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Customers love loyalty programs or memberships with brands they buy from frequently, and many marketers love promoting these programs to drive customer loyalty and lifetime value. These programs are a win-win for everyone.
But, like any other product or service you offer, you need to market it. Customers need to know what benefits come with the program, how they can use those benefits, any costs associated with it, and so on. Marketing messages around loyalty programs need to be built into the customer journey and not just sent as one-off messages.
Ready to integrate direct mail into your loyalty program’s marketing campaigns?
In this blog, we’re covering a few ways you can use direct mail to better market your loyalty program.
Use direct mail to introduce customers to your membership program if they're not already enrolled, or send a piece of mail to welcome them to the club. You can also use direct mail to explain the benefits of your program or how costumers can redeem perks or take action on the benefits. Depending on how in-depth you want to go on your explanation, you can send a letter to provide all the information customers need, or you could send an eye-catching postcard that has a shortened URL or QR code that customers can put on the fridge to quickly reference.
Make sure your customers get the most out of their membership by reminding them of unused benefits, perks they might be missing out on, or information on how to redeem their points or benefits if they haven't taken any action yet.
Thank members for redeeming points or using benefits by sending a thank you card, letter, or postcard. You could use this marketing touchpoint as an opportunity to generate User-Generated Content on social media channels by encouraging members to share their experience or talk about what they got on social media or by writing an online review.
Customers almost expect perks and rewards during their birthday month and if they're part of a loyalty program, the brand better deliver. Wish your customers a happy birthday with a piece of direct mail, that also just happens to have a coupon code or gift offer on it. Outside of birthdays, members should also get mail when celebrating an anniversary with your brand, such as being a member for one year, or when they've reached a milestone, like in the above example from Progressive.
Give your members access to exclusive content, like live videos, Ask Me Anything events, webinars, or invite them to invite-only on-site events. You could also use direct mail to send them exclusive and personalized content, such as customized "you might also like" catalogs to inspire their next shopping experience with your brand.
Use direct mail to give your members a sneak peek at new products or services that are launching soon. Members could get a preview a week before everyone else and a special URL where they can sign up to be the first in line to get it, and then you could direct your members to follow the countdown to launch on social media or via an email nurture series.
Lastly, grant your members early access to sales, whether online or in-store. This is a perfect campaign to tie in with your email marketing as you can tease the upcoming sale and then remind them via email when the sale begins. You might also consider giving them an extra discount or BOGO offer as an additional thank you for being a member.
Before designing or writing any of these direct mail marketing pieces, let’s cover some best practices for integrating this channel into your marketing efforts.
To send out certain campaigns you’ll want to make sure your CRM triggers are set up appropriately based on customer data or behaviors.
Customers that are part of a loyalty program deserve personalization beyond the basics, like first name. Bring in pictures of items or products they've purchased, highlight what their favorite or most frequently purchased item is, or call attention to items they may also like based on their browsing history.
Like any marketing channel, direct mail works best when it's paired up. Use direct mail in tandem with email marketing, SMS marketing, or targeted social media ads. The channel can be excellent complement to your digital marketing efforts and helps you reach your members offline.
Recommended reading: The Modern Marketer’s Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
Direct mail is a natural fit for marketing your loyalty program. But, direct mail isn’t just a fit for this type of campaign! Learn how consumers feel about this channel by downloading your own copy of the State of Direct Mail Consumer Insights report.
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