Improve Customer Loyalty Through Personalized Marketing Services

Just like many other shopaholics, I also get excited about so many brands emerging with unique ideas and quality products. A few months ago, while swiping through Instagram, my eyes went on a brand selling t-shirts. They looked decent, had great reviews, and were within my budget. So, I went to their website and ordered a couple of t-shirts for myself. I also signed up for a rewards program that was available for free. It felt great! 

But, I never thought of that brand after that. I never even checked their new products or t-shirt designs. Can you guess why? 

Because, despite signing up for a rewards program, I never got any personalized messages from them. Every time they sent an email to me, it included the same old message of how many reward points I had. No product recommendations, no personal connection! Now, I feel there’s nothing special about that brand. 

However, things could have been different… 

If the brand would have sent me an email suggesting a few t-shirts based on my purchase. Or, if they would have sent me a special 10% discount on my birthday. I would have been more inclined towards that brand in such situations. 

This is the beauty of a personalized loyalty program! It builds meaningful relationships with the customer and works in retaining them. 

Even the statistics say the same…

87% of Americans are willing to have various details of their activity tracked in exchange for more personalized rewards and brand experiences.

73% of consumers choose to buy from brands that take into account their personal information.

Now, let’s get into how you can improve customer loyalty through personalized marketing services. 

What is customer loyalty and why is it important?

Customer loyalty can be defined as a relationship between you (the brand) and the customer where the customer is willing to buy repeatedly from your brand. Customer loyalty is the result of trust and the positive experience that a customer receives after connecting with your brand. 

When customers are loyal to a company, they give more importance to the brand and shopping experience than price and availability. They are happy to wait for their favorite brand to restock a product. 

Customer loyalty is important for brands these days because it affects almost every metric of your business. If you do not have any loyal customers, you need to spend a lot more money every time to attract new customers. The success rate of selling to a customer you already have is 60-70%, while the success rate of selling to a new customer is 5-20%.

Loyal customers are a great source of marketing for your business. A loyal customer would be happy to recommend your brand to their friends and family or leave an excellent review on your social media. 

Loyalty programs also make a great source of customer data and can help you get a deeper understanding of your customers. You can understand how customers engage with your brand, create specific customer profiles, and know more about their buying habits. All this data can further help you create more personalized marketing campaigns. 

The relationship between personalization and customer loyalty 

One of the major benefits of personalized marketing is that it treats your customer as an individual. It helps in understanding their needs and preferences and establishes strong customer relationships based on that understanding. Here’s why personalized marketing enhances customer loyalty:

1. It showcases commitment: Personalized marketing shows the dedication and effort that you have put into building an ever-lasting relationship with your customer. It showcases that you care about your customers genuinely and want to deliver the best shopping experience to them. 

2. It builds trust: When you provide personalized marketing communications to a customer, it shows that you have their best interest in mind. As a result, they start trusting your brand more than others and start giving preference to your brand. 

3. It works on the principle of reciprocity: You might have heard about “act of kindness”. They say that your every act of kindness is returned by the universe. Similarly, when you make your customer feel valued, special, and cared for, they tend to return that favor to you by keeping your brand in mind. 

Now, let me affirm these points by sharing a few examples of personalized loyalty programs…

Amazon 

I believe that it is one of the best examples of personalized loyalty programs that I have come across. Amazon is a well-known brand and one of its unique selling points is its personalized loyalty program, Amazon Prime. Amazon prime is unique for every customer and considers their shopping preferences to a great extent. 

• It shows recommendations based on your latest purchases or searches. 
• It suggests items that can be bundled with the ones that are added to your cart. 
• It also suggests products that are similar to the products that you have purchased. 

Sephora 

No doubt why women love this makeup brand! Sephora's Beauty Insider loyalty program is one the best examples of personalization in marketing and omnichannel strategy. It not only allows you to link your in-store and mobile app interactions but also:

• You can book in-store makeovers through the app
• Every makeup product used in your makeover is stored in your profile 
• It provides recommendations based on your beauty traits 
• You can virtually try products 
• All the product recommendations are added to your mobile app, allowing you to make a purchase whenever you want 

H&M 

I don’t know about you, but I personally love their loyalty program. However, it provides a basic personalization loyalty program. So, if you are just beginning with personalized marketing, you can start by looking at H&M and create one without getting overwhelmed. The H&M loyalty program does not only offer you reward points based on what you shop but also:

• You will get personalized offers 
• Access to members-only events 
• A birthday discount
• Free shipping and more! 

Create a personalized loyalty journey for every customer!

As I told you before, customers tend to lose interest in a loyalty program if it is not personalized to them. In 2022, loyalty programs would not work only because you are offering great deals and rewards. They would work if you are putting the customer first and catering to their needs and wants. 

That is why you need to create a personalized customer journey that can help them discover the loyalty program and its benefits over time. The personalization part would ensure their engagement with your loyalty program. 

Let us continue with the story of the t-shirt brand that I shared at the beginning of this blog. How could they have created a personalized loyalty program journey for me? 

Day 0: I make my first purchase and sign up for the loyalty program. 

Day 0: I receive an email about the loyalty program and the reward points I get because I made a recent purchase. 

Day 7: I receive a personalized marketing email giving me some new product suggestions that are on sale based on the t-shirt that I purchased. 

Day 14: I receive a reminder email that the sale is going to end in a few days. This makes me a little interested in the sale. 

Day 16: A few hours before the end of the sale, I receive a final reminder email that the products that I might like are selling out quickly! I then make my second purchase!  

What does this journey convey? 

Firstly, I received targeted emails giving me what I would like to buy. It also offered me discounts! Secondly, the brand understood my preferences and provided me with personalized recommendations based on my recent interactions with the brand. This made me feel valued as a customer. Lastly, they used the ‘fear of missing out (FOMO)’ technique to make me realize that I am missing something big! They reminded me of the personalized benefits that I have, thereby encouraging me to engage with the brand and make the purchase. 

Adding personalization to your loyalty programs makes all the difference 

Before we end this blog, I would like to remind you again that customers today expect personalization in digital marketing. Loyalty programs might engage the customers with your brand for some time but adding personalization to them will make your customers stick with your brand for the long haul. Personalized loyalty programs showcase commitment to your work, help in winning the trust of the customers and ensure reciprocity of your efforts. 

If you are looking to create a personalized loyalty program for your customers, Xeno has introduced a Next Gen loyalty program that will help you enhance your marketing efforts by a hundred times!