How to Engage Your Loyalty Members During the Holiday Season

The holiday season presents plenty of opportunities for brands. After all, a significant portion of revenue is brought in during the holidays — for retailers especially.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some challenges too. For example, one area often forgotten is loyalty programs. So, if you want to send better loyalty emails, it’s time to start incorporating them in your holiday email campaign planning. 

During a busy and competitive holiday season, being able to connect and engage with your most loyal customers can make a difference. Here are a few ways to ensure you’re keeping your loyalty campaigns top of mind during the holiday season. 

Focus on retention

Members of your loyalty program are often customers who love your brand and your product and will come back and buy from you again and again. So why not capitalize on that?

Where you want to start is before the holidays fully kick-off. Now is the perfect time to check in with your members, so your brand is top of mind. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to re-write your current campaigns. Instead, send a one or two email campaign that checks in, reminds them about your program, and asks for their feedback can go a long way.

Recognize your most loyal members

Another way to get your loyalty program members excited for the holiday season is to sweeten the pot. Look at your loyalty customer data and see the members who stand out. Recognize them and send them something special; a small gift, a discount, or a free shipping offer can help them return to you as they get ready to shop.

Personalization can help here too. Use your emails as a way to deliver personalized images and content. Smart Banners can highlight how many rewards points your members have or what their next reward amount is, plus with a built-in call to action, you’re driving clicks. These can help boost engagement.

Include holiday themes

Sure, you’ve already got your holiday campaigns ready to go, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add some holiday flair to your loyalty emails this time of year. In addition, you can tie your loyalty campaigns into the rest of your holiday plans.

Use your campaigns to attract attention, create curiosity, and drive action. Here are a few places to start: 

• Develop and send out holiday gift guides to your members
• Offer them pre-event flash sales or limited-time deals
• Have holiday shopping windows where they earn double reward points on purchases
• Promote seasonal members-only in-person events at local shops

There’s so much you can do to help make your members feel special. 

Don’t forget last-minute shoppers

During the holiday season, you’ll always find a few people frantically browsing the aisles of stores to find a gift — for the party they’re about to attend. The same thing happens with eCommerce too. So, why not consider making that a part of your campaign. 

One way to appeal to last-minute shoppers is to offer them online gift cards. If you’re a retailer or eCommerce brand, this could be a very simple way to grab attention and drive action without your customers needing to worry about shipping. And, with your loyalty members, consider offering some extra incentives for them to buy, like adding a few extra bucks to the gift card or offering reward points.

Keep on top of shipping

Speaking of shipping…this is a big one. During the holiday season, shipping plays a huge role for customers. As part of a great customer experience, especially for your most loyal customers, you want to ensure they’re getting the information they need about their packages. 

Updated personalized package tracking is a great way to do that. When your customers open their email, they’ll see up-to-date information on exactly where their package is. And with Smart Banners, you can add a personalized tracking update to every single email you send. 

Add Smart Banners™ to the mix

Smart Banners™ offer an easy way to send your most loyal customers personalized 1:1 messages throughout the holiday season. With Smart Banners™, you can:

• Remind them of their existing loyalty points
• Let them apply their loyalty points as discounts
• Entice members with bonus points by completing abandoned cart purchases

Giving your loyalty members more options with their points can help you drive more action and conversions.

Plus, Smart Banners™ give you the opportunity to re-engage some of the loyalty members on your list who haven’t bought or opened emails in a while. Priming your list now can help them get more excited and engaged for the holiday season.

Interested in learning more about how you can send personalized loyalty emails this holiday season?

We’re here to help. Get in touch with Zembula today.