Your loyalty program has so much more to offer than great rewards.

Rewards are important. Make no mistake. They’re the constant carrot on the stick guiding your loyalty members along their purchasing journey. If your loyalty program is doing its job, there’s always just one more purchase to make before your loyalty member earns the reward they’ve been chasing.

But in 2020, loyalty programs have evolved into so much more. And in order to compete, brands have had to find compelling ways to reinvent their programs.

Did you know 81% of millennials actually favor programs that do more than reward customers for purchases? (HelloWorld) If you want your loyalty program to stand out, it needs to do more. Here’s three ways your loyalty program can offer more to your customers than rewards.

Customer Experience. Let’s start by talking about the customer experience. Sure, people join loyalty programs because they want to save money. That’s how you reel them in to begin with. “Join now to save $5 on your next purchase!” Sort of a no-brainer when all you need to do is hand over your email address or phone number and boom – that cheeseburger is practically free now.

But what happens after that cheeseburger is gone and forgotten? That’s where a loyalty program truly shines, even going as far as to incentivize those who won’t be so easily swayed by the promise of a cheaper purchase. It’s the experience that will get these people on board. The promise of perks and benefits. Exclusive offers that regular customers don’t have access to. From free shipping to event access, refining the experience for your loyalty members can go a long way.

Customer Engagement. If your loyalty program is like a car, customer engagement is the fuel that keeps it running. You can have the nicest car in the entire world, but if you’ve got no fuel, it’s not going to take you anywhere. The same goes for loyalty programs.

Highly effective programs are well-oiled machines that keep customers hooked on a consistent basis. Keeping them involved means keeping them engaged. If you want to form loyalty, you need customers to stay involved. Here’s a few examples.

• Promoting events
• Birthday texts
• Reminders
• Personalized recommendations

If you want to really boost engagement, personalization is one of the best ways to do so. This is an area where your loyalty program can make all the difference. Research from Bond shows that only two out every ten members are very satisfied with the level of personalization in loyalty programs.

And believe me, it’s worth it. A study from Monetate found that 93% of businesses using an advanced personalization strategy saw revenue growth.

Gamification. While we’re talking about engagement, let’s shift over to gamification. Implementing game mechanics has become a popular trend among loyalty programs. Gamification doesn’t just change the nature of rewards, it changes how your customers engage with your loyalty program. By providing challenges, contests, and other game-related tasks, you add an additional layer of investment.

According to HelloWorld, 40% of millennials want loyalty programs to feature gamification. Research from Bond shows us that game mechanics nearly double the enjoyment level. The study goes on to highlight that eight out of every ten members engage with game mechanics when implemented. Yet just half of programs use them at all.

Loyalty With CoGoBuzz

It’s time to give your loyalty program a digital makeover. Do it with CoGoBuzz, our state-of-the-art marketing service.

Powered by advanced WiFi, SMS, and Email solutions, CoGoBuzz comes packed with a completely digital, text-based loyalty program. Our service has a diverse array of features designed to keep your customers engaged, rewarded, and involved. CoGoBuzz simplifies customer engagement down to a simple text message, letting you connect with your customers on the devices they use the most. With CoGoBuzz, you can automate entire campaigns ahead of time. Send automated birthday messages and more!

Click here to learn more about CoGoBuzz!

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Does your loyalty program have more to offer than rewards? Sound off in the comments!