5 Emails To Help Boost Rider Engagement In Transit Loyalty Programs

Email marketing is still considered a powerful driver of customer engagement and lead nurturing by the majority of companies. Loyalty programs of every shape and size can benefit from utilizing a strong email strategy not only to acquire new customers, but to stay connected and engaged with with their existing members.

For transit agencies especially, staying connected to members while encouraging them to actively use the loyalty program is key to building their long-term customer loyalty. Active loyalty program members provide more useful data, are typically more frequent riders, and are more likely to become brand advocates for their family and friends. 

If you’re a transit agency looking for ideas to drive rider engagement and loyalty through email, here are a few email types you can use to get started. 

Email Idea 1:  Help New Members Explore 
Loyalty Program Benefits

The journey doesn't stop after customers already enrolled in your loyalty program. The best way to drive ongoing loyalty program participation is to create user journeys and workflows that help guide new members through the initial enrollment period all the way up to their first milestones, such as their first ticket submission or their first reward redemption. Active customer engagement is key to loyalty program success. 

One of the best ways to help members stay active is to make sure they know all the different loyalty program perks and benefits. For example, most participants probably understand that they will receive points for making a purchase or similar activities, and that they can later redeem those points for reward items.

But members might not be aware of other loyalty program benefits, such as free product samples or discounts with partner merchants. These members might not know there are other ways to earn points, such as completing challenges or participating in feedback surveys. 

You can send periodic emails that introduce new members to their loyalty program benefits. You can also send email updates if and when new perks are added to your transit loyalty program. As your loyalty program captures more data such as program activity and usage metrics, you can segment and target members who haven't used a particular perk or benefit and send them personalized communications encouraging them to do so. This can help ensure your program members are getting the full value from your loyalty program. 

Email Idea 2: Send Rider Summaries or Usage Recaps

Another way to stay in touch is to send regular rider summary or usage recap emails. Payment vendor Venmo is a great example - at the beginning of each month the financial organization sends its members a recap email with all their Venmo transactions they completed in the previous month. If a member did not have any transactions for a month, then that user will at least receive quarterly emails containing all their activity.  

Transit agencies can do the same things for their users by sending out recap summaries of ticket redemptions, total miles ridden, challenges or missions completed, and more. This benefits transit riders by helping their track their loyalty program activity, which helps them feel more in control and involved.

These types of usage summaries also helps keep loyalty program participation momentum going because members can see reminders of their past mileage earnings and visualize progress made towards new earnings goals or rewards. 

Email Idea 3: Help Riders Plan Travel

One way you can ensure your transit loyalty program is benefiting members is by helping them plan their future travel. To do so, you can send them emails that update them on travel-related topics; you can let them know when they’re approaching enough points for a free ride or when a favorite merchant partner is running a ride special.

Another tactic is alerting them to specific earning opportunities for bonus points, such as changing when they travel. Alleviating rider congestion around peak travel times is a common goal in the transit industry, and incentives are a proven way to help achieve rider congestion goals.

You can send emails or push alerts to loyalty members letting them know that they can earn bonus points for taking transit during off-peak hours for a specific day, week, or other combination of times/days. By doing so in advance, you can help them coordinate their travel plans better and make their travel experience smoother on their end.  

Email Idea 4: Promote Interactive Games Or Engagement Opportunities

Interactive games are a great way to drive customer engagement and participation without requiring a purchase. 40% of Millennials believe that loyalty programs should offer points and especially among Gen Z individuals, games are a preferred way of earning loyalty points.

Hosting promotions such as scavenger hunts, photo contests, or sweepstakes can help your loyalty program members stay active and engaged with the program at all times - both when they’re taking transit and not. 

You should send emails or SMS notifications to program members when new promotions are launched, letting them know how to participate and what prizes or rewards they can receive in return. You can also create static pages and banner ads with your web and mobile versions of your loyalty program to promote different game or promotion opportunities for your members. 

Email Idea 5: Recognize Milestones & Demonstrate Appreciation

Recognition and appreciation are part of the foundation of a building true customer loyalty. As such, loyalty programs should make customer and member recognition a key part of their ongoing messaging and communications.

One way transit agencies can show appreciation is by sending out celebratory emails that recognize specific rider  achievements, such when a member reaches a specific number of miles traveled or when they visit a certain number of stations or destinations.

You can even send out celebratory emails that celebrate an organizational goal, such as hitting a number of program enrollees or a milestone on a carbon footprint reducing tracker. The key is to make the celebration include both the rider and the transit agency, because both parties rely on the other one for support when reaching these milestones. 

If you're looking to drive loyalty program engagement for your brand, reach out to us today!