Developing a long-term customer relationship strengthens any brand and is proven to make more revenue in the long run. In his last research analysis, Rob Markey, a specialist in Business Administration at Harvard Business Review, determined that “loyalty leaders grow revenues roughly 2.5 times as fast as their industry peers and deliver two to five times the shareholder returns over the next 10 years.” This possibly happens because, according to recent research on digital marketing, “79% of customers expect consistent interactions across departments.” It means that when customers’ expectations are met, and the service quality is consistent, they tend to return and spend more money in the same company. So, recurring customers tend to be the more satisfied ones.
Brands have a better chance to reach recurring customers using their email subscribers list. When an online shop offers a discount for whoever subscribes to their newsletter, for example, the potential customers are already taking part in a simple form of loyalty program. It is like the first step for introducing a customer into a community. This establishes a customer-seller bond based on the benefits and rewards customers receive for their loyalty. Subscribers perceive the brand as more valuable when they are given something in return for their buying consistency.
Customers tend to like all loyalty programs, but they need to know about such programs to benefit from them. Email marketing plays a crucial role in this since it is almost the only way to reach the audience directly. Take social media as an example: whether a user sees your post depends on many variables, and the post is not guaranteed to reach people. Once an email, from a specific email sender, is open for the first time, there is a very high chance that the following emails will continue to be delivered with no issue. This means that the email service verified the sender’s compliance and now trusts it. Hence the importance of offering a discount for new email subscribers just for a start, you increase the chances of a prompt email opening.
In addition, email marketing is a multifunctional tool. Email segmentation allows for emails to be individually tailored to groups based on purchase history, age, location, gender, etc. With custom communication, possibilities for creating retention emails are endless.
With email, your marketing team can also build long-term relationships with your brand subscribers. While social media platforms launch and disappear, and paid advertisement can be a shot in the dark, email marketing is a long-lasting and efficient communication channel. Especially considering people who have had the same email accounts for decades. It is reliable.
To deepen your learning about loyalty emails, we have a list of examples that you can use as a model for your strategy. We strongly recommend using them as a basis for your customized messages.
Every time you launch a new loyalty program, make a big announcement. Don’t hesitate to create a buzz to stand out Use great graphic resources to catch your audience’s attention and use the subject line to draw focus. This increases the chances that your subscribers will read and understand what the launch is about. After all, getting to know the benefits is the first step to using the loyalty program. Customers need to know when they can earn rewards.
You can use personalization tools to enhance your customer experience by creating invitations that are customized according to the audience.
The example below is from a bookstore that organizes events for customers from the email subscription list. It is an invitation to a reading group about a literary genre that interests the user. Other customers in that same segment (interested in science fiction) are likely getting the same message. See how the audience is called, “Dear Sci-Fi readers”, and how it makes them unique for it identifies customers with something they are passionate about.
You can easily personalize your emails with essential newsletter tools.
Everything is about the first impression, right? Sending a warm welcome message is a great way to start. Why not offer a discount to drive this new subscriber to your website again? Greeting a potential customer and offering a gift makes an excellent first impression. Make use of an encouraging and supportive tone and finish off the first content block with a strong call-to-action, like this example below:
A tier upgrade is a great reason to send an email. You can write a positive message celebrating this new milestone in your customer’s journey and take some time to list the new things this user is entitled to enjoy after the upgrade.
Tell your customers about the rewards they earned with this new milestone, make them clear in the message, and use graphics to call their attention and raise a sense of celebration.
A points balance update can be scheduled to be sent from time to time, regardless of the number of points a customer might have in your points program. The email must contain the precise number of points a user has. It is a good chance to show your customers how close they are to exchanging their points or making use of some benefits. This can be a good way to encourage purchases since people are commonly driven by the expectation of accumulating more points. Take this chance to engage your subscribers and convince them to redeem points.
Reminding your customers about their expiring points or rewards is a good way to show how much you care about your customers. Use a solid call-to-action (CTA) to create a sense of urgency. In the example below, there is a big headline informing that this customer has only 24 hours to redeem the special discount.
Send a personalized message to celebrate a customer’s birthday and offer a special discount only for the birthday person. Typically, these messages deliver a greeting and some offers that show how the customers can enjoy their date by redeeming rewards.
But this is not the only anniversary loyalty email you should make use of. You can also take the chance of your brand or company’s anniversary to offer something to show how you appreciate your customers being on this journey with you.
The goal of a re-engagement campaign is to gain back your customer’s interest in using your products or services. So use a win-back email to show them what they are missing, the new things you are offering and try to retain their attention. Include some appealing messages — you can use segmentation and customization for this — that address your subscriber’s interests directly.
Exclusive member offers must be direct, clear, and have good graphics. Your most loyal customers must know that only they have access to this benefit — it is an exclusivity deal. You can offer discounts, early access to products, exclusive rewards, etc., creating a VIP experience and making the customers feel valued. If you can come up with a unique visual language for this type of email, it will increase the feeling of exclusivity.
Make your customers happy with a surprise bonus! Highlight your appreciation for your subscribers like this from time to time and follow the conversion numbers.
You can grant a surprise bonus for any reason — holidays, weekends, weekdays, special dates, or happenings. But you don’t even need to have a reason for that. In the example below, there is no apparent purpose for the special offer other than to make customers order.
As previously mentioned in this article, audience segmentation is one of the most significant benefits of email marketing. You can define your high-value subscribers, check the demographics of your most conversing users amonf the loyalty program members, understand which type of brand voice works better for each segment, and so on. The possibilities are infinite.
You can then implement different offers and rewards according to your subscriber’s behavior. Using these customer triggers, for example, can drive people to use their points when they don’t know what to spend them on. A customer trigger can be a suggestion of a relevant reward for a customer based on the stored data in your email list. A real-life example is the beauty brand Sephora. The company checks its subscriber’s points and sends them recommendations of products that they can redeem.
Subject lines are a major component of email marketing. Users tend to decide whether to open an email based on the subject — this is why it is so important to pay attention to the best practices of writing good email subject lines and keeping an eye on the open rate.
If your subscribers don’t open your emails, you are simply throwing away your campaign and all the time you took to write your loyalty emails. So, try to think carefully about your subject lines.
Apart from bringing a sense of urgency, your subject line must be clear and show what is good in that email upfront. You can use questions to trigger people’s curiosity and even emojis to appeal to their attention.
In the example below, you can see that the offer is immediately in the subject, with an emoji that helps with the sense of urgency “Review your Dropbox plan, get a $25 gift card! ! .” It summarizes the email content and triggers the user’s attention.
Having a consistent design makes your subscribers identify your brand easily, creates a sense of familiarity and trust in your customers. You can create a brand style specifically for your loyalty emails, for example, following your brand’s general style.
A good loyalty email brings a good offer, clear information about how to claim said offer, and a clear call-to-action. The CTA needs to lead the potential customer directly to the place where they can redeem the benefit. So, balancing content and action is imperative in this type of message.
People don’t like being spammed by the same emails from the same brands every day. It doesn’t even need to be every day, sometimes weekly emails can be overwhelming if they are not bringing anything new. Being moderate when using email automation is necessary to avoid unsubscriptions and being tagged as spam by email clients.
You can use the A/B testing tools to test campaigns. To check if a new program has a real chance to perform well, for example, you can choose a testing group from your subscriber’s list and create a test campaign only for them. Then you can evaluate the performance results and tailor the program to make it a success when you expand the campaign to more users.
Engagement and subscriber list increase are essential, but the ones that have been conquered also need your attention; maybe more than new potential clients, for your brand will only exist with your core client base.
Loyalty emails are customer retention’s best friends. Use them wisely to ensure a good relationship with people who are already engaged with your brand.
Keep your focus on personalization and appreciation, and take advantage of every chance to remind your customers of your brand’s value.
