Customer loyalty programs are one of the most powerful ways to turn one-time conversions into long-term customers. Sometimes, customer loyalty rewards can win a customer before the first sale, because signing up offered a discount. That first discount is just a taster of the rewards waiting for regular shoppers who build up reward-points with repeated purchases.

Of course, a great loyalty program is built on the rewards you offer. Naturally, you want your customers to feel that they're being thanked and earning special, enjoyable extras nearly every time they shop with you. So it's important to choose the rewards that work best with your products, your brand personality, and your customer base. Consider how your customers shop and what they find rewarding when choosing the loyalty rewards to offer.

Most of all, you want to design your loyalty rewards in a way that keep customers coming back for more. Let's take a closer look at the top types of loyalty rewards incentivize return shopping.

Rewards Shop Gifts

The most traditional type of loyalty reward starts with collecting points. Each time a customer shops with you, they get points based on how much they spent or what they bought. Like punch-cards in a sandwich shop, eventually, they can turn those points in for something good. This might be a set reward, but many brands enjoy offering a small gift-shop of free items to choose from. Let your customers spend their reward points like tickets at an arcade prize counter. If they want small gifts worth a few reward points, they can reward themselves over and over for being a loyal customer. Or they can save up for something big and unforgettably awesome when they finally save up enough for the grand prize.

Discount Codes

Today's most popular way to reward customers is the humble and versatile discount code. Discount codes work in an incredible variety of ways, depending on what and how you want to provide a discount. You can reward your customers with codes that slice of percentages, remove add-on charges, provide free doubles or extras, and so much more. You can also use discount codes as unique one-time rewards for an individual deal you're offering to just one person or a small group of loyalty club members. Any kind of discount your Shopify site can support, you can give a code for. This gives you the freedom to grant discount codes for all sorts of rewarding opportunities.

Package Deals

Package deals are a unique and delightful kind of savings. Many people love the idea of buying a group of things that go well together and getting a discount for the lot. This is why businesses often offer seasonal package deals based on the types of things many people are already planning on buying. Packaging these items for a combined discount ultimately results in selling more of the peripheral, smaller items than you otherwise would.

At the same time, customers love special package deals that are only available through the loyalty rewards program. It's like you're giving them a special gift basket of conveniently packed and discounted items.

Wishlist Sales

But even better than seasonal package deals are rewards based on each customer's personal wishlist. If you enable wishlisting in your Shopify site, then start using those wishlists to your advantage and your customer's delight. Wishlists are, by definition, lists of products your customers want to buy but haven't yet for some reason. Maybe prices are high or the time isn't right. But one thing you do know is they want those items and would love to have them.

So as a reward for loyal customer patronage, consider offering special opportunities based on wishlist items. You might offer a discount on specific wishlist items, suggest a discounted package of wishilist items, or even just let loyalty-members know when their wishlist items are experiencing an existing store discount. Any of these will inspire joy and greater loyalty as customers happily get their favorite store items at a steal.

Special Holiday Opportunities

Holiday opportunities are another wonderful way to incentivize your customers to come back several times a year. The better your holiday opportunities are, the more devotedly loyal your holiday customers will be. Some brands build a unique reputation around holidays for providing a special experience available with no other brand. You might send out chocolate-filled hearts around Valentines or a chance to win summer vacation travel. You might host online events and contests that everyone joins or invite loyalty members to share their holiday stories as part of your promoted holiday ad campaign. 

There are so many ways to turn your loyalty program into a shared holiday celebration that can become an honored tradition in customer households.

No-Questions Returns and Exchange

Another great way to reward your customers is superb customer service. The easier you make returns and product exchanges, the happier your customers will be. This is something Amazon discovered with a quick and easy return process. Customers who can correct mistakes (both retailer mistakes and their own shopping mistakes) without hassle will soon build loyalty with a brand because they value that hassle-free experience.

By offering loyalty members no-questions returns and exchanges, you can inspire incredible customer loyalty from those who appreciate your lenient and helpful policies. This is especially important to customers who sometimes don't buy the right thing and don't realize until it arrives.

Tiered Rewards

Finally, there are rewards that are part of a rigid and incentivizing reward structure. For example, you might give the same gift to every customer who's been part of the loyalty club for over a year, and a better gift to all loyalty club customers who've been members for five years, and so on. You might award tiered goodies for a certain number of purchases or amount of money spent. And you might offer similar rewards to all loyalty members during special holidays and events. If you have a structured reward system, invested customers will actually take measures to improve their rank on the reward tiers to get more and better gifts, being able to fully count on those gifts being worth the effort.

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If you want to inspire your customers to come back time and time again, reward them for their loyal patronage. With Glow, you can put your loyalty program to work truly encouraging your customers by giving them a little extra each time they shop with you. For more great Shopify and loyalty reward insights, contact us today!