WooCommerce Points and Rewards is one strategy marketers have been following for a long time.
“Repeat business or behavior can be bribed. Loyalty has to be earned.”
– Janet Robinson
It is a concept that initiated the process of rewarding loyal customers for their loyalty toward the product. Points and Rewards promoted the idea of direct selling and eCommerce referral marketing (indirect promotion strategy). Almost every industry has adopted the points-rewards combo in their marketing strategies, and the eCommerce loyalty program has also been fruitful for them.
So, let’s check out the top methods that various industry leaders use to implement the reward points system for their customers. Also, these are the best engagement tools for your customers, as they can earn, use & redeem rewards through the points program for their ultimate benefits.
This is not it.
We will take all the readers on a journey, where we will openly discuss the eCommerce loyalty program, the types, the working, and also the parameters to measure it.
Yes, you heard it! All of this is in a single blog post.
Things That You Will Learn In This Blog…
(Jump to the section that interests you the most!)
How Do WooCommerce Points And Rewards Methods Work?
Before we proceed with the methods to target the customers and win their loyalty in return. It is essential to understand how these programs work.
In simple layman’s language, the WooCommerce Points and Rewards system commonly known as eCommerce Loyalty programs is designed to reward customers for their repeat business. Customers typically sign up for the program and then earn points, reward points, or other benefits for making purchases.
These points can then be redeemed for discounts, free products or services, exclusive access to sales or events, or other reward points. Different types of loyalty programs include points-based, tier-based, cash-back, hybrid, punch card, referral, and gamified programs.
We will explain the types of loyalty programs that will give you a better understanding of this approach. Till then learn how to develop an effective eCommerce loyalty program.
Source: Capillary
Some companies also use data and analytics to personalize offers and rewards systems for individual customers.
Top 11 Methods That Industries Use To Target Customers
Industries use various methods to target customers effectively and engage with their target market. These methods include demographic targeting, behavioral targeting, geographic targeting, psychographic targeting, retargeting, personalization, influencer marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media advertising.
Need Help Setting Up Your Personalized eCommerce Loyalty Program?
There are many eCommerce loyalty program campaigns present currently. And it can be overwhelming for the marketer to narrow it down to one. We have made a well-researched list of the methods that marketers can use to target customers.
1. Marketing – Direct Sellers Rewards
The rewards program sustained the working of the Direct Seller concept in the marketing industry. Direct selling is the process where customers are treated as independent sub-owners of the main business empire and are rewarded for their activities in favor of expanding the Net profit of the business group.
For example, AMWAY is the enterprise that treats every customer registered under the distributor category as a partner to the enterprise. AMWAY follows a multi-level marketing strategy and awards its distributors some rewards based on their monthly point scores.
2. Customer Reward-Points-Per-Purchase
Marketers are involved in this strategy to make their customers feel a personal connection by rewarding them for every purchase. Often, the oldest customers are the lucky heads.
Rewards-Per-purchase is awarded depending on the purchase amount.
Based on the amount spent, the customer is provided a score point. Based on these score points and amount, instant rewards are awarded like free items, gift cards, or cashback offers.
For Example, Designer Shoe Warehouse, an American footwear retailer has used an eCommerce loyalty program strategy for each purchase and has rewards that vary as per the customer’s purchase amount.
3. Referral Rewards
“Bring the crowd and win the reward.”
Yes!
This strategy works on the same principle.
Referral Rewards are awarded to those who refer your products or business to their friends and families. It is one of the highly converting strategies as both the referer and the referee earn points and rewards. Points and Rewards actively promote the idea of referral marketing (indirect promotion strategy).
For example, Dropbox, the file hosting service giant offers free 500MB space for the party that refers and the party that gets referred. This has proven to be one of the smartest marketing strategies to date.
Many plugins provide this feature, one such plugin is Points and Rewards for WooCommerce. With this reward points feature, merchants can offer point rewards to the referrer for every unique referral. For example, if user A shares his referral link with user B, and user B signs up using A’s referral link, user A will receive the reward points. Admin just needs to enable the referral points option from the General settings and enter the number of points and minimum referrals required.
Want To Learn More About Points And Rewards?
4. Giftings
Marketers have evaluated the importance of giftings for a while now. They know the opportunities available in providing gift cards or other gifting options to the customers.
Many websites have started offering WooCommerce gift cards or other gifting options against the total reward points earned by the customer. Some websites also provide the feature to transfer their customer’s points to the mentioned account on demand.
For example, Amazon, the biggest online store for all your needs provides you the variations to redeem rewards in the form of gift cards and other forms too.
5. Sign-Ups And Login Rewards
Customers these days are smarter than you think. This makes marketing even more difficult. Until customers seek their benefit, they will not be persuaded to have an account set up on your website. This is why we have the perfect eCommerce loyalty campaign solution for you!
WooCommerce Points and Rewards attract customers to sign up and create an account against welcome points. Similarly, as a marketer, you can plan a strategy to award the customers who log in to your site frequently. Be sure to be strategic while rewarding points on sign-ups and logins.
For example, FIFA MOBILE, the trending game of the season offers reward points on your daily logins for in-app purchases.
6. Local And Online Shopping Rewards
Almost all clothing brands have started to maintain a list of their customers. Under this list, you can accredit each customer with a separate reward points score for every purchase they make. Similarly, while you shop online, the sites have started awarding points that are redeemable for future purchases.
For example, Max Fashion, a worldwide store that offers an exotic yet reasonable collection for all your fashion needs is popular for its Landmark reward system. It offers its customers points for purchases which can be redeemed for savings later.
7. Travel & Stay Rewards
People today prefer online booking for their travel and stays. Many websites have come up with providing the best deals to the customers to make their trip satisfying and memorable, this can be another well-known example of running a successful eCommerce loyalty program.
But, this is not the only reason why customers are shifting to online booking. The reason behind this is the ease, no time wastage in booking lines, and the offers, WooCommerce points and rewards & cashback.
For example, MakeMyTrip, a leading online travel booking site allows points on each booking made by the customer, and for every next booking, the points are redeemed in the form of discounts and money back.
8. Dine-In or Home-Delivery Rewards
When all the industries are moving into the WooCommerce points and rewards program, then how can the food industry take a back seat?
Since they can’t, the restaurants have also started offering reward points in the form of gift cards and coupon certificates to their member diners. Also, the food delivery apps reward their customers with cashback points and free food rewards. You never know when you get an extra pack of fries as a reward for your burger!
For example, Starbucks, a renowned coffee shop all over the world offers an eCommerce loyalty program app to its loyal customers to reward them with some extra sweet perks on their special days.
9. Gaming Perks Loyalty Program
Gaming program helps merchants to add the element of fun. It also makes the mundane task of purchasing on the website interesting for the customers. Several companies have actively started incorporating this into their existing loyalty programs.
WooCommerce points and rewards help you implement this element into the loyalty programs effectively. Want to know more about this?
Let’s unravel together…
Gamification Feature
Merchants can boost engagement in their online stores. This interactive feature introduces a “win-wheel” experience that captivates customers and drives participation, while rewards for engagement foster loyalty and repeat visits. Complete customization control, from wheel design to engagement frequency, ensures that the experience aligns seamlessly with your brand.
By offering a unique, memorable, and tailored engagement, merchants can not only keep customers on their websites for longer but also benefit from word-of-mouth marketing as excited customers share their user experiences, ultimately leading to increased sales opportunities and a stronger online presence.
If You’re A Merchant Who Is Curious About This Feature!
10. Tiered Programs
This type of loyalty method helps you motivate your customers one day at a time. It’s like playing your favorite video game. The customers are rewarded and are taken to the next reward level with every earned reward point for making a purchase.
In a nutshell, once you complete one level of spending, customers can unlock a new level that gives them access to more significant perks, and exclusive benefits.
Merchants can implement this element by utilizing the WooCommerce points and rewards plugin.
How? Let’s find out…
User Badges and Levels
Motivate your customers to earn reward points through various activities by awarding unique user badges. These badges represent different levels of achievement. This further creates a sense of accomplishment amongst your customers, and they are encouraged to buy from your store.
But how will you do it? The Points and Rewards plugin is designed for customer engagement and loyalty! These badges represent different levels of achievement. The admins have full control over their position and level names. They can also set the milestone threshold for customers to reach their desired level with ease, and reward point values that the customers will get.
Plus, we understand the importance of aesthetics. Merchants can easily customize badge images to align with their brand. It’s a powerful, flexible, and visually appealing way to boost customer loyalty!
Learn More About The User Level & Badges!
11. Spend-Based Loyalty Program
We have already spoken about WooCommerce points and rewards programs where customers are rewarded for every purchase they make. But what about the customers who are spending more money in shorter periods? How do we encourage them, so that they continue making big purchases from your website?
This is where the spend-based loyalty program comes into action. This reward program allows companies to recognize high-spend customers. Many airline companies, in particular, are transitioning from point programs to spend-based systems.
It allows them to engage deeper with frequent fliers who pay more for fewer flights.
Source: Zendesk
Facts About The Retention & eCommerce Loyalty Programs
Before proceeding further, it becomes essential to understand why we need to retain our customers, and why it is important to have a loyalty program. The facts about customer retention and eCommerce loyalty program will solve this. And we have a perfectly checked list of facts for the same.
- It’s 5-6 times more expensive to find a new client than it is to reactivate an old client – American Express
- 72% of global customers feel loyalty toward at least one brand or company
- The average U.S. consumer belongs to 16.6 loyalty programs but actively uses only half of them – Statistica
- A study by Deloitte found that personalized reward points and offers are the most effective way to increase customer engagement in loyalty programs.
- The loyalty management market is worth $4.43 billion
- Returning customers spend 67 % more than new customers – Business.com
- A 5% increase in customer retention increases profits by 25% to 95% – Harvard Business School
- One-third of adults in the U.S. are digital natives who are comfortable exchanging more of their personal information with companies that have loyalty programs – Forrester
- 181% more companies plan to incorporate elements of gamification into their customer loyalty programs in the next 5 years – Regalix
- Six out of 10 U.S. consumers wanted discounts in exchange for joining loyalty programs – Statistica
How Can WP Swings Help?
WP Swings team has developed a plugin namely “Points and Rewards for WooCommerce Pro”. This plugin is designed to keep in view the multiple features demanded by the customers. It is easy to install and use. Just download the plugin and install it. Thereafter, enable the configurations that you need and you are all set to go.
You will be surprised to know, that our customers/clients were so happy with this plugin, that we had to get it listed on Code Canyon as well — WooCommerce Ultimate Points and Rewards.
Many different features will help you craft the perfect loyalty program for your customers. But we also have a feature that will help you make your website engaging and interactive.
What is it?
In the following section, we will list out some of the other “On Demand Features” of Points and Rewards for WooCommerce…
Features of Points and Rewards for WooCommerce are,
- Merchants can assign reward points to the products as well as different categories.
- The customer can earn points if their referrer makes a purchase using their referral link.
- Users can also purchase items with just points, through the Purchase through Points feature.
- Rewards on Birthdays & Sign-ups.
- Smoothly accommodate Referral Link Sharing.
- Spend more to earn more Redeemable Points.
- Allow product purchases based on customer’s point scores.
- Create multiple tiers of the membership and add the required number of WooCommerce Loyalty points and rewards to join it.
- Point Conversion to Coupons for purchasing products.
- Flexibility for the business owners and Transparency for the customers.
- Deliver Instant Email Notifications for customers.
… and many more!
Still Not Convinced? Hear From Our Favorite Customers
Frequently Asked Questions for WooCommerce Points and Rewards
Q.1 Do you have a Gamification feature on your plugin?
Ans: Yes, we have a gamification feature in our plugin and you can find the “Gamification settings” in our plugin settings from where you can make various changes to showcase this feature as per your need.
Q2. Can I make a partial payment through points to purchase a product?
Ans: Yes, you can make partial payment through points and for this just enable purchases through points.
After this, the user will find a small check box on the product page and by clicking on it he can enter the amount which he wants to pay based on the conversion rate set by him.
Q3. Can I reset the reward points of all the users in a single go?
Ans: Yes, you can reset the points of all the users in a single go.
For this: Go to Points Table > Under Reset Users Points > Click on Reset points button.
After this, a confirmation form will appear so you just need to click on OK and the points of all users will reset to 0.
Q4. How do you use Reward Points?
Ans: These earned reward points can be used to purchase other products on the website. The customer can also convert their earned points into wallet credit based on a certain conversion rate.
For example, 20 points equal 2 wallet credits. Customers can later use this wallet credit for purchases in the store.
Q6. Can I restrict the usage of the Rewards points?
Ans: Yes. You can do this by going to General Settings of the plugin. In the General settings, you’ll find a section named Redemption Settings. In Redemption settings, click on the Enable Point Usage Limitation checkbox.
After enabling the checkbox, set the type of limitation, i.e.
1) Percentage,
2) Fixed.
Now enter the amount customers can pay using their points. After entering the amount, click on Save Changes.
Still Confused about the working of the plugin? Check this video out !!!
How To Measure Customer Loyalty
There are several ways to measure customer loyalty points system, including
1. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
This measures customer loyalty by asking customers how likely they are to recommend a company’s products or services to others.
2. Repeat-Purchase Rate
This measures the percentage of customers who make repeat purchases within a certain period.
3. Customer Retention Rate
This measures the percentage of customers who continue to do business with a company over a certain period.
4. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
This measures the total revenue a company can expect to generate from a customer over their lifetime.
5. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
This measures how satisfied customers are with a company’s products or services.
6. Brand Advocacy
This measures the willingness of customers to recommend a brand to others, it can be measured by counting the number of shares on social media, or by asking customers directly.
7. Social Media Metrics
This measures the engagement of customers on social media platforms, such as likes, comments, shares, and followers.
8. Surveys
This measures customer loyalty by asking customers directly about their experience, satisfaction, and likelihood to recommend a company.
9. Customer Effort Score (CES)
This measures the effort required for customers to complete a task or solve a problem with a company.
10. Share Of Wallet
This measures the proportion of a customer’s spending on a specific category of products or services that is going to a particular brand.
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Wrap Up!!!
Everybody loves gifts & surprises. Appreciate your customers and let them know that you value them above any other thing. According to economics, supply and demand are complementary to each other. So are you and your customer. Points and Rewards help you in maintaining this complementary relationship.
So, don’t fall back and let your customers feel the fun and happiness of shopping. 🙂
About the Author: Muskaan Sabarwal
