Studies show 63% of U.S. adults are willing to share personal information with companies for perks like cash rewards, loyalty program points, early access to new products, and other value.

In other words, if you aren’t offering a loyalty or rewards program, you’re leaving money on the table.

But simply having a loyalty program isn’t always enough. You need to think of creative ways to offer value to customers so they don’t get “loyalty fatigue.”

That’s where an app like SC Loyalty Rewards can help you run a rewards program customized to the needs of your customers.

Here are 7 creative ways to reward points to loyal customers

For even more tips be sure to check out Level up your customer loyalty program with SC Loyalty Rewards.

1. Product purchases

Low-trafficLet’s start with a basic one. Most stores today have some form of loyalty program that involves earning points on purchases, or a partnership with a third-party rewards program like Air Miles.

This is a great place to start but here are a few tips to consider:

• Don’t just offer equal points on every product. Use “bonus point incentives” to promote harder-to-sell products or move extra inventory.
• Run holiday promotions like “today only, double points on all purchases.”
• Ensure your rewards are valuable enough to customers so they don’t lose interest in earning points.

2. Social bonuses

Social media is a great space to grow customer loyalty. In fact, 14% of the most loyal customers express their loyalty by publicly endorsing or defending the company via social media.

First things first, make sure you are using all your social channels to promote your loyalty program and any bonus points promotions you might be running. Another clever tactic is to offer bonus points to customers for re-sharing a post, or sharing store information with their own followings.
Your customers will thank you for offering an easy way they can earn points.

3. Registration points

If you are trying to grow a loyalty and rewards program, you’ll want to make sure new customers are getting in on earning points from day one.

Be sure to promote your loyalty program, including the great rewards customers can earn, as part of their onboarding or registration process. If you are struggling to get customers to sign up, use a bonus points incentive to drive registrations.

This has worked wonders for travel credit cards, and you can do it on your own store simply by offering bonus points for new members to get them started.

4. Low traffic days

Every business suffers from slow seasons and low-traffic days. Use points to create a buzz and get customers to shop. Here are two ways to approach low-traffic days:

• Set up a promotion where customers receive a flat number of bonus points (eg. 50 free points) just for following a link to your store. It can be for a day (Tuesday), a month (For the rest of February), or an entire season (Earn points all Summer!) Send them an offer in an email, or promote on social media.
• Handing out free points just for a site visit is very generous, but you may decide to take the same approach to selling products. For eg. Earn double points on all purchases every Tuesday.

Get your customers into your store on low-traffic days.

5. Happy birthday points

Personalization is huge when it comes to loyalty programs. 80% of consumers say they’re more likely to do business with a company that offers personalized experiences, and 65% of shoppers say they’d share their data for value-adding personalization.

A great way to reward customer loyalty and add a personalized approach to loyalty is to give customers a bonus points present on their birthday. This will, of course, require you to ask for their date of birth when they register. For customers who are hesitant to give out personal information, try using registration bonus points (see above) to sweeten the deal.

6. Ditch the discounts

Discounting is one of the most popular promotional tactics of all time. Typically when stores have a Black Friday or holiday sale there is some sort of discounting involved.

However, depending on the strength of your loyalty program, you may be able to ditch the discounts and run a points-only sale. Not only will you earn more revenue by not having to discount products, but customers will love the fresh take on BFCM instead of the same played out sales they see every year.

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Tip: This is a great way for upscale brands that don’t like to discount to still take part in sales events like BFCM.

7. Throw a surprise sale

Who doesn’t love a surprise? A great way to make customers feel special is to invite them to an exclusive surprise sale. Imagine how excited your most loyal customers will be when they see that they are among the few to get in on a one-of-a-kind savings event.  

Make it a points-only surprise sale with an enticing offer like “earn one point for every dollar spent” or even use smart segmentation to offer different tiers of customers different ratios of points, rewarding the most loyal customers with the juiciest offer.

Launch your loyalty program

Don’t have our SC Loyalty Rewards app? What are you waiting for? It enables you to create an on-brand custom loyalty program in minutes, rewarding customers with anything imaginable.

Boost AOV with rewards and incentives, customize your rewards program from top to bottom, and launch a seamless referral marketing program that gives loyal customers even more rewards.

Interested in a free trial?