Loyalty programs for e-commerce: increasing repeat orders and customer retention

A loyalty program is a set of marketing techniques and mechanics that help companies cultivate the loyalty of their consumers and build long-term relationships with them. A carefully designed program encourages customers to make repeat purchases, interact with the brand more often and recommend its products to their friends, which leads to increased business profitability and reduced advertising costs.

In addition, loyalty programs are one of the most effective tools for studying the target audience: their needs, habits, demographics and purchase decision chains. By building advertising campaigns based on this data, you can attract even more customers and significantly increase sales, since each of your offers will cover the real need of a potential buyer.

To build a successful and competitive loyalty program, businesses should take into account the latest trends and technologies in this area. The main one today is the use of virtual loyalty cards, which provide a simpler and more convenient way to reward the target audience. We’ll talk further about the main advantages of electronic cards and ways to implement them in business.

Electronic loyalty cards are a digital analogue of traditional plastic cards. They are usually installed and run in the interfaces of popular payment systems, such as Apple Wallet and Google Pay, and have almost limitless functionality. This allows companies to implement loyalty programs with different marketing mechanics, easily manage them and track performance.

From a technical point of view, electronic loyalty cards contain the following key elements:

• A unique user identifier is a special code that is assigned to each participant in the bonus system. It allows you to track purchase history, award bonuses and introduce personalized offers based on individual customer preferences. Typically, this identifier is a unique loyalty card number.
• Bonus points balance is the internal account of each client in which accrued bonuses, points or cashback are stored.
• Purchase history is information about all customer transactions in historical sequence, which allows you to identify the consumer’s unique preferences and track the frequency of his interaction with the brand.
• Push notifications are short pop-up messages that will help you always be in contact with your audience. With their help, for example, you can inform clients about the accrual of bonuses, the launch of new promotions, personal offers, etc.
• Integration with payment systems – the ability to add a discount card to the payment system that he already uses on his smartphone. This is usually Apple Wallet or Google Pay. At the same time, clients should not have a question about how to add a discount card to wallet. The procedure should be as convenient and understandable as possible.

Virtual cards are synchronized with the company’s cash desk, so that bonuses, points and cashback are accrued automatically, without the participation of your employees. In practice it looks like this:

• When making a purchase, the client opens Apple Wallet or Google Pay and presents a virtual discount card to the cashier.
• An employee scans a barcode or QR code, after which the system instantly recalculates the cost of the purchase taking into account your loyalty mechanics.
• When the payment is made, bonuses are automatically credited to the client’s balance, and the user himself is sent a corresponding push notification.

It is important that when using a digital card, the client does not need to worry about losing it or forgetting it – bonuses are always at hand and available in one click. Moreover, even if the user changes his smartphone, he will still keep the rewards he has earned, because information about them is stored on the server, and not on the device itself.

Digitalization and implementation of virtual discount cards allows the company to take into account the individual needs and preferences of its customers in developing loyalty programs. Of course, initially this requires certain investments from the business, so we suggest considering what benefits it receives in return:

• Simplifying processes. Electronic loyalty cards automate many processes associated with launching and managing bonus systems, which reduces the operational burden on staff and allows the company to operate more efficiently.
• Cost reduction . Virtual cards do not have physical media, so the company does not need to spend money on issuing and delivering plastic to customers.
• Strengthening relationships with clients. Digital loyalty cards allow a company to take into account the individual needs and preferences of its customers, which helps strengthen relationships with the target audience.
• Accurate analytics. Information about payments, accrued bonuses and customer purchases is instantly sent to the loyalty program management system. This also means that businesses receive relevant, real-time analytics that they can use to develop more personalized and profitable loyalty programs.
• Integration with payment systems. Support for Apple Wallet and Google Pay makes loyalty programs more convenient for customers and expands business opportunities.

Digital discount cards are attractive not only for businesses, but also for consumers. Let’s look at the top 5 reasons why your customers will use them:

• Ease of design. You can receive an electronic discount card in a few clicks. To do this, just scan the QR code or follow the link and fill out a short form directly on your smartphone.
• Convenience. A digital card is always easily accessible on a smartphone and can be easily managed through the familiar payment service interface.
• Transparency. The client can at any time track the number of accumulated bonuses, stamps, cashback or the current discount amount in the discount.
• Personalized offers. A virtual card gives the client access to individual discounts and offers that are based on his purchase history and preferences.
• Instant updates. All changes in the loyalty program, such as the accrual of bonuses or changes in the discount percentage, are displayed on the client’s smartphone in real time.

High transparency, easy access to information and regular notifications increase customer engagement and encourage them to interact with your brand more often, which positively affects the number of sales and profitability of the company.

Electronic discount cards are universal and can be effectively used to attract and retain customers in a wide variety of business niches. Here are some areas of business where virtual loyalty cards will bring the greatest benefit:

• Retail trade. To increase traffic, online retail stores and offline points of sale often offer visitors bonuses, discounts or cashback on every purchase. This increases customer satisfaction and encourages repeat purchases.
• Restaurants and cafes. Providing discounts on marginal positions or introducing a digital loyalty stamp card allows restaurants to attract more visitors and easily transform them into repeat guests.
• Gas station. The accumulation of bonuses for refueling a car, which can be exchanged for various gifts, discounts or liters of fuel, is a good motivation for drivers to visit your gas station again and drive past competitors.
• Tourist services. In this niche, cooperative loyalty programs are especially popular, when different companies unite to provide unique and most profitable offers. For example, a pool of companies may include a travel agency, an airline, hotels and restaurants that cover all the client’s needs during travel. With the use of electronic loyalty cards, the technical implementation of such bonus systems becomes as simple and transparent as possible for all participants.
• Entertainment sector. Exclusive offers, early access to popular events and bonus points for every ticket purchase help entertainment companies strengthen their emotional connection with customers and increase sales.

AVADA MEDIA has extensive experience in developing functional platforms for launching and managing loyalty programs using digital customer cards. One of our projects in the niche is the innovative startup EfirCards, which allows companies from different areas of business to quickly launch customized bonus systems with individual conditions, based on electronic card templates.

Our specialists have all the necessary skills and resources to implement projects of any complexity. Regardless of what exactly you are planning – a service for managing loyalty programs in your company or developing an innovative Saas system, we will help you find the optimal technical solution. If you are ready to act, contact us and let’s start discussing the project.