By LoyaltyLion
What’s the best way to turn a browser into a customer?
How about site-wide discounts? Perhaps… but consider how many competing brands are doing the same. Here’s where alternative promotions enter the chat.
Given that only 2.86% of e-commerce website visits convert into a purchase (99 Firms), a promotion that’s more compelling and distinctive for your brand can make all the difference.
Loyalty is the answer. It can increase a customer’s worth by 22 times (Shopify). And the experts here at LoyaltyLion have over 12 years of experience in leveraging promotions to enhance a quality loyalty program, making conversions more compelling than ever, and encouraging customers to return to your site again and again.
Add best-in-class loyalty conversion opportunities on your website or app, and you’ve got a killer conversion strategy.
In this article, we’ll cover five alternative promotions that use loyalty to boost conversion:
- Loyalty-based promotion events
- Loyalty-incentivized quizzes
- Seamless free product rewards
- Birthday rewards
- Loyalty-incentivized referrals and bonus referral weeks
Read on to discover how these alternative promotions work, and how to use on-site conversion automations to maximize customer engagement with them, to boost revenue growth.
- Loyalty-Based Promotion Events
Loyalty programs can hugely enhance the revenue-driving impact of your site’s promotion and campaign events. This could look like:
- Double or triple points weeks
- Members-only promos for a limited-time period
- Bonus points available on specific products or collections
Unlike normal promotions, like 10% off site-wide or BOGOF deals, loyalty programs give brands the opportunity to build hype, increase website visitors, and boost conversions, all without harming profit margins.
Customers enjoy the thrill of earning more points, which they’ll need to return again to use. These repeat purchases then lock in returning revenue, and increase their CLV.
Here’s why it works:
- Drives loyal members back to your store urgently
- Encourages program enrollment from those feeling the FOMO
- Progresses customers faster through points-based tiers to reach new rewards
- Allows customers to reach enough points for a reward more quickly
Make it known: The more advertising of your loyalty-based promotion, the better!
Add banners and popups to notify visitors already on the site, as well as full-screen takeovers to ensure it’s unmissable. Plus, integrate the event into your email, social media, and text communications. Why not include a countdown timer to raise the sense of urgency?
Example: How The INKEY List’s loyal customers spent 10.6x more during Insiders Week
For seven days, INKEY Insider program members had access to exclusive discounts, prizes, and perks, including 25% off everything and the opportunity to win back the cost of their order.
As a result, over a third (33.7%) of total revenue was attributed to the loyalty program, and 371% more new members enrolled compared to a normal week.
- Seamless Free Product Rewards
Nothing’s really free – or is it? Rewarding loyalty with free products is a great way of incentivizing an immediate conversion. Why not try:
- Free product vouchers, where members redeem rewards for 100% off a specific product
- Seamless free products, available to redeem right there in the cart
Free products don’t need to impact your profit margins. Build this non-discount promotion into existing product strategies: shift last season’s stock, test out new designs on a loyal customer base, or use sample sizes to limit impact.
Why it works:
- Encourages urgent conversion while the promotion lasts
- Reduces cart abandonment
- Allows you to sell your overstock products or test new ones
Make it known: On-site conversion automations can increase the likelihood of loyal members purchasing items already in their cart.
Use an exit offer popup to remind customers that they have free gift rewards to redeem, or have a carousel in the checkout with a selection of rewards on which they can spend their points.
Example: How Glow Recipe’s members have completed 190k loyalty activities in 12 months
With seamless free products in the cart itself, Glow Recipe offers members of their Club Glow program up to two free samples from a carousel. They’re easy to add by redeeming points at checkout, and encourage immediate purchase.
As a result, redeeming members spend 2.2x more than non-members.
- Loyalty-Incentivized Referrals & Bonus Referral Weeks
As customer acquisition costs continue to rise in ecommerce, bolstering your referral strategy is more important than ever. Loyalty programs can boost new customer acquisition by incentivizing referrals.
Since referred customers have a 200% higher lifetime value on average, and tend to be 24% more loyal to your brand, ensure loyal customers can claim a large number of points for nudging friends and family to shop with you.
To boost awareness of the promotion and create a buzz, why not try short-term promotions that offer loyal members even more points for referring?
Why it works:
- Grow your loyal customer base for a lower cost than traditional advertising
- Loyal customers can return for a repeat purchase to spend the points they’ve earned
Make it known: Post-purchase pop-ups encourage customers to seamlessly refer their friends in exchange for points.
Signpost bonus points weeks across your website and app, using countdown timers, banners, and landing pages, to incentivize existing loyalty program members to refer their friends.
Example: How Ogee gained 1k new loyalty program members through referrals
At luxury skincare brand Ogee, a referral is designed to be the only way a new customer can receive a discount. As part of their strategic Ogee Rewards program, it’s deliberately a very generous reward for both parties.
The new customer receives $15 off their first purchase over $100, and the friend who referred them secures the equivalent of 1,500 loyalty points to redeem against future rewards.
It’s driven over 45,000 site visits and 1k new members so far!
- Loyalty-Incentivized Quizzes
Want to know more about your customers’ needs? Offer a quiz, and offer loyalty points for completion, as well as personalized product recommendations or style analyses to add value to customers.
The exchange of a customer’s zero-party data for tailored results and points makes it a win-win for both parties. If they’re not already a member, it encourages enrollment by allowing them to claim the points they’d earn for sharing their thoughts.
Why it works:
- Helps customers build their points balance, encouraging them to spend points immediately
- Give personalized recommendations, nudging customers to buy specific products
- Gets customers onto your mailing list, to nudge them to regularly return to the site
Make it known: A landing page or pop-up seamlessly connects the quiz to your brand identity.
To receive results, customers can enter their contact information, enabling you to add them to marketing flows and personalized loyalty program comms.
Flexible analytics mean you can fully understand customer results from your side, using them to adapt your product roadmap and personalized site actions for those who complete.
Example: How The INKEY List collects customer data while rewarding loyalty
Customers earn points for completing skin, hair, and breakout quizzes — plus 50 bonus points and a free product for engaging with the INKEY Insiders loyalty program to secure their results.
Quiz results trigger Klaviyo emails that nudge shoppers to return and redeem rewards. As a result, the brand has received a fabulous wealth of zero-party data that helps inform product development.
- Birthday Rewards
Incentivize your customers to share their birthdays with you by offering loyalty points.
Then, on the big day, offer your customers points or discounts to encourage them to return to the site and redeem their generous gift.
Or, why not try gifting a free product based on a customer’s most-loved items?
Why it works:
- Points for birthday data encourage members to return for a repeat purchase
- Enhance customer stickiness and emotional connections with a gift on their birthday
- Encourage customers to climb tiers to secure even better birthday bonuses
Make it known: Advertise alternative promotions like this using automations, such as exit intent pop-ups or dynamic lead capture. Members can be reminded of the points and rewards available, as well as the ease of securing them, through information that takes only a couple of seconds to share.
Or why not try a spin-to-win automation, where members can secure a surprise perk or reward, adding even more joy to the birthday experience with your brand?
Example: How Astrid & Miyu keep loyal customers close through birthday gifting
Astrid & Miyu’s loyalty program, Club A&M, rewards customers with points for sharing their birthday data. Then, on the big day, customers in the top two tiers receive a birthday treat:
- Gold members secure a free in-store gift on their birthday
- Diamond members receive a £100 in-store experiences voucher on their birthday
The high value of these gifts makes progressing through the VIP tiers more compelling than ever for Astrid & Miyu’s loyal customers, whilst the in-store aspect supports the brand’s omnichannel strategy.
Boost revenue growth through alternative promotions
Want to discover other ways loyalty can boost conversion on your website or app?
Take a look at LoyaltyLion’s examples of successful loyalty programs, and explore Justuno’s pop-up examples which can be used to make a customer base aware of any of these alternative promotions.
