Competing for customers is fierce in the CPG space, so anything you can do to create customer loyalty will set you apart. Creating an instant rewards program can help your CPG brand create awareness as well as boost customer loyalty. Here is what one of those programs would look like and what it can do for your brand.
CPG Marketing and Instant Rewards
The instant gratification of a rewards program lets your CPG customers know they are important to you. CPG marketing teams can use these strategies to help personalize the customer experience, too, while reinforcing their consumption of your products. The data backs this up:
- Over 80% of customers are more loyal to the brands they purchase from if the company offers a loyalty program.
- Over 70% of shoppers say they’ll participate in loyalty rewards if they can access their membership from their cell phones.
Rewards programs work by reinforcing positive psychology techniques each time a consumer purchases a product. Usually, these programs work within a points structure; the more you buy, the more points you receive. The points can be redeemed for coupons off later purchases, gift cards, or other rewards. So, each time the consumer makes a purchase, they experience the pleasure of an immediate reward. The flow of this is essential; it is the instant gratification that reinforces the buying pattern. This can be enhanced with periodic rewards throughout the customer buying lifecycle.
For example, national grocery retailer Kroger has a rewards points system that can be redeemed for money off your gasoline purchases at the pump. But Kroger also leverages the demographic purchasing data of each consumer to produce and send personalized coupons in between purchases for the brands you like to buy. This, of course, keeps you coming back for more.
Branding Strategy Insider recounts the story of Dropbox, the online file storage provider, who grew their brand almost exclusively through a rewards program. They broke the rewards program mold by rewarding their customers immediately, as soon as they received the name and email address of a potential new client. The prospect received free 500Mb of storage if they purchased the paid online service. Their generosity was rewarded by business growth.
Instant rewards give your customers an added boost every time they choose you over the competition. You can then study their purchasing behavior to make product recommendations to boost their engagement with messaging and push notification. You can also encourage customers to rate their experience with your brand on social media.
Starbucks has one of the best mobile product rewards programs that lets their customers:
- Pay by phone.
- Get free in-store refills.
- Leverage personalized offers.
- Collect points for every dollar spent that gives them more free products.
CPG marketing strategies should incorporate mobile or other types of rewards into every campaign. It’s been proven to be incredibly effective as a tool to keep your existing customers engaged. While other strategies can focus on new customers, it is your efforts to retain existing customers in a competitive marketplace that will improve your efforts to scale your CPG products.
Hangar12 is at the forefront of CPG marketing strategy and more. Subscribe to our blog to stay up-to-date with our latest insights.
Topics cpg