Segment your audience using loyalty insights

In today’s highly competitive, online marketplace, it’s no longer enough to differentiate on price and logistics. Stores need to do more to build better customer relationships. Why? Because the one-on-one relationship common to brick-and-mortar stores is lost online. Yet, unsurprisingly, customers still crave the person-to-person interaction.

With 91% of customers checking their inboxes daily, email offers the perfect opportunity for the direct person-to-brand relationship customers crave. On top of this, emails paired with your loyalty program perform 14 times better than regular marketing emails.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that you can now harness the LoyaltyLion and Dotdigital integration to segment your email list based on your customers’ loyalty behaviors. By identifying your customers based on three categories – loyal, at-risk and in need of winning back – you can serve up super-relevant content to secure loyalty and re-engage customers that would otherwise churn.

So, what are the three key loyalty segments to consider and how can you queue up the right emails to send those particular customer groups?

Engage your most loyal customers

On average, loyal customers spend 67% more than new ones. With carefully crafted and segmented loyalty emails, you can target these customers with the right message, so they’re encouraged to spend with you again – and sooner. Send emails that keep these customers updated about their points balance, the rewards they’ve gained and the new offers that are available to them. This way, they’ll be reminded of the benefits of shopping with you and will be more likely to return. You could also send prompts showing that they can earn points in ways they may not know about yet – such as writing product reviews or referring friends.

Prevent at-risk customers

Customers who are classified as “at-risk” are those who have not returned to purchase from you within a particular time frame. As it costs five times more to acquire new customers than it does to retain your existing ones, customers who are showing signs of shopping elsewhere represent lost time and money.

By putting these customers into a segment and targeting them with emails that surprise and delight them, you can encourage them back to your site if their interest starts to fade.

Remind them why they chose to shop with you in the first place by showing personalized offers. These could be double points on products they’ve previously shown interest in or a free gift on their birthday. You could even use emails to notify them that you’ve moved them up a loyalty tier. This way, they’ll be attracted to return to your store to make the most of the new benefits they’ve unlocked.

Win customers back

Unfortunately, you can do all the hard work to get your customers through the door but with an array of choices out there, they can easily turn to shop with your competitors. You can now use your loyalty segments and email strategy to identify and win back these lost customers.

Send them emails that remind them that your loyalty program exists. They might not know that they earned points when they shopped with you the first time, or be aware of how they could be redeeming them. To encourage re-engagement, showcase products they showed interest in before and remind them why they trusted you to begin with.

You could even change the content of these emails, so your lost customers feel like they’re discovering you for the first time. Show them what’s trending on your site since they last shopped with you and the new behaviors you’ve added to your loyalty program since. Put phrases like “We missed you!” and “Here’s a welcome back offer” into your subject lines so these emails stand out in the inbox and appeal on a personal level.

Take notice and you’ll reap the rewards

By altering your email content to match the loyalty behaviors of your customers, you’ll automatically see your customer engagement improve. Your emails will be highly relevant and appeal to the right customers on a more personal level. And, in the long run, this attention to detail will increase your customers’ lifetime value and reduce your risk of customer churn.

About LoyaltyLion

LoyaltyLion is a data-driven loyalty and engagement platform trusted by thousands of ecommerce brands worldwide. Merchants use LoyaltyLion when they want a fully customized loyalty program that is proven to increase customer engagement, retention and spend. Stores using LoyaltyLion typically generate at least $15 for every $1 they spend on the platform.