When building your tech stack, it's only natural to want the best. This is especially true for retail businesses, which have many moving parts—including point of sale (POS), ecommerce, customer loyalty, payments, and more. You want these elements to work seamlessly together while at the same time ensuring that each component is robust and tailored to fit your specific needs.

And that's why many retailers use Lightspeed Commerce with Shopify. As two leading software vendors in the POS and ecommerce markets, they offer complementary strengths that can streamline operations and enhance customer experiences.

In this article, we look at how Lightspeed and Shopify integrate and what merchants can do to get the most out of each solution, used together.

About Lightspeed

Lightspeed is a POS and payment platform for retailers, restaurants, and golf courses. On the retail side specifically, Lightspeed offers an intuitive point of sale system and built-in payments that enable merchants to quickly ring up sales using a computer or mobile device. 

Lightspeed also has robust inventory capabilities, enabling retailers to order and receive products, track and transfer stock between different locations, conduct full and partial inventory counts, and more. 

In addition, Lightspeed has an ecommerce platform that allow merchants to set up an online shop and manage their digital presence. That being said, Lightspeed is built for brick and mortar retailers first, so merchants that require advanced and deep ecommerce capabilities may not get all the features they need from the platform — hence the need to integrate with other solutions.

About Shopify

Shopify is built for the ecommerce sector first and has everything you need to sell online. The platform offers a user-friendly interface for creating and customizing online stores with a wide range of themes and templates. 

Shopify also has powerful shipping capabilities through Shopify Shipping and the Shopify Fulfillment Network, which lets you outsource fulfillment and returns. 

Plus, Shopify supports various sales channels, including social media, marketplaces, and in-person sales. It also provides powerful marketing and customer engagement tools, including social media integrations, live chat, and email marketing.

Pros of using Shopify and Lightspeed together

Many merchants use Shopify and Lightspeed, and it’s easy to see why: if you want the best of both worlds (ecommerce and brick and mortar), it may make sense to integrate the two solutions. 

Access to the best tools

Between the two platforms, Shopify and Lightspeed are typically the first to market with new tools and features in their respective focus areas. As such, you can always have access to the latest and greatest features for each sales channel, giving your business a competitive edge.

Avoid messy (and expensive) migrations

If you've started on your retail journey—i.e., you already have an existing Lightspeed or Shopify account—choosing the integration route vs. migration will likely be more cost-effective.

Migrating all your data from one platform to another can be tedious and time-consuming because you need to transfer extensive records, reconfigure settings, and ensure everything works perfectly. It can also lead to downtime when the migration process isn't implemented correctly.

Cons of using Shopify and Lightspeed together

As with many integrations, users can have pain points and disjointed experiences when connecting different solutions, and the Lightspeed + Shopify integration is no different. 

Challenges with finding integrations that work with both solutions

When creating a tech stack, you need to ensure that each part "plays nice" with all other components. Naturally, this task becomes increasingly complex the more apps you have. This issue can be seen in Lightspeed and Shopify.

Lightspeed and Shopify each have their own marketplaces with different apps, so it can be challenging (but definitely not impossible) to find apps that work with both. 

Breakage points between the two systems

When set up correctly, Lightspeed’s Shopify integration serves most retailers well. But no integration is perfect 100% of the time. The reality of connecting different solutions is that issues can arise. Sometimes, data won't sync. Or maybe one platform experiences an outage, leading to disruptions in your operations. 

There have been some reports of inconsistencies and data mismatches between Shopify and Lightspeed merchants. Some retailers, for example, report that Shopify orders aren't syncing with Lightspeed or that not all data (e.g. images or product details) are imported seamlessly.

Usually, these issues only arise with more complicated use cases — for example, franchises, or set ups that use parent accounts. Anything that deviates from the standard Lightspeed and Shopify set up can be a bit trickier to get right.

Solutions to address integration issues

While there are real concerns about connecting different apps, successful software integrations are totally possible. If your business doesn’t use a standard set up, you just need to find the right solutions and systems. Consider the following.

Choose apps that work on both platforms

Our first tip? Choose your apps wisely. If you're using Shopify with Lightspeed and want to extend the capabilities of these platforms, set your sights on apps that can connect to both solutions. You can find them by browsing Lightspeed's and Shopify's respective marketplaces and ensuring they are listed as compatible with both systems. 

An example of one such app is Marsello. All our loyalty and customer engagement tools work perfectly with Shopify and Lightspeed, so you don't have to worry about disconnected data or a disjointed customer experience. More on this in a bit.

Implement middleware

You can deploy middleware—i.e., software that acts as a bridge between different applications to facilitate communication and data flow. These apps are built specifically to help with the connection between Lightspeed and Shopify. Middleware can provide an adequate workaround, but keep in mind that they can be unreliable and setting them up is typically labor-intensive.

We would recommend only using middleware if you have a complex or unique store set up (for example, a parent-child store set up in Lightspeed, or if you're running a franchise model).

Custom development

If you have the dev resources, you can also go the custom development route by leveraging Lightspeed's and Shopify's open APIs to build a bespoke integration. This is ideal for merchants who need highly-customized integrations or extra-tight and robust connections.

Best apps when using Shopify and Lightspeed

Ready to connect your sales channels? Here are the apps we recommend for retailers using both Lightspeed and Shopify.

Marsello: Loyalty & Marketing

Marsello is customer loyalty and marketing software for omnichannel retailers. If you're looking to launch a rewards program that lets shoppers earn and redeem points across digital and physical channels, Marsello can help.

Key features of the software include customer rewards (including awarding points for non-purchase activities), email marketing, win-back campaigns, gift cards, and more. 

Of course, Marsello integrates really well with Lightspeed and Shopify, so you can manage your loyalty and marketing efforts seamlessly across both platforms.

Above: Marsello was featured as a Best Practice app at Shopify’s 2024 conference, Editions.dev. 

Lightspeed Advanced Marketing: Loyalty & Marketing

When it comes to describing Lightpeed's Advanced Marketing capabilities, TechnologyAdvice.com said it best:

"Lightspeed operates with store sales in mind, so it truly excels at multi-store and multi-location sales tracking. It also has an unrivaled omnichannel loyalty program that bridges in-store, online, SMS, and email and is highly customizable."

Simply put, Lightspeed Advanced Marketing has you covered on multiple fronts—from loyalty marketing to customer comms. Lightspeed Advanced Marketing is powered by Marsello, but runs natively in the Lightspeed environment.

Klaviyo: Email Marketing

Klaviyo is an email and SMS marketing platform designed to help businesses create personalized and automated marketing campaigns. It offers robust segmentation, detailed analytics, and easy-to-use templates to create engaging emails and messages that drive customer engagement and sales. 

With integrations with Lightspeed, Shopify, and Marsello, Klaviyo is an excellent option for retailers who want to streamline their marketing efforts and enhance customer outreach across multiple channels.

Wrapped: Omnichannel Gift Cards

If gift cards are a big part of your business, you'll want to look into Wrapped. As a self-described "out-of-the-box gift card solution that integrates with POS, eCommerce, and mobile ordering platforms, all wrapped into one," this app makes managing gift cards simple and efficient.

With Wrapped, you can sell gift cards that customers can use wherever they shop—in-store, online, or both. Gift card data syncs between your POS (Lightspeed) and ecommerce software (Shopify), so balances are updated across both solutions. 

Judge.me: Product Reviews

Judge.me enables you to add widgets to your online store to display reviews and Q&As. It's a nifty tool that makes it easy to share social proof and build trust with potential customers.

Judge.me also has some handy review management capabilities. Effortlessly generate reviews through automatic review requests. You can even A/B test different messaging to see which ones generate the most engagement. And when you need to manage your reviews, you can do so with Judge.me's built-in features for sending replies and following up with reviewers. 

NetSuite: ERP & CRM

NetSuite is a comprehensive cloud-based business management software suite that covers ERP, CRM, and ecommerce functionalities. It provides you with tools for financial management, inventory, customer relationship management, and more. 

NetSuite's real-time data and analytics help businesses make informed decisions and streamline operations. With its robust integration capabilities, NetSuite can seamlessly connect with both Lightspeed and Shopify, ensuring smooth data flow across your entire business ecosystem.

Retailers who use Lightspeed and Shopify

Now, let's take a look at merchants who have been using Lightspeed and Shopify successfully.

HobbyTech Toys 

HobbyTech Toys is a sports and hobbies store in Australia known for its extensive product range. With a wide catalog that it sells across ecommerce and physical retail, HobbyTech Toys needs best-in-class solutions, which is why the owner, Jordan Hepburn, uses Lightspeed and Shopify. 

Beyond having powerful selling tools, Jordan leverages a data-driven approach to marketing and operations. This is where Marsello and Klaviyo come in. 

HobbyTech Toys utilizes Marsello for integrated loyalty programs, automation, and seamless omnichannel data management. Additionally, Jordan syncs all in-store transaction data with Klaviyo, enabling him to run effective email campaigns.

That data sync is critical, as it allows Jordan and his team to get a comprehensive view of customer behavior and preferences.

"It's good to be in that position where we've got so much access to data, and it helps us make informed decisions," he says. 

Pace Athletic

More than just a sporting goods store, Pace Athletic is dedicated to breaking down barriers to running and fitness. Founded by Will and Stu, two fitness enthusiasts, the store aims to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. 

Pace Athletic uses Lightspeed, Shopify, and Marsello to create a seamless and engaging experience. Lightspeed's POS system enables efficient in-store transactions, and Shopify's ecommerce platform complements this by providing a user-friendly online shopping experience.

Marsello ties these components together with intuitive marketing and loyalty tools. Pace Athletic’s loyalty program, powered by Marsello, contributes to 28% of their revenue — which is a testament to the power of having an engaged community (and the benefits of tightly-integrated marketing tools).

Super Butcher

Super Butcher is a chain of butcher shops with a growing online presence. With the rapid expansion of both its physical stores and online shop, the team needs to integrate customer data across channels.

Super Butcher relies on Shopify, Lightspeed, Klaviyo, and Marsello to create a seamless shopping experience for its customers. Lightspeed and Shopify power the company's POS and ecommerce, while Klaviyo facilitates personalized email marketing.

Meanwhile, Marsello complements these components by powering Super Butcher's omnichannel loyalty program and bringing in-store sales data into Klaviyo for extensive customer insights.

Marsello's multi-site reporting shows customer behavior across physical and digital channels so that the team can make better marketing decisions. 

"Marsello helped link everything together. Now we have a seamless loyalty program that's easy to use," says Jaden of Super Butcher.

TennisGear

Driven by his passion for tennis, Mark, an avid tennis enthusiast and accountant, decided to purchase a four-court tennis center with an attached retail store. This bold move set the foundation  for TennisGear, a flourishing multi-channel retail and coaching business catering to tennis lovers across Australia.

Lightspeed POS provides a robust foundation for managing in-store transactions and inventory across multiple locations. By integrating with Shopify, TennisGear has a solid ecommerce presence, allowing customers to shop online effortlessly. 

As for Marsello? Our platform provides marketing and loyalty tools so TennisGear can segment its customer base and create tailored campaigns. 

This integrated approach has yielded significant results. TennisGear experienced a 2.5% increase in its customer database after implementing Lightspeed POS prompts, which remind staff to add customers to sales. Marsello's automation capabilities help recover abandoned carts and incentivize lost customers to return, which boosts engagement even more. With a centralized data hub, TennisGear can execute highly targeted marketing strategies and drive repeat business. 

"I think Marsello is the only solution that we found that had a native integration between all the systems that we are using. Now we can really easily separate our in-store and our online customers. In terms of loyalty, campaigns, and everything, it's certainly the best solution that we found," remarks Declan, Project Manager at TennisGear.

Brandini Toffee

A specialty foods company based in Southern California, Brandini Toffee offers gourmet toffee products through both their brick-and-mortar stores and their ecommerce platform.

With its retail stores powered by Lightspeed and ecommerce shop set up via Shopify, Branidni Toffee keeps all data flowing across both channels through the softwares' tight integration. 

Marsello enhances these systems with comprehensive marketing and loyalty tools, enabling Brandini Toffee to drive customer engagement and retention across all channels. The integration helped Brandini triple its revenue from 2019 to 2023. 

"The integration is super important for us between our brick and mortar stores and ecommerce," explains owner Brandon Weimer. "Having loyalty aspects is a key component to growing those channels."

Conclusion

Should you use Lightspeed with Shopify? 

The reality is that most omnichannel retailers use both because each platform excels in different areas — Shopify for its robust ecommerce capabilities and Lightspeed for its powerful point-of-sale and inventory management features. This is especially true for retailers with complex inventory needs. 

If you’re trying to decide whether or not to integrate, it helps to take a closer look at how you currently work and what tech you’re already using to make sure everything will fit together. Also, think about doing a cost analysis to see what kind of investment you'll be looking at and if it’s worth it.

And if you decide to go for it and need a loyalty program and marketing solution that works with both, Marsello is a great choice. It syncs perfectly with Shopify and Lightspeed, providing a unified customer engagement experience.

Request a demo to see our platform in action. 

Need help? Get advice from an expert.

Read more: 7 Steps To Building A Profitable Loyalty & Rewards Program

Loyalty is everything. In an increasingly competitive ecommerce market, brands are constantly vying for customer loyalty, for good reason: loyal customers are often the most profitable. 

Plus, one of the best ways to tap into earned media (like word-of-mouth advertising, which most consumers trust above other advertising methods) is through—you guessed it—stronger customer loyalty. 

Perhaps the most common way businesses try to foster brand loyalty is through a points program. However, if companies simply provide a cut-and-dry rewards program and call it a day (as opposed to a spend-based loyalty program or VIP program), it can make customers feel unvalued or not like VIPs. 

In addition, if a program is solely about the points, it may fail to differentiate itself from other more competitive programs in the market. 

Industry data shows that just 18% of rewards program members actively engage with all the programs they're a member of, showing how some rewards programs may offer too little value to the customer. Oof. 

If you want to level up your customer loyalty initiatives beyond a points program, we've put together ten tips that can help.

Let's get started!

1. Set up email and SMS automations focused on bringing customers back

Email and SMS marketing are great ways to increase customer loyalty, as you can reach customers directly through their inboxes and mobile devices.

For best results, send triggered messages based on certain behaviors or actions your customers take. For example, you could send a message to a customer who hasn't made a purchase in a set amount of time or provide a voucher or discount as a way to say thank you after someone has made their first purchase. 

Pinjarra Bakery is an excellent example of a business putting email and SMS marketing to good use. The company uses Marsello to power various campaigns that entice people to come in.

“We send out an SMS blast to our loyal customers first or our loyalty customers first giving them first access to come in and try the product before we release it to the public,” Daniel explains. “And of course, we conveniently time the blast to go out around lunchtime so people are probably getting hungry that time of the day and so far the results have been great.”

Another idea is to reward your customers' birthdays. You could track birthday purchases and the rate of redemption—all of which is valuable data that can be leveraged for more tailored marketing down the road.

Easy-to-implement options include sending a one-time special discount or a freebie via text or email. Just make sure to use unique codes to track the effectiveness of your automations.

2. Setting up targeted segments

Did you know that the average email open rate is just 21.5%? To make your emails more relevant, segment subscribers into different groups or categories based on criteria like location, age, or behavior. By doing so, you can better cater to each segment through the content and deals you offer, intrinsically creating more value for your customers. 

Oh, and as a pro tip, consider using your subject lines to gauge interest in new products and themes you're considering offering.

3. Foster a strong community incidental to your brand

A brand community, when done right, is a way to rally together your most loyal customers or people who are the most interested in what you have to offer. Communities bring people together, which drives loyalty through shared experiences, meaningful connections, and a sense of belonging.

Marsello customer Pace Athletic is a master at community-building. The company has a run club that includes social jogs for all fitness levels. These run events end at local pubs where members can socialize, relax, and build friendships over a meal or drinks.

See if you can implement similar initiatives in your business. If you run a game shop, you could consider running a monthly board game night at your location. Brewery? Maybe a recurring beer tasting event or a pub quiz. Whether you want to keep it casual or more formal, brand communities are a great way to tap into brand loyalty and customer advocacy.

4. Offer exclusive access and early releases

Never underestimate the power of exclusivity. By fostering a sense of unique value or desirability—either by offering limited availability or exclusive access—brands can tap into the age-old desire of customers wanting to get something that's hard-to-get. 

You can use this to your advantage by targeting your top spenders or frequent purchasers and creating a segmented campaign. Reward them with access to exclusive events, pre-sale access to limited edition items, or other similar events. 

Take, for instance, Nordstrom, which gives members of The Nordy Club (the company's loyalty program) early access and extra discounts at sales events.

5. Start a referral program

To start things off, assign each consumer a unique referral code. Then, when they share your business with their friends, you can see if a purchase or subscription was made through the code and offer the customer (and maybe even the referred person) a reward. We recommend offering rewards that aren't point-based, like a free product or exclusive discount.

Also, make it easy to refer others: consider including a template with their unique code that customers can copy and paste. By reducing the friction around referrals, you'll make it easier for your brand to harness the power of earned media.

6. Provide valuable content and resources

Another great way to build customer loyalty is by creating content that's both informative and helpful for your customers: all with your own branding, of course. 

Let's say you run a makeup or beauty company: you could do TikTok or Instagram user-generated reviews of your products, do tutorials on how to apply certain products, or make a Q&A video about frequently asked questions. 

When you offer tips, guides, and tutorials on topics your audience cares about, you position your company as an expert and drive brand awareness by playing the long game.

7. Collect customer feedback

The best way to improve and understand customer satisfaction is through feedback, and what better moment to get feedback than right after a purchase? You can consider offering a small perk like free shipping on their next order as a small incentive, but what's crucial is to make it easy for your customers to provide feedback and to ensure they don't feel pressured into doing so. 

Marsello's customer feedback capabilities allow shoppers to provide input with just a few clicks, so the experience is effortless.

Check out this example from Madame Fancy Pants, which uses Marsello's customer feedback capabilities to create a simple, visually appealing survey so customers can quickly rate their shopping experience.

Already have customer feedback? Be sure to act on it to improve your retention strategies. And don't forget to proactively inform your customers about any changes and updates you've made so they feel heard and seen.

8. Create a customer-centric culture

Improving customer loyalty isn't just about what you put out there—it's very much an inside job. The people in your business play a crucial role in fostering customer loyalty, so you need to instill the value of customer-centricity in your teams. 

You can do this by providing ongoing training and development focused on customer service to keep folks at the top of their customer support game. 

A great example of this in action comes from Zappos, which has built a reputation for exceptional customer service. The company provides extensive training for their employees, including a four-week program that emphasizes the importance of customer satisfaction. This commitment to training has helped Zappos achieve a high level of customer loyalty and a strong brand reputation.

Another example is Pace Athletic, who run a regular running club for their community. Why we love it? Pace Athletic live and breathe what they do - a running club is a natural extension of their brand, and a way to connect on a deeper level with their customers and followers. 

The Pace team don't organize a running club to generate sales (at least not directly). But it does drive brand awareness and sales as a result. When their community build deeper relationships with the Pace team, they want to come in-store and ask for the staff's recommendations, suggestions and pointers. They want to support their local business, and the people behind it.

If you are passionate about what your business sells and what you represent, building community will come relatively easily. But it does take time and requires a commitment, so don't be disheartened if you don't see the revenue impact right away.

9. Invest in unique products and services

People stick with retailers and restaurants that consistently provide products and services they won't find elsewhere. So, strive to deliver unique and high-quality offerings to all of your guests. 

If you're in retail, this can come in the form of trendy fashion or homeware products that enhance your customers' lives. If you're a restaurant, this could mean offering exclusive and innovative dishes, sourcing locally grown and fresh ingredients, or creating a unique dining experience with exceptional ambiance.

When you do this consistently, you build a loyal customer base and differentiate yourself from the competition.

10. Implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives

Doing good is good for business. Industry data shows that consumers are more likely to choose brands that promote CSR aspects like sustainability. According to Neilsen, "a whopping 81% of respondents said that it's extremely or very important that companies implement programs to improve the environment. When it comes to action, 73% said they would either definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment."

To that end, it may make sense for your business to develop sustainability programs that focus on reducing environmental impact. This could include minimizing waste, using renewable energy, and sourcing sustainable materials.

Of course, CSR isn't just about sustainability. Social responsibility also encompasses societal issues like fair labor and community. So if these values align more with your brand, start exploring ways to support social causes. For instance, the brand TOMS partners with non-profit organizations that work on various societal issues, including access to mental health resources, community rehabilitation, and education.

Before you begin...

To ensure that your customer loyalty approaches are paying off, you must track key metrics regularly. Otherwise, you run the risk of investing significant time and money for no result. While you may not need to track all of the data points below, familiarize yourself with them and check in with your marketing team to determine which ones are the best for your organization. 

• Net Promoter Score (NPS): This measures customer satisfaction and loyalty based on how likely customers would recommend a product/service to others on a scale of 1-10. Detractors are 0-6, while Promoters are 9-10. A score over 50 is generally good, while above 70 is great.
• Customer Retention Rate: The rate at which your customers stay with you over a specific period, which reflects the effectiveness of your loyalty-building efforts. Make sure you balance this with customer acquisition strategies.
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): This is an indication of the total revenue expected from a customer over their entire relationship with a brand. It's a great way to identify more valuable customers and assess the long-term value of customer loyalty programs.
• Repeat Purchase Rate: The proportion of customers who make repeat purchases, which indicates ongoing customer engagement and loyalty. Customers with a high RPR should be targeted when launching new products or services.
• Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): This provides immediate feedback on customer experience and loyalty; it's the average score given when you ask customers how happy/satisfied they were with an experience.

While this isn't an exhaustive list, tracking some (or all!) of the above metrics will put you well on your way to quantitatively understanding how your brand loyalty efforts are paying off.

Final words

We've covered a lot of ground looking at the top ways your business can foster customer loyalty without needing a points-based program.

While you don't need to implement all of these at the same time, we recommend trialing out at least a couple of these methods and seeing what sticks. Most importantly, this shouldn't be a "set it and forget it" approach. You need to stay attuned to the feedback received and stay in the know on industry best practices. This way, you'll be ahead of the curve and continually improve customer loyalty. 

If you're looking to create an omnichannel loyalty program that offers real value, Marsello has you covered.  From SMS and email marketing to loyalty and referral programs, Marsello can help you from start to finish.

Speak to an expert today.

Need help? Get advice from a loyalty expert and start driving repeat sales.

Read more: 7 Steps To Building A Profitable Loyalty & Rewards Program

Shoppers are no longer defined to a single channel. They bounce between in-store visits, online shopping, social media storefronts, and more — and they expect brands to meet them wherever they are.

When consumers have the freedom and flexibility to switch selling channels on a whim, data-driven marketing becomes paramount. Leveraging data to understand customer behavior and what is driving conversions isn’t just a competitive advantage; it’s essential to grow your business and rein in spiralling acquisition costs.

That’s why building a unified view of your customer — who they are, where they’re buying, and how often — is at the heart of successful multi-channel selling. 

In this blog, we’re diving into how you can do exactly that.

What is multi-channel selling?

Multi-channel selling is when businesses utilize multiple selling platforms to extend their brand’s reach and enhance sales opportunities. 

Multichannel selling increases the number of touchpoints available to reach and convert, giving your brand more visibility in the marketplace. In sum, expanding your business’s presence into new channels ensures you don’t hit a ceiling and find yourself struggling to acquire customers in the long term.

Popular channels for multi-channel selling include online marketplaces (Amazon, Etsy, eBay), physical stores, eCommerce websites, social media platforms (TikTok, Instagram), mobile apps, and wholesale partnerships.

A successful multichannel sales strategy requires businesses to provide a holistic, consistent customer experience across sales channels.

To achieve this, retailers are constantly trying to seamlessly integrate our operational silos — eCommerce platforms, inventory software, order management, loyalty management, customer data, and more.

The goal? By unifying all these channels, retailers have access to the whole data story. This gives them the insight they need to build out a comprehensive multichannel strategy.

Leveraging customer data for effective marketing

Customer data is at the core of any effective multichannel marketing strategy.

Systematically gathering customer data from different platforms and touchpoints in the shopping journey enables you to zero-in on customer behavior, demographics, and preferences. This is the first step to aligning your brand messaging across platforms and building a cohesive brand identity that consumers can trust. 

To leverage customer data effectively, all of your sales channels — whether that be a physical retail store or an online store — need to be unified so that customer data can be collected and shared centrally. Tools such as CRM software, customer loyalty platforms, POS systems, and influencer marketing platforms can help you gather comprehensive data from every interaction in the customer journey, from brand awareness to the point of purchase and beyond. 

This allows you to build unique customer profiles that records these interactions across physical and digital channels. Note: It’s important that customers are explicitly consenting to share their data with you, to stay compliant with data privacy laws in your region.

But to get genuinely valuable insights from this data, you need to ask the right questions. Keep these questions in mind as you study your data:

Who are my best customers? It’s a small proportion of your customer base that’s responsible for the majority of your revenue. Think about how to reward that most valuable cohort with perks that will bring them back to spend more. Ideas include early access to sales or product releases, lower prices, free shipping, free samples, and priority customer support.

How many customers have I lost? Controlling customer churn is essential to keep your acquisition costs under control. Data can tell you whether the customers that are churning are new customers who aren’t making repeat purchases or long-time customers churning out after several purchases. You can view this information across selling channels to see whether losses are isolated to a single channel, like your Shopify store, or various channels.

Which customers am I at risk of losing? If it’s been a long time since purchasing or customers are no longer opening promotional emails or loyalty program updates, these are red flags that these profiles are at risk of churn.

Which channel has the highest repeat purchase cycle/average order value? Your highest-performing channel can tell you a lot about which touchpoints are resonating with your customers. For example, if your online store sees the highest average order values, consider how you can better personalize upselling and cross-selling recommendations in your brick and mortar store to capitalize on the experience of talking to in-store sales representatives.

Strategies for multi-channel selling

1. Tap into existing customer profiles

Customer profiles should form the nexus of your multichannel selling strategy. This granular customer data allows businesses to segment their target audience and tailor marketing efforts to the needs and preferences of each customer. This targeted approach ensures that marketing messages are more likely to resonate with customers, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

For Jordan Hepburn, manager of HobbyTech Toys, collecting a vast array of omnichannel data makes it possible to segment their customers in a variety of ways, including where purchases are made, what marketing campaigns those customers received/responded to, average order value in-person vs. shopping online, and more.

2. Optimizing for lifetime value

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) refers to the total amount of revenue a customer relationship is expected to earn for your business. High CLV is a good indicator of customer satisfaction and loyalty, because customers are choosing to keep returning to your business over multiple sales cycles. 

Brands can increase CLV by investing in marketing and loyalty initiatives geared towards turning one-off purchases into repeat purchase behavior. This includes loyalty programs, click-and-collect options, personalized email flows, and recommending complementary products.

Upselling and downselling tactics can also simplify the shopping experience for customers. By ‘downselling’ we mean suggesting a discounted product or bundle at the checkout that offers cost savings. This prompts customers to consider the additional value on offer and boost online sales.

3. Utilizing customer databases

Tapping into databases is a straightforward way to maximize opportunities to interact with customers. It’s common for businesses to organically build vast databases throughout the sales cycle — but without actually leveraging them in a marketing or loyalty context. 

Existing databases can be used to drive repeat purchases and reach new segments you might not be aware of. Moreover, it’s a great way to showcase the size of your customer base to any potential buyer in the future.

However, it’s important that you don’t ‘over-leverage’ databases in a bid to secure more sales. If email flows or SMS have low open and engagement rates, this behavior is more likely to push customers away from purchasing. 

Monitoring metrics like open rates will help you gauge how much interest exists for new products or promotions; high open rates can signal strong interest, while low open rates may  require you to reevaluate your email strategy to avoid alienating customers.

Campaign planning and execution

Targeted campaigns help businesses capitalize on key events or periods of time when consumers are more open to hearing about promotions or new products. 

Targeted campaigns fall into two main groups: Event-based campaigns and time-based campaigns.

Event-based campaigns cover occasions such as customer birthdays, anniversaries, and product launches. Time-based campaigns focus on key holiday periods (like peak season and Easter), new seasons, or annual sales events that are highly anticipated by customers, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Using a combination of these campaigns enables you to effectively nurture potential customers and push them toward your selling channels. However, targeted campaigns mustn’t be generic excuses for communicating with your customers; they need to resonate with your target audience. 

If you’re an outdoor retailer, Memorial Day weekend is likely an important event for your customers. You can develop email nurture campaigns that target both returning customers and first-time customers. For example, you could celebrate gearing up for fun summer activities, like hiking, kayaking, cycling, and more.

Use technology to drive marketing efforts

Planning and optimizing marketing campaigns across your eCommerce store and offline channels requires a level of coordination that’s impossible to achieve manually. Fortunately, there is a range of platforms available to assist businesses with data-driven multichannel selling and marketing. 

For example, Klaviyo is an integrated marketing automation platform that enables businesses to create and manage personalized review, email, and SMS campaigns based on criteria like customer behavior and purchase history. Marsello, meanwhile, offers advanced loyalty management software to set up and manage retention-driving loyalty programs across platforms.

Automated workflows save your team valuable time and resources when managing a multichannel retail strategy. You can automate the repetitive parts of customer relationship and loyalty management, such as sending welcome emails, birthday rewards, order fulfillment and shipping updates, and more. This ensures timely, relevant communications with your wider audience, helping to build brand trust.

When combined with segmentation, this takes your multichannel marketing strategy a step further by automating the sending of communications based on criteria such as purchasing history, online + offline shopping behavior, location, and demographic information. This way, you can craft highly personalized marketing campaigns for specific groups, without the burden of having to send or schedule each message or email. 

For instance, you can use automation to follow up with a customer after purchasing a specific product listing. HobbyTech Toys has an email flow that follows up with customers after a craft knife purchase at the point where the blade needs to be replaced. Even though this is in the product description, this reminder of key product information post-purchase provides ongoing value to the customer.

Measuring and attributing success

Monitoring the success of your marketing campaigns is key to refining campaigns over time for better results. Key metrics for evaluating campaign effectiveness include:

Revenue. The total value of sales that can be attributed to a campaign is a massive indicator of how well it resonated with customers and tapped into their preferences/pain points.

Basket size. Whether a campaign successfully persuades customers to add further items to their shopping cart.

Open rates/click rates. The number of recipients who opened a campaign email or message helps to measure engagement and whether your offer resonated with different segments. For example, if 30% opened an email but just 5% clicked, it’s important to investigate how your email marketing might be falling short.

However, measurement alone doesn’t tell you what actions were taken as a result of a marketing campaign. Knowing which touchpoints are contributing to conversions is key to optimizing omnichannel selling. 

For example, adding UTMs to a campaign allows you to track first/last clicks from different campaign elements, so you can understand what’s driving engagement in real time. Assigning unique coupon codes to promotions also means you can measure how much revenue has resulted from each campaign, minus the cost and any sales/discounts that are applied.

Customer data comes to the forefront here. You can use historical data to predict customer behavior around different events or times, enabling you to tailor marketing strategies accordingly. For example, you can avoid overselling inventory during key sales events by timing email communications when stocks are high. Data like demographics, behavior, and preferences can be used to create different variations of campaigns for A/B testing, so you can find what combination of assets and messages performs the best with different segments.

Practical tips from industry experts

Rory Moss, Chief Revenue Officer at Marsello

“There are databases across each and every business that haven’t been utilized to their full extent.”

As we said earlier, your customer database provides a strong foundation for targeted marketing efforts and segmentation. However, your databases need to be in a good state of maintenance to leverage useful insights about channels like physical storefronts and even your own website. This means properly integrating marketing platforms like your loyalty management system and your POS to make sure that comprehensive insights are flowing into your database and enriching insights over time.

Jordan Hepburn, Manager at Hobby Tech Toys

“Always have more data than you think you need.”

According to Jordan, spending time and resources gathering data is key. Even if that data doesn’t have a clear application right now, it could be immensely valuable in the future, depending on what targeted campaigns you want to try. 

Jordan’s marketing calendar leverages Klaviyo for automated segmented marketing campaigns on key events, like Mother’s Day and Black Friday. Mother’s Day, for example, is only sent to men on their mailing lists. But carving out time to actually manage this data is crucial. Jordan prioritizes spending an hour per day on data analysis and campaign planning to understand the ‘wins’ and weaknesses of each campaign.

Learn from retail experts Rory and Jordan in this multi-channel marketing masterclass:

Final words

Successful multi-channel selling requires brands to have a unified understanding of their customer's behaviors, preferences, and interactions with numerous touchpoints in the shopping journey. It’s essential to gather and analyze customer data across platforms to create targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with key customer segments, fostering loyalty and driving repeat purchases.

Customer databases provide a key starting point for analyzing data and understanding what communications are likely to drive urgency to purchase. However, it’s not just about having access to data, but knowing how to leverage it to anticipate customer needs and deliver consistent experiences. Integrating eCommerce platforms, marketing automation, CRM, and loyalty management not only improves operational efficiency, but ensures seamless customer experiences across channels that build brand trust.

Customer data helps to transform marketing spend into a serious growth engine for your business and transform multi-channel selling.

Need help? Get advice from a retail marketing expert and start driving repeat sales.

Read more: 7 Steps To Building A Profitable Loyalty & Rewards Program

A well-designed loyalty program is the most powerful tool a retailer can have in their marketing arsenal. They offer you a way of engaging your audience, growing revenue, and ensuring your customers stick around for the long term.

But, how do you create a great loyalty program? In this blog, we’ll dive into a few simple steps that can help you design and launch an effective loyalty program for your brand.

• • 1. What is a loyalty program, and why is it important?
    2. How to create a loyalty program in 2024
    3. Decide what you want to achieve with your loyalty program
    4. Determine the type of loyalty program you want to launch
    5. Creating your loyalty program
    6. Set up your points system
    7. Configure your rewards and VIP tiers
    8. Promoting your loyalty program
    9. Final words
    10. Bonus tips

What is a loyalty program, and why is it important?

A loyalty program is a system that encourages customers to return by rewarding them with points and incentives for each purchase or interaction they have with your brand.

A well-designed loyalty program goes beyond superficial benefits and genuinely enhances the customer experience. It gives your customers a reason to spend more and shop with you more frequently. The best part is that it can be automated to reward them for activity that grows your brand, like making a purchase, referring a friend, or sharing your profile on social media.

These incentives not only keep your customers engaged but also help your business thrive, driving repeat purchases, winning new business, and cultivating long-term relationships with your brand. 

How to Create a Loyalty Program in 2024

Decide what you want to achieve with your loyalty program

For most retailers, the ultimate goal of a loyalty program is to increase repeat business and promote activity that grows your customer base and brand, however, it's crucial to tailor your loyalty program to your specific needs.

Here are some specific goals you might want to achieve with your loyalty program. Keep in mind that every business is different so it’s worth reflecting on what your overall business goals are.

1. Increase customer retention: Perhaps your repeat purchases rate is low, and you don’t often see the same customers coming back.
2. Build your customer database: Gather more valuable customer data to inform your marketing strategy and increase brand engagement.
3. Generate more sales: Increase repeat purchases and provide customers with incentives to spend more per transaction with your brand.
4. Word-of-mouth marketing: Encourage your customers to spread the word by offering incentives for referrals, growing your database, and increasing your brand awareness.
5. Reduced marketing costs: 80% of all sales come from 20% of your customers, and it’s much cheaper to target your existing customers than to attract new ones.
6. Competitive advantage: Stand out from your competition by adding value to your customer experience. Give customers a reason to choose your brand first.

Remember, specific objectives will vary based on your business needs and market situation. It’s essential to define clear goals for your loyalty program so you can measure performance and know what works.

Determine the type of loyalty program you want to launch

There are many types of loyalty programs available to you, each with its benefits and tailored to different business models. Here are some common types:

1. Points system for rewards: Customers earn points for every dollar they spend with your business, or for specific actions. These points can be redeemed for free products or other rewards.
2. Tiered loyalty programs: Customers can progress through various tiers based on their level of engagement. The higher the tier, the more significant or exclusive the reward.
3. Punch cards: Customers can receive punches or stamps for each purchase they make with you, with an exclusive reward or free product available after a certain amount.
4. Community-based incentives: Customers can earn points of rewards for activities that grow your brand, like sharing your profile on social media, liking you on Facebook, or successfully referring their friends to your store.

In 2024, we’ll see brands adopting a ‘hybrid’ loyalty program model combining various loyalty program types. The best loyalty software providers offer a range of customization options, helping you craft unique loyalty rewards that align with your business model and customers’ shopping habits.

Creating your loyalty program

Now that you’ve decided on what type of loyalty program you’ll launch, it’s time to dive into the creation process.

In this example, we’re going to focus on a comprehensive loyalty program setup.

But before you jump in, here are some key metrics you’ll need handy before you configure your reward settings.

Know your margins!

... And how much you're willing to give away. Here are some helpful metrics to have on hand 👉

Average purchase value

First, identify how much your average customer spends when they purchase at your store. This metric is crucial as it serves as the foundation for determining the number of loyalty points you should offer to your customers.

Average purchase frequency

Knowing how often customers purchase from your store is a critical part of configuring your loyalty program.

Say you decide to offer 1 point for every $1.00 spent and your first reward (in this case, 20% off) requires 250 points to unlock. That means a customer will need to spend $250 at your store before they can unlock this reward.

While it might initially seem like a substantial amount, consider this: if your average purchase frequency is once a week, and your average purchase value is around $125, your typical customer will gain access to this reward within 2 weeks. If this is the case, your rewards system is probably too generous and may be eating away at your margins.

Product margins

When you’re configuring your rewards, it’s important to know your product margins. Platforms like Marsello allow you to choose between percentage and fixed discounts (i.e. $20 off), giving you more flexibility to reward your customers the way you want.

Typically, we recommend using percentage-based rewards as they scale alongside your order total. Here’s why: If you opt for a fixed discount like $20 off, customers might find ways to abuse it, potentially impacting your profitability. Additionally, if your average purchase value is low, then customers may be forced to add to their cart to redeem the discount.

Percentage-based rewards scale naturally with the order total, creating a fair balance between your customer’s expectations and your company’s wallet.

Set up your points system

Designing your points system is the first step toward a successful loyalty program. Loyalty points encourage customers to engage with your brand by rewarding them with loyalty program points for purchases and other activities. Customers’ points can then be redeemed for discounts, free products, or other rewards of your choosing.

Though there are countless ways for customers to earn loyalty points, here are some of the basic options:

• Making a purchase: Customers earn points for every purchase they make at your store.

💡 We recommend offering 1 point for every $1.00 spent to keep things simple.

• Creating an account: Encourage customers to kick-start their earnings with points when they create a new account. This is a great way of increasing your customer database.
• Completing their profile: Reward customers points for providing their personal details, like birthday, gender, and mobile number. This helps you build an information-rich database.
• Say Happy Birthday: Personalize your loyalty experience by enabling the Happy Birthday points option. Surprise your customers on their special day.
• Product reviews: Encourage customers to review your products.
• Acting sustainably: Reward customers for acting sustainably. I.e. bringing a reusable shopping bag when they shop with you.
• Liking on social media: Grow your social media following by gifting points to customers who engage with your brand online (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter).
• Sharing on social media: Incentivize customers to spread the word about your store.
• Refer a friend: Kick-start your referral program by rewarding customers when their referred friend makes their first purchase.

Beauty in simplicity - How ALPHA60 keeps their loyalty
program as simple as possible.

"We try not to complicate it too much and add different things in, and that really works for us. I think it’s because it’s simple for people. It’s easy for customers to understand.”

Kelvin, Brand Manager

Configure your rewards and VIP tiers

Now that your customers have the means to earn points, it’s time to map out your rewards ladder and VIP tier structure.

When editing your rewards, it’s essential to strike a balance. If your rewards are too easy to unlock, customers may unlock them too quickly, leaving them with nothing to work towards. On the other hand, if you set the bar too high, customers might lose interest.

The key is to establish a logical and well-structured progression that ensures customers feel like they’re advancing towards greater rewards with each interaction. This keeps them motivated and engaged throughout their journey with your brand.

Rewards

To illustrate, let’s take a look at a hypothetical brand, Opal Essence.

At Opal Essence, members earn 1 point for every $1 spent at their store.

• • Average purchase value: $100.00
  • Average purchase frequency: 3 months

The key to your rewards ladder is to make them realistic and attainable, without giving too much value away. For example:

• • 10% off - 200 points to redeem
  • 15% off - 400 points to redeem
  • 20% off - 600 points to redeem

In this case, with customers spending an average of $100 per purchase, they would need to make two purchases to unlock their first reward. And so on… four purchases for the 15% discount, and six to unlock the 20% discount.

This rewards setup creates a logical sense of progression for customers, making them feel like they’re working towards substantial perks with each visit to your store. Not only does it drive repeat sales, but it also fosters brand loyalty and increases customer lifetime value.

While percentage-based discounts are the easiest to implement, there are various other reward options to choose from. Here are 5 common types of rewards:

• Percentage (%) off rewards: storewide, on a specific item, or on specific collections
• Fixed value ($) off rewards: storewide, on a specific item, or on specific collections
• Free shipping
• Free product(s)
• Spend threshold rewards: Requires a minimum purchase value to redeem

Learn more

VIP Tiers

A VIP program elevates your loyalty strategy by making your best customers feel special. With VIP tiers, you can offer additional benefits to those who reach higher tiers, such as exclusive rewards, free shipping, early access to sales, VIP events, and faster points earning.

Consider how the VIP tiers align with your overall business strategy. For example, if you sell high-end fashion products and are launching a new collection, granting VIPs early access to new product lines creates an aura of exclusivity. This makes them feel like valued insiders.

Here are some VIP perks ideas you could implement:

• Faster points-earning: Silver Tier customers earn 2 points for every $1 spent, and Gold Tier customers earn 3 points for every $1 spent.

• Exclusive rewards: Offer unique rewards to your VIP customers, making them feel valued and understood.

• Blanket discounts: VIP tier customers enjoy ongoing discounts for every purchase they make from your store, such as 10% off.
• Free shipping: Ship products out to your VIPs free of charge to thank them for their ongoing support. This makes them feel appreciated and encourages them to stick around.

VIP tiers not only boost customer loyalty but also create loyal advocates who will spread the word about your brand.

💡 Pro-tip: Utilizing VIP tiers and customer lists enables you to craft highly personalized email and SMS campaigns. Perhaps you’re hosting a VIP-only event, or want to offer exclusive styling services, VIP tiers, and segmentation lists can help you tailor your marketing to cater to your most loyal customers.

Promote your loyalty program

Before you enable your loyalty program, take a moment to review your settings and ensure that your points, rewards, and VIP tiers are configured correctly. This is the perfect time to revisit your business goals and check that your program aligns with your business strategy and overall direction.

With your loyalty program ready to go live, it’s time to spread the word. Send a captivating loyalty program announcement email to share the exciting news with your customers. This announcement can serve as your invitation to customers, encouraging them to shop again and engage with your new loyalty program.

💡 Pro-tip: To build excitement for your loyalty program, consider sending an email a few weeks before the official launch, teasing the upcoming loyalty perks and getting customers excited about what’s to come.

Final words

Loyalty programs aren’t just about giving away discounts; they’re a highly strategic tool that helps you drive repeat sales and build long-term relationships with your customers. Done right, a loyalty program fosters a community of loyal advocates, expanding your brand’s reach and ultimately increasing your bottom line.

If you’re looking to create a loyalty program for your business, Marsello makes it easy to set up, launch, and promote your loyalty program with ease.

Create your loyalty program with Marsello

Bonus tips

Embrace an omnichannel approach

Building a successful loyalty program begins with understanding your customers’ needs. An omnichannel loyalty program is one of the best ways to engage and reward your customers, no matter how they shop with you. Customer loyalty platforms like Marsello enable you to run your loyalty program seamlessly across both in-store and online channels, ensuring customers can access the benefits of your program, regardless of their shopping preferences.

Learn more

Measure your performance and optimize

Remember, the job’s not finished once your loyalty program is live. By monitoring your loyalty reporting and customer activity, you can uncover insights to inform your future marketing and loyalty program optimization. Regular optimization will ensure that your loyalty program continues to evolve, providing the best experience for your customers.

Have fun with it

Creating a loyalty program can be an exciting journey that helps you understand and connect with your customers on a deeper level. It’s a chance to get creative and celebrate your brand’s unique selling points. So, while you’re planning your loyalty program, don’t forget to have fun with it.

Good luck with your loyalty program creation!

Next read:  How to create a points system for rewards

WooCommerce retailers now have access to seamless in-store and online loyalty. 

We are thrilled to announce our latest integration with WooCommerce, an open-source eCommerce platform built for WordPress.

“WooCommerce is one of the most requested integrations we've ever had,” says CEO Brent Spicer. “Retailers want to be able to create a seamless experience for their consumers both in-store and on their WooCommerce online store through Marsello. This is game-changing for many of our current, and future, retailers.”

Ready to get set up? Watch the video.

With Marsello for WooCommerce, you can connect your online sales data with a range of POS providers.

To really know your customer, you need all the data—no matter where they’re shopping. But it's notoriously difficult to track customer behavior seamlessly across in-store and online channels. Until now.

The Marsello plugin for WooCommerce means you can…

• Create a better shopping experience. It's easy for customers to earn and redeem points no matter how they shop.
• Know your customers better than ever before. With all the data you need to send personalized, targeted campaigns.
• Keep customers coming back. Loyalty, email, SMS and automation features are all designed to increase average order size and incentivize repeat sales.

Step-by-step: How to connect Marsello and WooCommerce.

How it works

Marsello is an advanced loyalty and marketing platform that is powered by your eCommerce and point-of-sale integrations. Using offers, sign-up forms and a customizable loyalty program, WooCommerce merchants can now collect invaluable first-party customer data in-store and online. This data syncs to unique customer profiles so you can know your customer and their preferences better than ever before.

As well as loyalty and list-building, Marsello also gives you tools to keep growing those customer relationships (and sales). Emails, SMS campaigns, automations, reviews and more. It’s all possible for WooCommerce and Marsello users.

"We've created a seamless redemption process with Marsello because we’re committed to prioritizing the customer’s experience,” says Product Manager, Kat Williams. “But staff will love it too—there’s much less confusion from customers about how and where they can redeem and earn points. It all just works, whether transactions are in-store or online.”

Senior Software Engineer, Rukshan Dangalla, agrees. "I'm so excited to see this integration launched. The end result will provide a seamless experience for our merchants, and it's a significant milestone for our company. I'm proud to have contributed to its success!"

Your fully integrated tech stack

With Marsello, WooCommerce sales tracking is seamless in-store and online. Marsello has direct integrations with all major POS platforms including Lightspeed Retail, Cin7, Heartland and Shopify POS.

Getting set up

Setting up the integration is a breeze. You can connect Marsello with just a few clicks and start using the platform to create your marketing campaigns. The integration also ensures that your data is synced between your WooCommerce store and Marsello, so you can track your progress and make informed decisions about your marketing campaigns.

Marsello: Seamless in-store and online loyalty. Drive repeat sales with a loyalty and rewards program Send email and SMS campaigns to customers Create set-and-forget marketing automations Track the direct impact of all your marketing on revenue Build a customer database

Marsello is now fully integrated with Lightspeed Retail (R-Series). 

R-Series retailers can now run their loyalty program seamlessly in-store and online. Marsello helps R-Series users provide an enhanced customer experience, personalized rewards, and targeted marketing campaigns.

"Lightspeed is a leader in the retail industry and we're proud to integrate with their R-Series platform," said Brent Spicer, CEO of Marsello. "Our partnership will empower more retailers to grow their business and foster strong relationships with their customers through personalized loyalty marketing."

Why connect R-Series + Marsello?

R-Series retailers can glean valuable customer insights with Marsello. This empowers them to make data-driven decisions with ease.

🗣️ Attn: R-Series users! You can now…

• Sync your POS and eCommerce sales data all into one customer marketing platform
• Attach customers to a sale on the POS sale screen to attribute purchases to a unique customer profile in Marsello
• View a customer’s loyalty profile right from within your R-Series sales screen
• See how your loyalty and marketing activities impact sales in-store and online
• Get a 360-degree view of customer behavior and purchasing habits
  
  

Your fully integrated tech stack

With Marsello, R-Series sales tracking is seamless in-store and online. Marsello has direct integrations with all major eCommerce platforms including Shopify, BigCommerce, Ecwid, and WooCommerce (coming soon).

Getting set up

Marsello users can now add R-Series in their Integrations tab in the left navigation menu in Marsello. Staff can also access customers’ loyalty and marketing profiles directly from the R-Series sales screen.

About Lightspeed Retail (R-Series)

Lightspeed R-Series is a point-of-sale (POS) system developed by Lightspeed, a leading provider of cloud-based commerce solutions. R-Series is a Lightspeed Retail product, designed to help retailers manage their brick-and-mortar operations, including sales processing, inventory management, customer management, and reporting.).

Marsello: All your marketing, in one place. Drive repeat sales with a loyalty and rewards program Send email and SMS campaigns to customers Create set-and-forget marketing automations Track the direct impact of all your marketing on revenue Build a customer database

In an analysis of over 60 million purchases, Marsello found that 25% of orders come from the top 2% of customers (2022).

While it can be tempting to focus on getting new customers, marketing to your database can be much more profitable. We call this customer marketing or loyalty marketing because it focuses on bringing back customers who already know you.

💡 Did you know? According to the Pareto Principle, 80% of your profits come from the top 20% of your customer base.

Loyalty programs are one of the most popular customer marketing tactics for several reasons.

• They only reward high-value customers. Unlike discounting, loyalty programs only offer discounts and rewards to your best customers.
• They give you valuable data and insights. Loyalty programs build a profile of your customer’s shopping behavior, in-store and online. To earn points on a purchase, customers have to identify themselves. That means you can track each sale against their unique loyalty identifier. This then adds to their profile in your database and helps you engage them with marketing.

Done correctly, a loyalty program can be one of your most important marketing tools.

7 steps to make your loyalty program profitable.

• • 1. Know your customer
    2. Make it easy to use
    3. Promote the program
    4. Personalize the program
    5. Offer exclusive rewards
    6. Keep it fresh
    7. Track success metrics
       
       

While most loyalty apps work out of the box (with some setup time), the reality is the best results come with a bit more effort.

To ensure you’re getting the most out of your loyalty program, follow these simple steps. Trust us, a small amount of planning and reporting each month or quarter will go a long way.

1. Know your customer.

Before setting up your loyalty program, look through the data and customer records you already have. What do you know about your customers? What resonates with them? Do they have any common preferences, qualities or identifiers?

Putting in a bit of work upfront to understand your customer will help you design and structure a loyalty program that resonates with them. After all, you want the program to be enticing and engaging, and ultimately, to incentivize repeat purchases.

Things you could consider:

• What age bracket are your customers in? What are their interests?
• Are they in-person shoppers, or more likely to buy online?
• What emails worked best with your database? Did any particular imagery or copy work well?
• What sales or offers generated the most sales? Can any of these past campaigns provide insights into what rewards might be most enticing?
  
  

2. Make it easy to use.

Make sure your loyalty program is user-friendly and easy to navigate so that customers will be motivated to participate. Barriers like long load times, delays in points balance updates, or a poor mobile experience will deter customers.

We know, as consumers ourselves, that if something isn’t easy, we won’t bother!

Before you invest in any particular software, do a bit of research. Read reviews, sign up for a few free trials, shop around. Make sure the app you go for has all the integrations you need as well (if you’re omnichannel, integrations with both your POS and eCommerce software is a must)!

3. Promote the program.

Once you’ve designed your program, prepare a launch campaign. Whether it’s a ‘soft’ launch or a full-scale event—make sure your customers know about it.

• Teaser campaign: Pre-launch, let people know something’s coming. Get people curious and excited for the launch date. For example, you could run contests or giveaways to generate hype.
• Soft launch: It’s okay to do a soft launch to start off, just to test everything is working. But once you’re confident, prepare a launch campaign.
• In-store promotion: Let your customers know about it in-store. Make sure staff are trained on your loyalty app and can answer basic questions about how to get set up, the tier structure, and what the benefits are for the customer.
• Full marketing launch: add a pop-up to your website, send out email campaigns to your database, and promote the program on social media. You can even run a limited-time launch offer—for example, 200 extra points for signing up in the first week.

Remember, promotion doesn’t end after launch week. Encourage new loyalty signups in-store and online on an ongoing basis (see Step 6 below).

4. Personalize the program.

<First name> merge fields in a blast email campaign are old news. Now we’re all about unique customer journeys—using triggers, automations, and even AI for targeted messaging.

To offer more tailored experiences and increase customer engagement, add some automated workflows to your loyalty program setup checklist. Birthdays, loyalty points updates, and sign-up anniversaries are all super simple to create and give a personal touch to the customer’s experience.

5. Offer exclusive rewards.

Provide exclusive rewards for higher-tier members to incentivize them to remain loyal and engage more frequently with your brand.

Be clear about your tiers and what they mean, and let people know how far away they are from advancing up the ranks.

You can also send surprise awards to delight your most loyal customers and make them feel valued.

6. Keep it fresh.

The promotion doesn’t stop after you launch the campaign! There are lots of light-touch, low-maintenance campaigns you can run to keep your loyalty program interesting.

Plus, you can talk about all the cool campaigns you’re running to non-loyalty subscribers to get that FOMO going.

The bCode launched this ‘double points’ campaign. This email had a 20% open rate and saw a 94% increase in customer’s average loyalty points spent.

Need inspiration? Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Run points campaigns: For example, you could have a double points week. These are great to run in slower sales seasons, as they incentivize loyal customers to accelerate their points growth.
• Hype the program on social media: Use social media to promote the loyalty program and engage with customers through interactive content and contests.
• Run limited-time offers: Offer special rewards for a short period of time to incentivize customers to participate in the loyalty program.
• Build up a community: Foster a sense of community among loyalty program members through events, forums, or social media groups.
• Collaborate with partners: Partner with other brands to offer joint rewards and increase the value of the loyalty program.
• Build your mobile experience: Encourage customers to save your loyalty portal to their mobile home screen, so they can access their points balance and engage with your brand on the go.
  
  

7. Track success metrics.

Remember, the purpose of loyalty programs is to increase repeat sales, average basket size, and the average value of a customer to your business.

So, what should you be tracking? Here are a few metrics you can use to see how well your loyalty program is performing over time:

• Order frequency
• Repeat purchase rate
• Average customer lifetime value

If you’re using a loyalty program app that integrates with your sales channels, you can also directly attribute sales to your loyalty program activities.

Marsello made the most sense as it offers a single loyalty program that extends to customers online and in-store.
- Hayley Greenstein, LEGO® certified stores

Marsello’s dashboard also allows you to see how your loyalty program is performing compared to all your other marketing efforts.

Don’t be afraid to make adjustments as needed, but make sure you test how these impact your results.

Are loyalty programs worth it?

Yes! Loyalty programs can boost important metrics in your business. For example, the average amount customers spend per order, the total amount they spend over time, and how often they make purchases.

But that's not all! When done right and in line with your brand, loyalty programs can also give your customers a better experience and make them feel valued.

To make sure the benefits of the program outweigh any costs, connect your loyalty program to both your physical and online stores. This way, you can see the direct impact your loyalty program has on revenue. 

Read next: A complete guide to creating effective tiered loyalty programs

Marsello: All your marketing, in one place. Drive repeat sales with a loyalty and rewards program Send email and SMS campaigns to customers Create set-and-forget marketing automations Track the direct impact of all your marketing on revenue Build a customer database

It’s no secret that the retail and hospitality sectors are in for a challenging year. The EY Future Consumer Index (November 2022) found that:

• 62% of consumers don’t expect the economy to recover within the next 12 months
• 58% expect their living costs to increase over the next six months

So let’s tackle this head-on, rather than letting it become the elephant in the room. We talked to Victoria University Economics Lecturer Nathaniel Robson about economic trends, and where retail and hospitality merchants can focus their energy in order to keep business pumping. 

We also want to take a look at how this might affect your marketing plan, and give you tips and resources you can use to inform your campaigns in coming months.

💡 Marketing to your most loyal customers, innovating with your products, and building your brand could be your most important investments in 2023.

What's Happening For Hospitality & Retail Businesses in 2023:

• • • Pressure to offer more competitive wages will continue
    • Demand from lower-income consumers will drop 
    • Prices will increase to pass on some costs to consumers
    • Customer loyalty and a strong brand will pay off
    • Innovative, flexible brands may see the most success
      
      

1. Pressure to offer more competitive wages will continue

Pressure on wages is driven by two main factors: a tight labor market and higher inflation expectations.

“Because the skills of the primary workforce in hospitality and retail are highly transferable, businesses in those sectors will be competing with a range of alternative potential employers,” says Robson.

“​​At the same time, higher costs of the materials used in hospitality and retail service provision will squeeze profit margins.”

Both of these factors will make it harder for hospitality and retail businesses to find and retain staff.

2. Demand from lower-income consumers will drop

Consumers are seeing cost-of-living going up. But this doesn’t affect everyone in the same way.

Robson explains that lower-income households will be hit the worst by inflation. Basic costs of living (rent, groceries, power, internet, etc) will use up an increasing portion of their weekly income unless minimum wages and benefits increase proportionately.

Brands that serve higher-income households (boutique hotels, for example) might not see a significant decline in business. However, many retail and hospitality businesses serve customers in a younger, lower-income market. These customers will start looking for cheaper alternatives (looking to retail giants for cost-effective, mass-produced products).

3. Prices will increase to pass on some costs to consumers

Inflation expectations are also driving up costs of ingredients and materials, meaning tighter profit margins and pressure to pass on extra costs to consumers (i.e. to increase prices).

Robson notes that this also presents an opportunity to innovate with your product line and attract higher-income, generally older, consumers.

“New products may attract a new market of early-30s customers as the early 20s market has drifted away due to living cost rises pushing them towards more mass-produced and cheaper alternatives.”

4. Customer loyalty and a strong brand will pay off

Businesses that have invested in customer loyalty initiatives and brand experiences over the pandemic may be rewarded. Through the pandemic, consumers’ purchasing habits changed, with loyalty decreasing as people worked and shopped from home.

Browsing stores and shopping on a lunch break in town was no longer a convenient option, and consumers opted to compare prices online and have goods delivered to their front door. 

Brands that focused on customer loyalty and established a unique market position over this time will see these efforts pay off as consumer wallets tighten.

"The opportunity ... can be met by striving for a unique market position – having a strong brand and established customer loyalty."

Nathaniel Robson, Economics Lecturer

How a make-up retailer grew a loyal database & doubled sales with Marsello

For years, Scotty’s Makeup & Beauty customers had been asking about discounts for students or industry professionals. “With the Scotty’s Rewards Program, we now have a solution that suits a lot of our customers,” says Hollie, Sales Manager. “The fact that we can run the program both online and in-store is great for building our customer database and turning one-time customers into repeat customers.”

With the loyalty program, Scotty’s Makeup & Beauty has seen expansion beyond the industry it initially sought to serve. Now, they’re building a whole new audience of customers who come to them with all their dress-up and costume needs. Since unlocking these audiences with Marsello, they've seen EOFY sales double.

5. Innovative, flexible brands may see the most success

“Trying to hibernate until the crisis is over is not a safe strategy; it may actually involve less risk to try something bold.”

— Nathaniel Robson, Economics Lecturer

Learning from past recessions and economic downturns, a pattern emerges. Those brands and businesses that take a proactive approach to innovation can emerge stronger and more successful than before. We see this across every sector—just look at brands like Lego, Netflix, and Walmart, which all grew during the 2008 recession because of new products and investments.

Yes, there may be upfront costs, Robson says, but “there is some potential long-term benefit to come from the associated innovation.”

What does all this mean for your 2023 marketing plan?

When budgets are tight, it’s more important than ever to stick close to your strategy. That doesn’t mean stop innovating and go back to 1950s marketing tactics — quite the opposite.

What it does mean is being focused, considered, and clever about the way you reach your target audience, the key message, and the call to action. Planning your marketing campaigns shouldn’t be rocket science. If you stick to what’s important, it can be both simple and effective.

To keep your campaigns focused, try our 5-Minute Campaign Plan activity. In this template, you’ll strip everything down to the strategic essentials, and you can flesh out the details later.

Let’s run through an example, with all of the above in mind.

Question 1. What is the key insight?

Any good campaign strategy starts with the “why”. We find that business owners have marketing ideas in spades (which is great!), but this is the time to turn on the filter. Which ideas have a sound reason for action? What is the driving insight that makes this specific idea a good one? 

Example: Consumers are tightening their budgets as inflationary pressures hit. 

Question 2. What campaign idea works best with your insight?

Test your idea(s) against your “why”. Be ruthless. You might have an idea to design and launch a new luxury product, but realize that if you’re being honest with yourself, it doesn’t align with the insight at all.

Example: A loyalty campaign, like a double points week, that drives repeat orders.

Question 3. Who will be your campaign audience?

Now you have your “why” and “what”, it’s time to figure out the “who”. Think about who the insight impacts, and what they have in common.

Example: For your double points campaign, you might have a couple of audiences. First, you’ve got customers who are already in your loyalty program. They are aware of your brand, and actively engage with you. Second, you’ve got customers in your who aren’t in your loyalty program (and who may or may not be in your database).

Question 4: How will you reach your audience with your campaign?

Sketch out a rough plan of channels and activities. Think about where your campaign audiences are, and how you can engage with them.

Example:

• Loyalty members – SMS, email

• Non-members in database – SMS, email (use double points as an incentive to purchase & join the program)

• Other shoppers – Ask to join in-store and include in welcome pop-up online (use double points as an incentive to join the program)

• Social followers – Instagram, TikTok ads & posts

Read next: 4 Simple Marketing Automations For Easy Revenue Wins [With Examples]

Manage your 2023 marketing campaigns with Marsello

When you’re building your marketing strategy, you need to consider multi-platform marketing as a method of achieving strong customer loyalty and retention. Omnichannel marketing allows you to provide a consistent customer journey through various touchpoints with your business, both in-store and online.

Increasingly, shoppers are engaging with their favorite stores through multiple mediums, from email and SMS to websites, social media, and direct advertising. Creating a strategy that incorporates all of these platforms will ensure that you are not only staying front of mind by recapturing your customers’ attention, but you’re also improving their experience with your store at every step of the funnel. 

In this blog, we focus on the multi-platform aspects of omnichannel marketing, giving you actionable steps to create a multi-platform strategy that you can ensure stretches across all facets of your business. By the end of this blog, you’ll have the tools to start putting together your own cross-channel to omnichannel marketing strategy.

What are multi-platform and cross-platform marketing

You may be asking yourself, what is cross-platform marketing? Sometimes called multi-platform or cross-channel marketing, both simply refer to a strategy of marketing to your customers and potential customers across all possible touchpoints, thereby optimizing customers; engagement throughout every point of their journey. It allows you to engage with your audience wherever they are, such as email inboxes, websites using targeted advertising, and more.

By being in multiple places, your audience can interact and shop with you on their terms. Whether they like to shop from their Instagram feed or prefer in-store experiences after they’ve done their online research, you can support shoppers to engage with your store in the way that they prefer. Just look at how Federation + incorporates email, SMS, and loyalty marketing into their online and in-store marketing strategy.

So when does cross-platform marketing become omnichannel?

Short answer: omnichannel doesn’t just stop at multiple touchpoints, it also encourages the customer to shop across all sales channels. Omnichannel broadens the customers’ engagement with your brand at every level and at every touchpoint.

What are the benefits of using multi-platform marketing?

Multi-platform marketing creates an improved, seamless experience for your customers as they interact with your store through different marketing channels and sales channels. By ensuring your marketing strategy is geared towards capturing the customer at every stage of the funnel, you help to drive customer loyalty and can even increase the overall customer lifetime value as shoppers feel more connected to your business.

Using a cross-channel marketing platform will help you achieve all this, without any added stress. By gathering the necessary data and insights (such as previous purchases and abandoned carts), you ensure that your marketing is showing up in the right places, in the right way, at the right time. And timing is everything! It’s the difference between the store that bombards customers with inconsistent, impersonal messages, and the retailer that knows their customers and sends targeted, personalized marketing that captures the shopper’s attention because it resonates with their current movements. Brandini Toffee has achieved astounding results with personalized messaging by sending an automated abandoned cart email that lets customers know they’ve still got items left to purchase. The email is triggered to send a short time after a customer abandons an online shopping cart and the Brandini Toffee team has seen as much as a 583% increase in attributable sales with Marsello from this email alone!

6 ways to bring in new customers through a multi-platform marketing strategy

So what are the ways you can take action to build a multi-platform marketing strategy? Firstly, begin with your customers. Knowing who and where they are, how they are behaving and what they’re looking for will help you reach them with the right content at the right time. The final step is to analyze and ensure you’re getting the results you need. Here are the six steps to action today:

1. Focus your marketing strategy around your customers

Begin your marketing strategy by understanding where your customers are, what they need from you, and what resonates with them. Integrating your point-of-sale and eCommerce platforms allows you to gain insights into customer behavior. You can track your customers' transactions and interactions across email, in-store and online to build out customer profiles.

You can then begin building out a marketing strategy that is relevant. Instead of generic campaigns, create tailored messaging around promotions, abandoned carts, or loyalty campaigns to cut through the marketing messages bombarding your customers.

2. Create a consistent and integrated experience for your customers

Customers want to seamlessly move between platforms. From an email or text message, they should be able to switch to a website, loyalty platform, or instore to purchase. Having to re-enter information or hunt down discount codes puts up additional barriers that can prevent your customers from completing their transactions.

The level of customer service they receive across platforms should also be consistent. Receiving quick responses to questions via chat but a lack of communication on email creates confusion and frustration for customers. Instead, a consistent customer experience increases customer satisfaction.

3. Understand the demographics and how they interact on each platform

To take the next step in demographic marketing, once you’ve defined your overall audience, you need to further segment your customers. You can then begin to understand how different market segments engage with each platform. This will define the activities for each platform.

When building your marketing strategy, think about how each platform can be best utilized while still staying true to the campaign and strategy. Are text messages relevant and how can location triggers best be utilized? You can then leverage your content efficiently across platforms.

4. Create unique content on each social media platform

Getting specific about your social media channel strategy ensures that you are sharing relevant information. 41% of people will unfollow a brand that doesn’t. If your audience finds your content boring, repetitive or they’re embarrassed to be seen to be following you, they will unfollow.

Although your audience members will most likely follow you on multiple platforms, they won’t necessarily interact the same on each. Scrolling through Instagram they are looking for short videos or beautiful images, whereas YouTube gives you the chance to create longer, more informative videos. Use platform appropriate storytelling to build an emotional connection with your followers.

5. Analyze the results of your marketing efforts and make adjustments accordingly

It’s important to analyze the results of each marketing tactic and compare across platforms. This will highlight where you’re performing well and where you can improve. Key indicators you want to look for are engagement rates like open rates of emails and tracking through to purchase. You can then look to optimize your cross-platform marketing.

You may find that some platforms are performing better for you than others. Customers may respond well to email reminders but have a low engagement when it comes to text messaging. Investigating which tactics are driving the traffic that is actually converting to purchases allows you to better allocate time and resources.

6. Cross-promote your brand

To gain the best response to your marketing activities, you’ll need to set up cross-media marketing strategies. It gives you the greatest reach and maximizes your engagement. Your audience will often need to hear from you 2-4 times before they will decide to purchase. Engaging them on multiple platforms can help you achieve this level of reach.

Some simple strategies to help you cross-promote your brand include providing incentives for customers to provide you with additional information. This could be an email address to send a receipt to or a phone number to use to follow-up.

Multi-platform marketing needs to be included in all marketing strategies to ensure you are meeting your audience where they are, with relevant content at the right time. Begin by understanding where your customers are and how they are using different platforms, before strategizing how to create channel-specific content. Finally don’t forget to analyze the results to ensure you’re seeing a return for your investment.

Final words

To help you manage this whole process, a multi-channel marketing platform like Marsello can crunch the data, capture customer information, and motivate them to shop. All while building strong relationships that establish customer loyalty.