Loyalty Blogs

Living in the digital world, we rely on different online businesses to complete our day-to-day tasks. Many eCommerce brands are struggling to grab the attention of their hard-earned customers and that is where a well-planned loyalty program for your retail business is a must. Online shopping has never been this competitive!

To make sure that your customers choose your brand, again and again, you need to give solid reasons to keep them coming back, whether it’s exclusive experiences or relevant loyalty offerings. Let’s find out why your business needs effective customer loyalty software to retain customers. In this blog, we will learn about the top brands that are using high-performing loyalty programs and what are the strategies you must follow to create one for your business!

List of Top Brands Having Best Retail Loyalty Program

A study says customers that are using high-performing loyalty programs are the ones that are more likely to spend more and choose your brand over competitors. But how can you create one for the business that can help you retain customers? What are the strategies you need? Which offerings you must provide? We will find out everything here!

Before that, let’s check out some of the top loyalty program examples used by many successful retail brands.

1. Starbucks

In 2021, Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee chain’s loyalty program gained a user base of more than 21 million members by delivering exceptional convenience with cross-channel account top-up and simplified queue-jump ordering. Apart from free in-store refills for coffee & tea, it offers a points-based incentive scheme with giveaways and discounts.

2. Target

Target came up with its loyalty program, RedCard, in 2019, and by the next year, there were around 80 million members. The program enables shoppers to save 5% on all spending along with exclusive members-only offers, 2 free-day shipping & extra 30 days return policy. They also partnered with Starbucks to offer RedCard holders a 5% discount on any Starbucks store.

3. Sephora

The online and store beauty retailer Sephora has its customer loyalty program, Beauty Insider which has gained a huge customer base. Based on different tiers, the program offers exclusive offerings and relevant benefits to keep customers engaged. Additionally, it offers personalized sessions with expert make-up professionals and perks along with product discounts.

4. IKEA

IKEA built its retail loyalty program with more than 1.6 million US members in the same year of its launch enabling customers to keep coming back. To keep their customers happy and confident in their purchases, they offer free in-store coffee, damage protection on all furniture purchases with a policy called “Oops-assurance,” and especially-curated discounts on select items.

5. Lancome

Lancôme has launched an easy-to-use and incredibly tempting loyalty program where customers earn 10 points on every spend of a dollar, earn 50 points with every connection on social media, and 100 points for sharing details with Lancome. Coupled with a tiered system, the Lancome loyalty program rewards customers with benefits such as early product access, ShopRunner membership (with free shipping & brand discounts), etc.

6. Reebok

Reebok followed an alternative approach that cost the brand less money than a gift-based rewards plan by offering VIP experiences, training and wellness programs, partner rewards, and lots more. Reebok program members gain points on every interaction & transaction, where customers can accumulate points for the value of the rewards and get access to partner events & exclusive product launches.

7. Disney

Focused on building deep connections with the brand, Disney launched a tiered and card-based loyalty program called Magic Keys to encourage repeat visits to their Disneyland locations. With the fixed annual subscription charge, Disney enthusiasts unlock premium services with discounted entrance and dining with multiple theme park reservations at once.

8. DSW

DSW VIP loyalty program enables members to get free shipping on every purchase, extra points for charity work like donation of nearly-new shoes to someone in need, and points for offering

birthdays information & picking items up in-store. It comes with three tiers that provide more offers as members spend more.

Strategies to Build Your Own Loyalty Program

Gone are the days when customers stay loyal with just points earned through loyalty programs. To stay ahead in the competition, businesses need to offer more than that. A well-strategized loyalty program helps in building an end-to-end brand experience that is relevant, rewarding as well as interesting.

Here are some of the top strategies to help you build long-lasting customer loyalty-

– Create Something Unique

The one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work every time, especially for loyalty programs. To entice your customers and make them choose your brand, again and again, you must be able to come up with a unique angle that stands out and can add value to give you a competitive edge.

– Take Inspiration from Different Loyalty Programs

· Advance Auto Parts came up with free parking spots for VIP customers

· Nordstrom offers free basic updates for members, special events access, in-home stylist, etc.

· IKEA attract customers with free in-store beverage & Oops-assurance policy with the purchase of furniture

· Reebok provides access to partner events, product releases, wellness programs, etc.

– Personalized Loyalty Experience

Make your customers believe that your business appreciates and understand them with the help of a unique loyalty experience that is personalized to meet their interests and needs.

To make this easy for you, ensure that you make use of a unified database structure with the product, sales, and customer data intact. Make use of the Novus loyalty platform to engage customers in real-time throughout their journey for a higher customer retention rate.

– Focus on Mobile-Friendly Program

Make sure that your loyalty program is easy to use and mobile-friendly to help your customers forget the stress of keeping multiple loyalty cards in their pockets. Ensure that your customers store the brand loyalty card on mobile or in-app for easy access to their rewards and track their earnings anytime, anywhere.

Other ways are to add your loyalty card to Apple Pay / Google Wallet to help customers collect rewards in one tap, use QR Code to store your customer’s loyalty information for easy scanning, etc.

– Take Customers’ Feedback Seriously

You are making a loyalty program for your customers, which is why you must ensure that you listen to them and find out what exactly they want from your brand. Try different offerings and stick with the one that works best by listening to your customers.

Take time to improve your loyalty program regularly by taking feedback from your customers with survey forms and online questionnaires. To increase engagement, you can also offer incentives for those who answer questionnaires associated with your loyalty program.

Closing Statement

Hopefully, you must be aware that delivering a seamless customer experience throughout the customer lifecycle is one of the most effective ways to build brand loyalty in your business. Novus is a fully integrated and customizable Loyalty Rewards Platform that enables different brands across the globe to build long-lasting loyalty with hyper-personalized campaigns that work exclusively for their specific business needs.

With the help of Novus, your business can take advantage of a loyalty program to create personalized engagements focused on different dynamic segments and make use of reporting/analytics by lifecycle stage to track the performance of loyalty campaigns in real-time. Connect with our experts to get a quick demo of Novus and see how you can deliver robust omnichannel experiences that drive customer loyalty.