Promotions are used to directly, quickly, and profitably change behavior. Most commonly, that behavior change falls into one of these categories: driving more visits, encouraging people to purchase at a time they normally would not, or inspiring more profitable bulk purchases.
The most common types of promotions are challenges, bonuses, and occasion based rewards.
Challenges. These promotions challenge reward members to perform actions to earn a prize. For example, a challenge could be “buy gas five times this month and get a free large coffee” or “spend $50 on snack items this week and get a free liter of soda.” These challenges are intended to increase visits and spend during a specified period of time.
Bonuses. These promotions often offer an instant benefit for the rewards member. “Purchase a sandwich and a large soda and get a bag of chips for free” is one example. Bonuses are primarily designed to increase spending during a visit, but secondly, they may also increase the number of visits since customers could seek to take advantage of a bonus multiple times.
Occasion-based rewards. These promotions are dependent on a time of year, such as the holiday season, or a well-known event. An example of an occasion-based reward could be “purchase two bags of chips and get a liter of soda for free during the week leading up to the Big Game.” […]
Enrolling younger generations of guests into your rewards program can help your brand grow and maintain a strong core of loyal members for the foreseeable future. And these days, many brands believe that doing this requires their enrollment strategies to evolve so they keep up with the enrollment preferences of their increasingly younger guests. This is only partially true.
Your program should be a living and breathing entity. Adapting to match the engagement preferences of new customers will help your program attract new guests who are more comfortable using technology to connect with brands. Adaption is not a metamorphosis, but rather an expansion of enrollment methods to attract younger demographics.
Let’s say your program enrollment began exclusively as a card-based operation, and the only way members could enroll was by obtaining a plastic card in-store. You probably already know that attracting millennials to your program will help you build a sustainable base of loyal guests. So supplementing your card program by adding enrollment channels such as text-to-join or enabling enrollment via a mobile app or an online ordering system make sense. […]
