loyalty Programs • Types Of Customer Loyalty • Member Appreciation Ideas • Customer Recognition • Ideas For Customer Appreciation • Customer Appreciation Day Ideas For Banks • Complimentary Gifts For Customers • Customer Loyalty Ladder
Why You Need A Business Loyalty Program
All businesses can benefit from building a customer loyalty program and rewarding customers with additional, exclusive benefits. You might already be a member of some programs, like frequent flier miles or referral bonus programs.
More frequent purchases
60% of loyal customers will purchase more frequently from their preferred companies. The bottom line is that loyal customers will spend more with your brand. If they make one purchase with you, they will likely make more.
Loyal customers don’t care if you have the cheapest products. If they like your brand, they’ll want to keep spending money with you. 93% of customers will likely make repeat purchases with excellent customer service companies.
It’s cheaper
It costs five times more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one. Retaining loyal customers just makes good business sense. Not only is it cheaper to retain customers than to acquire them, but it’s also more accessible.
If customers have bought from you once, they are much more likely to buy from you again. It’s much harder to convince a brand-new customer to take a chance with your business.
More word-of-mouth referrals
If loyal customers are happy enough, they might recommend you to friends and family. Word-of-mouth referrals are the most powerful form of marketing, and 88% of people trust a brand when a friend or family member recommends it.
Word-of-mouth marketing costs nothing and can help you attract new, more receptive customers to your business. If a friend or family member recommends a brand, you’ve already won at least one person’s trust.
Provide genuine opinions
Loyal customers are more open to giving genuine opinions on your products and services. They’ve been using your products for a long time and will likely have detailed ideas for improving them. New customers are doubtful about giving feedback—they’ll probably just try your product and move on if they don’t like it.
Only one out of 26 customers will likely bring up their complaints, while the rest will just leave without saying a word. Your long-term loyal customers are a vital source of feedback that can help you solve problems with your service that you weren’t aware of.
Protects you from competitors
When you have customer loyalty, you don’t have to keep lowering your prices to keep pace with your competitors. Customers will naturally buy from you because they feel a sense of commitment to your brand and understand that paying more gets them great service.
37% of customers considered themselves loyal to a company after at least five purchases. It takes quite a while to earn a loyal customer, but it’s worth it once you do.
User-Generated Content and Reviews
Online customer reviews are almost as trustworthy as recommendations from friends and family. Customer loyalty programs that incentivize reviews and ratings on websites and social media will result in authentic user-generated content from customers singing your praises so you don't have to.
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By carefully considering an individual's basic demographics, preferences, social media activity, and digital footprint, we tailor each gift selection process regardless if the recipient is an employee, a customer, a VIP client, a friend, or a family member. With a wide range of locally and globally sourced gifts, we ensure that personalized gifting is accessible and achievable on a large scale, delivering meaningful connections across the globe.
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23 Examples Of Best Business Loyalty Programs That Are Widely Successful
1. Lively
Lively's loyalty program makes customers feel special and valued by offering rewards on
• Birthdays • Referrals • Social media follows
Instantly rewarding members with points for signing up and offering $10 off the next purchase creates a strong emotional bond early on. This strategy has led to a 39% increase in average customer lifetime value and a 36% increase in average spend.
2. Hugo Boss Experience
Hugo Boss Experience is a loyalty program that offers exclusive rewards to members only, such as:
• Personalized offers • Private styling appointments • VIP events
Joining the program is free of charge and comes with attractive benefits like door-to-door Uber delivery, returns without a receipt, and free standard alterations. These features focus on user satisfaction and comfort.
3. IKEA Family
IKEA Family rewards customers when they sign up, offering discounts, on-site restaurant perks, and exclusive services like the Buy Back & Resell program. Members can earn extra discounts on in-store purchases and receive store credit by trading in old IKEA furniture.
4. Nike Membership
Nike Membership gives members instant access to exclusive benefits, products, and services without the need to earn points. Members enjoy access to special products, services, and partner offers, encouraging customer community participation and personalized experiences. This multi-channel loyalty program enhances customer experiences based on their interests.
5. H&M Membership
H&M Membership is a two-tiered loyalty program offering various benefits, such as free shipping, flexible payment options, double points days, and exclusive access to limited collections. In addition to earning points for online and in-store purchases, members can also participate in ESG actions, aligning with the brand's sustainable values.
6. Pulse Boutique
Pulse Boutique's Pulse Perks loyalty program engages customers through a fashion community, encouraging social media engagement and user-generated content. With a 39% increase in returning shoppers and a 19% growth in average order value, this loyalty program demonstrates the power of customer engagement.
7. Annmarie Skin Care
The Wild and Beautiful Collective by Annmarie Skin Care nurtures a sense of inclusion through its membership program, resulting in 140% higher spending by members than non-members. With high member engagement and timely point redemption, this loyalty program has generated over 1000 reviews.
8. Pacifica Beauty
Pacifica Beauty's loyalty offering engages customers through the entire buyer journey with easy-to-use loyalty pages and checkout sliders for reward redemption. Members spend 130% more on average than non-members, showcasing the effectiveness of this customer loyalty strategy.
9. Mirenesse
Mirenesse's Gold tier membership offers customers extra perks for a monthly fee, such as bonus points, secret sales access, and new product trials. This VIP tier strategy promotes customer loyalty, increasing spending and enhancing engagement.
10. The North Face
The North Face's XPLR Pass membership program rewards loyal customers with discounts, competitions, and exclusive offers, demonstrating brand commitment to social issues with rewards for social awareness courses.
11. REI's Co-op Membership
REI's Co-op Membership program goes beyond typical benefits by offering cashback based on business profits and the chance for members to elect board candidates, strengthening the connection between customers and the brand.
12. Lucy and Yak
Lucy and Yak's visually appealing loyalty program showcases customer photos and lifestyle imagery to earn Yak points and enhance brand loyalty with a unique tone of voice and strong brand personality.
13. Waterdrop
Waterdrop's health and wellness loyalty program emphasizes visual appeal, inclusive language, and clear signposting to earn points and acquire gifts. With over €58,000 generated from referrals, this loyalty program effectively drives customer engagement and retention.
14. Nicce Clothing
Nicce Clothing's loyalty program, N Coin, features a memorable points system that aligns with the brand's contemporary and minimalist identity, showcasing a loyalty program that resonates with the overall brand image.
15. Eat Bobo's
Eat Bobo's Love Mitts loyalty program leverages its down-to-earth, hand-crafted image with a creative rewards system, strengthening brand loyalty and customer engagement.
16. Sand Cloud Rewards
Sand Cloud's tier-based rewards program focuses on customer acquisition. It offers points for following social media accounts and making referrals. This loyalty program simplifies the customer experience and maximizes referral value with a simple redemption option.
17. Dagne Rewards
Dagne Dover's tiered rewards program differs in points earned for each dollar spent, offering discounts and double bonuses for referrals to encourage customer engagement and expansion of its customer base.
18. Starbucks Rewards
Starbucks Rewards allows customers to earn stars for purchases, redeemable for free items and member-only benefits. With the extension of Starbucks Odyssey, the brand deepens emotional bonds between members and the brand through interactive experiences.
19. PC Optimum
PC Optimum's grocery reward program offers personalized rewards based on purchase history. It maximizes point-earning potential on everyday purchases and provides easy tracking through a mobile app.
20. Sephora's Beauty Insider Program
Sephora's Beauty Insider Program offers points-based rewards for testing products and unique experiences, capitalizing on the beauty industry's community-driven nature and the need for experimentation.
21. The LEGO Insiders program
LEGO Insiders program rewards customers for registering sets and community involvement, maintaining a strong emotional connection with customers through initiatives like LEGO Ideas.
22. Astrid & Miyu's
Astrid & Miyu's tiered loyalty program offers exclusive benefits, such as early access to sales and promotions, strengthening brand loyalty and customer engagement.
23. Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime's loyalty program offers fast delivery for a set fee, creating a ready-made audience for additional services like Prime Video. Members spend significantly more each year, showcasing the effectiveness of this loyalty program.
Examples of Best Business Loyalty Software
Giftpack:
At Giftpack, our driving force is to simplify the corporate gifting process while maximizing the impact of each gift. Utilizing our custom AI algorithm, we create highly customized scenario swag box options for you. We deliver globally and have an extremely user-friendly platform. We curate the most fitting gifts from a vast catalog of over 3.5 million products worldwide (which is ever-increasing).
By carefully considering an individual's basic demographics, preferences, social media activity, and digital footprint, we tailor each gift selection process regardless if the recipient is an employee, a customer, a VIP client, a friend, or a family member. With a wide range of locally and globally sourced gifts, we ensure that personalized gifting is accessible and achievable on a large scale, delivering meaningful connections across the globe.
FiveStars
FiveStars is a reward program software that allows you to acquire new customers two times more often with the help of:
• Text • Email • Mobile app marketing tools
The software provides you with a free Customer Touchscreen to easily sign up customers with detailed reports on your customers’ spending behaviors.
AutoPilot and Unlimited Promotions enable you to automatically offer customers the right reward at the right time, keeping your brand at the top of mind. AutoPilot can use their emails and birthdays provided at the registration step to run five automated marketing campaigns through messaging, offers, and timing associated with event triggers.
TapMango
TapMango is one of the most comprehensive and flexible software for creating reward programs for small businesses in retail or restaurant fields. The platform allows you to run flash sales campaigns to drive more traffic and manage mobile ordering for multi-location stores. Store owners can reward customers with points every time they check in by presenting offers on the interactive TapMango tablet in-store.
With this software, you enable customers to buy products and services through integrated POS systems such as:
• Shopify • Lightspeed • Square • Etc
Customers can also collect reward points by sharing photos of your products on social networks or referring their friends to your store. TapMango allows you to build your reward program app for both iOS and Android so that customers can easily track their points and place orders via their mobile devices.
Revetize
Revetize is suitable for small local businesses looking for a solution to manage all online reviews, promotions, referrals, and loyalty programs in one place and deliver these interactions through email, text messages, and pen-written letters. With various communication, lead generation, and reputation management tools, business owners can leverage happy customers and acquire more referrals, reviews, and repeat business.
This platform allows store managers to interact with customers through touchpoint automation and personalized messages and manage all of their customers more conveniently it can:
• Filter • Classify • Segment customers
Into specific groups for targeted marketing campaigns. Revetize users can also run promotional and loyalty campaigns and easily track their performance.
Antavo
As a SaaS platform, Antavo provides outstanding features for creating reward programs for small businesses that increase customer retention and lifetime value. The software uses customer data to deliver personalized and omnichannel experiences to your customers via Recognition Loyalty™.
With strong eCommerce capabilities, Antavo offers cutting-edge in-store technologies such as Loyalty Experience Kiosk and Mobile Wallet. You can enable customers to earn points through not only transactions but also in:
• Writing product reviews • Referral activities, etc.
Which can establish long-lasting loyalty from customers towards your brand.
Related Reading
• Customer Appreciation Events • Customer Recognition Programs • Inexpensive Customer Appreciation Gifts • Customer Loyalty Marketing Strategy • Customer Loyalty Program Software • Customer Loyalty Management • Customer Loyalty Strategies • Loyalty Program Integration • Loyalty Program Automation • Loyalty Business Model • Business Loyalty Program • Customer Loyalty in Business • Business Customer Loyalty
Build A Meaningful Employee Recognition Program With Ease with Giftpack's Client Gifting Service
Giftpack is an innovative platform that simplifies the corporate gifting process while maximizing the impact of each gift. With a custom AI algorithm, Giftpack creates highly customized scenario swag box options for clients worldwide. This ensures that each gift is tailored to the recipient's preferences, social media activity, and digital footprint.
Giftpack offers a vast catalog of over 3.5 million products, enabling personalized gifting on a large scale. Through global delivery and an easy-to-use platform, Giftpack facilitates meaningful connections across the globe.
Give Giftpack's client gifting service a try for free today.
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