This guest post is written by LimeSpot‘s Head of Global Partnerships, Francis Pilon. LimeSpot is the market leader in ecommerce personalization, trusted by thousands of merchants worldwide.
The idea behind loyalty programs and personalized ecommerce experiences is ultimately one and the same: to treat your best customers like the VIPs they are.
That’s not the only thing loyalty programs and personalized shopping experiences have in common. They also both rely heavily on segmentation. A one size fits all loyalty experience hardly motivates customers to spend more with you, and the same goes for your entire online shopping experience.
Historically, retailers have treated the home page of their website the exact same way a brick & mortar retailer would treat their display windows: With a single look and feel to try and sway customers to explore your product offering. But there’s really no reason for online retailers to follow suit with this traditional brick and mortar approach. In fact, it’s easier than ever to create a personalized experience for every customer, based on their browsing habits and buying behavior, and even their loyalty program status.
Keep reading for ideas on how you can use your loyalty program segments to create an even more engaging on-site experience.
1. Roll out the red carpet for your loyal advocates
Your best customers already enjoy plenty of perks and benefits from your loyalty program, but you can make every visit to your website extra special by presenting content that only your top customers see.
Choose which loyalty tiers see which promotions
Having a storewide sale? Give top spenders an even bigger discount that other customers won’t be exposed to by controlling exactly what promotions are presented to every customer segment, whether promoted through pop-ups, banners, hero images, or even content on a product page. Keep in mind special pricing and offers should be controlled through a discounting program to restrict access by customer type.
Offer a welcome back message
If your customer is logged in, welcome them back with a personalized message via a hello bar banner or slide-in. Use this message to incorporate a call to action, like driving the customer to products recommended for them, new arrivals, or exclusive products and offers.
Design a custom shopping experience from email
Ever been in this situation? You’re inspired by the hero image in an email, but when you click through, you’re taken to a generic page like ‘New Arrivals’. Save customers frustration by designing a custom experience throughout the entire buyer journey from the moment they click on your emails, including transactional emails related to your loyalty program.
2. Show at-risk customers you care
An at-risk customer may have indicated they’re not overly happy with your shopping experience – but all hope isn’t lost. If anything, personalization is a perfect way to re-engage them and create a better experience that has them coming back instead of veering away.
Create ‘Your Store’ recommendations
Show customers you’ve been paying attention by creating a collection tailored just to them. Serve up recommendations based on a customer’s recent purchases, reminding them what they loved about your store in the first place – and how you’ve got more to offer.
Promote one-time bonuses
If a customer hasn’t shopped with you in a while, it might be time to roll out a re-engagement campaign that only appears for at-risk customers. Highlight an exclusive coupon code to motivate hesitant customers to give you a second shot.
Send out personalized recommendations emails
At-risk customers deserve their own email strategy. And with that, their own personal touch. 1:1 recommendations are a great way to show customers you get what they’re looking for, keeping them engaged instead of disinterested with your email content.
3. Highlight what your churned customers are missing out on
A customer may have said ‘Sayanora’, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re gone forever. Every business has its own definition of churn. It could be having someone unsubscribe from a subscription, or it could simply be a lapsed customer that hasn’t bought from you in an extended period. Either way, personalizing your re-engagement strategy can be just the thing to get them back in the door.
Provide a tailored offer by email
If a customer has stopped buying from you but hasn’t unsubscribed from your emails, chances are you’ve got a limited window in which to remind them why they shopped with you in the first place. This is a great opportunity and you must avoid going with a generic promotional pitch. Instead, speak to customers on a 1:1 basis by showing how you miss them. Put your money where your mouth is by offering up a re-engagement coupon, or sending 1:1 recommendations based on purchase history.
Welcome them back to your site
If a churned customer revisits your site and logs in, it’s time to sound the alarm and get them feeling the love again. This could include creating a custom pop-up or offer that only appears for churned customers, complete with a warm welcome, special offer, and time-sensitive call-to-action.
4. Spark the interest of net new customers
Many retailers think that offering the ‘vanilla’ or generic version of their site is the perfect experience for brand new customers. But just because a customer hasn’t logged in, doesn’t mean they’re not familiar with your brand. Consider tailoring the experience for customers that have never browsed your site, period, to make them feel special and avoid irritating returning customers.
Give new customers an ideal first step
Your home page should really serve as the ‘elevator pitch’ for your entire store. If you had five seconds to sell someone on your brand, what should they know? Prioritize that information front and center, including your all-time most popular items and bestsellers so new shoppers know where to start.
Tailor the experience by referral source
If someone is new to your site, create continuity between what attracted them to your store in the first place and their on-site experience by customizing your store and offers by referral source. Running an acquisition campaign? Make sure the same promotion a customer saw in your advertising is clearly promoted when they arrive, so they’re motivated to buy.
How LimeSpot creates a tailored experience per loyalty segment
LimeSpot is the market leader in ecommerce personalization. Their complete merchandising suite includes 1:1 recommendations, email personalization, ad optimization for Google Shopping, and segmented experiences.
Segmented experiences let you create fully customized, targeted customer experiences to reduce bounce rates, increase sales, and delight customers. You can feed your LoyaltyLion segments directly into LimeSpot to create custom segments, and tailor the experience for every customer, no matter how familiar, at risk, or loyal they are to your brand.
Request a demo to find out more
Want more ideas on how to create amazing experiences for your customers?
Get LimeSpot’s handy guide to inspire your segmented buyer experience, which includes:
- 10+ strategies for creating customer segements
- An in-depth guide on how you can customize every aspect of your site
- Over 35+ examples to inspire your personalized experience creation
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