7 Strategies to Create a First-Class Loyalty Experience That’ll Drive LTV

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: to generate substantial recurring revenue from your subscription program, you cannot treat it as a set-it-and-forget-it element of your retention funnel. The same applies to loyalty, membership, and rewards.

The way to win with loyalty programs is to create a thoughtful experience beyond the product to build a community around your brand.

The brands crushing it on loyalty aren’t running a simple points-based program or your typical discounted redemptions; the winners go further to offer a meaningful, unmatched experience that the competition can’t match.

Here’s how you can do it, too – 

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Strategy #1 – Allow Subscribers to Sample & Test Unreleased Products

Give members the chance to sample new products as a part of their subscription. These could be items in the early stages of development, limited-time releases or flavors, or SKUs that your team is still deciding should make the final cut.

Include these samples as a surprise in a subscriber’s upcoming order, or split-test samples or test products as free gifts in select orders using ExperienceEngine.

Why does this work? Subscribers receive VIP access to exclusive and unreleased products and feel included in your brand’s growth. At the same time, the promise of an exclusive gift incentivizes subscribers to stick around and see what the surprise will be. 

Most importantly, use the winning samples as a future upsell opportunity to customers who respond positively using Stay’s Add-on Carousel. 

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Strategy #2 – Delight Members with Early Access or Exclusive Releases

Delight your loyalty members with early or exclusive access to new limited-time releases before anyone else. If you can, set aside 1-2 products as exclusive SKUs or as early-access products initially available only to members. 

Our friends at Aura Bora give subscribers a chance to try new, limited-time flavors through their “Flavor of the Month Club”. The team strategically announces limited-time flavors using our in-portal banner ad to give subscribers access to new SKUs before anyone else and encourages them to add them to an upcoming order.

Other brands like KITH create exclusive, made-to-order products available only to their members via the KITH app. While not every brand can create its own custom-branded Adidas sneaker, offering members any exclusives – whether flavor, SKU or even early access – can go a long way.

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Strategy #3 – Surprise Members with Exclusive Community Events

Inviting members to exclusive events is a next-level way to surprise, delight, and engage your most valued customers. Let’s say your brand is fitness or health-related and has a large following in a major city like Chicago or Boston: rent a yoga or pilates studio for an evening event and invite members to come out, mingle, and have a good time together.

If you have a food-related product, host a virtual Zoom cooking class with a well-known or celebrity chef. Send loyalty members an invitation by email, and then send out a care package to those who RSVP with all the ingredients needed and a branded apron to make the event a success.

Together, your most valued customers can mingle, cook a cool new dish, and be reminded of how awesome your brand is.

May we suggest a pan-seared fish with olive oil pesto? We’re looking at you, Graza 😉

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Strategy #4 – Exclusive Member Discounts & Deals

Everyone loves a good deal – and sometimes it’s the simplest benefits that convert. Offer exclusive members-only discounts for add-on products or one-time purchases directly in their Customer Portal that aren’t offered in other sitewide promotions.

Mint & Lilly use their in-portal banner ad to highlight a member-exclusive 40% discount on their upcoming order:

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Strategy #5 – Offer Priority Customer Service & Personalized Experiences

For members with the highest LTV or rewards tier status, offer personalized services such as priority customer service, personal shopping assistance, or individual product recommendations from a member of your team.

Provide these members with a separate CX email or SMS contact to ensure any customer service needs are prioritized and quickly resolved. This reiterates to customers that their experience is valued and in turn, more likely to choose you again.

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Strategy #6 – Celebrate Special Milestones Together

Customize your membership program to celebrate personalized subscriber milestones including birthdays, anniversaries, brand events, and more. Offer these members bonus points, exclusive rewards, credits, or any other gift that would resonate.

Using Stay’s first-to-market integration with Inveterate, members can easily see their points or credit balances directly in their subscription portal, allowing them to redeem rewards and manage their subscriptions conveniently in one place:

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Strategy #7 – Create a Highly Visual Rewards Journey with Digital Punch Cards

By leveraging a highly visual subscriber journey, you can keep members engaged throughout their order cycles and show them their progress toward exciting and exclusive rewards.

Why? Research into human behavior reveals that the closer customers see themselves reaching a goal, the more likely they are to come back and order again until they reach it.

Our Digital Punch Card widget lives in the upper portion of the Customer Portal, making it seamless for subscribers to log in and view their progress at any time to see how close they are to their next reward. By gamifying the reward experience with fun, punchy visuals, you can take reward strategy to the next level.

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Looking to boost your subscription retention rate, or provide a top-tier subscriber experience? Stay AI’s out-of-the-box tools are designed to boost your subscription revenue, while delighting your VIP customers.