The Rise of Omnichannel Loyalty Programs (With Use Cases)

Loyalty programs have evolved significantly over time. Initially, they were simple point-based systems where customers earned points for every in-store purchase, which they later redeemed for rewards. But technological advancement, online shopping trends, the rise of digital platforms, and customer expectations have changed the game. 

Loyalty programs are now transforming into sophisticated omnichannel loyalty programs. These programs allow customers to earn points or rewards across all channels by doing different activities, not just purchasing. But why should you jump on this bandwagon? Because such programs enable you to engage with customers whether they are online or offline. 

Customers now use multiple devices and platforms to interact with a brand. You can drastically increase customer engagement, experience, and loyalty by providing a consistent and seamless experience across all channels. 

In this article, you will learn to distinguish traditional loyalty programs, multi channel programs, and omnichannel ones. We will also discuss the top platforms for omnichannel loyalty programs and walk you through creating one for your business.  

What is a multi channel loyalty program?

A multi channel loyalty program offers customers multiple ways to join, earn, redeem, and engage with the loyalty program across different channels. The channels could include email, social media, web, and mobile. Businesses interact with customers across multiple touchpoints to have a more comprehensive experience. 

For example, a brand may offer customers points for shopping in-store that they can redeem at the same store. It also offers discounts when customers make online purchases through the app. Both of these add customers to the loyalty program. But the way to earn the rewards and the rewards are independent across platforms. That is how a multi channel loyalty program works. 

What is the omnichannel loyalty strategy?

The omnichannel loyalty strategy builds loyalty through both online and offline touchpoints. Each channel is connected to the other and the rewards are transferable as well. It provides customers with a fully integrated, holistic, convenient, and seamless shopping experience. This involves integrating access to and knowledge about the offline channel into the online channel and vice versa. 

For example, a customer might browse products online but choose to purchase in-store or the other way around. The key is to make this process as seamless as possible. You can do so by ensuring that the customer's online cart, wish list, and browsing history are accessible in-store. Similarly, ensure that their in-store purchases and preferences are reflected online.

Creating an omnichannel loyalty experience involves marketing, selling, and serving customers on all channels. It creates an integrated and cohesive customer journey. That not only enhances the customer experience but also promotes customer citizenship behavior. Such behavior involves activities that customers voluntarily engage in beyond the scope of their monetary transactions, such as providing feedback, making recommendations, or participating in a community. 

But why go through all that trouble? Because an effective omnichannel loyalty strategy increases customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. Statistics show that an omnichannel loyalty program can increase customer retention by 89%, compared to 33% for traditional programs. Customers enrolled in a loyalty program show approximately 47% higher satisfaction with the shopping experience than non-members. 

While implementing an omnichannel loyalty program, you must ensure that each interaction is cohesive and adds value to the customer. This means integrating online and offline data, personalizing the customer experience, and providing consistent messaging and offers across all channels. The key to an excellent omnichannel loyalty strategy is understanding the customer journey across all touchpoints. Platforms like Layerise are great for gathering customer data to inform omnichannel strategy. 

Traditional loyalty program vs. channel loyalty program

Both these loyalty programs enhance customer retention and engagement. 

Traditional loyalty programs

Traditional loyalty programs typically offer rewards, discounts, and other special incentives to attract and retain customers. These programs are often points-based, value-based, tiered, or subscription-based.

Benefits

Customer retention: Loyalty programs help retain customers by offering them rewards or discounts for repeat purchases.

Increased spending: On average, loyalty members tend to spend 5-20% more than non-members.

Drawbacks

Cost: Managing and maintaining \loyalty programs can be expensive.

Generic experience: Traditional loyalty programs often provide a generic experience to all customers without personalization.

Multi channel loyalty programs

Multi channel loyalty programs are an extension of traditional loyalty programs but integrated across multiple communication channels.

Benefits

Seamless experience: Customers can access and redeem rewards across multiple channels, providing a seamless experience.

Greater reach: Businesses can reach a broader audience by offering loyalty program access through various channels, potentially attracting new customers.

Drawbacks:

Complexity: Managing a multi channel loyalty program can be complex due to the management of various channels.

Integration challenges: Integrating data from various channels into a unified view of the customer often requires significant technical investments and expertise.

While traditional loyalty programs have their merits, multi channel loyalty programs offer a more personalized experience that better satisfies modern customers' expectations.

4 Main channel to use for omnichannel loyalty programs 

Creating an omnichannel loyalty strategy involves determining the top platforms your customers use to interact with your brand. These platforms are often the website, social media pages, mobile apps, and your brick-and-mortar store. Optimizing all these channels can enhance the effectiveness of an omnichannel loyalty program. Let us now dig deeper into how you can ensure a seamless experience across these four channels. 

Website

The website is a crucial touchpoint in the customer journey. It is often the first point of interaction between the customer and the brand. Nearly 65% of customers explore products online before buying in-store or online. You can optimize the website for loyalty programs by:

Clearly displaying the loyalty program: Have your loyalty program easily accessible and well-explained on the website.

Seamless sign up process: Make the sign up process for the loyalty program as seamless as possible. Ask for as little information as you can, and do not repeatedly ask for the same personal data. 

Personalized experience: Use customer data to offer a personalized experience on the website. For example, suggest products based on past purchases or browsing history. Integrate data from mobile apps or social media to display personalized suggestions. 

Exclusive content: Offer exclusive or special offers to loyalty program members for visiting the website. 

Social media

Social media is a powerful tool for engaging and rewarding customers. It is essential to leverage social media in loyalty programs by:

Promoting the loyalty program: Use social media to promote the loyalty program and its benefits. You can have ambassadors for the loyalty program to record reels or clips for your social media pages or get members to give testimonials. 

Engaging content: Create interesting content that encourages customer interaction and rewards them for engagement. For example, offer points for sharing posts or participating in surveys.

Exclusive offers: Provide exclusive or limited-time-only offers to loyalty program members on social media. Reward them even more for sharing the offer with others and creating FOMO to encourage more signups. Approximately 63% of customers want exclusive content as one of the perks of loyalty programs.

Customer feedback: Use social media to collect customer feedback and make them feel heard and valued.

Mobile apps

Mobile apps play a crucial role in the customer journey and loyalty programs. Here is how you can integrate mobile apps into your omnichannel strategy:

Mobile app integration: Link data collection tools like Layerise to your mobile app. That allows for data capture, analysis via artificial intelligence solutions, and automatic product recommendations based on customer profiles. Layerise easily integrates with multiple marketing automation tools, analytics tools, and data capture software to make things easier.   

Push Notifications: Use push notifications to inform customers about special offers, rewards, or updates to the loyalty program.

Easy Access: Ensure the loyalty program is accessible via the mobile app. Google statistics show that 53% of customers prefer mobile apps to look at loyalty program information over websites. 

Personalization: Provide a personalized experience on the mobile app by using the customer's data to offer relevant products, offers, and content. Also, ensure consistency between the offers on the website and social media. Layerise provides solutions to collect customer data from your mobile app, website, and social media and gain insights from it.

In-store

The physical store is a critical component of the omnichannel experience. Some ways to integrate your store into an omnichannel loyalty strategy are:

Seamless experience: Ensure the in-store experience is seamless and consistent with the online experience. For example, the points earned online should be redeemable in-store, the member-only discounts available online should apply to in-store products, and vice versa.

Mobile integration: Integrate the mobile app with the in-store experience. For example, allow customers to shop via mobile app while present in-store and to earn points or redeem rewards using the mobile app in the store.

Staff training: Train the staff to promote the loyalty program to walk-in customers and assist them with any questions or issues regarding the loyalty program.

How to create an omnichannel loyalty program

Creating an omnichannel loyalty program involves more than just integrating multiple online and offline channels. You also have to create a cohesive marketing strategy to provide a memorable customer experience. A practical example of a successful omnichannel loyalty program includes Starbucks Rewards. Customers can earn and redeem rewards across all channels - mobile app, website, and in-store. They can also order ahead using the mobile app and pick up their order in the Starbucks store. 

Here are the steps in creating a successful omnichannel loyalty program.

1. Understand your customer 

Know your customer's preferences, behaviors, and needs across all channels. Conduct market research and collect data about existing and potential customers. Website forms and quick surveys are excellent for this purpose. Layerise has features for quickly setting up forms for effectively collecting data. You can then automatically import it into your data analytics software. Create unified customer profiles by gathering data from different platforms. 

2. Leverage customer data

Use customer data to personalize experiences and create targeted offers across all channels. For example, data can tell if a customer frequently buys online or offline products. Then, you can leverage the information and send them special online-only or offline-only offers to increase loyalty. 

You must leverage customer profiles or 360-degree views of the customer to gain insights for designing targeted loyalty offers. For example, when your data shows that a customer recently visited a physical store, you can send them a special discount offer via SMS to promote loyalty and retention. This type of omnichannel presence is possible only with accurate and real-time data capture and analysis, which Layersie offers.

3. Integrate channels

Ensure all online and offline channels are linked together to provide a seamless experience. Integration involves coordinating all interaction points, such as online stores, physical stores, mobile applications, and websites. Then, design an omnichannel strategy that works well across these channels. 

4. Implement marketing automation tools

Utilize tools to automate and optimize communication and offers across channels. For example, automate sending personalized emails, SMS, or push notifications based on the customer's behavior and preferences on the website and mobile app. 

5. Monitor and optimize

Regularly monitor and optimize the program's performance based on the insights gathered. This step is essential for omnichannel success. Monitoring involves analyzing customer interactions, feedback, and the program's overall performance and comparing it against benchmarks or KPIs. Optimization means making necessary adjustments and improvements to stay competitive and get the best return on your investment. 

Layerise can help you integrate these steps seamlessly and automate a lot of the work. It provides the tools necessary for creating a successful omnichannel loyalty program.

Use cases 

Here are some two cases of omnichannel loyalty programs:

Retail

Retailers like Bed Bath and Beyond and North Face have omnichannel loyalty programs that reward customers for online and in-store purchases.

Food and beverage

Domino's Pizza offers an omnichannel loyalty program where customers can earn points for online and in-store orders. These points can be redeemed for free pizzas, and customers can track their progress through the mobile app or website.

Dunkin' Donuts' DD Perks loyalty program offers rewards for both in-store and mobile app orders. Customers can earn complimentary beverages and enjoy personalized deals accessible through the Dunkin' mobile app.

An omnichannel loyalty program unifies offline and online customer data to craft consistent experiences that strengthen customers' appreciation for the brand. A real-life example of a business that successfully implemented an omnichannel loyalty program is Sephora, a global leader in beauty and personal care retail. Sephora's Beauty Insider program is an excellent example of an omnichannel loyalty program.

Sephora's Beauty Insider program

Omni-channel experience: Members can earn and redeem points across multiple in-store, online, and mobile app channels.

Personalization: Sephora uses customer data to offer personalized recommendations and rewards. For example, members receive personalized birthday gifts and product recommendations based on past purchases.

Tiered rewards: The program has three tiers - Insider, VIB, and Rouge. Members are upgraded to higher levels as they spend more, unlocking additional benefits and exclusive rewards.

Experiential rewards: Apart from product discounts, members can redeem their points for exclusive experiences like beauty classes and events.

Mobile app: Members can use the Sephora mobile app to track their points, access exclusive mobile app offers, book in-store appointments, and shop online.

Sephora has successfully implemented an omnichannel approach in its loyalty program, engaging customers across all channels and providing a seamless and personalized experience. This approach has helped Sephora increase customer retention, drive sales, and strengthen its brand loyalty.

Use Layerise to create an omnichannel loyalty program

Layerise can help businesses develop an omnichannel loyalty program by improving data capture and customer engagement across all channels. The software can help companies to personalize customer experiences by offering product guides and personalized notifications. That can allow your businesses to show that you know your customers and understand their needs. 

Layerise can capture data and analyze it to give you valuable insights. This can improve your understanding of customer behaviors so you can tailor your loyalty programs accordingly. The platform makes the enrollment process easy, quick, and immediately rewarding by offering an intuitive interface for your customers. Explore these features and more by visiting the features page on our website.