During the BFCM season, your loyalty program should have two key goals: re-engaging your existing customers and drawing in new ones to your Shopify store. If you haven't implemented a loyalty program yet, now is the perfect time to start before the holiday rush begins.
What is a loyalty program and how does it work?
A loyalty program is a marketing strategy aimed at encouraging customers to shop and increase their customer life value. These programs reward customers with discounts, free merchandise, or other incentives, for example, an extra 10% discount on their birthday. The more frequently a customer shops with a store, the more rewards they earn and they get to grow in the tiers of your set.
The effectiveness of a loyalty program stems from its ability to engage consumers' psychology. Most customers enjoy feeling rewarded for their loyalty, which can significantly influence their shopping behavior. By offering tangible rewards for repeat business, loyalty programs provide a compelling incentive for customers to return to the same store repeatedly.
5 high-converting loyalty programs strategies for BFCM:
1. Double points day during BFCM
On Black Friday, you can offer double points on all purchases through your loyalty program. On a normal day, customers typically earn, let’s say, 1 point for every $2 spent. However, during Black Friday, you can double the points they earned. Instead of earning 1 point, you can give them 2 points for every $2 spent. This strategy not only provides an extra incentive for customers to shop on this high-stakes day but also encourages greater participation in your loyalty program.
With the Ako Marketing app, you can easily set up these rules using Shopify Flow to provide additional incentives during the holiday season.
2. Exclusive BFCM discounts and tiers
Motivate your customers to shop more with tiered discounts based on their Black Friday purchases. The more they add to their carts, the larger the discounts they unlock. For example, if they are in the advanced tiers, they can get more benefits compared to the starting tier. This will encourage them to keep growing in your tiers as well as increase your average order value, creating a win-win situation.
You can also offer exclusive discounts and perks only available to loyalty program members such as free shipping, extra discount, or a free gift. LINE FRIENDS implemented exclusive perks for customers to move to higher tiers. Customers receive more substantial discounts, including for both orders and free shipping discounts. To boost the average order value (AOV), these coupons require a minimum purchase amount for redemption. The higher the tier, the more free shipping discount codes customers will receive, making it even more rewarding to reach top levels. Everyone loves feeling part of an exclusive club, and this taps into that desire perfectly.
It’s not just about rewarding loyalty; it’s about providing tangible benefits for being part of your program. This approach adds a sense of urgency—customers will want to join to ensure they don’t miss out on these exclusive perks. This strategy can boost customer retention and increase the overall value of each customer over time.
3. Send email notifications about BFCM deals
Every purchase is a cause for celebration, and the Loyalty Purchase Email transforms each transaction into a memorable experience. You can use email notifications to congratulate customers on their recent Black Friday purchases, emphasizing the points earned. It goes beyond being a mere receipt by showing the current loyalty points balance. It can suggest next steps to encourage customers to keep engaging with your brand and unlocking more rewards. With Ako Marketing and Klaviyo integration, you can seamlessly send emails based on customer tiers.
4. Leverage positive customer reviews
During the Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) rush, you can enhance customer engagement in two impactful ways. You can incentivize reviews with exclusive BFCM offers, such as special discounts, early access to deals, and promotions exclusively for customers who share their feedback. With 87% of consumers prioritizing real-life customer reviews and ratings when making purchasing decisions, having positive reviews will significantly increase your sales opportunities.
Ako's Loyalty Program offers various ways for customers to earn points, including signups, birthdays, 1-Click Social Login, and reviews. Seamlessly integrating with Judge.me, this program allows you to incentivize customer reviews effectively. For instance, by adding a product review loyalty campaign with a 250-point reward via the Ako Marketing app, you can encourage your customers to share their reviews and earn points for their next purchase. This strategy not only encourages valuable feedback but also reinforces loyalty by rewarding customer engagement.
5. Rescue abandoned carts with loyalty retargeting during BFCM
We understand that during peak seasons, advertising costs can add up. That's why it's crucial to get the most value out of your marketing efforts, especially when dealing with abandoned shopping carts. Retargeting is always an effective way to increase sales and conversion rates. With Ako Retargeting, the top Meta retargeting app on the Shopify App Store, you can set up full-funnel retargeting campaigns with just a few clicks. It's important to address various aspects of retargeting. Here are some key strategies to ensure you make the most of every potential customer:
1. Seize every potential customer
If you’ve already invested in driving traffic to your website, ensure you’re fully prepared to convert those visitors into customers. Don’t let any potential customers slip away. It’s easier to convert those who have visited your site but haven’t made a purchase by delivering dynamic product ads. The customer journey is long—98% of visitors don’t place an order on their first visit. Retargeting ads is your final step to winning conversions.
2. Avoid ad fatigue with sequential retargeting
Ad fatigue occurs when your audience becomes overly familiar with your ads and stops paying attention. This leads to ignored ads and poor performance. To avoid this, segment your audience into groups based on when they last visited your website and deliver tailored ad creatives and messages to each group. With sequential retargeting, you can overcome ad fatigue and better engage with your audience, resulting in improved ad performance.
3. Win back old customers
Create a retargeting campaign that targets previous customers and brings them back to your site. Even if they have only purchased once, they are much more likely to buy from you again than those who have only visited your site. Research shows that a customer has a 27% chance of returning after one purchase, which is 10 times higher than that of a first-time visitor.
Additionally, repeat customers tend to spend more on your online store than new customers. During holiday shopping, first-time customers spend only 17% more per transaction, whereas repeat customers spend 25% more. Therefore, winning back old customers is a valuable strategy to increase sales.
Conclusion
A well-structured loyalty program during BFCM can boost sales and engagement. Re-engage existing customers and attract new ones by offering double points, exclusive perks, personalized emails, and retargeting abandoned carts. Tools like Ako Marketing, Judge.me and Klaviyo make implementing these strategies easier. Increase customer retention, average order values, and overall engagement to drive growth during BFCM and beyond.