The Top 5 Innovative Loyalty Programs of 2020 and Why They Work

No one could have predicted how 2020 would unfold—what impact it would have on businesses and our new perceived definition of 'normal.' Now more than ever, brands are shifting their strategies to focus on the retention and engagement of existing customers. At Oracle CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement, we believe loyalty is about creating emotional connections with customers and cultivating brand advocates and communities to enable brands to grow.

To successfully drive customer loyalty, brands must provide seamless (and relevant) customer experiences at every interaction. In a year challenging year for brands, I want to highlight a few clients and how their innovative loyalty programs help them engage more and deepen relationships with their customers.

Vitamix Rewards launches loyalty campaigns to connect with customers

Vitamix is a family-owned business that manufactures high-performance blending solutions. The brand recognized its need to be more relationship-first and customer experience-focused. They partnered with CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement to launch Vitamix Rewards, a free loyalty program for new, existing, and future Vitamix customers.

Loyalty members can earn points through purchasing directly on Vitamix.com, registering their products, uploading receipts from wholesalers, or engaging with exclusive content (like free recipes and product tips and tricks). Earlier this year, Vitamix took a step back from sales messaging and promoted a healthy-made-easy campaign, intending to help their customers incorporate more whole foods into their diet and use Vitamix Rewards as a vehicle for healthy life choices. They even released a new recipe where customers could use their Vitamix blender to make their own hand sanitizer.

Kudos to the Vitamix team on their timely shift in strategy and messaging; the program is definitely resonating with customers. Vitamix Rewards members are purchasing 25% more units per order compared to non-members while driving a 30% increase in product reviews per month. Learn more about how Vitamix is elevating customer experiences here.

LEGO VIP upgrades their reward offerings to give customers more of what they love

LEGO is a popular toy brand with an avid following among both kids and adults. They relaunched their loyalty program with CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement to steer away from only providing passive discounts, solely focused on high spenders, to one where they ask their members to actively engage by choosing rewards that connect with their passion points.

By building a program based on the principle of inclusion, LEGO was able to reward their members in a meaningful way. LEGO's VIP program offers many rewards across several passions and price points. Recent reward innovations include:

Segmented rewards (making certain rewards only available to certain customers)
One-of-a-kind rewards (rewards that can't be found anywhere else)
Mobile wallet (seamlessly connecting the in-store and online purchase experience)
Bonus point multipliers (awarding members double or triple points for purchases of specific SKUs).

Giving credit to LEGO, with so many ways to earn and redeem, everyone can have an experience that makes them feel like a VIP. The Lego VIP program is also receiving industry recognition. Congrats to LEGO on their recent Loyalty360 Platinum award for Incentive and Reward design!

Disney Movie Insiders leverages data to create magical moments

Walt Disney Studios owns fan-favorite brands, such as Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar. They revamped their loyalty program to better engage with members through new channels and capture data to deliver a better customer experience.

Disney's Movie Insiders creates direct connections with Disney fans and generates excitement and buzz around upcoming title releases while offering customers rewards for their purchases. The program encourages and tracks viewership across channels and formats while building progressive member profiles regarding their household makeup, movie interests, viewing preferences, and more. Data has been the primary focus of the program and drives future enhancements.

Also, Disney Movie Insiders has expanded its network, making it easier for customers to earn points for engagement and get rewarded for all purchases. As many Disney fans swapped nights at the movie theater for movie nights at home this year, Disney ensures members are rewarded for every movie purchase, no matter where it's made. Members are rewarded with exclusive reward opportunities like future Disney releases, one-of-a-kind merchandise, and experiences.

Learn more about how Disney's loyalty program truly puts its members on the inside of their brands and new releases in this webcast recording.

teamtarte stands out from the crowd through personalization and authenticity

tarte cosmetics is a beauty industry leader with its eco-chic, cruelty-free cosmetics and hypoallergenic, vegan skincare. Because the company operates in an exceptionally competitive space with rapidly changing trends and high-frequency purchases, tarte sought an omnichannel customer loyalty solution to differentiate it from the competition. With a passionate customer base and a plethora of assets to share—from video tutorials to user-generated content—tarte required a loyalty program platform that could incentivize and reward customers for both spending with the brand and engaging with its website.

Powered by CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement, teamtarte drives program participation through tiered membership, rewarding customers for engagement, capturing and actioning on behavior and preference data, and evolving the program to keep it fresh. teamtarte members can earn points by completing product quizzes, completing a beauty profile, and inviting friends to shop at tarte.com.

Through these brand-authentic engagement activities, tarte improved its data-driven marketing and created personalized customer experiences across all brand channels. It's no surprise that tarte customers love the program. Loyalty members make up about 20% of tarte's customer base and, on average, 50 to 55% of revenue.

Foot Locker FLX puts loyal customers a step ahead with priority access

There are six brands within the Foot Locker family, and historically each had its own VIP program, where members could only earn discounts based on spend. Foot Locker relaunched their loyalty program with the promotion and celebration of sneakerhead culture at its core, uniting all brands under one umbrella program. FLX is a three-tiered program where members can unlock additional benefits, access, and opportunities as they enter higher tier statuses.

FLX members can redeem points for Head Starts—a reservation slot for an upcoming product release—one of the most prominent program advantages, especially among members in the higher tiers. Customers also have a huge amount of flexibility around choosing how to spend points, whether they are motivated by discounts, exclusive merch, partner rewards, or charity donations. Through FLX, Foot Locker is deepening customer connections and nurturing communities amongst all of its members.

Foot Locker reported impressive FLX membership numbers during the company's Q3 2020 Earnings Call . FLX has surpassed 11 million members in the U.S. in Q3. Members are spending an average of 40% more than non-members. They also tend to shop more frequently, with the number of orders per customer more than 50% higher on average than non-members.

I look forward to showcasing how Oracle CrowdTwist clients continue to leverage their loyalty programs for growth in the new year. To learn more about how to drive deeper engagement with customers, check out: