Here’s some ideas you can try using AIQ’s tool suite:

Offer a special ‘Pot O’ Gold’ reward or bonus points for customers by activating a Wheel of Prizes on your App. This is a great way to utilize gamification to promote your retail native app and engage customers. 

To add rewards to your prize wheel, create the offer in AIQ’s Discount Builder and switch the prize wheel toggle to ‘Yes’.

Create a special discount for customers who wear green or show St. Patty’s Day spirit when they shop at your store or online. Using AIQ’s Discount Builder, you can easily push this promotion to all of your customer’s Rewards Wallets so they can prepare to take advantage of this offer. To maximize visibility, use AIQ Campaigns to directly notify all subscribed loyalty members of this promotion.

Create a themed reward tier or badge for customers who reach a certain amount of points or purchases during the month of March. For example, you can name it “Lucky Leprechaun” or “Pot of Gold” and offer exclusive benefits or prizes for those who achieve it. To implement, upload a custom badge to any audience directly in the AIQ Audience Builder. Customers will see this badge in their Rewards Wallet as soon as they meet the requirements.

Run a contest or giveaway for loyalty members, making it themed for St. Patrick’s Day. You can reward them with things like free product, store credit or an exciting surprise, easily managed using AIQ’s Random Lottery Campaign tool. 

Create a St Patrick’s Day-themed quiz or survey and invite your customers to participate. You can reward them with points, coupons, or freebies for completing it, using AIQ Surveys to collect the information.  You can also use this as an opportunity to get feedback or reviews from your customers.

Want to learn more about AIQ and how it can service your organization?

A subscription-based loyalty program is a customer retention strategy where businesses offer exclusive benefits and rewards to customers who subscribe to a payment plan. By paying a subscription fee, customers gain access to personalized perks, discounts, early access to new products, and enhanced customer service. This model creates a sense of exclusivity, fosters long-term customer engagement, and provides a predictable revenue stream for businesses, while customers enjoy ongoing value and a deeper connection with the brand. Alpine IQ launched its first subscription-based loyalty program in 2020 and we even power the largest subscription member club in all of Canadian markets today with over 1 million members. 

In this blog post, we are breaking down the benefits and how to set up a subscription-based loyalty program with Alpine IQ. 

What are the benefits of having a subscription-based loyalty program:

In today’s fiercely competitive market, customer loyalty has become more vital than ever before. While a standard free loyalty program can certainly offer some advantages, we firmly believe that a subscription-based program can take your customer retention and sales potential to unprecedented heights. Allow us to illustrate the remarkable benefits:

Increased Customer Engagement: A subscription-based loyalty program encourages customers to make an ongoing commitment, fostering a stronger bond with your brand. However, it’s important to note that other member club payment strategies such as our Starbucks style “Scan to pay” app feature can be even more fruitful with less of a barrier to entry than asking for a netflix style subscription.

Predictable Revenue Stream: The beauty of a subscription-based model lies in its ability to generate a predictable revenue stream. With customers subscribing to your loyalty program, you gain regular, recurring income, providing you with greater stability and allowing for more accurate financial planning and growth projections.

Enhanced Customer Lifetime Value: By incentivizing customers to subscribe to your loyalty program, you extend their lifetime value significantly. Subscribers are more likely to remain loyal to your brand over an extended period, making repeat purchases and advocating for your business among their network. In fact, any strategy that holds a customer’s funds for future purchases incentivises them to return to your store over another. This increased loyalty directly translates into higher revenue and profitability for your company.

Deeper Customer Insights: A subscription-based loyalty program grants you access to valuable customer data that goes beyond basic transactional information. With an ongoing relationship established, you can gather insights on customer preferences, buying patterns, and behavior, enabling you to refine your marketing strategies, personalize experiences, and deliver targeted promotions that resonate with each subscriber.

Continuous Relationship Building: Unlike a standard free program, a subscription-based loyalty program allows you to continually nurture and build relationships with your customers. Through regular communications, personalized offers, and tailored experiences, you can keep your brand top-of-mind, foster loyalty, and deepen customer connections, leading to long-term customer retention and advocacy.

Exclusivity and Differentiation: A subscription-based loyalty program sets your brand apart from competitors by offering exclusive benefits to subscribers. These perks could include early access to new products, priority customer service, personalized recommendations, and unique experiences. By providing an elevated customer experience, you differentiate yourself in the market and create a compelling reason for customers to choose your brand over others.

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How to set up in Alpine IQ:

Before building your subscription-based loyalty program, there are a few things you need to determine:

1. Pricing: The price of your subscription-based loyalty program
2. Discounts and Rewards: What discounts your subscription members will receive for purchasing
3. Cadence: The cadence of the subscription. Most common are monthly or annually. 

How to setup a subscription-based loyalty program in Alpine IQ:

1. Setup a non-stock SKU inside of your Point of Sale system and remember the name of the SKU..
   ** This is only available for tier 3 and above POS integrations. See if your POS system qualifies here.
   
2. Create an audience inside of Alpine IQ:
   1. Audience: Performed event > Purchased SKU – Contains – ((name of your membership SKU))
   2. Toggle the in range and select input the desired date range depending on if your subscription model is monthly or annual. You can also provide customers that are in this audience to get additional points or boosts for their purchases.
      
3. Build your discount/discounts inside Alpine IQ
   1. Make sure you have the audience you built above as the selected audience for the discount/discounts to appear as a result of the customer falling into those audiences
   2. Under Ecomm and POS input your discount % or $ that the member receives
      

From here your subscription-based loyalty program will be set up and ready to go! 

To know more about Alpine IQ and how it can help you create an effective loyalty program, visit us at https://alpineiq.com/.

To get the latest updates on our suite of services, make sure to subscribe to our blog today!

In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of Alpine IQ’s loyalty product offering and ways to propel your brand loyalty by using it. 

What is possible with Alpine IQ Loyalty?

With Alpine IQ, it’s simple to define rewards, onboard new members, and capture repeat visitors with higher order values. Within 60 days your business can see amazing results and growth by utilizing this product offering. Here’s a closer look into why Alpine IQ loyalty offering is so beneficial. 

Create a sticky brand that magnetize customers

Nearly half of your revenue is generated by loyalty members. They care about connection. They care about VIP access and you need to incentivize them outside of the 7 minutes in-store or on your e-comm site.

• Custom loyalty signup forms and integration triggers
• Allow loyalty redemptions from all shopping paths
• Stay compliant with local regulations or by customer type
• Multiply and gift rewards based on customer behaviors
• Happy hour and refer a friend points system

Design beautiful experiences that WOW and retain customers

Loyalty members can easily access your brand anywhere, on any device, anytime of the day.

• Gamification for earning badges and tiers
• Web browser apps
• Native apps on Apple, Android, and Windows devices
• Deals, shopping, re-order from transaction history
• Shareable refer a friend links
• Profile customization

Easily manage your loyalty program

Built to provide staff with peace of mind and easy access to loyalty tools built for scaling.

• Niche industry points accrual options (i.e: med, rec, accessories only)
• Customizable expiration logic
• Custom finance team roles for easy access to points reports
• Activity change logs and points change anomaly reporting
• Prevent points fraud and staff member accruals

Shopping on another level with Dynamic Content

Based on user interactions and purchasing patterns, Alpine IQ can automatically recommend products within messages and loyalty app experiences. Simply create a product feed and deploy it within text message or email campaigns.

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Loyalty sign-up forms are an important part of any brand’s customer retention strategy. They are effective tools for collecting customer data and preferences while also offering a personalized experience.
To know more about Alpine IQ and how it can help you create an effective loyalty program, visit us at https://alpineiq.com/.

To get the latest updates on our suite of services, make sure to subscribe to our blog today!

Different Types of Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs can come in many forms, such as the following:

• Points-based: This is the most common type of loyalty program. Customers collect points whenever they make a purchase. The accumulated points can then be used in exchange for a free item, a discount coupon, free shipping vouchers, etc. 
• Tiered and threshold-spend: This is a gamification type of loyalty program wherein customers who reach a certain tier (e.g., number of purchases made) get to unlock more benefits. Tiered loyalty programs can either be permanent tiers (i.e., lifetime spend) or threshold-based (i.e., accumulated spend within a limited time frame). One example of this is airline miles.
• Punch-card: This type of program is often favored by many small businesses because of its simplicity. Customers use a physical or digital card, and each time they make a purchase, the card is stamped. When the card is full, customers can redeem a reward. One example is Starbucks’ punch-card system for getting their annual planners.
• Fee-Paying: This is a subscription-type loyalty program wherein customers pay a monthly/annual membership fee in exchange for VIP experience. An example would be Amazon Prime.

How Businesses Can Benefit from Loyalty Programs

Customers are naturally drawn to spend money on brands they have a connection with, and trust plays a huge role in this. When people trust that your brand consistently delivers and provides value, they are more likely to make repeat purchases and stay loyal to your brand.

This is where loyalty programs come in: they are one of the keys to retaining customers and cultivating both loyalty and trust. Businesses can benefit from customer loyalty programs:

• Boosts customer spending: As loyalty programs reward customers each time they make a purchase or continue to use your service, they are encouraged to keep coming back, ultimately boosting your sales.
• Encourages word-of-mouth marketing: When customers trust your brand, they tend to recommend you to people they care about. In a study by Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from their friends and family over any other kind of advertising.
• Stores with loyalty programs attract more customers: With loyalty programs, customers reap more value from their shopping experience — aside from being rewarded, they feel more special as well. This alone attracts more customers to your brand.

More can be said about the value customer loyalty programs bring to businesses in general through the statistics listed in the next section.

20 Essential Customer Loyalty Statistics 

1. 75% of customers tend to favor brands with a loyalty program. (KPMG)
2. 52% of consumers in the US are willing to join the loyalty program of brands they are loyal to. (Yotpo)
3. 70% of consumers are more likely to recommend brands with an excellent loyalty program to their friends and family. (Bond)
4. 56% of brands are implementing the concept of gamification into their customer loyalty programs. (Bond)
5. 57% of your customers prefer to engage with loyalty programs via their mobile devices. (Bond)
6. 87% of loyalty program members are open to having their activity and behavior monitored by brands in order to have more personalized rewards. (Bond)
7. 79% of customers in the US are more likely to join a loyalty program that doesn’t require carrying a physical card. (Wilbur)
8. 19% of consumers feel special and recognized by the rewards program of brands they love. (Bond)
9. 79% of customers report that they are more likely to continue patronizing brands with loyalty programs. (Bond)
10. 75% of consumers tend to make more purchases after receiving a reward. (Wirecard)
11. 66% of consumers are more than willing to change their purchasing behavior to get the most out of loyalty benefits. (Bond)
12. 95% of Gen Z and Millennial consumers want to engage with their brand’s loyalty program through new and emerging technologies. (Bond)
13. 77% of Millennial customers belong to at least one premium rewards program. (Clarus Commerce)
14. 75% of customers expect brands to make a bigger contribution to their quality of life and overall well-being. (Havas Group)
15. 69% of consumers in the US consider customer service as a very important factor in their loyalty to a brand. (Microsoft)
16. 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers. (Annex Cloud)
17. Highly engaged customers buy 90% more often. (Rosetta)
18. Price and value are the top reason to stay loyal to a brand for 92% of customers. (ICSC)
19. 37% of consumers are willing to pay premium fees to access enhanced loyalty programs. (Bond)
20. 90% of customers prefer to buy from a brand where they hold a premium loyalty membership over brands offering a lower price. (Clarus Commerce)

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Customer loyalty programs offer a win-win situation for both the brand and its respective customers. Several statistics support this, showing how loyalty programs can cultivate trust and connection, boost sales and customer retention, and increase customer satisfaction — just to name a few of its many benefits. 

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Loyalty is a joint effort. It’s true. Loyalty is part of our ethos. We exist to empower you. 

Since our initial launch, we’ve engineered solutions that have been proven to directly affect and grow our partners’ business. Trying to prove return on investment to everyone on your team? Our data proves that. 

Our partners have experienced up to 84% growth in loyalty enrollments. 

Here are a few reasons WHY reward programs can transform your business for the better: 

Fear of Missing Out
The pandemic has increased everyone’s fear of missing out. Your customers want to feel like they are involved and being recognized; they want their purchases to matter. Loyalty enrollments offer businesses an opportunity to develop mutually beneficial relationships with customers. Happier customers lead to higher customer retention rates. As your customers develop higher hopes for your business, you can – and we encourage you to develop higher aspirations for your organization. 

Seal the Deal
Your customers want to love you. You have deals to seal but how can you drive sales forward when your competitors are offering the same products and services? Loyalty enrollments offer businesses an opportunity to create specialized experiences.

Proof is in the Profits
Hold your pudding spoons because the proof is in the profit. Loyalty enrollments offer businesses an opportunity to understand what is and isn’t working for the customer journey. Loyalty enrollment data can provide key insights to quantifying customer journeys. Businesses that prioritize the customer journey will have higher retention rates, lower customer acquisition costs, and higher profit margins. 

Loyalty is a Joint Effort
Loyalty is a team sport. Your customers want to have a relationship with you and loyalty programs provide the framework to create the right relationships at the right time, therefore growing your business.

Creating a loyalty program may not be a challenge for many retailers but communicating the return on a loyalty program is a different story. We help hundreds of businesses like your own solve this issue. How? Loyalty begins when we recognize and honor customer pain points. To design and reinforce loyalty, businesses must be as empathic as they are organized. While we can’t force you to care about your customers, we can provide the blueprint (and the technology to enable it!) that will empower you to develop a unique, tiered-offering that keeps your customers interested in and motivated by your business. 

Not sure where to start? Here’s how: 

Quantify Your Customer Lifecycle   
Your customer is your best friend. Right? Without them, your business wouldn’t matter. How does your customer interact with your brand? Are new customers coming into your store multiple times per week? Study your customer’s path-to-purchase. Once you’ve mapped out your customer experience, gift points to your customers along their journey to show them how much your business appreciates them – all while giving them an incentive to purchase sooner and/or more often. We make this easy for you. 

Connect Your Marketing & Business Goals  
If your business’ goal is to increase month-over-month average sales, reward loyal customers with points for every $1 they spend. When your marketing and business goals are aligned, your brand is positioned to grow to its highest potential. We make this easy for you. 

Create Your Own Demand 
Your business has its supply chain down. We’re in the business of helping you drive demand for your business. When your customers decide to roll with your crew, you’ll have to decide: will their points roll over too? Expiring points can prompt existing customers to take action. It’s up to your organization to define loyalty. We recommend sending a polite text-message through Alpine IQ to get your…point…across. 

Engage Your Team 
When building your reward structure, give points to your customers for braving the pandemic to visit your team. Don’t stop there. Train your employees to educate your customers (new customer experience matters) regarding points earned by making in-store purchases. For example, a member from your organization can let a price-sensitive customer know 100 points can get them 5% of their next purchase and/or 200 points can get them 10% off. The reward matters. Loyalty happens online and offline. Our online technology powers your offline efforts.

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