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A good loyalty program encourages shoppers to come back time and again. However, not all businesses operate on the same customer frequency — and sometimes different audiences can visit the same company for different reasons.
Lowe’s dual loyalty programs for homeowners and professional contractors are centered around driving more trips — based on how much those cohorts already shop with the home improvement retailer, according to Amanda Bailey, vice president of customer marketing and loyalty at Lowe’s, who spoke during a session last week hosted by sister publication CX Dive for the Loyalty 2.0 webinar.
The retailer wants its pro loyalty customers to visit Lowe’s at least 10 to 20 times more than they might in a given year, according to Bailey. In contrast, many homeowners only ever use Lowe’s once or twice — so driving a couple more visits with its loyalty program could have a very large impact on the business.
“Loyalty is a long game, and so just be really focused on, ‘What is your core objective?’” Bailey said during the session. “And for us, that’s around frequency. It keeps us really centered and allows us to keep thinking about what’s going to keep them coming back, trip after trip, year over year.”
The key is to look at loyalty as more than a transactional set of rewards or a marketing program, according to Bailey. A loyalty program should be designed around the customer and take their needs into account from sign-up to any potential future shopping trips.
Simplicity starts at sign-up
Confusion is one of the top reasons that people disengage from loyalty programs, according to Bailey. If it’s hard to earn rewards, it doesn’t feel worth the effort to try.
“I’m probably part of about 20 different loyalty programs, and we know the ones that we use the most,” Bailey said. “They’re the ones that are part of our everyday life. They’re easy to use. They give you value. And it doesn’t take a lot of energy and effort to make you feel engaged.”
For Lowe’s, that meant allowing customers to access all their loyalty benefits just by providing their phone number, according to Bailey.
The need for simplicity starts from enrollment, according to Bailey. This doesn’t just mean easy sign-up — it also means a tiered program can’t make customers work to earn their initial benefits.
“When people join loyalty programs, sometimes there’s this belief that you’re at the bottom of the mountain staring up, and you’re like, ‘I’ll never get there,’” Bailey said.
MyLowe’s Rewards aims to overcome this pitfall by offering all of its benefits to its lowest-tier members. Customers at the two higher tiers can earn rewards faster or with fewer restrictions, but everyone gets access to the same set of perks, including earning points and free shipping options.
Instant value and gratification are at the core of the homeowner MyLowe’s Rewards program and the pro MyLowe’s Pro Rewards program because complexity is a barrier to entry, according to Bailey.
“Simplicity drives a habit, and going back to what is our core metric, it’s about driving frequency,” Bailey said. “Well, we want to create a habit for our customers to think about Lowe’s as the most helpful brand and home improvement.”
Loyalty goes beyond the program
Lowe’s loyalty efforts stretch beyond the transactional value of MyLowe’s, like earning points, to build relationships with customers no matter where or how they shop, according to Bailey.
The retailer integrates loyalty into every touch point of its in-store and online experiences, including before and after purchases, according to Bailey. Lowe’s looks beyond the value the loyalty program provides through points and deals and thinks about loyalty in terms of how and why customers shop.
“It’s part of our total home strategy,” Bailey said. “It functions not just as an entry point into the business and into a relationship with us, but as this ongoing kind of relationship builder where we can create value based on who you are and what you need in a more personalized and relevant way.”
The integration of loyalty in Lowe’s reaches all the way to the home improvement retailer’s employees, who automatically receive Silver Key membership, putting them in the second tier of the homeowner loyalty program.
“When we rolled out MyLowe’s Rewards last year, we knew it’s really important to build advocates … through our red vest associates,” Bailey said.
Bringing employees into the program gets them excited about MyLowe’s Rewards, according to Bailey. As a result, employees are more likely to tell customers about the program and be prepared to explain the benefits.
