Loyalty and rewards programs have become ubiquitous in today’s marketplace. In a survey conducted in 2022 by Statistica, 73% of consumers from the United Kingdom who responded said they felt loyal to specific retailers, brands, or stores. This was an increase from the previous year, where 55% of respondents expressed the same sentiment (Statistica). However, simply having a loyalty program is no longer enough to stand out. Customers have come to expect personalised incentives, offers, and communications from brands they frequent and support with their spending.

According to surveys in the UK, 80% of survey participants stated they are more inclined to engage with a company that provides personalised experiences, while 90% expressed that they find personalisation attractive (Epsilon). Local consumers especially desire “special treatment” from neighbourhood businesses they have built relationships over time.

Why Personalisation Matters

Personalisation uses data and insights about each customer to deliver tailored messages, product recommendations, incentives and offers that resonate more strongly with their preferences and purchase history. The benefits of getting personalisation right are immense:

Increased Loyalty and Engagement

Beyond special offers, localisation also provides utility and convenience for regular customers. For example, remembering previous orders, purchase history, and product preferences streamlines reorder and repurchase processes.

Higher Conversion Rates

Most of the consumers say they engage with personalised messaging. According to the research, 2.5x increase in conversion rate and a 43.2% drop in cost-per-lead for a localised marketing campaign (Smartling). Even simple tactics like using first names in subject lines can lift open rates and engagement dramatically.

Bigger Basket Sizes

Strategic cross-selling and upselling offers timed to align with a customer’s purchase cycles and lifecycle stage can grow average order values substantially. Statistics indicate that sessions without any interaction with product recommendations have an average order value (AOV) of $44.41. Yet, when prospects engage with even one recommendation, this figure increases by 369% (Brilliance). Promotional messaging that complements what customers already buy performs much better than trying to sell them unrelated or random products.

Best Practices for Loyalty Program Personalisation

How can local brands effectively incorporate personalisation into their loyalty and retention initiatives? Here are some proven approaches and tactics to consider:

Make Enrolment About More Than Just an Email Address

Many loyalty programs simply request an email address during enrollment, missing an opportunity to gather more member details for personalisation. It’s important to make joining engaging while collecting data that fuels relevant communications down the track.

Enrollment forms can capture demographics like date of birth, location, gender and channel preferences. Asking about product category interests, buying behaviours, and broader lifestyle info provides personalisation hooks related to age, life stage, suburban events, and hobby-linked offers. This additional profiling lays the groundwork to tailor based on more than just transactions. It also helps ensure contacting members via channels they actively use.

Personalised Welcome and Onboarding

New member sign-ups are a chance to excel at inaugural impressions with tailored welcome packs, discounts and messaging.

Addressing customers by name makes them feel seen. Enrollment-exclusive deals incent initial purchases with special savings. Showcasing products matching stated preferences increases relevancy. Thanking new members for joining and seeking feedback establishes rapport. Reminding them of available partner offers and membership benefits builds early perceived value.

This warm, individualised introduction kicks off the relationship positively – not just an email confirmation, but a personal note making members feel appreciated. That emotional connection converts sign-ups into engaged participants.

Segment Members by Behaviors

Dividing members into tiered segments based on purchase activity enables customised incentives aligned to what motivates different groups best.

Factors like order frequency, monetary values, channel usage, category preferences and geographic purchase patterns can classify members with similar traits and behaviours. Top spenders warrant high-end rewards while potentially losing touch with infrequent yet once-loyal buyers risks revenue leakage. Reengaging wandering members may require differently timed email prompts or win-back offers compared to targeting big players.

Usage and transactions translate to intelligence; leveraged strategically, this data allows personalised promotions crafted to resonate across member cohorts – from VIPs to reactivation candidates. Meet people where they are.

Make Every Touchpoint Personal

Each touchpoint across channels and devices is a chance to incorporate personalised elements fostering stronger patron connections. The customer journey should feel cohesively tailored, not disjointed.

Email Communications

Emails represent one of the most measurable digital channels, making them prime vehicles for personalisation testing. Leverage data like names, purchase history, special dates, and product affinities to tailor triggered campaigns. Craft targeted newsletters with content and product recommendations matching recipient segments.

Test personalisation subject lines, tailored layouts showcasing preferred items first, and customised coupon codes. Send version A of an abandoned cart recovery email to casual buyers; version B offering extra incentives to higher-value customers can lift more baskets.

Build subscriber journeys combining welcome series, browse abandonment reminders, win-back offers, seasonal incentives and birthday treats. Each phase should feel personally relevant.

In-Store Service

Equipping staff with access to customer order histories and product favourites via POS tablets enables more contextual conversations. Associates can reference past purchases, typical order cycles and preferred items to provide an extra layer of personalisation.

Digital signage can strengthen waiting experiences by displaying personalised offers tied to queue numbers. This helps turn idle minutes into opportunities for relevant discounts instead of distraction.

Mobile App Innovation

Apps allow nudges like special badges, bonus points, and games to be delivered during personalised moments. Notify customers of 2x points days on their most purchased category. Augmented reality could showcase product recommendations overlaid digitally while browsing aisles.

Storing favourites and preferences facilitates personalised feeds spotlighting desired products first. Lifecycle milestones also mark timely occasions for app-exclusive member rewards.

The combination of data and technology can reconnect digital and physical spaces for unified personalisation.

Use Data to Personalise Loyalty Experiences

The key to effective personalisation is harnessing customer data to provide tailored offers and messaging that feel relevant and impactful. There are a few key steps merchants should take to enable data-driven loyalty personalisation.

Identify Key Data Points

First, determine what customer attributes are most relevant and useful for personalisation efforts. Important data can include purchase history like order frequency, recency and monetary value. Product preferences also allow you to serve recommendations for items the customer has shown interest in. Special dates like birthdays or anniversaries present timely opportunities for personalised rewards or celebrations. The customer’s lifecycle stage is also useful context, allowing new member welcome offers to differ from retention incentives aimed at tenured buyers.

Build Robust Profiles

With key data points in mind, focus on capturing meaningful information during initial loyalty enrollment and membership surveys. Then build progressively fuller pictures of each customer over time as they engage with your brand. Purchase transactions, product reviews, web or app behaviours, email opens etc. all add valuable bits of insight. The more relevant data you can assemble and connect back to individuals, the better you can understand motivations to serve personalisation that truly resonates.

Structure Data for Accessibility

To operationalise all this data for personalisation at scale, it’s essential to organise it via tools like customer segmentation, groups or custom profile fields. This allows easy filtering and rapid personalisation of rule creation based on attributes. For example, segments of high-value customers, or groups indicating special dietary preferences like gluten-free. With structured stores of customer intelligence, you can then build personalised experiences across channels.

Test Extensively

Keep optimising personalisation approaches through A/B and multivariate testing of different variable combinations like reward formulas. Experiment to determine which personalisation strategies prompt the strongest engagement, conversions and satisfaction across various member cohorts. Measurement informs improvement.

The Critical Role of Personalisation in Enhancing Customer Loyalty and Engagement

Personalisation is becoming an essential ingredient for nourishing meaningful connections and sustaining loyalty. When customers feel understood as multifaceted individuals, they reward brands with deeper trust and longer-lasting support.

Today’s consumers are conditioned to expect tailored recommendations, customised offers and individualised experiences that demonstrate brands truly know their needs. Personalisation leverages data and insights to foster relevance at each touchpoint. The statistics and strategies covered here spotlight why it should be central to engagement efforts – not just a nice-to-have.

For merchants, there is too much opportunity at stake to risk losing customers due to overly generic outreach. Each interaction either strengthens bonds or chips away at relationships. With solutions now making personalisation operationally feasible for organisations of all sizes, the capability gap has closed. The brands that will earn wallet shares tomorrow are those proving they understand the innate human need to feel valued as more than a number.

Loyalty program innovation specialist DX United makes personalised engagement achievable for retailers through an integrated suite of capabilities purpose-built to help local merchants thrive. From customisable enrollment flows and intelligent tiering tools to real-time triggered communications, advanced segmentation, and unified measurement, DX United removes the complexity of delivering 1:1 experiences.

Start future-proofing member relationships and driving measurable business impact through the power of personalisation. Schedule a Demo to explore how the DX United platform makes loyalty success sustainable for merchants of all sizes. Our team of experts is ready to help customise an approach tailored to your business needs.

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