Starting a rewards program for your shop can help build emotional loyalty for your brand. Emotional loyalty is when brides return to your shop due to intrinsic motivators that make them feel valued and understood.
1. Name Your Program:
The first step to starting a rewards program is deciding a name. This name can be as clever or as simple as you want. When naming, however, ensure that the name highlights how this program will benefit the customer. Having this constant reminder of being a “VIP” or “member” can help your brides feel important.
2. Choose Behaviors to Reward
Aside from obvious behaviors such as major purchases, you can choose to reward your brides for smaller ways that they engage with your shop. These behaviors could be signing up for email newsletters, booking an appointment, coming to a shop event, or taking a quiz on your website.
3. Choose Your Rewards
For a small business the idea of offering rewards can be very intimidating! However, rewards DO NOT need to cost your business a ton of money! Rewards do not have to have true monetary value; they just have to be of value to your customers. Some rewards to build emotional loyalty is through rewards such as
- Exclusivity: Making your brides feel specifical by receiving exclusive offers, is a great way to build emotional loyalty and segment your marketing. These offers could be dresses/accessories or an exclusive sale.
- Early Access: Before launching new products or sales, giving your loyal brides a head start to purchase or book appointments also increases their feelings of being valued.
- Premium Status: Having different tier levels of brides and notifying them as they move closer to the next level can also generate excitement. However, this strategy could also make other brides who do not have this status feel less valued if not done properly.
4. Create a Structure:
Utilizing gamification elements and principles can motivate and engage your brides! Gamification means using the typical elements of game playing such as scoring points or competing with others. There are many different ways to add gamification and set up how to reward your brides. Below are a few of the most common structures that could be utilized/adjusted for your needs.
- Points: Brides can earn points for spending a certain amount of money. These points can then be spent on future purchases.
- Paid Program: Brides pay a monthly/annual fee to join the program and earn exclusive perks such as discounts, early access, or limited products.
- Charity Program: Brides can earn points on their purchases. These point rewards can then be donated to a chosen charity.
- Tier Program: Brides are able to gain tier status based on their past purchases. Higher status tiers are usually associated with better/higher rewards.
- Partner Program: By purchasing from your store, brides are able to get rewards with another brand.
When starting a rewards program, ensure to add levels of personalization and recognize that brides are individuals who want to feel heard and appreciated. Adding elements of surprise can also increase engagement as surprising brides with a promo can help associate your shop with positive emotions.
Want to learn more?
Check out our other blog posts and follow us on Instagram at @engagedmarketingcompany for more marketing tips for bridal shops and other small businesses!
