What is a tiered loyalty program?
A tiered loyalty program is a rewards system that assigns customers different levels of status and corresponding benefits based on their purchase frequency, recency, and monetary value.
Customers can earn points, discounts, rewards, and other incentives for engaging with the brand, and depending on how much they spend or interact with the brand over time, they can move up from one tier to another, earning more rewards along the way.
Tiered loyalty programs are designed to provide a more personalized, engaging customer experience, and also improves a brand’s ability to personalize their customer engagement.
Examples of tiered loyalty programs that drive results
Lancôme
Lancôme operates a tiered loyalty program, Elite Rewards, that provides customers with 1 point for every dollar spent, 50 points for following the brand on social media, and 100 points for offering more first-party data such as date of birth and age group. The program is built on three tiers: Rose, Gold, and Platinum. Depending on which tier a customer is in, they can gain access to exclusive offers from free shipping to Shoprunner memberships and exclusive brand parties and events.Total Tools
Australia’s largest tool retailer Total Tools uses its tiered loyalty program, Insider Rewards, to keep customers coming back. Offering three distinct tiers — Bronze, Silver and Gold — the program provides customers with exclusive offers, member-only deals, event invites, and dollar-amount rewards.Sephora
Sephora’s Beauty Insider gives customers access to valuable rewards that they can’t get anywhere else. Split across three tiers (Insider, VIB, and Rouge), ranging from engaging sessions with leading make-up artists to personalized perks and discounts.
Five tips for building a valuable tiered loyalty program
Choose the right rewards:
Make sure you choose rewards that your customers will value. Consider creating a survey to send to your most engaged customers that asks them which rewards they’d like the most, and build your loyalty program strategy around them.Set up an easy-to-use system:
Complicated loyalty programs lose members fast. If you want yours to succeed, your program needs to present clear value and be easy for customers to understand and use. When you build your program, include features like a digital platform that allows them to easily track their progress towards each reward and each tier.Promote your program:
Don’t keep it a secret — let your customers know about your loyalty program by promoting it on social media, in emails, or through other marketing channels. You can also use targeted ads to reach potential new members and drive them to your loyalty program.Track customer data:
Collecting customer data is key when it comes to understanding what’s working well and what needs improvement. Use analytics tools to track customer behavior, engagement, and preferences, so you can tailor your rewards program accordingly.Keep it fresh:
Keep things interesting by regularly adding new rewards or changing up existing ones so that customers don’t get bored with the same offers every time they come back.
Growing loyalty with Emarsys
Emarsys helps leading brands like Nike, Babbel and adidas Runtastic to connect their sales, product, and customer data so they can deliver the real-time personalized omnichannel customer experiences that grow customer loyalty and drive repeat sales.
