'Tis The Season - How To Grow Customer Loyalty During The Holidays

With the holidays just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about what you can do as a loyalty marketer to build customer loyalty over this busy and often profitable shopping season.

The holiday period presents a unique opportunity for retailers and brands looking to strengthen their customer relationships, whether that's by boosting customer service options, creating memorable seasonal experiences that drive customer satisfaction, or developing more personalized offers or content.

In this blog post, we've outlined our top tips on how brands can utilize their loyalty programs during the upcoming festive season to generate opportunities to increase sales, grow brand loyalty, and drive business growth. 

Put Your Loyalty Program Data To Work

The holidays are a great opportunity to put your loyalty program data analytics to work! Combine your loyalty program data and CRM data to create customer segments around your holiday goals: which lapsed customers haven't shopped from you in a while? Which members qualify for a particular bonus, perk, or are close to rising to the next tier? What past loyalty program promotions or offers had high participation rates among your members? Did customer buying increase during specific product promotions? What days & times are members actively earning points or redeeming rewards?

Using loyalty program data for customer segmentation allows you to target individuals with more relevant holiday offers, product recommendations, or special product bundles. Instead of implementing a “one-size-fits-all” approach, you can create more focused marketing strategies for particular customer groups. Identifying trends such as which win-back offers performed best among at-risk customers enables you to leverage that data to increase sales and engagement. It will also help you allocate your marketing budget and resources more efficiently for the holiday season.

Remind Members About Loyalty Program Benefits

Keeping your brand top of mind as consumers begin to make their holiday shopping plans can help grow sales during the end-of-the-year holiday seasons. One way to do this is by reminding members about the benefits, perks, or special discounts available to them through the loyalty program. Doing so helps reaffirm to customers that buying from you is both rewarding and beneficial. Look for opportunities to refresh customer memories about the below areas: 

Member Perks

Does your program offer free flash shipping? No-hassle returns? Dedicated customer service teams? Remind customers about the loyalty program benefits & perks available to them so they can stay aware during their holiday rush.

Reward or Point Balances

Keep members updated on their current points balances, available rewards, and if their point balance qualifies for specific rewards. You especially want to remind them about expiration dates or promotion end dates. 

Tier Advancement

If you have a tiered rewards program, now is a good time to reach out to members about ways they can move up to the next tier level. Some customers will be looking to use the holiday shopping season to their advantage for completing certain goals such as achieving a higher member status. This creates more incentive to buy from you, especially if there are desirable perks tied to a particular tier level - such as VIP access to special deals or free gift wrapping. 

Create Customer Experiences That Build Loyalty

Take advantage of the holiday season to grow emotional loyalty among your customers by providing them with unique experiences or engagement opportunities like the ones below. 

Host Special Events

Get your teams involved to brainstorm some ideas about what brand-specific events or experiences you could incorporate with your loyalty program during the holidays. Maybe a virtual sneak peek at top gift ideas? A special holiday promotion like a sweepstakes, contest, or instant win? 

Look For ‘Surprise & Delight’ Opportunities

Surprise & Delight is one of the most effective ways to create positive customer experiences and strengthen the customer-brand relationship. Consider including some kind of limited-time ‘surprise & delight’ element for loyalty members or just long-time repeat customers during the holiday season such as little bonus products, small gifts, or thank-you bonuses with their normal purchases during the season.

Engage Your Brand Communities

Brand communities are powerful drivers of loyalty; not only do they help promote the brand as a whole but they elevate the customer experience by enabling more customer participation, fostering peer-to-peer interactions, and creating two-way connections between a brand and its audiences. Find ways to create holiday-themed spaces or experiences where your brand community can come together to engage and interact socially.

Plan Out a Complete Post-Holiday Retention Strategy 

For most merchants, the holidays bring a wave of customers that end up being one-time buyers. However, depending on your industry and products there could be more opportunities to bring these customers back instead of just writing them odd. Creating a post-holiday engagement strategy for this customer segment can help you identify and nurture more customers in the after-season slump, leading to higher customer retention overall. 

One method is ensuring customers enjoy the products they purchase from you. Transform your typical ‘Thank You’ post-purchase emails into a truly welcoming and onboarding experience for customers. Send them content that helps them maximize the use and enjoyment of their purchases, provide answers to common FAQs, and so on. For example, a clothing retailer could provide tips on proper care for specific fabrics or creative ideas for outfits. 

Another tactic is to provide new customers with small rewards for engaging with your brand post-purchase; these engagements could include answering a survey, leaving a review, or joining the loyalty program. Providing these small “wins” sets the groundwork for customers to keep returning and interacting with your brand in the future.

Drive Customer Loyalty This Holiday Season 

Loyalty programs are a powerful tool for driving end-of-year growth. The holidays especially contain numerous opportunities to foster customer retention and enhance brand loyalty. Take the time to experiment with one or more of the ideas in this article and see how your customers respond. With the right strategy in place, you'll be well-positioned for a successful end-of-year push and a prosperous new year.