Why Promote Loyalty?

Just because you have repeat customers does not mean that you necessarily need a customer loyalty program. Some stores may get repeat business because they offer hard to find products, or shipping to a region that no other store can provide. Before you start cutting your customers a deal, understand the risk and opportunities that are associated with promoting customer loyalty with coupons and other savings.

As a general rule, customer loyalty programs are focused on retaining customers who might otherwise do business with a competitor. The sole purpose is to help a business keep its current customers. Are you doing business in a competitive market? If so, you should strongly consider investing some time and money into developing a customer loyalty program that will help keep your customers coming back to you.

Even if you don’t have a lot of competition, you can always consider giving loyal customers something in return to show your appreciation. Just make sure that your promotion is in line with your business goals. If there is really no risk in losing a particular customer, you probably should not consider giving them a deep discount. That will eat up your profit margins. In this case, you may want to consider a customer loyalty program that simply adds value using means other than discounting prices with coupons. A simple Thank You email message is a great way to show your appreciation and it won’t take anything out of your profit margins.

What Customers Should I Target?

The important customers to target for loyalty programs are the most valuable customers that are at the highest risk of shopping somewhere else. Valuable customers can be shoppers who frequently make purchases or shoppers that have only visited once, but made a large purchase. Sales volume is usually the metric you’ll use to determine the customer’s value. In Auctiva Commerce, you can view a customer’s shopping history and see just how much that person has spent on your store. We’ll show you how to do that later in this post.

Determining which customers are at risk for shopping with a competitor is much more difficult to do. If you’re in a very competitive marketplace, you could assume that all your customers are at risk. Or, you might find that buyers of a certain product might be able to get a better deal elsewhere. Knowing your level of risk requires that you’re an expert in your field. Spend some time reviewing the competition and what threats there are to your market share. Don’t think that you need to compete on all levels. Also review your opportunities (i.e., areas of strength over the competition). Your customer loyalty program should focus on promoting your store’s strengths. Ask yourself what qualities of your store attract these high value customers and think about how you can expand these qualities into a promotional campaign to keep them shopping on your store.

The Loyalty Club

Now let’s create a User Group in Auctiva Commerce that will allow us to group these valuable customers together and create a coupon that will only work for them. Follow these instructions to create a new User Group:

1. Log in to your Auctiva Commerce Administration.
2. Hover your mouse over the Admin menu and click on the User Groups link.
3. In the Add Group box, enter “Loyalty Club” (without the quotation marks) for the Group Name field.
4. Do not select any permission options in the Permissions field. This is for Administrators only.
5. Click on the Save button. Your new User Group will display in the box on the left side of the page.

Now we can find the most valuable customers and add them to the Loyalty Club User Group. There are a variety of ways to sort your customers using the Reports feature in Auctiva Commerce. In this example, we’ll Top Customer Report. Let’s generate that report now.

1. Hover your mouse over the Reports menu, choose the Customers option and then click on the Sales by Customer link.
2. In the Time Period field, choose an appropriate time period. If you’ve been operating your store for awhile, choose a longer period of time, such as the “Last 90 Days” option. The Top Customers Report will return a list of customers that is broken down by their email address, number of orders made and the total order amount.

With these numbers you will be able to quickly glance at your existing customers and see who is doing a great deal of business with you in terms of frequency and sales volume. While frequency is a signifier of loyalty, the Order Total field is the most important metric for determining the value of the customer. By default, the Top Customers Report is sorted by Order Total. Review the list of customers and see if there are any who are worth investing in with this promotion. If you having a tough time deciding the value of the customer and the risk of them shopping elsewhere, you can view each customer’s Order History by click on the email address link for the customer. We recommend that you right-click on the email address link and choose to open the link in a new window or new tab so that you don’t have to use the back button to regenerate the report. To find the customer’s Order History, scroll down the page (after you click on the email address link) and you’ll see the Order History box. Click on the Details link to view the actual order.

Now let’s add these valuable customers to our Loyalty Club User Group.

1. Return to the Top Customers Report, right click on the email address link and choose to open the link in a new window or new tab. The Edit User page will load.
2. In the Groups field, select the Loyalty Club option.
3. Then click on the Save button. This user has been added to the Loyalty Club User Group. Close the window or tab to return back to the Top Customer Report and repeat this process to add more users to this group.

Next, you can create a product coupon or order coupon and assign the Loyalty Club User Group to the coupon. This means that these users will need to log in to your store and apply the coupon code to receive the discounts associated with the coupon. Take a look at the step-by-step tutorials for Product Coupons and Order Coupons to learn how to create these discounts for your customer loyalty promotion.

Get the word out about your customer loyalty promotion using the Email List feature in Auctiva Commerce. Or, if you have your own method for contacting customers, feel free to use those tools as well. Make sure you approach your most valuable customers with care. Let them know why you’re emailing them and honor their privacy. Give them the option to unsubscribe to your email list.

Some smaller stores or stores that have just recently opened may only have a handful of customers. If this is your case, you may want to consider holding off on the coupons and just send a customer appreciation message to your handful of valuable customers individually. You can express your appreciation for their business and check in to see if they’re satisfied with the service you’ve provided. This can go a long way in retaining customers without taking a bite out of your profit margins.   

As your store grows, continue to add your valuable customers to this group and continue to assess your opportunities to keep these customers coming back to your store. Your attention to these customers will have a direct effect on your future sales and an indirect effect as these grateful customers spread the word about your store.

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Creating a New WebPage

Let’s create a new page for the About Us information. Most web visitors look for this information when they want to learn about who they’re buying from.  We’ve got a step-by-step tutorial for creating a new WebPage that you can read or just follow the abbreviated instructions here:

1. Log in to your Auctiva Commerce administration.
2. Hover your mouse over the Store menu and click on the WebPages option.
3. Then click on the Webpage icon in the Add WebPages box.
4. In the Page Title field enter “About Us” (without quotation marks).

Now let’s turn our attention to the actual content in this page. This information goes in the “Page Content” field. You can click on the HTML Editor icon if you want to use this tool to format your content.

About Us Content Approaches

Your About Us page is another store branding opportunity that allows you to communicate who you are and your business values to potential customers. This opportunity shouldn’t be taken lightly. Let’s sharpen our pencils and get ready for a quick writing workshop. First, let’s reflect on our store branding rules:

• Keep It Simple
• Keep It Brief (this is the Internet after all)
• Be informative, Be Yourself

With these rules in mind, let’s aim at writing about 150 words or 6-8 sentences for our About Us page. You can certainly write more if you like, but remember the most basic purpose of this page is to prove to skeptical buyers that you are a real person and not a scammer. That can easily be done in a few sentences, especially when you focus on being yourself. Make sure to personalize this text where possible and also clearly illustrate the benefits of doing business with you. To achieve this goal, let’s take a look at a few examples.

Writing Styles

Consider writing your About Us page in a first-person narrative if you run a very personal storefront. This is a much better writing style that can legitimize store owners who pride themselves on personal customer service. When writing a first-person narrative, you will use “I” rather than your proper name. You may also consider writing your About Us as a personal letter addressed to your customer. Here’s an example:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for visiting my store. I started Fishermen’s Cove Online in 2002 to bring my 25 years of fishing experience to customers across the Midwest region. If you’re fishing the Great Lakes, I can help you find what you need to make your trip a great experience. I also fly fish many small streams throughout the year. But even when I’m gone fishing, I always put my customers first. My commitment to customer service means that you’ll always get your gear on time. I guarantee to ship 1 business day after payment has been received or I’ll pay your shipping charges for you.

Please email me <EMAIL ADDRESS GOES HERE> if you’d like recommendations or if you have any other questions. I’m always available to help you with your purchase.

Sincerely,
Ed Troutman
Owner, Fishermen’s Cove Online
Walled Lake, Michigan

In this example, we personalize the narrative and reinforce the benefits for shopping at this storefront in less than 150 words. Now it’s your turn. Ask yourself what kind of store owner you are and what benefits you provide to your shoppers. Make sure to connect your personal qualities to the needs of the customer. In the example above, Ed’s extensive fishing experience (especially within a specified region) is essential in his business serving his customers.

You can add a photo to your letter to if you want to personalize the About Us page even more. Feel free to try other approaches. You don’t have to write a letter. You could break the page down to different sections, such as “About Me” and “My Customer Satisfaction Guarantee.” Whatever you decide to do, make it consistent with your store branding found in other parts of your storefront.

Finally, check your spelling and grammar. Keep an eye out for typos. Click on the Finish button when you’ve completed your new About Us WebPage. Now it’s time to add this page to the footer of your storefront so that a web visitor can find it anywhere along the shopping experience. Click on the Preview icon for the About Us webpage and copy the URL of that page. We’ll need this for adding the footer link. We’ve got a step-by-step tutorial for adding a Footer link or you can follow the abbreviated instructions here:

1. Hover your mouse over the Store menu, then choose Theme> Customize Store Theme.
2. The Customize Store Theme view will load (it will look like your storefront). Click on the Customize Links button. A modal will load.
3. In the Link Text column, add “About Us” (without quotation marks) in the next available field then paste the URL into the Link Path field.
4. Click on the Save links button to finish.

Go to your storefront and make sure the link is working. It’s a good idea to update this page every so often with new information. Perhaps your business goals will change. You’ll need to make sure your store branding evolves with your business. This will give that personal touch that shoppers appreciate.

If you’ve created an About Us page and you’d like to share it with us, please leave a link in the comments. We’d love to see more examples of how store owners are customizing their shopping experience

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We’ll show you a simple and effective way to start capturing email addresses of web visitors so that you can create a dialog with these potentially profitable visitors. In our example exercise, we’ll use a store launch event as the hypothetical situation. So, if you’re new to Auctiva Commerce this will be right up your alley. More experienced store owners can customize this lesson to fit their specific needs. We’ll be giving you suggestions on how to do that as we go along.

The Power of Email Lists

Email lists are a terrific selling tool. It allows you to frequently keep in touch with your customers and drive high-quality traffic to your store. There are a variety of ways to do email lists, including a guerilla-style technique where you send emails to your email list through your standard email client (e.g., Microsoft Outlook or some other email application). This is one of the least expensive ways to operate an email list, however, it can become difficult to manage and design your email campaigns. This method also does not automate opt-in or opt-out functions or provide analytical data.

A good email list managing tool will automate the most essential email managing tasks and provide insights into the success of your email campaigns. This means that when you send an email to the recipients in your email list, you’ll be able view how many of those people open the email and how many of those click on a link within the email (i.e., the click through rate). This additional information can help you decide the value of the emails you send as well as assess which types of emails drive the most valuable traffic back to your store. Let’s say you want to feature a new product on your store next month. What kind of marketing copy would compel your email recipients to buy this product? You could write a hard sale, such as “Just Added to Our Inventory-Get 10% off Now.”  Or, would you do better with something softer by writing a paragraph about the product itself and why you are excited to offer it on your store?  These are difficult questions to answer, but a good email list tool should be able to offer us some insights. We encourage you to take a closer look at these tools and see if they’re right for you.

Email List Setup Summary

Here’s what we’re going to do:

1. Plan our Email Signup Workflow
2. Create a MailChimp account. We’ll tell you more about these monkeys later.
3. Create a new email list.
4. Create a Sign-Up form.
5. Create a new WebPage in Auctiva Commerce.
6. Create a link to the New WebPage from the Home Page.

We won’t discuss how to do an email campaign in this exercise. We’ll talk about email campaigns at a later date. This exercise is simply for creating the “net” that will capture web visitors so that we can sell to them, later. Let’s dig in.

Email Signup Workflow

It’s a good idea to have a game plan for converting your web visitors to email subscribers. We want to be efficient at converting new subscribers so that we can capture as many people as possible and also make sure the process is easy for the end user. Here’s how the workflow will go for your hypothetical store launch:

1. A visitor that views the Home page of your store will view a message about your forthcoming launch of the store that encourages the visitor to sign up for the Store Launch Newsletter. We’ll supply a link to the Signup WebPage.
2. When the visitor arrives to the Signup WebPage, they’ll learn more about the purpose of the Store Launch Newsletter. They’ll also be able to read the Email Privacy Policy. A link to the Signup form will be supplied.
3. When the visitor arrives to the Signup Form, they’ll enter their email address and first and last name. When they hit the submit button, they’ll be instructed to confirm their subscription by clicking on the confirmation email that was just sent to their email address.

That’s the basic workflow. You can add more links to the Signup WebPage (e.g., a link from the About Us page) or email the link to a list of existing customers if you’d like. You may also consider creating an email list for the purpose of reporting special offers to your customers if you’ve already launched your store.

Step 1. Create a MailChimp account

We’re using MailChimp for this exercise because they offer a free account and you can export your email list into a Microsoft Excel file. In this way, you can just use MailChimp for their handy sign-up forms to capture email info and then export this to just about anywhere. There is a limitation to the free account, however. We will be limited to 100 subscribers and 6 email campaigns per month. These limitations could be a problem for some of you. You can upgrade your account to the pre-paid $9.00 “Pay-As-You-Go” plan at anytime to be able to capture an unlimited amount of recipients. So, if you find that your email list is filling up fast, upgrading is an option. Is it worth $9.00? That’s up to you.

We should also let you know that we’re not affiliated with MailChimp in any way. In the Blog Notes section below, we have created a list of other email list providers that you can use if you’d like. It makes no difference to us. But for the sake of the exercise, we’ve found MailChimp to be ideal (free account + ease of use = a good time for all).

1. Go to MailChimp.com and sign up for a free account. Follow the steps provided in the account setup wizard.
2. When you’ve confirmed your account, you’ll be taken to the MailChimp Dashboard. That’s where we’ll begin our next step.

Step 2. Create an email list in MailChimp

1. In the MailChimp Dashboard, click on the “Create a List” link that’s located in the Getting Started section.
2. Click on the Start List Builder button.
3. List Name: Enter the email list name. In our exercise, we’re building a Store Launch Email list, so in this field we’ll write your store name and “Store Launch Newsletter.” For example, “Mike’s Hardware Store Launch Newsletter.”
4. Default From Name:  Enter the name that will appear to recipients as the “From” name. Your store name would be good (e.g., “Mike’s Hardware Store”).
5. Default Reply-to Email: Enter the email address that will be used when a recipient chooses to reply to the email.
6. Default Subject Line: Enter in the default email subject if you’d like. This will appear only if you send an email without a subject specified.
7. Leave both checkboxes for the Format Selection and the Campaign Toolbar unselected. You can give users the choice of format, but make sure that you will support their preferences in the Email List tool you plan to use.
8. Send an email notification of subscribes to: Enter an email address that MailChimp will use to notify you about new users that join this email list. Make sure to do this, especially if you think you might get close to the 100 subscriber limit. This will allow you follow subscriber totals more closely. You should also enter your email address for the unsubscribe notices just in case you want to monitor that process too.
9. Click on the Next button to go to the next page.
10. Permission reminder: Enter in the text that will display at the bottom of an email that reminds recipients why they’re receiving emails from you.
11. Contact Info: Enter the require contact information. This information will appear when a user subscribes to your email list.
12. Click on the Next button to go to the next page.
13. You can edit the Signup Database fields if you’d like.
14. You can include Interest Groups if you’d like, however, it’s unnecessary for a Store Launch Newsletter.
15. Click on the Next button to go to the next page.
16. Follow the checklist to make sure your Email List complies with the statements provided.
17. Click on the Skip List Import button. (We won’t be imported any recipients). A confirmation message will appear. Move to the next step.

Step 3. Create and Design the Signup form

1. Click on the “design my signup form” button.
2. Click on the “edit” button to change the Header of the form if necessary. You can remove it by clicking on the remove link or use an image by clicking on the use image link.
3. Click your mouse cursor in the box with the red dotted line to add text. Enter a brief description that describes the purpose of the Newsletter. You make also want to add a note about your email privacy policy.
4. Click on the Design It tab to change the colors if you’d like.
5. Just above the form you are building, copy the subscribe form URL. The URL will be http://eepurl.com/<your unique string> . Now paste this URL somewhere (e.g., in a text document) so you can access it later.
6. Click on the Save & Exit button in the upper right corner.

Note: Your MailChimp Signup Form will always display the “MailChimp Postage Stamp” when you are using the free account. This is an affiliate link that helps drive traffic to MailChimp. It’s their way of keeping your account free.

Step 4. Create a Signup WebPage in Auctiva Commerce

This WebPage that we will create is one of the most import pieces of the Signup Workflow. The copy we write on this page will need to be compelling enough to get people to click through to the Signup form. Take your time when customizing this page to make sure it’s easy to read and understand. Also be clear about your privacy policy. Finally, consider “juicing-up” the content with some images if you feel comfortable doing that. But, don’t muddy up the page. We really want people to quickly get a sense of what the newsletter is about and feel safe about giving up their email address.

1. Log in to Auctiva Commerce Administration.
2. Go to Store> WebPages. The WebPages page will load.
3. Click on the WebPages icon in the Add WebPages box. The Add WebPage page will load.
4. Page Title: Enter the title for the WebPage. This will appear in the head of the WebPage and also will be used for the URL. A title such as “Store Launch Signup” would work.
5. You do not need to use the Thumbnail, Alt Text or Summary fields.
6. Page Content: In this field, we’re going to put some content on this WebPage using HTML code. You can customize it to your taste. Here’s the code:

<p>We’re gearing up for our BIG Store Launch Party and you’re invited. Join our Store Launch Newsletter and receive an exclusive coupon that you can use during our opening week. This is our way of saying "Thank You" to all our loyal patrons and new customers who want to help us celebrate our new store. Please join our newsletter and you’ll be hearing from us shortly about our exclusive coupon and upcoming store launch. <a href=”http://www.eepurl.com/replace with unique string”>Add me to the Store Launch Newsletter</a></p>

<h4>Email Privacy Policy</h4>

<ol>

<li>Your privacy is important to us. We will never share your email address with a third party.</li>

<li>You may opt-out of our email list at anytime.</li>

</ol>

1. Make sure you replace the URL in the hyperlink to the actual URL to the Signup form.
2. HTML Head: In this field will enter some Meta Tags to help search engines understand this page better.  Copy and paste the code and replace the description and keyword properties with your own information.

<META name="description" content="Join the Mike’s Hardware Store Launch Newsletter to receive an exclusive coupon">

<META name="keywords" content="Mike’s Hardware Store, Email, Newsletter, Store, Opening, Launch">

1. Click on the Finish button. The Manage WebPages page will load.
2. Click on the Preview button (i.e., the Magnifying Glass icon) to preview the page. A preview will load in a new browser window. Copy the URL for this page. We’ll need the URL to create the link to this page from the Homepage.
3. If you’d like, you can continue to customize this page until you’re satisfied with the content.

Step 6. Create a link on the Home page

1. Go to Store> Theme> Customize Store Theme. The Customize Store Theme Viewer will load. This view looks like your typical storefront.
2. Scroll down until you see the Customize button (the one next to the Admin button). Click on the Customize button. A modal box will load.
3. Click on the Content button. The HTML Editor will load.
4. We’ll add some copy to our Home page using the HTML Editor window. You can customize the content to fit your needs. You can copy and paste the HTML code below as a starting point. Click on the Source button in the upper right corner of the HTML Editor window. Then copy and paste this HTML code at the top of source code in this window.

<div>

<h2>Store Launch Coming Soon</h2>

<p>We’ve being working hard to create the best shopping experience for you and now we’d like to have some fun. We want to invite you to our <strong>Store Launch Party</strong> and give you an exclusive coupon to use during our opening week. Go to our <a href=”/default.aspx”>Store Launch Party page</a> to learn more.</p>

</div>

1. Make sure you replace the URL for the hyperlink with the actual Signup page URL; otherwise it will link to the Home page. Click on the Preview button to preview the changes.
2. Make any edits you’d like in the HTML Editor. When you’re finished, click on the Save Changes button. Close the Edit HTML window. Close the Customize modal box by clicking on the Close link at the bottom of the box. Click on the Admin button to return to the Auctiva Commerce administration.
3. Now, double check your work by clicking on the Store icon in the upper-right corner of the Auctiva Commerce administration. Your storefront will load in a new browser window. Check to make sure the new content loads properly. Click on the link to make sure it takes you to the Signup WebPage. Click on the link that should send you to the Signup form. Now type in your email address to make sure the form is working properly. You should get a confirmation email that you’ve joined your email list.

Food For Thought

Our exercise focused on using a “Store Launch” theme, which might work for your store. You should also consider customizing the theme to fit the type of store your opening. For example, a “Ribbon Cutting Ceremony” might be a better fit for a women’s boutique or a store that sells craft supplies. Be creative with your approach, but make sure that it will be obvious to visitors what the event is all about. If you choose to create your own store opening theme, also make sure that it’s consistent across all the pages you’ve created. Don’t call it a “Ribbon Cutting Event” on the Home page and then call it a “Launch Party” on the Signup page. 

Not Launching a Store?

If you’re not launching a store, you can easily create a different kind of email list that can capture potential customers. It’s not uncommon for stores to have a “Specials” newsletter that informs recipients on store sales, discounts, coupons, new products, etc. If you’ve already launched your store, consider adding one of these newsletters.

Sending Email to Your List

Now you have a “net” that is capturing web visitors who want to be informed about your store opening event, you can focus on sending them email campaigns. Feel free to use MailChimp if you’d like. The free account will let you to send 6 email campaigns per month to your 100 subscribers. That should cover your store launch newsletter in terms of frequency (one message a week will do). And, you’ll get to use the handy email campaign design and tracking tools. That’s not a bad deal. But if you’d like to take your business elsewhere, follow these steps to export your list to an Excel file:

1. Log in to MailChimp, if you’re not already logged in.
2. Go to the Lists tab.
3. Click on the View List button for the list that you will export.
4. Click on the View All link.
5. Click on the Download Members to Excel link.

Make sure to invest a good amount of time refining your messaging on the storefront and within your email campaigns. You subscribers are a valuable bunch of customers. Treat them with a great deal of care and they’ll be a reliable revenue source.

Blog Post Notes:

Other Email List tools:

• CampaignMonitor.com
• ConstantContact.com
• Topica.com
• WhatCounts.com

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