Magento, well-known for its efficiency and scalability, has become one of the most popular eCommerce platforms. The launch of Magento 2 has even taken the platform to a higher level, allowing online store owners to integrate multiple extensions for creating distinct digital retail experiences.
Among various features, a reward points system is a must-have solution. Rewarding customers for specific activities with in-store currency is the most effective way to increase customer retention and build customer loyalty. Well-designed, a reward points program can not only help retain existing customers but also attract new ones.
In today’s article, we would like to discuss essential functions that an advanced Magento 2 reward points system must perform.
Why is Reward Points a must-have solution for Magento 2 stores?
Basically, by integrating a reward points system, you enable your customers to earn points when performing particular actions such as purchasing, subscribing, rating and reviewing, reacting on social posts, referring friends, etc.
Points earned will be spent as a discount or payment method when customers buy items from your online store.
An automatic system of earning and spending points can benefit your business in many ways. Here are the five most apparent advantages you can gain from implementing an appealing reward points program on your Magento 2 store.
Build Customer Loyalty:
Customer loyalty measures customers’ willingness to purchase products from a specific brand repeatedly. Your loyal customers are the most valuable ones. The more you can keep your existing customers returning, the more revenue and profit you can generate. Without customer loyalty, your business cannot achieve sustainable growth.
Building customer loyalty by rewarding them with points is not a new method, but it has proven to be consistently effective. Most companies, either B2B or B2C businesses, from brick and mortar to online stores, are now using reward points programs to engage and keep their customers.
Rewarding your customers with points that can be redeemed as an amount of money is an appropriate way to thank your customers for their purchases.
A reward points system that gives various chances of earning points can pull your customer closer to your brand. The shoppers are more excited to come back and perform desired actions to get points. When a sense of belonging is created, they are encouraged to commit to your online store, instead of switching to other competitors.
Attract More New Customers:
A comprehensive points-based incentive solution can effectively help attract new customers. If your current customers are satisfied with your products and services, they are likely to share with their friends and family. And you can even motivate them to promote your business more by incentivizing them with some rewards.
Nowadays, advertising costs are significantly increasing. You may have to spend a lot of money on displaying paid ads to gain a few clicks. Meanwhile, a reward points system with a referral feature helps you expand your customer base at a much lower cost. Furthermore, this method brings you a 100% return on investment.
Your customers will get points only if their friends purchase your products via their referral links. The referees are encouraged to make purchases immediately to get some discounts or rewards. The earned points by both referrers and referees are then used on your online store again.
Boost Conversion Rates:
In the eCommerce space, where consumers have plenty of choices, it is not easy to convert visitors into your customers. When a shopper visits your store for the first time, he or she may feel much hesitant to place an order due to doubts about quality or pricing.
However, you can erase customer hesitations and accelerate the buying process by offering them some benefits such as discounts or points. As their purchases are now beneficial, they feel more confident to press the Place Order button.
Besides using points as a powerful welcome gift, you can also reward visitors for their registration. In this way, you can actively engage users and effectively generate quality leads. When these leads are down into your sales funnel, you should show them a fascinating loyalty program. They are more open to trying your brand as they can always get benefits.
Raise Brand Awareness:
Everyone now has at least one social account. People often share what they like or dislike on social media platforms. The rapid increase in social media popularity is an excellent opportunity for online businesses to spread their brand awareness and strengthen their brand recognition.
You can encourage your loyal customers to share more about your products, services, and brand images by rewarding them. Your business now reaches more potential customers without a massive budget in marketing.
You can also express appreciation for the reviews or feedback your customers leave by adding some points to their accounts. These reviews and feedback are precious. Research has shown that 61% of consumers read reviews, and 63% of them make purchases after reading these reviews. (Source: emarketer.com)
Enhance the Shopping Experience and Increase Customer Satisfaction:
By implementing a well-designed reward points program on Magento 2 store, you allow your customers to earn points when performing various activities. For each interaction, you remind them of extra benefits. You make their purchasing journey much more exciting.
Besides, granting your loyal customers points on special occasions with personalized messages expresses how much you care about your valued customers. As long as your performance exceeds expectations, you gain customer satisfaction. Of course, your satisfied customers will stick to your brand and become your advocates.
What is the Best Reward Points system for Magento 2?
Using reward points as an in-store currency is an effective method of acquiring new customers and keeping them returning for more. Any business that wants to generate more revenue and expand their customer base should invest in points earning and spending systems.
Although Magento 2 provides you with many useful built-in features, to implement a comprehensive reward points program, you have to integrate a third-party module. The importance here is to choose the most appropriate module. The best solution allows you to optimize your campaigns without facing any unnecessarily complicated configuration or weird conflicts.
In the following section, we would like to discuss the critical fundamentals that a Magento 2 reward points extension must perform. You can use these criteria to evaluate available alternative solutions.
Enable Flexible Reward Points Program:
An advanced reward points system will provide you with flexibility in creating multiple reward programs. Various earning and spending rates and rules based on customer groups or product attributes can help optimize your campaigns’ effectiveness.
Not all customers spend the same on your online store. Studies have shown that 20% of your customers generate 80% of profits. Then it would help if you never treated all shoppers equally. The ones who are more engaged and loyal deserve exclusive benefits. By separating your offerings into different levels that correspond with specific customer groups, you can encourage them to shop more to obtain a higher level.
Creating distant earning and spending rules for particular products also helps you satisfy all customers without sacrificing profits. High-valued customers, who buy expensive items, will be happier to get more points. Meanwhile, occasional shoppers can find it accessible to join your loyal programs when they get something at a lower point level.
A flexible points model helps adapt quickly to company strategies, program goals, and target audiences.
Engage with Customers:
An active points program can drive more customer engagement by rewarding them for multiple behaviors. Besides purchasing, you can give customers points when they sign up, subscribe to newsletters, rate and review, share and refer, etc. You can delight your users by adding points to their accounts on special occasions such as birthdays, holidays, anniversaries.
Rewarding participants for sharing your business on social channels is an effortless way to enhance your brand recognition and advertise your products.
Your online stores are visible to more audiences on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc. You can make your programs more fascinating by holding some surprising events or games on your business official pages.
Ongoing communication is critical to make your loyalty program impressive to participants. The earning and spending rates, program rules must be transparent and easy to access.
Users should be able to check their transactions and point balances. Prompt assistance with points redemption needs to be provided via a variety of communication channels such as email, live chat, telephone, and so on. Sending emails to inform buyers about any news or points expiration is a great way to keep them around.
Create Personalized Experiences:
In this highly competitive marketplace, it is critical to differentiate your business from other competitors. As many other Magento 2 stores are offering similar reward points programs, consumers may get bored. To make shopping doers impressed and interested in future purchases, you have to provide them with a personalized experience whenever they visit your online store.
Personalization can be built from many elements. A meaningful name makes the reward program more enjoyable. The point icon that is designed with eye-catching labels can attract buyer attention. The point indicator displayed in multiple places helps users instantly get information about the number of points they can get.
Besides general rules and regulations, special offers based on customer information and behaviors can surely surprise and satisfy the most difficult ones.
Make sure that your reward points module is fully functional to deliver customized shopping experiences with ease.
Allow Store Admin to Gather Useful Data:
The data on customer points accumulation and usage provides store owners with valuable insights into customer behaviors and the effectiveness of loyalty programs.
A well-built reward points system must generate accurate statistics about participants, activities, transactions, and more. All actions of earning points and spending points must be recorded.
Advanced reports help you analyze how well the program performs to drive desired behaviors and return on investment (ROI). From useful information, you can improve your reward points system with proper adjustments.
Support both Store Admin and Customers:
Recently, many online merchants are switching from another eCommerce platform to Magento 2. A well-functioned extension that has import and export features helps reduce the workload for admins in backing up reward points data.
Besides, Magento 2 allows integrators and developers to connect other web services to the Magento system via an application program interface (API) framework. When the API feature is included in the reward points extension, it can provide users with a better experience.
By utilizing the API function, other third-party modules or apps can be integrated into the rewards system. As a result, buyers do not miss any detail about rewards from your stores.
Final thoughts:
A reward points program is absolutely an efficient method of increasing existing customer retention and new customer acquisition. If you invest time and effort in building a thought-out reward points system, you will gain long-term advantages and sustainable growth.
Running Magento 2 store, you should spend time searching for the most appropriate reward points extension. We hope that this blog has brought you some useful ideas when finding the best solution to your site.
