Brand Awareness & Brand Awareness Strategy 101

What is Brand Awareness?

Brand awareness refers to the (level of) consumer familiarity with a brand, its concept and the value it offers. However, a more comprehensive definition also considers the consumer's level of ability regarding 'the awareness Rs', ie level of brand Recognition and brand Recall. 

Brand recognition helps customers to find your brand while brand recall helps customers to be loyal. Brand awareness is most important in a very competitive aka 'noisy' market.

Degrees of Brand Awareness (Brief Intro, Examples below)

As suggested by the definition, brand awareness can range in strength. As consumers' awareness strengthens, their awareness advances beyond basic knowledge of the brand concept to the following.

• Recognition (among competing brands in a noisy market place based on the brand's distinctive qualities like its name, mascot, logo, color, modus operandi, tagline or other elements of the brand personality). - STRONG   

• Recall. 
• aided with brand-specific visuals or other clues. - VERY STRONG 
• unaided - STRONGEST

More on Brand Recognition

Example: If you forgot your shopping list on which you wrote the brandname of cake mix you want to buy, would you recognize the brand among all the other options, even if you can not remember the name? If you can recognize the brand because of the label's colors, the packaging style, etc, you will have some amount of brand awareness.

Seth Godin once said that a well established brand should remain recognizable to customers, even if you removed the logo and all other signage. Consumers passing such tests despite the lack of the most commonly recognizable brand identifiers have an even higher level of brand awareness. 

If your brand fails this test, it is more of a commodity and less of a brand. (Read about how commodities differ from brands). Brand awareness may result from one or several factors that stick in people's minds like unique packaging, striking advertisements, outstanding quality, great customer service, sustainable practices, pricing or brand positioning.

Example: Would you recognize your favorite hotel brand if you awoke in one of their rooms which had no branded materials? Why? With which brands are you able to do this? Why? 

More on Brand Recall (1 - Aided Recall & 2 - Unaided Recall)

Aided Recall

• Example. If customers recognize the Disney brand when tested with only a clue aka 'trigger' like the Mickey Mouse logo. 

Un-Aided Recall

• Example. If customers say 'Disney' when tested on the Disney brand with a clue aka 'trigger' like the question, 'Where would you go to have lots of family fun?' In other words, customers can remember the brand by name even without recognizable elements of the brand. 

Where do you start brand awareness strategy?

Place your target market at the epicenter of your efforts. You should have already defined your target's profile based on what they value in each part of the marketing mix. (Read about target market avatars and buyer personality types). Integrate brand awareness into each component of the marketing mix. For instance, regarding 'promotions', your design process for packaging and point-of-purchase / POP displays should consistently apply a palette as per the brand style guidelines.

CONTENT RELATED TO BRAND AWARENESS

• Brand awareness measurements
• Arguably, brand awareness goes only so far. Since it does not necessarily engender an emotional relationship, tribal branding is necessary to improve the customer's brand affinity.
• Brand awareness hack: 
• Brand collaboration. See how curated social media content might open up opportunities to strategic brand collaborations.
• Brand Positioning - Strategy:
• Decommoditize to achieve stronger branding
• Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
• Lifestyle branding strategy
• Brand Positioning, Strategy
• Product branding (ie product level branding to allow single products to stand out as stand alone brands)

• Packaging design strategy
• Brand Style Guidelines (Color 101)
• Social media content management

Store Gift Cards

A gift card, also known as gift certificate (in North America), gift voucher or gift token (in the UK) or tarjeta regalo (in Spanish) is a prepaid money card or prepaid debit card with a specific money value. It can be used as an alternative to cash for purchases at a particular store or any one of participating stores. Customers are commonly encouraged to buy them for friends as gifts for birthdays, graduations, and many other gift-giving occasions.

This post discusses types of gift card, the use and benefits (mostly from the retailer's perspective), market trends and tips for applying the trends and best practices.

There are two main types of gift cards; 1) cash cards and 2) store cards. Cash cards aka 'open loop' gift cards include Visa, MasterCard and Vanilla gift cards. They allow holders the flexibility to redeem the cards at any of the numerous stores participating in the payment programs by these brands. They are better for gift givers who do not know the recipient's tastes sufficiently well to select the alternative, ie a store card for a single brand. Specifically, store cards aka 'closed-loop' gift cards can be redeemed only at the store of a single retailer. Consequently, these cards are more suitable for gift givers who have more intimate knowledge of the (potential) brand preferences of the recipient. This post will focus exclusively on the latter, ie store or closed-loop cards.

Gift cards may be sold through multiple distribution channels. For instance, apart from being sold from the brand's outlets (online and or offline), cards may even be sold by third party retailers who can benefit from gift giving market trends. For instance, when compared with other industries, restaurant gift cards have been observed to have the single highest demand (Blackhawk Network's survey on "How America Gives Gifts in 2016'). It is therefore not surprising that Walmart has a large specialty floor point of purchase (POP) display dedicated exclusively to gift cards mostly from numerous restaurant and coffeehouse brands. To a lesser extent however, gift cards from other industries are also sold on Walmart's racks from Google Play cards to Apple Store & iTunes, Nintendo and so on.

This third party distribution trend also occurs online. Example: Amazon sells many of the same restaurant gift cards along with so many other brands and options that make the gift card product very competitive. 

Amazon offers a wide array of gift card products across many industries and brands, even those (like Apple) that had been historically very exclusive in their distribution.

   

The width and depth of online options (highlighted in red above) from just Amazon alone are so awesome that the offerings of this juggernaut can leave many small business owners feeling intimidated.  

Unlike cash cards, store cards usually retain more or all of their full face value. (Cash card holders are often subject to charges for services like monthly maintenance fees that whittle away the value of the card if unused over time. Other cards have fixed 'purchase fees' that the buyer pays upfront at the point of sale). For this reason, store cards may attempt to differentiate themselves by specifying on their packaging that there are no purchase or other fees). Furthermore, store cards are less likely to have expiration dates. 

Uses & Benefits of Store Gift Cards

• They can be used for any type of business as any (consumer) business offering is giftable. Consider who benefits from your product, when and how and develop a gift card program accordingly. For instance, pens can be gifted to parents during the back to school rush (possibly bundled with other related products), a plumbing business can sell gift cards that will be gifted to new home owners and so on.
• They bring more business. 
• Gift cards are often used by retailers wanting to promote loyalty.
• Gift cards promote brand awareness and new customer acquisition. Existing customers who give friends and family gift cards are essentially providing a 'referral' service to persons they know and believe are a good fit for your business. When given as a gift to new customers, it encourages new customers to go through your product catalog and personalize their gift accordingly.
• Many shoppers exceed the value of gift cards.
• Gift buyers value convenience over uniqueness, especially when they are running out of time. 
• Sellers benefit from the immediate cash flow, regardless of whether or not customers redeem the card. Besides, customers often lose cards, forget about them, or do not bother to redeem small remaining balances. Note however, depending on your local revenue department, the un-redeemed card value called 'breakage' may be due to the government. You must therefore check the rules that apply to your business. Note that gift cards are a business' promise to deliver products at a later date and may therefore be required by law to be documented as a company's liability (or loan). It is no wonder governments may prefer to enforce transfer of these funds to them so as to prevent unscrupulous businesses from making it hard for customers to redeem gifts.
• Store gift cards are an intimate gift because (unlike cash cards,) they demonstrate that the giver has personal knowledge of the interests of the recipient. This is therefore ideal for brands that sell personal products
• Be creative. The pandemic lockdown may pose promotional Covid-19 marketing solutions - opportunities through gift cards. In addition to abovementioned benefits like customer acquisition, brick-and-mortar businesses may consider promoting gift cards for curbside pickups, home deliveries, special day visits and so on to show appreciation for health-care workers, the elderly, teachers, friends in need and so on.  

Relevant statistics related to gift cards

Use for giving to others or oneself

• 42% of consumers surveyed purchased e-gifts for both e-gifts and self-use. 
• Re self-use, 78% would purchase an e-gift for self-use if it were offered at a discount, a finding of particular interest for retailers wanting to encourage egift adoption. Other cited reason are to rewards collect points and to use the card to shop online.
• Re gift-giving, the purchase motivation factors with the greatest probability include delivery in minutes (45% of respondents), delivery notification (39%), ability to include a digital greeting card (28%). (Blackhawk Network’s study on consumers’ usage, adoption of and sentiments toward egifts)

Demand for cards ranked by industry

• Gift cards are purchased in numerous types of retail businesses, the top 3 being restaurants, credit cards and department stores. See the list of others below. How popular do you estimate gift cards will be in your business? (Blackhawk Network's survey on "How America Gives Gifts in 2016')

1. Restaurant gift cards (41%)
2. Visa® Gift Cards, MasterCard® Gift Cards and American Express Gift Cards (31%)
3. Department store gift cards (28%)
4. Coffee shop gift cards (21%)
5. Specialty clothing, shoes, apparel and accessories gift cards (19%)
6. Entertainment/movies gift cards (19%)
7. Electronics store gift cards (18%)
8. Book store gift cards (14%)
9. Salon/spa gift cards (11%)
10. Home improvement gift cards (10%)
11. Sporting goods gift cards (9%)
12. Gas station gift cards (8%)
13. Grocery store gift cards (8%)
14. Discount store gift cards (6%)
15. Home decor/housewares gift cards (5%)
16. Office supply gift cards (2%)
17. Other (3%).

E-gift vs plastic cards by generation

• Gen X and baby boomers prefer to redeem plastic gift cards. Conversely, millenials prefer e-gift cards.  (National Gift, 2016)

Re Small business gift cards 

74% of consumers surveyed said they regularly buy gift cards from small businesses. The study also found that

• 90% of consumers who receive a gift card from a small business they had never visited previously said they would shop at that business and return there in the future
• 56% of surveyed consumers join loyalty or frequent shopper programs at small businesses. The same group said gift cards are the preferred way for their loyalty to be rewarded

 (Fiserv Small Business Study,2019)

Most common tentpole marketing opportunities 

Top times to buy a gift card include:

• Birthday (67%)
• Holidays (44%). This relates mostly to "winter holidays like Christmas".
• Thank You (25%)
• Graduation (22%)
• Mother’s Day (21%)
• Congratulations (21%)
• Just Because (20%)
• Wedding (17%)
• Anniversary (17%)
• Valentine’s Day (16%)
• Reward for Someone (14%)
• Father’s Day (14%)
• New Baby (13%)
• Housewarming (7%)
• Work-related Reward (7%)
• Easter (7%)
• Back to School (5%)

(Blackhawk Network’s study, 2018)

Overspending gift cards

59% of consumers surveyed usually spend more than the card's value. (Blackhawk Network’s study, 2018). Several studies have had similar findings. Even market research conducted as far back as 2010 showed the same pattern of overspending. (First Data, 2011). It is therefore reasonable to assume that this trend is consistent and likely to persist.

Top gift card givers

Men have been observed to be repeatedly more likely than women to buy gift cards. (NRF, 2015)

Top gift recipients 

Close family member (73%), Friend (49%), Extended Family Member (37%), A Child Other Than Your Own (19%), Colleague, Employee or Boss (18%). (Blackhawk Network’s study, 2018)

Average number of gift recipients 
Shoppers surveyed plan on purchasing gifts for eight people on average, estimating they will spend a total of $618.93 in 2019. (Blackhawk Network, 2019 on holiday shopping)

General information & areas of potential controversy 

Second only to questions about the size of the gift card industry are questions about unused gift cards. The US media are often fixated on who profits most from lost, stolen or forgotten gift cards.

Regarding unused gift cards, roughly 3% (CBS News Report, 2020) or 2% to 4% (Mercator Advisory Group) of gift cards are never redeemed according to an estimate from the Mercator Advisory Group in 2019. 

Regarding how to allocate (aka 'escheat') unused balances (aka 'breakage'); 

• 75% of people surveyed (68% of men, 81% of women) said they ALWAYS use the gift cards they receive. 20% of people surveyed (23% of men, 17% of women) said they forget to use the gift cards they receive. (GiftCards.com, 2018)
• 42% of consumers redeem their gift cards right away. (Blackhark, 2018)
• 42% of persons who do not use cards immediately watch and wait for good sales or promotions to maximize the value of their gift card. (National Retail Federation, 2018)

Tips for designing a successful gift card program

• Sell your gift cards through multiple channels that include your brick-and-mortar store, online, other non-competing retailers.
• Advertise that you sell gift cards both in and outside your store. Gift cards have the potential for the acquisition of 2 new customers, they buyer and seller. In short, advertise your gift cards as a gift giving solution for gift buyers.
• Improve your online shopping platform. This is especially noteworthy within the context of using gift cards as one of your Covid-19 solutions.  
• Use gift cards over gift certificates. Gift certificates are the same concept as gift cards, except for their physical presentation. Specifically, certificates are printed on paper or cardboard. In contrast, gift cards are usually printed on plastic cards and usually have a magnetic stripe to transfer information into the POS system. Apart from being less susceptibility to wear and having a more professional presentation (more suitable for premium brands), gift cards outsell gift certificates between 35% and 100%.
• Prepare to up-sell, cross-sell and offer add-ons to gift card shoppers as their tendency to be less price-sensitive while shopping with 'someone else's money' makes them more likely to spend more than the value of the gift card.
• Integrate gift cards into your loyalty rewards program. Here are 2 meaningful ways. 
• 1) Encourage recipients to join your loyalty rewards program, perhaps delighting them with points (for signing up). This will also provide you with the opportunity to market to that person, ie customer relationship marketing. 
• 2) Allow customers to earn points for redeeming gift cards. By awarding points for their activity, customers are incentivized to earn further points for to earn rewards. Additionally, if your program expires points for inactivity, it ensures that customers are not penalized for having engaged with your brand without their own cash.
• Offer value to buyers in the form of convenience with gift wrapping. Research shows that convenience is one of thre greatest forms of perceived value in gift cards for gift givers. Example, Both Amazon and Sephora gift wrap their gift cards, a convenient service that no doubt earns them a premium, especially since convenience has been shown to be of great value to gift givers (over uniqueness), especially at the last minute. Specifically, the gift wrapping allows the giver the luxury of having already very presentable gift that is immediately ready for presentation to the recipient. The gift wrapping is arguably targeted more to the buying giver than the receiver. 
• 

  
  
• Offer add-ons labelled 'bonuses' that exceed consumer expectations and differentiate your brand's gift. Example, Sephora's website explains that the gift card comes includes "Includes a sleek, black, dual-mirrored compact, embossed with the Sephora logo and a gift box." 
  

Example: The Cheesecake Factory gift card package for $50 includes a bonus of 1 free slice of cheesecake. 

Example: Red Robin offers a '$10 bonus buck'.

If funds are a current challenge that prevent that level of generosity, even consider points in your loyalty rewards program.

• The cards may be sold singly according to dollar value and or in packs of several cards, often 3). While research shows that many people buy gift cards for multiple recipients, it also shows that many people buy gift cards for themselves. Take advantage of volume sales, including bonuses which gift card buyers may enjoy themselves, even if they use the volume package in a type of 'give-to-get' fashion increasingly encouraged in many referral programs. Also incorporate abovementioned consumer bonuses to this end.

• If possible, provide the option between 'eGift' cards and 'physical cards'. Example: The Cheesecake Factory provided this option to customers on their website.

  
  
  
• Consider the statistics that relate to tentpoling, industry, top gift recipients and consider if and how your product's type applies. For instance, personal care products like cosmetics can great gift ideas for birthdays of close family members and friends, a non-surprising trend observed in Sephora's loyalty rewards program since that company sells cosmetics, a product in whose interest only persons in close relationships can predict. When customers sign up, they have the option of providing their birthday in order to receive a gift card.
• Whenever possible, use eGift cards. This method makes it easier to encourage both the giver and recipient to give up their contact details.
• Although gift card programs can be set up with relative speed, give yourself sufficient lead time to train staff and figure the best strategies before the heavy period.
• Build relationships through data collection. When customers (the giver and recipient) sign up with their contact details, use their information to invite them to receive email newsletters and special offers. You can also prompt them to redeem forgotten cards and so on.
• Reward loyal customers, even if you do not have a loyalty rewards program. Consider sending gift cards to best customers that you have not seen for a while but would like to get back.
• Use gift cards to boost sales during slow selling periods. Selling gift cards just before slow periods is one means of doing this. Christmas gift cards are therefore useful in this regard. Black Friday sales might promote Christmas shopping for industries that usually see slow sales during Christmas (like health care). Otherwise, you can also promote special gift card weeks or weekends. This is a common practice in January when Christmas shopping has ended.
• Compete with big stores (like Amazon). Celebrate and stress the uniqueness and ability to personalize in your niche. Even Amazon is unlikely to offer competing gifts, like a unique tour experience through your facility, a gift within your rewards catalog of unique and local experiences. 
• Use gift cards as an alternative to issuing refunds. This encourages the customer to keep their investment in your brand. Besides, this practice also combats fraudulent behavior in which thieves steal merchandise (like possibly the same thing they had previously bought) with hopes of getting a cash back refund (upon presenting a receipt).
• Donate with gift cards to fundraisers. This encourages the recipient to return to your store as opposed to when the recipient of cash or merchandise may never return to your store.
• Reward top performing employees and sale persons with your brand's gift cards. This helps to keep the money in your business. Not to mention, it can be a less costly approach because the cost to you is closer to the cost of producing the product than the sale price of your product or another retailer's products at sale price. 
• Learn how tax and other law applies in your area. 
• Outside of breakage (discussed previously), laws may also apply to the types of fees you may or may not charge and the period over which such fees may apply. 
• Learn all of the rules. For instance, activation fees are often allowed IF the fee amount and explanation of its determination are clearly disclosed before purchase. 
• Can customers redeem cash? Some places (like California) allow cash redemption for gift card balances below $10. 
• Disclose details about expiration. 
• If you are also running a referral program with a give $x and receive $x (after the customer spends $x), I suggest making the gift card option more attractive regarding the type of reward for the giver, like give $x+1 and receive $x+1 or well valued non-monetary reward. Since the customer's investment and the rewards for both the giver and receiver are greater and likely to be more immediate for an overall better customer experience, your programs will appropriately reward customers and motivate more profitable customer practices.
• Proactively counteract gift card fraud in whatever way possible. Gift card fraud has become a big problem. Some scammers copy the code from the back of the card. When the codes are hidden, requiring someone to scratch of the concealer, scammers figure out the codes using algorithms. Some small companies are so small that they manually manage the card use, even logging details on Google Drive and sending card inscription details, balances and transactions via direct text messages to customers' registered mobile phone.  

CONTENT RELATED TO GIFT CARDS

• Store gift cards may exist alone or as part of a loyalty rewards and referral program. See how to design referral programs to increase your business' customer acquisition potential and loyalty rewards programs to increase customer loyalty and retention.
• See a marketing guide PDF by First Data 
• Random facts
• Most retailers do not allow customers to exchange store cards for cash (ie apart from the requirements of some governments regarding small unused balances).
• Not all stores record the customer-related data of card holders. Consequently, it is sometimes possible to transferred ownership of cards to whomever holds them.

CONTENT RELATED TO GIFT CARD PROGRAMS

• Why the old 'earn and burn' loyalty program model is failing and a new approach for modern consumers.
• Tiered loyalty programs
• Use spend-based loyalty rewards programs to give greater rewards to customers with the highest customer lifetime value (CLV) ... and reduce costs while you are at it. 
• A great loyalty rewards program can not help your business if customers can not understand it sufficiently well to sign up. Create a loyalty rewards program explainer page.
• Incorporate a referral program into your loyalty rewards program. These 2 types of program complement each other. While the loyalty rewards program seeks to retain customers, referral programs seek to acquire new customers.
• Analyze how well your rewards catalog has been curated.
• Shopping wishlists (gift registries) may also help to promote gift giving while also providing the opportunity for new customer acquisition.
• Case studies:
• Amazon
• Cheesecake factory
• Starbucks

Spend-Based Loyalty Reward Programs Offer Better Value for Higher Value Customers

Previously, I discussed why the old school 'earn & burn' loyalty rewards programs fail in recent times. I suggest that as customers change with modern times, so too shou ld your loyalty rewards programs in modern times in order to be successful. The discussion was also extended regarding how to use tiers for your modern loyalty rewards programs as a major game changer. We also considered that a great loyalty rewards program is no use if no one can understand it. On that basis, we examined how to create a loyalty rewards program explainer page.

In April 2016, Starbucks changed its rewards program from a visit-based to a spending-based system. This post will illustrate why Starbucks and many more companies are making this huge change. I will compare and contrast the 2 types of rewards structure; the 1) visit-based and 2) spend-based program. The key difference between them is how much it costs you to reward customers and how well you reward customers with a higher customer lifetime value (CLV).

Specifically, in the visit-based program, customers earn points based on a milestone related to visits or items bought, NOT on the dollar value of the purchase. However, this often applies with the condition that customers meet a minimum dollar value. Conversely, a spend-based program awards points based on the dollar value of purchases, regardless of the number of visits made.

The health shakes example below is based on the common consumer practices to repeatedly buy their favorite product and to generally not deviate notably from their average purchase value, ie at least when they must pay out of pocket. Consequently, customer 1 continues to buy his favorite shake valued at $10 while customer 2 buys his favorite valued at $7.

The gross cost of the program to you per customer as a percentage is (Reward value / CLV) x 100. 

VISIT-BASED Reward = $10 off after 9 visits

Example of visit-based loyalty program. Customers are required to buy 9 health shakes in order to get a free $10 shake (or $10 off). This program disregards the dollar value of each shake. Therefore customers may buy 9 of the least expensive shakes and opt for the most expensive when reaping the reward of the 10th free shake. In an attempt to keep the program as simple as possible, management may not have stated a minimum required value per shake because the value of all of the available shakes are within an acceptable amount.  Otherwise, they might specify the type of shake that qualifies, like 'high protein' shakes. This program is likely to require only a card and stamp, the latter of which is used to cancel the ten spaces that represent purchases.

Customer 1: ($10 / $90) x 100 = 11%. Smaller reward to the customer with the higher CLV.

Customer 2: ($10 / $63) x 100 = 15.8%. Bigger reward to the customer with a lower CLV and higher cost to you. Among the 2 customers and you (the seller), the biggest winner is the lower value customer. Customer is motivated to spend as little as possible.

Customer 2: ($7 / $63) x 100 = 11%. The only way to maintain the same 11% is if you can somehow force customers to take a reward that is NOT a fixed dollar amount for all customers but the same value as the customer's usual order - a possibility for only some situations.

SPEND-BASED Reward = $10 shake after $90 spent

[Fixed dollar value (NOT percentage) after a set CLV]

Example of spend-based loyalty program. Customers must spend at least $90 on health shakes in order to get the 10th free. This program focuses on the dollar value of each shake while disregarding the number of shakes each customer buys. Consequently, unlike the visit-based approach (and assuming that shakes range in price from $6 to $10), customers must spend more in order to get the rewards (than in the visitor-based version of this program).

 

Customer 1: ($10 / $90) x 100 = 11%. The cost is fixed. The program encourages customers to spend more.

Customer 2: ($10 / $91) x 100 = 11%. The cost is maintained at 11% percent, thereby preventing you from rewarding disproportionately, ie giving higher rewards to this lower value customer. As illustrated above, customer 2 is now forced to wait until well after the 10th visit to reap rewards.

If you want lower lifetime value customers to spend more and faster, you may need to

• motivate customers to earn points using non-payment means like promoting brand awareness for you through social media.
• motivate customers by sending personalized text messages to their mobile phone. 
• expire the points after a given period. 

SPEND-BASED Reward = 10% Off after $90 spent

BEWARE: If you offer a reward as a fixed percentage rate on a sale valued at any amount, like '10% off of your next purchase', again, you run the risk of exceeding your desired cost (re dollar value), ie if you can not establish a maximum order value. 

Customer 1: ($1.5 / $13.50) x 100 = 11.11%. Although rewards are proportionately distributed according to CLV, customer selecting pricier items raise the costs to an extent that may exceed your desired amount if cash flow is a problem.

Customer 2: ($1.0 / $9.00) x 100 = 11.11%. 

Customer 3: ($0.50 / $4.5) x 100 = 11.11%.

DO:

If you want to keep your program costs at fixed dollar amounts;

• provide the option for customers to redeem rewards by 'buying' specific items with points. This can ensure the costs are fixed to the extent that you want. However, do this sparingly, especially with very high value items as you will again run the risk of giving lower rewards to higher value customers. 
• Example: Special edition 'Power' shake priced at 99 rewards points (ie based on giving 10% discount on sale of $10 shake after earning 90 points). The customer can redeem 90 points and pay the balance in dollars or earn more points otherwise.
• 90 points (minimum spend)
•  9 points (corresponding with $9 payable after the 10% discount).

CONTENT RELATED TO VISIT-BASED AND SPEND-BASED LOYALTY REWARDS PROGRAM

• As consumers change, so too should loyalty rewards programs in order to be successful. Here's how.
• Use these results, along with financial and managerial ratios to establish assumptions for a business plan.
• How using tiered loyalty rewards programs can be a game changer.
• What's the point of having a great loyalty rewards program if no one can understand it? Let's talk how to create a loyalty rewards program explainer page.
• The case of Starbucks' change from a visit-based to spend-based rewards program. In the new spend-based system, customers needed to spend $1 to earn 2 stars and could redeem star points for a free item when they had accumulated 125 stars. Previously, customers received a free item after 12 visits (regardless of the items bought during the 12 visits and without restriction which drink they could select as the reward). In the old visit-based system, lower value customers were earning roughly 4 times more than higher value customers. However, Ultimately, after the new spend-based system, higher value customers earned roughly 50% more than before, lower value customers lost over 60% and Starbucks saved considerably.
• The calculations involved in your point system can easily become hard to understand for the average customers. See how to introduce your program in an attractive and digestible way with explainer pages.
• Measure the success of your loyalty rewards program.
• Incorporate a referral program into your loyalty rewards program. These 2 types of program complement each other. While the loyalty rewards program seeks to retain customers, referral programs seek to acquire new customers.
• Analyze how well your rewards catalog has been curated.
• Gift card programs may be designed to be stand alone or an integrated component of your current referral and or loyalty rewards programs.