Customer Loyalty Programs: 4 Powerful Examples
Oliver Bridge
A customer loyalty program is a system that a company may run to offer repeat customers exclusive rewards, such as discounts, special offers, points, or other incentives.
The idea is to encourage customers to purchase repeatedly from your company. What’s more, the reward-based system benefits the consumer, creating additional value for them. It allows businesses to show their appreciation for loyal customers, forging a relationship between the two. This lays the foundation for a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.
In this article, we discuss different elements of these programs. We then break down our top loyalty program examples, giving you the information you need to create one of your own.
Benefits of a customer loyalty program
A successful customer loyalty program can be a profitable endeavor. 79% of consumers in the US stated that a loyalty program would impact their likelihood of repeat purchases with a company. Eight out of ten customers report that they buy more frequently from businesses after signing up for their loyalty program.
When executed well, a loyalty program offers significant benefits to businesses too. Here are the main benefits of creating a loyalty program.
- Increased sales: 80% of customers say that they purchase more frequently from businesses after joining their loyalty programs. A successful system can lead to an increase in sales. For a lot of companies, this is the most important factor.
- Positive brand reputation: providing value creates a positive brand image. This may lead to customer growth through referrals or word of mouth. These are low-cost but highly effective marketing strategies.
- Builds consumer relationships: brand-consumer relationships are built on awareness, authenticity, and trust. Having a positive relationship or emotional connection with a brand can influence consumer behavior significantly. A loyalty program perfectly feeds into the relationship-building marketing strategy, which can lead to long-term, high-value customers.
- Increased customer retention: loyalty program members are highly likely to make repeat purchases. Since acquiring a new customer can be up to 25 more expensive than retaining one, this increased customer retention is extremely valuable.
- Differentiates businesses from competitors: a loyalty program provides a great opportunity to stand out among your competitors. With the long-term value that it offers, it can be a difference maker when a customer is choosing between your business and a competitor.
Different types of customer loyalty programs
There are several types of loyalty program examples to choose from. With tech advancements, marketing innovation, and other factors changing the business landscape daily, you may even find some nuanced ideas. However, for the most part, businesses stick to one of four types of loyalty programs.
- Points-based loyalty program
A points-based system is probably the most common loyalty program example. Customers collect points for various actions. This may include purchases, providing feedback on products or services, leaving reviews or testimonials, and sharing social media posts.
The points may then be redeemed for discounts on future purchases, freebies, perks, or other benefits. The specific rewards will depend on the company.
Essentially, point-based programs gamify the relationship between companies and their audience. Customers may have a particular points target or giveaway in mind. Or, they may just enjoy seeing the points rack up on their account.
A key benefit of choosing a points-based loyalty program is that most customers are familiar with the format. It’s transparent and your audience will know what they’re getting themselves into.
- Tiered loyalty program
Tiered loyalty programs offer rewards to customers based on their rank. A customer typically climbs the ranks by spending more money or engaging more with the business. Usually, the higher the customer’s rank, the better their rewards and access to exclusive offers.
These types of loyalty programs are often associated with luxury brands, membership clubs, or casinos. For example, if you spend $2,000 per month at the casino, you may be eligible for an entry-level rank. If you eclipse $10,000, you may be invited to the diamond tier with even more benefits.
- Subscription-based loyalty program
Subscription-based loyalty programs are transparent since customers pay a set, ongoing fee to gain access to specific perks. These types of systems can generate significant revenue. Customers may be unlikely to actively unsubscribe from the service unless it provides no value.
That said, it may be more challenging to get customers to sign up due to the upfront cost. While the returns are often greater with a subscription service, the marketing activities behind it take a lot more resources.
eCommerce businesses, like Amazon Prime, are the perfect example of successful subscription-based loyalty programs. Amazon offers free worldwide shipping, exclusive sales, and other benefits to its subscribers.
- Referral-based loyalty program
Referral-based loyalty programs provide customers with rewards for referring other customers. The word-of-mouth aspect of this system essentially makes existing customers brand advocates, strengthening the reputation of a business.
Since you’re retaining loyal customers with rewards, you can reduce overall customer acquisition costs dramatically with this approach. Your customers do the heavy lifting for you.
Referral systems are common in the SaaS industry. Payment services, like PayPal offer cash for getting your friends to sign up. Similarly, Dropbox gives you free storage space for referring a certain number of people to the site.
Businesses advertise their loyalty programs in a variety of ways. For example, an online business may showcase its program through social media ads. On the other hand, a brick-and-mortar business might use a QR code generator to create scannable codes that they can place around the store.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to loyalty schemes. You must adapt yours to fit the needs of your business and target audience.
Should your business implement a loyalty program?
Customer loyalty programs require work but the benefits can contribute to your bottom line, making them worthwhile overall.
However, getting your loyalty program right is a critical step in demonstrating legitimate value and building trust with your customers. Otherwise, it can seem like a disingenuous add-on for salespeople to use to close a deal.
Choosing the right loyalty program
Putting together a successful loyalty program comes down to suitability. Your business must choose a system that fits its needs as well as those of the customer. This is especially important in niche industries that aren’t necessarily associated with loyalty programs. Take insurance providers or law firms as examples.
Legal firms don’t necessarily spring to mind when you think of loyalty programs or marketing strategies. However, with the right framework, they’re the perfect businesses for these types of systems. Lawyers can track the number of hours their clients rack up and offer them discounts or reduced rates when they hit a certain threshold each month or year.
The legal industry can be volatile in terms of customer retention, seeing as a cheaper quote can lead to a lost customer. By offering discounts or tiered memberships to customers, you show your appreciation, helping build your reputation.
In return, law firms could ask for an online review or a testimonial. These are forms of social proof that can make a huge difference in building rapport with potential clients. Video testimonials are becoming increasingly popular in the legal industry, putting a personal touch in an otherwise black-and-white niche.
The Patel Firm does an excellent job of using video to showcase what the business stands for at a personal level. It also uses video testimonials to further emphasize its values and track record. A customer loyalty program is an excellent avenue into this lane.
Top loyalty program example list 2024
If you’re considering creating a loyalty program for your business, studying the best ones out there is a good starting point. Below, you can find our top loyalty program picks from businesses in a variety of industries.
- Starbucks
Coffee and loyalty programs are a match made in heaven. For many people, picking up a morning beverage is just part of their daily routine. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program has over 31 million members. Plus, Starbucks has a significantly higher retention rate (44%) than the industry average (25%).
Its simple but practical system rewards customers for every dollar they spend. Each time you purchase something using your Starbucks app, you receive a certain number of stars.
When you have enough, you can redeem them for food, drinks, free refills, priority service, merchandise, and other freebies. You can also earn stars by playing games or participating in activities in the app.
Naturally, Starbucks Rewards encourages customers to buy from the store, increasing sales, and benefitting the company. However, the app also provides Starbucks with data, giving them feedback on new food and drinks, as well as insights into buying behavior.
- The Body Shop
An excellent example of a company creating a loyalty program that fits the needs of the business and its target market is The Body Shop’s Love Your Body Club.
Love Your Body Club operates like a points-based loyalty program, allowing customers to earn as they purchase. Members may also receive exclusive offers, event invites, birthday gifts, and other unique perks.
What makes the club stand out is that it allows members to donate their rewards to charities. When a customer saves 100 points, they receive a $10 reward. However, they can choose to donate this reward to a charity partner rather than claiming it for their own use.
This mission-driven loyalty program connects the ethical cosmetics brand with customers through shared values. If a customer doesn’t wish to pursue charitable donations, they can use their membership for themselves without a problem.
Regardless, The Body Shop reinforces its brand image through its loyalty program. Plus, it may encourage customers to join as it allows them to donate to charity without spending their own money.
- The North Face
The North Face is a lifestyle brand with clear values. Its XPLR Pass loyalty program showcases this. Members receive a 20% discount on their next order when they complete a racial diversity course.
Additionally, the program offers other benefits, like access to limited-edition products, exclusive access to certain items, field testing, and more. Members earn points for every dollar they spend and can even redeem them for outdoor experiences, such as mountain climbing in Nepal.
As an outdoor gear brand, The North Face understands that its target audience is more likely to value experiences, quality equipment, and adventure, over material products. The structure of its loyalty program buys into this, helping develop meaningful relationships with its customers.
- Sephora - Beauty Insider
Sephora’s Beauty Insider loyalty program is a hybrid of a point-based and a tiered system. The beauty brand allows you to collect points with purchases, as you would with any other points-based program. However, members have the option to pay for VIB or Rouge tiers for even more points, discounts, and exclusive rewards.
Not everyone will benefit from having a Rouge membership. That said, frequent customers will be able to quickly work out whether it’s worth the investment.
Another unique feature of Beauty Insider is that members gain access to Sephora’s online community. These like-minded individuals share beauty tips, discuss style advice, and talk about the latest products.
Sephora successfully plays on the emotional element of its industry. By creating a community, it strengthens perceptions of the brand and inevitably creates advocates. Beauty Insider represents far more than a loyalty program for many of its members.
Improve customer loyalty through video
Although each of the loyalty program examples outlined above is different, you can identify common themes. In addition to providing value through discounts and offers, all companies show their customers they care. They do this by tailoring their programs to the needs of their audience.
The importance of relationship building and adding a human touch is clear among each of these major brands. No matter what type of loyalty program you create, this should be central to its design.
Bonjoro video messaging
At Bonjoro, we believe that customer relationships are the secret to fast-growing businesses. It’s our mission to help you build them. Our video messaging platform aligns seamlessly with a loyalty program. It connects directly to your CRM, allowing you to record and send personalized videos to new loyalty program members.
You can even program Bonjoro to prompt you when someone signs up, makes a purchase, or claims a reward. This allows you to send timely follow-ups to thank the customer, provide more information, or give them an update. Include links, a calendar, and other important resources in your messaging to drive conversions.
We also help you collect video and written testimonials from customers. These can be uploaded to your site in a matter of minutes, populating it with brand advocates. Testimonials can increase website conversions by up to 80%.
If your loyalty program requires video demos or walkthroughs, Bonjoro allows you to make screen recordings to support your customers. The best part? You can download our screen recorder for free. You’ll get instant access to our templates and tracking data, as well as handy tips and tricks.
To hear more about what Bonjoro can do for your business or loyalty program, email us today at support@bonjoro.com.
A customer loyalty program is a system that a company may run to offer repeat customers exclusive rewards, such as discounts, special offers, points, or other incentives.
The idea is to encourage customers to purchase repeatedly from your company. What’s more, the reward-based system benefits the consumer, creating additional value for them. It allows businesses to show their appreciation for loyal customers, forging a relationship between the two. This lays the foundation for a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.
In this article, we discuss different elements of these programs. We then break down our top loyalty program examples, giving you the information you need to create one of your own.
Benefits of a customer loyalty program
A successful customer loyalty program can be a profitable endeavor. 79% of consumers in the US stated that a loyalty program would impact their likelihood of repeat purchases with a company. Eight out of ten customers report that they buy more frequently from businesses after signing up for their loyalty program.
When executed well, a loyalty program offers significant benefits to businesses too. Here are the main benefits of creating a loyalty program.
- Increased sales: 80% of customers say that they purchase more frequently from businesses after joining their loyalty programs. A successful system can lead to an increase in sales. For a lot of companies, this is the most important factor.
- Positive brand reputation: providing value creates a positive brand image. This may lead to customer growth through referrals or word of mouth. These are low-cost but highly effective marketing strategies.
- Builds consumer relationships: brand-consumer relationships are built on awareness, authenticity, and trust. Having a positive relationship or emotional connection with a brand can influence consumer behavior significantly. A loyalty program perfectly feeds into the relationship-building marketing strategy, which can lead to long-term, high-value customers.
- Increased customer retention: loyalty program members are highly likely to make repeat purchases. Since acquiring a new customer can be up to 25 more expensive than retaining one, this increased customer retention is extremely valuable.
- Differentiates businesses from competitors: a loyalty program provides a great opportunity to stand out among your competitors. With the long-term value that it offers, it can be a difference maker when a customer is choosing between your business and a competitor.
Different types of customer loyalty programs
There are several types of loyalty program examples to choose from. With tech advancements, marketing innovation, and other factors changing the business landscape daily, you may even find some nuanced ideas. However, for the most part, businesses stick to one of four types of loyalty programs.
- Points-based loyalty program
A points-based system is probably the most common loyalty program example. Customers collect points for various actions. This may include purchases, providing feedback on products or services, leaving reviews or testimonials, and sharing social media posts.
The points may then be redeemed for discounts on future purchases, freebies, perks, or other benefits. The specific rewards will depend on the company.
Essentially, point-based programs gamify the relationship between companies and their audience. Customers may have a particular points target or giveaway in mind. Or, they may just enjoy seeing the points rack up on their account.
A key benefit of choosing a points-based loyalty program is that most customers are familiar with the format. It’s transparent and your audience will know what they’re getting themselves into.
- Tiered loyalty program
Tiered loyalty programs offer rewards to customers based on their rank. A customer typically climbs the ranks by spending more money or engaging more with the business. Usually, the higher the customer’s rank, the better their rewards and access to exclusive offers.
These types of loyalty programs are often associated with luxury brands, membership clubs, or casinos. For example, if you spend $2,000 per month at the casino, you may be eligible for an entry-level rank. If you eclipse $10,000, you may be invited to the diamond tier with even more benefits.
- Subscription-based loyalty program
Subscription-based loyalty programs are transparent since customers pay a set, ongoing fee to gain access to specific perks. These types of systems can generate significant revenue. Customers may be unlikely to actively unsubscribe from the service unless it provides no value.
That said, it may be more challenging to get customers to sign up due to the upfront cost. While the returns are often greater with a subscription service, the marketing activities behind it take a lot more resources.
eCommerce businesses, like Amazon Prime, are the perfect example of successful subscription-based loyalty programs. Amazon offers free worldwide shipping, exclusive sales, and other benefits to its subscribers.
- Referral-based loyalty program
Referral-based loyalty programs provide customers with rewards for referring other customers. The word-of-mouth aspect of this system essentially makes existing customers brand advocates, strengthening the reputation of a business.
Since you’re retaining loyal customers with rewards, you can reduce overall customer acquisition costs dramatically with this approach. Your customers do the heavy lifting for you.
Referral systems are common in the SaaS industry. Payment services, like PayPal offer cash for getting your friends to sign up. Similarly, Dropbox gives you free storage space for referring a certain number of people to the site.
Businesses advertise their loyalty programs in a variety of ways. For example, an online business may showcase its program through social media ads. On the other hand, a brick-and-mortar business might use a QR code generator to create scannable codes that they can place around the store.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to loyalty schemes. You must adapt yours to fit the needs of your business and target audience.
Should your business implement a loyalty program?
Customer loyalty programs require work but the benefits can contribute to your bottom line, making them worthwhile overall.
However, getting your loyalty program right is a critical step in demonstrating legitimate value and building trust with your customers. Otherwise, it can seem like a disingenuous add-on for salespeople to use to close a deal.
Choosing the right loyalty program
Putting together a successful loyalty program comes down to suitability. Your business must choose a system that fits its needs as well as those of the customer. This is especially important in niche industries that aren’t necessarily associated with loyalty programs. Take insurance providers or law firms as examples.
Legal firms don’t necessarily spring to mind when you think of loyalty programs or marketing strategies. However, with the right framework, they’re the perfect businesses for these types of systems. Lawyers can track the number of hours their clients rack up and offer them discounts or reduced rates when they hit a certain threshold each month or year.
The legal industry can be volatile in terms of customer retention, seeing as a cheaper quote can lead to a lost customer. By offering discounts or tiered memberships to customers, you show your appreciation, helping build your reputation.
In return, law firms could ask for an online review or a testimonial. These are forms of social proof that can make a huge difference in building rapport with potential clients. Video testimonials are becoming increasingly popular in the legal industry, putting a personal touch in an otherwise black-and-white niche.
The Patel Firm does an excellent job of using video to showcase what the business stands for at a personal level. It also uses video testimonials to further emphasize its values and track record. A customer loyalty program is an excellent avenue into this lane.
Top loyalty program example list 2024
If you’re considering creating a loyalty program for your business, studying the best ones out there is a good starting point. Below, you can find our top loyalty program picks from businesses in a variety of industries.
- Starbucks
Coffee and loyalty programs are a match made in heaven. For many people, picking up a morning beverage is just part of their daily routine. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program has over 31 million members. Plus, Starbucks has a significantly higher retention rate (44%) than the industry average (25%).
Its simple but practical system rewards customers for every dollar they spend. Each time you purchase something using your Starbucks app, you receive a certain number of stars.
When you have enough, you can redeem them for food, drinks, free refills, priority service, merchandise, and other freebies. You can also earn stars by playing games or participating in activities in the app.
Naturally, Starbucks Rewards encourages customers to buy from the store, increasing sales, and benefitting the company. However, the app also provides Starbucks with data, giving them feedback on new food and drinks, as well as insights into buying behavior.
- The Body Shop
An excellent example of a company creating a loyalty program that fits the needs of the business and its target market is The Body Shop’s Love Your Body Club.
Love Your Body Club operates like a points-based loyalty program, allowing customers to earn as they purchase. Members may also receive exclusive offers, event invites, birthday gifts, and other unique perks.
What makes the club stand out is that it allows members to donate their rewards to charities. When a customer saves 100 points, they receive a $10 reward. However, they can choose to donate this reward to a charity partner rather than claiming it for their own use.
This mission-driven loyalty program connects the ethical cosmetics brand with customers through shared values. If a customer doesn’t wish to pursue charitable donations, they can use their membership for themselves without a problem.
Regardless, The Body Shop reinforces its brand image through its loyalty program. Plus, it may encourage customers to join as it allows them to donate to charity without spending their own money.
- The North Face
The North Face is a lifestyle brand with clear values. Its XPLR Pass loyalty program showcases this. Members receive a 20% discount on their next order when they complete a racial diversity course.
Additionally, the program offers other benefits, like access to limited-edition products, exclusive access to certain items, field testing, and more. Members earn points for every dollar they spend and can even redeem them for outdoor experiences, such as mountain climbing in Nepal.
As an outdoor gear brand, The North Face understands that its target audience is more likely to value experiences, quality equipment, and adventure, over material products. The structure of its loyalty program buys into this, helping develop meaningful relationships with its customers.
- Sephora - Beauty Insider
Sephora’s Beauty Insider loyalty program is a hybrid of a point-based and a tiered system. The beauty brand allows you to collect points with purchases, as you would with any other points-based program. However, members have the option to pay for VIB or Rouge tiers for even more points, discounts, and exclusive rewards.
Not everyone will benefit from having a Rouge membership. That said, frequent customers will be able to quickly work out whether it’s worth the investment.
Another unique feature of Beauty Insider is that members gain access to Sephora’s online community. These like-minded individuals share beauty tips, discuss style advice, and talk about the latest products.
Sephora successfully plays on the emotional element of its industry. By creating a community, it strengthens perceptions of the brand and inevitably creates advocates. Beauty Insider represents far more than a loyalty program for many of its members.
Improve customer loyalty through video
Although each of the loyalty program examples outlined above is different, you can identify common themes. In addition to providing value through discounts and offers, all companies show their customers they care. They do this by tailoring their programs to the needs of their audience.
The importance of relationship building and adding a human touch is clear among each of these major brands. No matter what type of loyalty program you create, this should be central to its design.
Bonjoro video messaging
At Bonjoro, we believe that customer relationships are the secret to fast-growing businesses. It’s our mission to help you build them. Our video messaging platform aligns seamlessly with a loyalty program. It connects directly to your CRM, allowing you to record and send personalized videos to new loyalty program members.
You can even program Bonjoro to prompt you when someone signs up, makes a purchase, or claims a reward. This allows you to send timely follow-ups to thank the customer, provide more information, or give them an update. Include links, a calendar, and other important resources in your messaging to drive conversions.
We also help you collect video and written testimonials from customers. These can be uploaded to your site in a matter of minutes, populating it with brand advocates. Testimonials can increase website conversions by up to 80%.
If your loyalty program requires video demos or walkthroughs, Bonjoro allows you to make screen recordings to support your customers. The best part? You can download our screen recorder for free. You’ll get instant access to our templates and tracking data, as well as handy tips and tricks.
To hear more about what Bonjoro can do for your business or loyalty program, email us today at support@bonjoro.com.
A customer loyalty program is a system that a company may run to offer repeat customers exclusive rewards, such as discounts, special offers, points, or other incentives.
The idea is to encourage customers to purchase repeatedly from your company. What’s more, the reward-based system benefits the consumer, creating additional value for them. It allows businesses to show their appreciation for loyal customers, forging a relationship between the two. This lays the foundation for a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.
In this article, we discuss different elements of these programs. We then break down our top loyalty program examples, giving you the information you need to create one of your own.
Benefits of a customer loyalty program
A successful customer loyalty program can be a profitable endeavor. 79% of consumers in the US stated that a loyalty program would impact their likelihood of repeat purchases with a company. Eight out of ten customers report that they buy more frequently from businesses after signing up for their loyalty program.
When executed well, a loyalty program offers significant benefits to businesses too. Here are the main benefits of creating a loyalty program.
- Increased sales: 80% of customers say that they purchase more frequently from businesses after joining their loyalty programs. A successful system can lead to an increase in sales. For a lot of companies, this is the most important factor.
- Positive brand reputation: providing value creates a positive brand image. This may lead to customer growth through referrals or word of mouth. These are low-cost but highly effective marketing strategies.
- Builds consumer relationships: brand-consumer relationships are built on awareness, authenticity, and trust. Having a positive relationship or emotional connection with a brand can influence consumer behavior significantly. A loyalty program perfectly feeds into the relationship-building marketing strategy, which can lead to long-term, high-value customers.
- Increased customer retention: loyalty program members are highly likely to make repeat purchases. Since acquiring a new customer can be up to 25 more expensive than retaining one, this increased customer retention is extremely valuable.
- Differentiates businesses from competitors: a loyalty program provides a great opportunity to stand out among your competitors. With the long-term value that it offers, it can be a difference maker when a customer is choosing between your business and a competitor.
Different types of customer loyalty programs
There are several types of loyalty program examples to choose from. With tech advancements, marketing innovation, and other factors changing the business landscape daily, you may even find some nuanced ideas. However, for the most part, businesses stick to one of four types of loyalty programs.
- Points-based loyalty program
A points-based system is probably the most common loyalty program example. Customers collect points for various actions. This may include purchases, providing feedback on products or services, leaving reviews or testimonials, and sharing social media posts.
The points may then be redeemed for discounts on future purchases, freebies, perks, or other benefits. The specific rewards will depend on the company.
Essentially, point-based programs gamify the relationship between companies and their audience. Customers may have a particular points target or giveaway in mind. Or, they may just enjoy seeing the points rack up on their account.
A key benefit of choosing a points-based loyalty program is that most customers are familiar with the format. It’s transparent and your audience will know what they’re getting themselves into.
- Tiered loyalty program
Tiered loyalty programs offer rewards to customers based on their rank. A customer typically climbs the ranks by spending more money or engaging more with the business. Usually, the higher the customer’s rank, the better their rewards and access to exclusive offers.
These types of loyalty programs are often associated with luxury brands, membership clubs, or casinos. For example, if you spend $2,000 per month at the casino, you may be eligible for an entry-level rank. If you eclipse $10,000, you may be invited to the diamond tier with even more benefits.
- Subscription-based loyalty program
Subscription-based loyalty programs are transparent since customers pay a set, ongoing fee to gain access to specific perks. These types of systems can generate significant revenue. Customers may be unlikely to actively unsubscribe from the service unless it provides no value.
That said, it may be more challenging to get customers to sign up due to the upfront cost. While the returns are often greater with a subscription service, the marketing activities behind it take a lot more resources.
eCommerce businesses, like Amazon Prime, are the perfect example of successful subscription-based loyalty programs. Amazon offers free worldwide shipping, exclusive sales, and other benefits to its subscribers.
- Referral-based loyalty program
Referral-based loyalty programs provide customers with rewards for referring other customers. The word-of-mouth aspect of this system essentially makes existing customers brand advocates, strengthening the reputation of a business.
Since you’re retaining loyal customers with rewards, you can reduce overall customer acquisition costs dramatically with this approach. Your customers do the heavy lifting for you.
Referral systems are common in the SaaS industry. Payment services, like PayPal offer cash for getting your friends to sign up. Similarly, Dropbox gives you free storage space for referring a certain number of people to the site.
Businesses advertise their loyalty programs in a variety of ways. For example, an online business may showcase its program through social media ads. On the other hand, a brick-and-mortar business might use a QR code generator to create scannable codes that they can place around the store.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to loyalty schemes. You must adapt yours to fit the needs of your business and target audience.
Should your business implement a loyalty program?
Customer loyalty programs require work but the benefits can contribute to your bottom line, making them worthwhile overall.
However, getting your loyalty program right is a critical step in demonstrating legitimate value and building trust with your customers. Otherwise, it can seem like a disingenuous add-on for salespeople to use to close a deal.
Choosing the right loyalty program
Putting together a successful loyalty program comes down to suitability. Your business must choose a system that fits its needs as well as those of the customer. This is especially important in niche industries that aren’t necessarily associated with loyalty programs. Take insurance providers or law firms as examples.
Legal firms don’t necessarily spring to mind when you think of loyalty programs or marketing strategies. However, with the right framework, they’re the perfect businesses for these types of systems. Lawyers can track the number of hours their clients rack up and offer them discounts or reduced rates when they hit a certain threshold each month or year.
The legal industry can be volatile in terms of customer retention, seeing as a cheaper quote can lead to a lost customer. By offering discounts or tiered memberships to customers, you show your appreciation, helping build your reputation.
In return, law firms could ask for an online review or a testimonial. These are forms of social proof that can make a huge difference in building rapport with potential clients. Video testimonials are becoming increasingly popular in the legal industry, putting a personal touch in an otherwise black-and-white niche.
The Patel Firm does an excellent job of using video to showcase what the business stands for at a personal level. It also uses video testimonials to further emphasize its values and track record. A customer loyalty program is an excellent avenue into this lane.
Top loyalty program example list 2024
If you’re considering creating a loyalty program for your business, studying the best ones out there is a good starting point. Below, you can find our top loyalty program picks from businesses in a variety of industries.
- Starbucks
Coffee and loyalty programs are a match made in heaven. For many people, picking up a morning beverage is just part of their daily routine. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that the Starbucks Rewards loyalty program has over 31 million members. Plus, Starbucks has a significantly higher retention rate (44%) than the industry average (25%).
Its simple but practical system rewards customers for every dollar they spend. Each time you purchase something using your Starbucks app, you receive a certain number of stars.
When you have enough, you can redeem them for food, drinks, free refills, priority service, merchandise, and other freebies. You can also earn stars by playing games or participating in activities in the app.
Naturally, Starbucks Rewards encourages customers to buy from the store, increasing sales, and benefitting the company. However, the app also provides Starbucks with data, giving them feedback on new food and drinks, as well as insights into buying behavior.
- The Body Shop
An excellent example of a company creating a loyalty program that fits the needs of the business and its target market is The Body Shop’s Love Your Body Club.
Love Your Body Club operates like a points-based loyalty program, allowing customers to earn as they purchase. Members may also receive exclusive offers, event invites, birthday gifts, and other unique perks.
What makes the club stand out is that it allows members to donate their rewards to charities. When a customer saves 100 points, they receive a $10 reward. However, they can choose to donate this reward to a charity partner rather than claiming it for their own use.
This mission-driven loyalty program connects the ethical cosmetics brand with customers through shared values. If a customer doesn’t wish to pursue charitable donations, they can use their membership for themselves without a problem.
Regardless, The Body Shop reinforces its brand image through its loyalty program. Plus, it may encourage customers to join as it allows them to donate to charity without spending their own money.
- The North Face
The North Face is a lifestyle brand with clear values. Its XPLR Pass loyalty program showcases this. Members receive a 20% discount on their next order when they complete a racial diversity course.
Additionally, the program offers other benefits, like access to limited-edition products, exclusive access to certain items, field testing, and more. Members earn points for every dollar they spend and can even redeem them for outdoor experiences, such as mountain climbing in Nepal.
As an outdoor gear brand, The North Face understands that its target audience is more likely to value experiences, quality equipment, and adventure, over material products. The structure of its loyalty program buys into this, helping develop meaningful relationships with its customers.
- Sephora - Beauty Insider
Sephora’s Beauty Insider loyalty program is a hybrid of a point-based and a tiered system. The beauty brand allows you to collect points with purchases, as you would with any other points-based program. However, members have the option to pay for VIB or Rouge tiers for even more points, discounts, and exclusive rewards.
Not everyone will benefit from having a Rouge membership. That said, frequent customers will be able to quickly work out whether it’s worth the investment.
Another unique feature of Beauty Insider is that members gain access to Sephora’s online community. These like-minded individuals share beauty tips, discuss style advice, and talk about the latest products.
Sephora successfully plays on the emotional element of its industry. By creating a community, it strengthens perceptions of the brand and inevitably creates advocates. Beauty Insider represents far more than a loyalty program for many of its members.
Improve customer loyalty through video
Although each of the loyalty program examples outlined above is different, you can identify common themes. In addition to providing value through discounts and offers, all companies show their customers they care. They do this by tailoring their programs to the needs of their audience.
The importance of relationship building and adding a human touch is clear among each of these major brands. No matter what type of loyalty program you create, this should be central to its design.
Bonjoro video messaging
At Bonjoro, we believe that customer relationships are the secret to fast-growing businesses. It’s our mission to help you build them. Our video messaging platform aligns seamlessly with a loyalty program. It connects directly to your CRM, allowing you to record and send personalized videos to new loyalty program members.
You can even program Bonjoro to prompt you when someone signs up, makes a purchase, or claims a reward. This allows you to send timely follow-ups to thank the customer, provide more information, or give them an update. Include links, a calendar, and other important resources in your messaging to drive conversions.
We also help you collect video and written testimonials from customers. These can be uploaded to your site in a matter of minutes, populating it with brand advocates. Testimonials can increase website conversions by up to 80%.
If your loyalty program requires video demos or walkthroughs, Bonjoro allows you to make screen recordings to support your customers. The best part? You can download our screen recorder for free. You’ll get instant access to our templates and tracking data, as well as handy tips and tricks.
To hear more about what Bonjoro can do for your business or loyalty program, email us today at support@bonjoro.com.
