BackBetween rising inflation rates and the ramifications of the pandemic, it’s significantly more expensive to acquire new customers — 222% more expensive over the past eight years, to be exact. Reactive business leaders have begun to shift focus accordingly, pivoting from customer acquisition to customer engagement to revive retention efforts and ramp up revenue from repeat sales.
For business leaders seeking to enhance customer engagement and, in turn, ultimate brand loyalty, membership programs offer a strategic advantage. Exclusive membership benefits increase the chances of repeat purchases and improve the perceived value of transactions. Explore 10 innovative membership perks that help to attract and retain customers effectively.
Exclusive Discounts and Offers for Customer Engagement
Exclusive discounts and limited offers are time-tested membership program strategies to drive customer engagement. Implementing members-only promotions helps increase the membership’s perceived value, creating a distinction between one-time shoppers and long-term customers. Promotions can also be tailored to member preferences, enhancing user satisfaction.
Exclusive Member Sales
Exclusive member sales are a type of limited-time promotion that strictly applies to the members of a customer loyalty program. Organizing members-only discounts during specific times of the year, especially during slower sales periods, creates a sense of urgency to drive purchases. For instance, JetBlue customers who belong to the TrueBlue loyalty program frequently receive email promotions immediately after the holiday rush, when travel begins to slow, offering exclusive savings on flights.
Tiered Discounts Based on Membership Level
Tiered discounts are types of exclusive membership benefits that increase in value according to each customer’s membership level or number of accrued loyalty points. Tiered customer loyalty programs work to increase customer engagement by rewarding long-term loyalty and transactions. As such, tiered discounts also help to incentivize higher spending to access higher-value rewards.
Early Access to New Products for Customer Engagement
Beyond discounts and promotions, early access to public sales and new products or services is a tactic to create a distinction between one-time shoppers and loyal customers. Early access establishes a sense of exclusivity and privilege, which, in turn, enhances the value of the membership. This strategy not only boosts customer engagement but also fosters a strong membership community.
Early Access Events
How important are exclusive events in building a brand community? Well, as per the 17% year-over-year rise in experiential rewards, events are essential to forging a community of brand advocates. Hosting special events, either online or in person, allows members to experience new products first, creating a unique customer experience and enhancing buzz around the brand.
Limited-Time Access Before Public Launch
Similar to early access events, providing a limited-time window for members to access and purchase new products before the general public helps create a sense of exclusivity for loyal customers. Likewise, this membership perk helps to drive ongoing customer engagement, as members will need to demonstrate quicker decision-making in the limited-time window.
Loyalty Points and Rewards for Customer Engagement
Several types of loyalty programs can enhance customer engagement, as evidenced by the mention of tiered loyalty structures above. Aside from membership tiers, point-based and gamified programs have also emerged as reliable strategies to keep current customers more engaged. Both reward systems directly correlate available perks to each loyalty member’s frequency of interactions.
Point-Based Systems
In points-based loyalty programs, customers earn points for each purchase based on their spending. For instance, members of the Delta SkyMiles program earn 5 points (referred to as miles) for every $1 spent. Points can be earned and burned for immediate rewards and discounts or accrued over time and applied directly to purchase amounts to offer members exclusive savings.
Game-Based Loyalty Programs
Gamification, or the process of incorporating game-like elements such as time-based challenges or leaderboard competitions, has risen as a proven method for driving ongoing customer engagement. Point-based loyalty program members can earn exclusive points and badges, whereas tier-based loyalty program members can rank up a level, encouraging engagement and repeat purchases.
Complementary Services for Customer Engagement
Exclusive membership benefits like limited promotions, early access, and loyalty points are effective, but they all share one thing in common — they rely on the customer to interact first. Sage business leaders have begun leaning into complementary services, such as free shipping or exclusive support lines, in efforts to improve the initial customer experience and spark engagement in return.
Priority Customer Service
Dedicated customer service — including priority booking and reservations or personalized customer service experiences — ensures members receive prompt, high-quality assistance. At a time when 95% of consumers claim effective customer service has an impact on their brand loyalty, a dedicated customer service line can be the key to dramatically enhancing the customer experience.
Complementary Upgrades
In the travel and hospitality industry, complementary upgrades are a pillar of exclusive membership benefits. Travel membership perks, such as room upgrades in hotels or seat upgrades in airlines, demonstrate gratitude for long-term loyal customers. By receiving acknowledgment for continued spending, customers are more likely to engage with the brand and repeat purchases in the future.
Personalized Recommendations for Customer Engagement
Lastly, two membership perks designed for customer engagement are behavioral analytics and dynamic email to predict and capitalize on future buying behavior. Utilizing data analytics to offer personalized product or service recommendations increases sales and improves customer satisfaction by making shopping more relevant and convenient.
Behavioral Analytics
Behavioral analytics refers to analyzing previous purchase history and membership interactions to predict future customer behavior. Various customer loyalty analytics, such as their most frequently purchased products or frequency of points redemption, help to recommend products or rewards that align with these insights. It also helps inform demand for member perks, like early access sales.
Dynamic Email Marketing
So, can personalized recommendations enhance customer engagement? Per a 2023 State of Customer Engagement survey, 66% of consumers will ditch a brand if they don’t receive a personalized experience. Dynamic email marketing enables brands to send personalized emails featuring products, services, and rewards tailored to each member’s interests and preferences.
Discover arrivia for Customer Engagement Initiatives
It’s more expensive than ever before to acquire new customers. So, now is the time to make the most of the audience you already have through proven customer engagement initiatives. Fortunately, arrivia can help with that. Arrivia crafts brand loyalty strategies centered on exclusive travel benefits, including promotional pricing and packages not available to the general public.
With arrivia as your customer engagement partner, you can offer your loyal customers unrivaled access to unparalleled travel perks. We even offer an in-house marketing team to help craft personalized rewards and deliver dynamic emails. To learn more about how the team at arrivia can enhance customer engagement and, with it, ultimate customer loyalty, explore our services today.
