Why loyalty matters: how to reward your VIPs with personalized loyalty updates

If there’s one real goal for marketers, it’s building a loyal customer base. 

In fact, for many brands, customer loyalty is the whole ball game. A loyal customer base is one that loves your product or service and will buy from you again and again. 

Study after study has shown just how vital building customer loyalty is to overall business success. 

Here are a few stats to keep in mind:

• “43% of customers spend more money on brands they’re loyal to.”
• “Lowering your customer churn rate by 5% can increase your profitability by 25 to 125%.”
• “68% of customers leave because they feel the company doesn’t care about their business.”
• “69% of consumers say the choice of retailer is influenced by where they can earn customer loyalty/rewards program points.”

All of those stats point to one major thing, customer loyalty matters. 

Unfortunately, a lot of brands take customer loyalty for granted. They think that once the customer buys, the journey stops there. 

But the truth of the matter is the more time you spend engaging and nurturing your current customers and making them feel like VIPs the more likely they will stay with you for life. 

So how do you do that?

Building loyalty through email

One way is through email. 

Lots of brands have customer loyalty programs. Think Starbucks, Sephora, and Jet Blue as common examples. Maybe your local coffee shop has one of those little buy 10 get one free loyalty cards, or your gym has a monthly give away. 

These are all examples of programs geared toward rewarding customers and encouraging them to buy again.

If you’re worried that your small business can’t compete with these big-name brands, think again. There are ways you can use your email marketing strategy to really move the needle with your VIPs and required them in fun and creative ways. 

The secret weapon?

Real-time personalized updates 

Everyone loves getting emails that are all about them. After all, for most of us, we’re our favorite topics!

But when it comes to email, the more personal, the better. So if you’re able to send a personalized email that shows real-time updated information about a persons account and loyalty status, they’ll love it. 

Here’s a fun example:

Airline miles are really common loyalty programs. But, who knows the number of miles they have off the top of their heads? Probably not many people.

However, an email like this serves two purposes. First, it’s a personalized reminder of how many miles they have earned. And second, it encourages the reader that they can book a trip using those miles right now.

So that vacation they’ve been thinking about? Right now would be a perfect time to book a flight.

There are other ways to use personalized emails for loyalty programs too — including some out of the box options.

You can also personalize based on geolocation.

Let’s say you’ve got a particular product going on sale next week, but only in a handful of stores. You can send out an email that only contacts those VIP customers in the immediate area and offer them first dibs on setting up an appointment.

Personalized emails can also be used to feature particular products. If you run a points program and track what your customers buy, then you can tailor specific products or services that you know your customer loves. Find those products that qualify for special discounts or coupons that align with their points and send an email highlighting them.

These are all ways to help build customer loyalty that caters to their interests and doesn’t take them for granted. You’re showcasing that you care about them and what they are interested in and you’re also making it really easy to take the next step and buy.

That’s a nice win-win for both of you.

Start building loyalty now

At the end of the day, personalization matters now more than ever. So you have to find ways where you can tap into personalization and engage your customers.

Using loyalty rewards coupled with personalization based on location, purchase history, and interests is a great way to get started.

If you haven’t already, it’s critical to start developing a strategy for those customers who have already demonstrated their loyalty to your brand. Take care of them, make them feel loved, and they’ll do the same in return.