Written by: Stefanie Gray
Loyalty program growth can be a daunting undertaking. Program expansion can depend on a number of factors, such as Marketing’s advertising budget, store ops’ willingness to support in-store sign placement, or something as simple as creating a compelling incentive.
Following is a CodeBroker retailer’s creative idea: leverage their existing loyalty program member’s to stimulate growth by more than 20% in a three week timeframe.
Mobile Promotion: Friend-2-Friend
Why: Increase enrollment in the retailer’s mobile loyalty program.
The retailer’s mobile loyalty program rewards customers for their purchases. Specifically, for every dollar spent, the loyalty program member receives a tenth of a percentage point discount that they can apply to their next purchase. For example, a customer receives 50 points for $50 worth of purchased merchandise. The 50 points translates to 5% off of the customer’s next purchase. The most points a loyalty member can accrue for a single rewards offer 300. Once the 300 point threshold is reached, a coupon for 30% off their next purchase is delivered to the loyalty member and they begin accruing points towards a new offer.
At the beginning of the program, the retailer had approximately 250,000 subscribers to their mobile loyalty program. The goal of the campaign was to increase loyalty program growth by 10% by appealing to the friends and family of current program subscribers.
How: A promotion text message was delivered to 250,000 loyalty program subscribers. The promotion text message asked current customers to forward the message to their friends and family encouraging them to join the retailer’s mobile loyalty program. The original subscriber was awarded 50 points for each friend and family member that joined the mobile loyalty program.
A link was embedded in the promotional text message. When the friend or family member clicked on the link, they were directed to a dynamic mobile web form. The form explained how the program worked in more detail. In addition, the friend or family member was able to sign up for the mobile loyalty program from the web form.
Through CodeBroker’s unique ability to track customer engagement, the retailer was able to correlate new enrollees to the program with the original subscriber (i.e., the person who forwarded the original text message). Reports were delivered to the retailer enabling them to track the progress of the campaign and award points in near real-time to the original subscriber.
Customer Experience: The promotional text message was delivered to all 250,000 SMS marketing list subscribers using CodeBroker’s text message marketing software. The SMS marketing list subscribers then forwarded the SMS message to their friends and family. They could even include an additional message describing the program benefits, encouraging their friends to sign-up. Recipients of the forwarded SMS message clicked on the link and were directed to a mobile web page hosted by CodeBroker.
The mobile web page welcomed friends and family to the mobile loyalty program. To join, the friends completed the form by providing their first name, last, name, zip code, and email address. In addition, friends and family members were asked to check a box indicating that they have read and agree to the program requirements. After filling out the form, the friend or family member would click on the submit button and join the program. It was that easy.
As a thank you for joining the mobile loyalty program, the retailer delivered 20% off single-use coupon valid for their first purchase as a new loyalty program member. The mobile coupon could be used either online or in-store. Once the coupon was redeemed, the unique coupon code expired preventing the offer from being used again. Employing single-use coupons and single-use mobile offers lets the retailer deliver generous thank you coupons while minimizing liability concerns.
The retailer was able to track all of the friends and family members who signed up for the program. Throughout the course of the 3 week campaign, the retailer periodically calculated the number of new loyalty program sign-ups. Once tabulated, the retailer delivered promotional text messages to the original loyalty program subscribers providing an update as to any additional points they have earned.
Results: The mobile loyalty program campaign ran for three weeks. The original goal was mobile loyalty program growth of 10%, or an additional 25,000 new subscriptions. The 10% goal was reached within the first 5 days of the campaign. By the end of the three week period, the mobile loyalty program grew by an outstanding 22%, or 55,000 new subscribers, bringing the total list size to 305,000.
The retailer was so pleased with the campaign results that they plan to run the campaign on a semi-annual basis making it a hallmark campaign for growing their mobile loyalty program.
Please contact us to learn about other unique promotions that grow mobile loyalty programs as well as generate millions of dollars in revenue for our retailer customers.