Step by Step Guide on Revamping Your Loyalty Program

Popular airline company Delta recently made headlines when it announced a change in its popular loyalty program called SkyMiles. Why did a popular airline like Delta update its already successful loyalty program?

Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastion indicated to the press that the high demand for their premium products and services surpasses their capacity to deliver effectively. The only possible option from a financial perspective and business objective sense was to incorporate this change in their loyalty program.

With changing customer behavior and changing market scenarios, it becomes an important step for brands to revamp their loyalty programs. This helps them to adapt to the current climate and prepare for long-term growth. Even if you have a good game going for your current loyalty program, a regular inspection can help you realize how revamping your current program can result in improved growth rates for your brand. 

Many big brands, in spite of their satisfaction with their loyalty program, still consider a revamp to add some more novel features that will enhance customer experience by switching to a more manageable and flexible technology. 

Let’s go step by step to see how you can successfully revamp your loyalty program: 

1. Assessing Your Current Loyalty Program 

The first step is of course to understand how your current loyalty program is doing and where it is falling short. Here are some questions that you need to ponder over in order to get started- 

• Is your loyalty program aligning with your business objectives? 
• How is it performing with respect to the industry benchmark? 
• Has your loyalty program become stagnant? 
• How is the financial modeling of your loyalty program working out? Is it bringing in the money or just taking it out?
• How are customers engaging with your program?
• Are they dropping out at certain stages?
• Which incentives are driving the most engagement?

By answering these questions you will be able to figure out how your current program is working and how customers are behaving with the offers. By doing a clear financial audit and understanding your customers, you will be able to get deep insights into your programs and understand different transaction data, touchpoints, and engagement patterns. 

Consider evaluating metrics like customer lifetime value (CLV), customer acquisition costs (CAC), and return on investment (ROI) per customer segment. These will help you plan out your next steps. 

While this can be a challenging task, it is also one of the most crucial steps to begin with while considering a revamp. Brierley’s Fast Track consultancy module is designed to make this job easier for you. It breaks your entire program into several modules and analyzes each of them to understand where your program needs a fix. Read more about it here: Brierley Fast Track Consultancy.

2. Defining Objectives For Your Loyalty Programs

After assessing your current loyalty programming, it’s time to articulate your objectives with precision. Set clear, measurable, and achievable goals as to what you want from your program.

What is the revenue increase you aim to achieve within a defined period? 

What level of customer engagement are you targeting, and how will you measure it? 

Establish your key performance indicators (KPIs) and use them to guide your revamp.

Also Read: Are You Tracking These Loyalty Metrics?

The next step would be to start segmenting your customer base. The success of your revamped program lies in understanding the diverse nature of your customer base. Your high-value customers have different needs and expectations compared to the rest. Segment your customer base thoughtfully and tailor rewards and benefits to meet the specific needs of each segment.

Take it a step further by creating detailed customer personas within each segment. What motivates them? What pain points do they face? Develop personalized strategies to cater to these unique groups, increasing engagement and loyalty.

3. Hyper-Personalization and Choosing the Right Rewards 

The power of loyalty programs lies in the choice of rewards. To understand what rewards to choose, dive into data-driven insights to discover what incentives motivate each customer segment. Is it points, cashback, exclusive experiences, or a combination? Go beyond the obvious transaction-based relation with your customers and provide the rewards that resonate deeply with them. 

Personalization is the hallmark of loyalty. It goes way beyond just customer names and uses customer buying behavior to send personalized offers. This not only leads to higher customer engagement but also increases the reward redemption rates. 

Capillary makes use of the Propensity Model to understand and predict customer behavior thus effectively sending personalized messages to your customers which will lead to high CTR and connect well with the customers. Read more about it here: Capillary’s Propensity Models to Predict Customer Behaviour

4. Modernize your program for a seamless customer experience

In the last year, Starbucks transformed its Starbucks Rewards program, enhancing its digital features, strengthening loyalty elements, and incorporating greater personalization. This involves delivering customized offers via their mobile app, providing more precise product suggestions, and simplifying advance ordering and mobile payments, resulting in a remarkable 25% boost in revenue in the third quarter of 2023.

Starbucks’ loyalty program revamp is a clear example of how brands can elevate their programs by modernizing their loyalty process and making the best use of world-class technology. Making the best use of their mobile app Starbucks was able to create personalized offers and rewards, they paved the way for a seamless experience for their customers and built a strong emotional connection with them. The end result of this would be greater reward redemption, high customer engagement, and substantial growth for the business. 

Use the power of technology to offer unique experiences for your customers and stay ahead of the game. 

5. Data and Analytics for Driving Informed Decisions

In today’s data-rich world, your loyalty program’s success is directly tied to data utilization. Implement advanced analytics to extract actionable insights.

Track and measure the success of your loyalty program in real-time. How are your KPIs performing? Have you considered predictive analytics to anticipate future trends and customer behavior? The art of revamping lies in your commitment to ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

Capillary’s Insight+ is an AI and ML-powered advanced decision-making tool that can do this job for you easily by collecting data, analyzing it, and turning raw data into actionable insights. 

6. Communication and Transparency with Customers

Transparent communication is the bedrock of trust. Make sure that you keep your customers informed about changes and updates. Maintain an open line of communication through multiple channels. Your customers should have a clear understanding of how your program operates and its benefits.

Be proactive about addressing customer concerns and feedback. Transparent program policies and open, two-way communication demonstrate your commitment to their satisfaction.

Conclusion

Revamping your loyalty program is a profound journey, one that demands meticulous planning, data-driven decision-making, and relentless commitment. As you embark on this transformation, consider each element deeply. Your loyalty program can be the driving force behind customer retention and business growth.

Now, it’s your turn. Revamping your loyalty program can be a complex endeavor, but you don’t have to go it alone. The next chapter in your loyalty program’s success begins with a single action: Reaching out to us today.

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With a knack for creating engaging content and crafting effective social media campaigns, Anjali wants to make it her mission to leverage the power of content as a strategic marketing tool for businesses. While she is not working, she is either binging movies or writing about them on her blog.