Retail Loyalty Program Design

Loyalty is failing. Gen Z & long-term commitment. 22% of Gen Z consumers consider themselves loyal to one brand is a clear warning for legacy loyalty strategies. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z doesn’t see brand loyalty as a long-term commitment, they’re loyal to moments, not just names. +43% increase in engagement and sales conversions among Gen Z Beauty brands offering "limited-edition drops" and collaborative experiences. +71% Gen Z say they would rather spend money on an experience than a product. >>Loyalty is FAILING, but why<< +Transactional systems feel outdated: Point-based rewards for repeat purchases don’t excite this audience. They expect more than discounts or free samples. +They’re brand-agnostic but experience-driven: Gen Z freely switches between brands if the experience, aesthetic, or values feel fresher or more aligned with their identity. +They buy into stories, not just products: They want to align with brands that represent something, social causes, cultural movements, or communities they relate to. >>DYNAMIC LOYALTY<< What’s this? as it name indicates its a system that rewards interaction, aligns with their values, and constantly evolves. And that is what your brand needs. → Create experience-driven loyalty programs: Offer early access to limited drops, invite-only events, or backstage content. Think like a fan club, not a punch card. +Example: A loyalty tier that unlocks tickets to a pop-up experience or an exclusive AR filter. →Let them co-create: Invite Gen Z customers to co-develop product ideas, designs, or campaign themes. Give them ownership in your brand’s creative journey. +Example: Voting on packaging designs or joining beta tester groups. →Align with their values: Sustainability, inclusivity, and social good aren’t nice-to-haves. they’re expectations. Use loyalty programs to reward actions too, like recycling, sharing causes, or supporting small creators. +Example: “Earn loyalty points by returning empties or attending a sustainability workshop.” →Deliver constant novelty: Rotate limited editions regularly. Use scarcity and surprise to create FOMO and buzz. +Gen Z doesn’t commit to a single brand, but they’ll keep returning if each visit feels fresh and share-worthy. →Go omnichannel but social-first. Should live across TikTok, Instagram, pop-ups, and web. Let them earn or unlock rewards through social engagement, not just purchases. +Example: A user gets exclusive content or perks for creating UGC with your brand. Bottom Line. Loyalty must be earned over and over through experience, relevance, and emotional connection. Think dynamic loyalty: a system that rewards interaction and go for it. Find my curated search of examples and get ready for your next HIT. Featured Brands: Balmain Benefit Chanel Charlotte tilbury Cerave Fennty L’Oreal OGX YSL #beautypackaging #beautybusiness #beautyprofessionals #experienceretail #luxuryexperiences #genz

Every month, I host a Zoom with 40 - 70 VPs and CROs from our members. We dig into what’s working, what’s breaking, kick around ideas, etc. Last month, one prospecting theme dominated: How do we get consistency in outbound without turning into a compliance cop? And one tactic came up - not theory, but something leaders have actually rolled out with success: A point system. Here’s how it works, and why it scales better than the usual activity theater: The premise: Not all activities are created equal. So don’t treat them that way. Assign point values based on downstream impact, not just volume. - 1 call = 1 point - 1 net-new contact added = 2 points - 1 reply = 3 points - 1 qualified meeting set = 10 points - 1 meeting held = 15 points Set a weekly target (eg 100 points) and let reps decide how they get there. Now you’ve got a system that: - Measures progress without micromanaging - Rewards impact, not just effort - Encourages reps to play to their strengths So, why does this work? Activity based metrics punish your top performers and exhaust your new hires. A points based system introduces proportionality. - If you’re great at cold calls? Dial away. - If you’re a master of sequenced emails? You’re covered. - If you’re ramping? You’re still earning points and building confidence. And here’s the kicker for managers: It gives you a smarter lens on performance. Low points? You know WHO to coach. High points but low pipeline? You know WHAT to coach. You stop managing like an air traffic controller, reacting to every dip on the dashboard, and start leading with actual signal. tl;dr = Activity isn’t the enemy, but arbitrary targets are. Move from measuring motion to rewarding momentum.

One of the biggest takeaways I spotted from Intuit Mailchimp’s analysis of the 2024 holiday shopping season is that the new year is ripe with new opportunities to drive loyalty. Here’s why → 64% of orders from Mailchimp customers with connected stores came from new customers during Cyber Weekend 2024. That's a huge opportunity to grow your loyal customer base! And research we produced with Canvas8 tells us that the best kept secret to driving loyalty is actually grounded in science. Our Loyalty Wheel reveals 4 key drivers of loyalty: 1. Reward: Our brains love rewards. Create a sense of reciprocity by offering exclusive deals, personalized discounts, or early access to new products. 2. Memory: Make it easy for customers to remember (and repeat!) positive experiences with your brand. Design a frictionless customer journey, offer subscriptions for frequently purchased items, and send well-timed reminders. 3. Emotion: Foster an emotional connection that goes beyond transactional exchanges. Align your brand with causes your customers care about, share authentic stories, and build a sense of community. 4. Social Interaction: Encourage customers to share their love for your brand with friends and family. Create opportunities for user-generated content, run refer-a-friend programs, or host exclusive events. And here's how to put it all into action: 🎉 Surprise and delight: Gift your customers with unexpected rewards. And just not generic discounts. Offer exclusive experiences or partner with like-minded brands to create unique offers. 🛝 Streamline every touchpoint: Remove friction in the customer journey with automation. From browsing to purchasing to post-purchase support, make it easy and enjoyable to do business with your brand. 🎯 Prioritize personalization: Craft your messaging and build authentic connections. Use data and AI analysis to understand your customers' values and preferences and use those insights to create content that resonates. 🤗 Give VIP treatment: Make your customers feel like VIPs. Give them early access to new products, invite them to exclusive events, or feature them on your social media channels. Download Mailchimp and Canvas8’s The Science of Loyalty and The Strategic Loyalty Playbook for a deep dive into the science, complete with actionable strategies and inspiring examples: https://bit.ly/49FJayO Make 2025 the year of the loyal customer. You got this.

How can brands and retailers stand out this Holiday season amid judicious spending and unabated inflation? the race to launch even earlier #Holiday deals has created one long, continuous promotional cycle. It also trains customers to wait for sales and only buy at reduced prices, significantly impacting brand equity and profits. Here are some holiday promotion strategies to avoid this race to the bottom: 💶 Commit to price transparency as shoppers become increasingly weary of price gouging. Rather than helping overcome consumer scepticism about the discounts offered, they can lead to more of it. Look to 2023's viral TikTok hashtag #BlackFridayIsAScam. Similarly, Amazon customers found that merchants inflated their prices ahead of Black Friday 2023 to promote steeper discounts, driving down trust 💬 Have the confidence to hold sales until peak periods. While last year’s earlier start saw some retailers begin their promotional cycles as soon as August, a spike in sales didn’t actually occur until a few days before Black Friday and Christmas. Target saw its first visit peak of the 2023 season the day before Thanksgiving (up 22.1%) while department stores experienced a 183.6% spike in visits two days before Christmas. This year, two-thirds of shoppers say they’re holding out on making big purchases until #CyberWeek, according to Salesforce 📊 Double down on dynamic pricing. Use data and AI to develop an innovative promotion and discount strategy. Utilise time-sensitive models and a differentiated merchandising mix to more easily adjust to Holiday market conditions and shopper preferences in real-time 📌 Rather than appeal to all shoppers, target promotions to your most loyal customers. Salesforce predicts two out of five purchases over the 2024 Holiday season will be from a repeat buyer. Coupled with the fact that 77% of US consumers who have retail subscriptions buy more from brands they have relationships with, Holiday loyalty schemes will have a big impact 🎊 Create limited-time product bundles or gift sets that combine complementary items, offering convenience and savings without sacrificing perceived value 💰 Launch deals consumers actually want. To cut through the discounting noise, retailers must deliver more individualised discounts. 83% of US consumers are interested in receiving personalised offers Any other advice for brands and retailers ramping-up their #BlackFriday and #Christmas promotions?

Think about brushing and flossing. Do it sporadically, and plaque builds up. Do it daily, and you prevent it. The same principle applies in sales. An action is something you do once in a while. A system is a set of actions you do consistently over time. Why does matter? When you have a system, you’re doing the right things over and over again, not just when you feel like it. The benefit? You create momentum which stacks the odds in your favor for success It’s not just for you. It’s something you can hand off to others too. For example, if you’re a SDR, here’s a system called Winning the Day. How it works: You earn points for completing actions every day. 1. Before leaving work, list 35 people to prospect the next day. Let your present self help your future self (1 point) 2. Make cold calls for 45 minutes. (1 point) 3. Confirm meetings. (1 point) 4. Send 20 cold emails. (1 point) 5. Send 5 handwritten notes or videos to prospects. (1 point) 6. Stay positive—no gossiping or blaming. (1 point) 7. Spend 20 minutes calling closed-lost opportunities to ask for feedback. (1 point) 8. Send a one-sentence email to prospects who missed meetings: “Have you deferred looking at [your solution]?” (1 point) 9. Share 5 useful articles with prospects you haven’t spoken to in 3 months. (1 point) 10. Take a 10-minute tech-free walk. Notice what you see, hear, and feel. (1 point) Scoring: 8+ points in a day? You won the day. 40+ points in a week? You won the week. 160+ points in a month? You won the month. If you fall short, it’s okay—simply begin again. This isn’t a competition. It’s a practice. Success is built by showing up consistently. What’s your system? What’s your score today?

We built a zero-cost ad funnel that's scaling a skincare brand's ad account with 20+ whitelisting ads a month for free from their creator community. For the first 3 months we focused on scaling their creator-affiliate revenue above $10k/mo to offset the total cost of building a creator community. Here's the exact playbook we used: 1) Built a tiered creator affiliate program (VIPs, organic, and whitelisting partners) 2) Implemented performance-based compensation (product + commissions + bonuses) 3) Identified high-converting organic content for paid amplification 4) Established whitelisting partnerships with top performers The results: Partnership Ads (45 Days): - 1.16 blended ROAS across all creatives launched - Top performing ads hitting <$15 CAC - Consistent improvement in performance week over week But here's the kicker... Organic Affiliate (Same Period): - Generated enough direct revenue to completely offset all ad costs - 500+ tagged content pieces creating a scaled content pipeline - $10k+/mo in EMV strengthening their brand equity We're now scaling both the affiliate revenue AND the Meta ad account at the same time and it's completely self-funded. Instead of treating influencer marketing, affiliate, and paid social as separate channels, we integrated them into a single creator community ecosystem.

#CRM: Your Ultimate Sales Wingman Every salesperson needs a secret weapon, and that weapon is a well-utilized Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Far from being just a management tool, a CRM is truly a salesperson's best friend that can dramatically transform your sales approach. Why CRM is a Game-Changer CRM helps salespeople "optimize their entire sales process" by providing several critical advantages: 1. Intelligent Lead Management With CRM, you can segment data, identify valuable opportunities, and prioritize leads based on their potential. You’ll have access to communication history, making it easy to know exactly when to reach out to customers. 2. Efficiency Booster: By automating reports, scheduling, and tracking interactions, CRM frees up your time to focus on what matters most—closing deals. Modern CRMs can generate reports in just a few clicks and keep you organized. 3. Deep Customer Insights: A CRM provides a comprehensive view of customer interactions, helping you understand buyer motivations, anticipate needs, and create personalized strategies. Documenting intrinsic buyer motivations and deal specifics becomes seamless. #Customization & #Optimization is the Key The most successful salespeople don’t just use CRM—they customize it to fit their selling methodology. Create fields that track your specific sales process, remind you of follow-ups, and highlight critical deal information. Remember, CRM isn't about management oversight—it's about empowering you to sell smarter, faster, and more effectively. Make it your trusted companion in the sales journey! #Sales #CRM #SalesTips #SalesLeadership #SalesTraining #SalesStrategy #CustomerExperience #BusinessGrowth #DigitalTransformation #LeadManagement

There’s a difference between customer advocacy and collecting logos. Too many early stage SaaS companies still think the game is: ☑ Get a big name logo ☑ Put it on your homepage ☑ Job done (Dare I even say one of our competitors' site has quite a few logos that aren't their customers, some are even ours 🤷 ) ...and I think buyers are wising up to this... Same goes for influencers. If they’re not using the product or if they’re not mentioning you without being paid to, you’re not building brand. You’re renting inauthentic attention. At trumpet 🎺 we’ve started leaning heavily into real advocacy. The kind that isn’t bought, briefed or branded. What it looks like: → Users looping in colleagues offering great case studies → Our Slack channels getting DMs oh how users are getting results and telling us excitedly → Prospects mentioning us before we’ve even reached out → Champions posting about us unprompted on LinkedIn → Customers recording walkthroughs for their wider team → Referrals landing in our inbox with a one-line intro That’s the gold. It doesn’t just drive pipeline. It compounds. If you want to actually use advocacy beyond a throwaway customer quote on your site, here’s what we’ve found works: 🔁 Give them a reason to share. Make the product so damn useful (or delightful) they want to talk about it. Most advocacy is a reflection of product quality, not just marketing effort. 🧠 Involve them early. Co-create features, roadmap check-ins, share sneak previews. People advocate for what they help shape. 📦 Re-Package the advocacy. Turn casual quotes into killer social proof. That Slack comment? It can become a slide. That LinkedIn post? It can become an ad. But only if it’s genuine. 🙋 Celebrate the humans, not the logos. Spotlight your champions. Not the company they work for, but the person who took a bet on you. They’re the ones who’ll take you into their next company. We're not perfect at this yet - but it’s the main kind of “marketing” that doesn't need large budgets and that everyone can do. Logos are easy. Advocacy is earned.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗖𝗥𝗠? Businesses of all sizes can benefit from a CRM. But if you’re looking to add a CRM to your tech stack for the first time, choosing one can be overwhelming. (There are a LOT of options.) Here are some things to keep in mind: 1. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀? Manage your pipeline? Relationship management? Increased visibility among your team? 2. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱? Who will be using the CRM within your organization? 3. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁? You don’t want to be stuck with a complex project - you want to get up and running ASAP. 4. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗥𝗠? Can you add custom fields? No two businesses are the same! 5. 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀? Such as website forms, your invoicing software, or your ticketing system? Can you use Zapier? 6. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲? Do they match the metrics your business regularly reviews? - Hi, I’m Nathan Weill, a CRM and automation expert. ⚡️ I help people maximize productivity. I’ve worked with hundreds of businesses, helping them save time and boost revenue - and I can help you too! #workflows #CRM #relationshipmanagement #pipedrive

Points-only loyalty programs may look simple, but they’re quietly draining your margin. Most brands default to “1 point per $1” and rely on breakage to offset the cost. It almost never add up. Quick math: 1% breakage on $1M GMV still leaves $10K in liability on your books. With a 12% net margin, a 5% point cost takes away almost half your profit. A stronger approach is a blended model: For example, cashback on high-ticket SKUs to lift AOV, vouchers to clear overstock, and points to sustain everyday engagement. With Gameball you can easily tag products, adjust base earn to 2%, and still push 8% cashback on slow movers, all in a single workflow. How are you designing rewards that drive growth without burning through margin?