Global ecommerce sales are growing every year. Shopify’s latest research even stated that global ecommerce sales will reach $4.9trillion by 2022. More stores are entering the industry and competition is mounting.
With 2020 just around the corner, now is the perfect time to reflect on 2019 and learn what you can do better in the new year.
In this blog, we’re taking a look at nine inspirational loyalty programs in 2019 that are ticking all the boxes, regardless of their industry. We’ll also share how these brands are using their programs to set their store apart and increase customer lifetime value.
- Never Fully Dressed (fashion)
- H&M (fashion)
- Nordstrom (fashion)
- PRFO (outdoor retailer)
- The North Face (outdoor retailer)
- Offblak (Food and drink)
- Vitabiotics (health and wellness)
- Sephora (beauty and cosmetics)
- Mirenesse (beauty and cosmetics)
Let’s dive in.
Never Fully Dressed
Never Fully Dressed (NFD) is a premium-quality fashion brand that positions themselves as “the sophisticated sass”. To celebrate their brand community and their 10th birthday, Never Fully Dressed created an on-brand loyalty program.
We think, Never Fully Dressed is an inspirational example thanks to their fully-customised and on-brand loyalty program.
To encourage spending and to stay consistent with their brand values, Never Fully Dressed designed a tiered loyalty program structure where customers can move across three levels: “Something Sassy”, “Strikingly Sassy” and “Supremely Sassy”.
To increase their program engagement, Never Fully Dressed also draw attention by using on-site notifications and pop-up banners on their homepage.
The brand also make use of their strong social media presence by enabling customers to earn NFD Points in exchange for social media engagements.
Using LoyaltyLion’s integration with Klaviyo, Never Fully Dressed also ran some exciting, data-driven and customised email marketing campaigns this year that made customers feel special at the post-purchase stage.
As a result, in a single year, Never Fully Dressed increased the spend of their members by 68% compared to non-members.
H&M
H&M is one of the world’s biggest fashion retailers with a strong brand affection and community. To reward customers for their dedication, and to encourage customer spend, H&M created a two-tiered loyalty program structure. H&M’s loyalty program is an inspiration for all of us. They listen to the market and integrated their loyalty program with their mobile app to provide a flawless experience across all platforms.
H&M explains how their loyalty program works in a simple and clear way to motivate customers to become a member. They offer one point per pound spent, and for every 100 points, they offer three pounds bonus voucher that customers can spend on their next purchase.
75% of consumers indicate that they are more willing to sign up to a loyalty program from their mobile phone. To create a seamless customer experience, H&M created a mobile app, where members can see points balances, digital receipts and get early access to selected sales.
Nordstrom
As a US-based fashion retailer, Nordstrom already had a loyalty program but last year they adapted it to make it more personalised and engaging. What we love about Nordstrom is that they put loyalty at the centre of their marketing and, as a result, it powers the brand’s growth.
Nordstrom named their new loyalty program “The Nordy Club”, and made it a fundamental part of their brand. Nordstrom’s VP Dave Sims said “when thinking about this evolution, a guiding principle was to offer something for everyone, no matter…where they interact with us.”
Recent research shows that 57% of consumers engage with loyalty programs through their smart device or mobile phone. With this in mind, Nordstrom created Nordy Club app to interact with their members on every channel.
Erik Nordstrom, co-president and director at Nordstrom, said that their loyalty program is a key part of their brand and adds “It’s something that’s been vital to us for quite some time. Five years ago, 35% of our business was done through our loyalty program. It is now at 55% and growing rapidly.”
PRFO
As a sports brand, PRFO has an engaging brand community. But, this year, they wanted to take this a step further. To achieve this, they created a loyalty program that rewarded their dedicated customers while increasing engagement and repeat purchase. Their clever approach has already had a significant
To increase engagement, customers who become a member are automatically directed to the loyalty program page where they can see the ways to earn points. Through this strategy, PRFO is encouraging members to spend more regularly from the very first interaction.
PRFO also enables members to earn points by engaging on social media and making referrals. For example, members can earn 100 points if they share #PRFO on Instagram. We love this approach as PRFO turning their members into brand advocates and, as a result, are enhancing their brand awareness.
Furthermore, PRFO offers a ten dollar coupon for every 200 points earned to increase customer spend and repeat purchase.
In just two months, PRFO increased its customer spend by 39% and repeat purchase rate by 41%.
The North Face
The North Face is one of the world’s most well-known outdoor clothing brands. In 2019, North Face decided that they wanted to increase engagement and enhance their brand experience.
With the launch of their loyalty program this year, North Face now offers points for joining in with North Face events and enables customers to redeem points by completing activities, like a mountain climbing trip to Nepal. In turn, the brand can build longer-lasting relationship with their customers.
And, to encourage customers go online, the North Face offers double points to customers who shop from their ecommerce store.
Offblak
As a lifestyle brand for tea lovers all around the world, Offblak’s customers are their most powerful brand assets. To strengthen its brand community and identity, Offblak created a loyalty program named “Tea Perks”.
First, Offblak created a fully-customised loyalty program that is consistent with their brand elements. As a result, “Tea Perks” has become a natural extension of their brand identity right away.
Offblak also implemented a tiered loyalty program structure that includes a subscriber tier. Their customers can automatically join “Gen-T” and earn one point per pound spent. And, to encourage members to spend more and repeat purchase, Offblak also offers double points and exclusive benefits for “T-Club subscribers”. In the last 5 years, the subscription business has grown by 890%, while food and drink subscription accounts for more than 34% of the market. Offblak is building a subscription business by leveraging their loyalty program.
As a result, in a single month, Offblak increased its customer spend by 24% from loyalty program members compared to visitors.
Vitabiotics
Vitabiotics is the UK’s number one vitamin and supplements company. This year they created a new loyalty program as a way to increase customer lifetime value. Vitabiotics is on our list because they created a user-friendly experience that enhances program engagement, repeat purchase and customer spend.
To achieve this, they implemented a refer-a-friend modal on their integrated loyalty page, offered real-time incentives during checkout and used check-out slider so customers can redeem points in the smoothest way possible.
Through delivering a simplified and engaging loyalty experience, Vitabiotics increased its customer spend by 69% and repeat purchase by 37% more than non-members in a single year.
Sephora
We couldn’t do a run-down of the best loyalty programs in 2019 without mentioning Sephora’s “Beauty Insider” program – arguably one of the best examples of customer loyalty programs out there.
First, they designed a three-tiered loyalty program structure that enables customers to get exclusive rewards for each tier. Sephora also provides strong personalisation regardless of which tier you are in.
In other words, to strengthen their relationship with customers and brand affection, they followed a customer-centric approach for their loyalty program. For example, they created the “Rewards Bazaar” where members can spend their “Beauty Insider” points, join to free beauty classes and receive personalised recommendations.
Mirenesse
As Australia’s number one online beauty brand, Mirenesse already had a powerful customer base and brand identity. However, they wanted to increase repeat purchase and customer spend further.
To achieve this in 2019, Mirenesse created a loyalty program called “Love Rewards” and highlighted it on the main navigation header with a heart symbol. This approach helped Mirenesse to build more emotional connections with their customers.
To boost spend and repeat purchase, Mirenesse designed a two-tiered loyalty program structure including a paid membership tier. Customers who become a member automatically join “Onyx” tier, and start earning one point per dollar spent. But members who subscribe to “Gold” tier for a $10 monthly fee can earn double points for all activities, receive exclusive rewards such as access to secret sales.
As a result, Mirenesse increased the spend of members by 73% compared to non-members and now loyalty program members repeat purchase up to 69% more than site visitors.
Bring on 2022
You’ve seen some of the best examples of loyalty programs. The common points they were sharing are:
- Consistency with the brand identity and values
- Standing at the centre of their business
- Discovering consumer insights
- Following market trends
- Creating a community feeling
We hope that this was an inspiring blog for you to build your own loyalty program.
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This article was originally published by our friends at LoyaltyLion.
