SmartSites Featured In Klaviyo’s Article On Revamping Customer Loyalty Programs

Is your customer loyalty program best in class? Here’s how to revamp it was published on Klaviyo in June 2022. Director of Email Marketing at SmartSites, Ashley Ismailovski, was quoted on her thoughts for the best time for revamping customer loyalty programs. SmartSites is an award-winning digital marketing agency based in New Jersey.

Why Having a Customer Loyalty Program Is Important

Let’s face it, acquiring a customer can cost a lot. After having gone to that expense and effort, businesses do not want to lose these customers after the first contact or purchase. To incentivize customers to continue engaging with your brand and make repeat purchases, implementing a customer loyalty program can be a good idea. 

With 82% of businesses agreeing that retention costs less than acquisition, there’s every reason to get started with retaining your customers’ loyalty, no matter the specific type of program that will work best for your brand.

The Type of Loyalty Program You Choose Matters

There are a few different types of loyalty programs you can make use of. The one that will work best largely depends on the industry you operate in as well as what your customers are looking for. Up to half of all consumers stated that their main reason for being part of a loyalty program is to earn points on everyday purchases. If your business sells food and beverage or clothing and accessories, you will want to join the many other businesses in your industry in starting a loyalty program.

A points-based system is one of the most common types of customer loyalty programs. Once a customer has accumulated a set number of points, this can be exchanged for rewards and discounts. However, one drawback of this is delayed gratification, and to mitigate this effect, some brands offer a signup reward for new customers. 

A type of loyalty program that is less commonly used is a gamified program, where the process of earning points can be turned into a fun game. With 53% of customers expressing that they are interested in using game mechanics in loyalty programs, businesses can leverage on this trend to great effect, even combining a few different types of loyalty programs in one.

When Is the Best Time to Introduce a Customer Loyalty Program?

Should a brand introduce a customer loyalty program at the same time as their launch? While it can be tempting to get everything set up at once, this may not always prove to be the best way forward.

Klaviyo’s article covers some best practices for implementing a customer loyalty program. According to Ashley, a loyalty program should be introduced only when a brand has been around for long enough to collect a sizeable amount of customer data:

Want to know more? Read Is your customer loyalty program best in class? Here’s how to revamp it today.