What Apparel and Accessories Brands Must Know About Establishing A Loyalty Program

What is an eCommerce store loyalty program?

A loyalty program for an eCommerce store is a customer retention tool meant to keep customers engaged and loyal to your store. This leads to loyal customers shopping on your site more often and buying in higher quantities. 

Many loyalty programs offer points for every dollar spent. Once enough points are accumulated, customers can either use those points to save money on their next purchase or redeem the points for a reward. In physical stores, loyalty programs usually come via a card you scan during checkout. For eCommerce stores, however, the merchant typically asks customers to sign in, which then allows their loyalty information to populate and update based on any new purchases.

How popular are loyalty programs?

According to a poll by Synchrony Financial, 80% of American adults belong to a loyalty program, the most popular being grocery stores and drugstores. However, apparel and accessories brand loyalty is on the rise: 65% of shoppers surveyed in the above poll say they value apparel loyalty programs.

What are the best practices of a loyalty program?

As you build your pharma eCommerce store’s loyalty program, keep these five tips in mind:

Use personalization. Today’s customers don’t want generic content. They appreciate customization that makes them feel personally engaged with a brand. Developing a specific loyalty program that shows your customers the kind of apparel and accessories they like, and provides personalized, relevant advice and offers goes a long way. Madewell allows its Insider club members to track their purchases—and therefore their points—and offers them free personalization of their denim and leather products via stamping and embroidery.

Focus Your Loyalty Program on Your Existing Customers, Not on Recruiting New Customers. When it comes to loyalty programs, 80% of income comes from the top 20% of loyal customers. That’s why it’s important to keep your existing customers satisfied with your reward program. Look at your research and analytics to see what products and offers resonate with this audience, and then keep these rewards coming.

Introduce a Progressive Web App (PWA) Instead of a Plastic Loyalty Card. The days of plastic loyalty cards are gone, as people increasingly store information on their phones rather than in their wallets. As a result, it’s a good idea to have your eCommerce store’s loyalty program digitally accessible. That way, customers can see their notifications, rewards, and more all in a quick tap on their phone. For more information, check out our blog post about bypassing mobile limitations with PWAs. 

Provide Opportunities for Customers to Add More to Their Carts. A good loyalty program should incentivize its members to add more to their carts than they originally intended. To do this, offer “double-point campaigns” (such as: “Add this to your cart today and you’ll receive double the points on your entire purchase!”) and other targeted offers. Nordstrom’s loyalty program “The Nordy Club” offers a Personal Double Points Day for its shoppers who reach “Insider status.”

Host Social Media Contests. The most successful loyalty programs encourage their members to interact with their brand on social media. Give your members points if they link their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. Then, offer rewards in the form of points and freebies for participating in social media contests.

What are the benefits of a loyalty program?

There are three main benefits of creating a loyalty program for your supplements eCommerce site:

Increased Brand Awareness. Loyalty programs are straightforward ways to increase shoppers’ awareness of your apparel or accessories brand and store. Naturally, this awareness leads to attachment and loyalty. This helps eCommerce stores maintain and build customer relationships for the long haul.

Tracked Buying Habits. With loyalty programs, it’s easy to keep track of what your customers buy. This helps you better manage inventory, offer relevant sales and specials and enhance your CRM database.

More Brand Advocates. As people come back to your store more often and engage more, they become brand advocates among their network of family and friends. This word-of-mouth marketing is invaluable—it is sometimes shown to be trusted even more than a doctor’s advice. But don’t forget: Once these brand advocates are vocal about their loyalty to your store, they must feel appreciated. You can do this by providing exclusive offers just for them—such as H&M’s Loyalty Program members-only “shop now, pay later” offer.

How has COVID-19 changed loyalty programs?

Even before the global pandemic, consumer shopping behavior was happening more and more online — but COVID-19 has only accelerated this change. People are beginning to engage differently. They want to feel connected to their favorite brands and they want value that they can’t find elsewhere. For many companies, the answer to this is a stand-out loyalty program. Giving customers access to personalized information, offers and rewards goes a long way.

Ready to start — or enhance — your online store’s loyalty program?

At InteractOne, this is one of our specialties. As a senior-level Magento partner, we know Magento loyalty functionality. Plus, we partner with leading eCommerce loyalty program companies, such as Nosto and Yotpo.

To see what we can do for your supplement or vitamin eCommerce store’s loyalty program, contact us today.