9 min read
Small Business Saturday and Black Friday without a sitewide discount
Both dates reward whoever shows up. A loyalty program rewards the right person instead of discounting every customer, regulars included.
8 min read
What is a loyalty card? How they work and why shops use them
What a loyalty card actually is, how it works at the till, where the idea came from, and why independent shops still run one today.
10 min read
How to start a loyalty program for a small business
Most loyalty programs go wrong at the first decision, not the tenth. Six choices, in order, from what to reward to the first message you send.
8 min read
Loyalty card examples: what the good ones have in common
Four real loyalty cards taken apart, from a coffee app to a classic car wash experiment, to find the traits that actually make a card get used.
8 min read
Birthday and milestone messages worth sending
The two automated messages nobody minds getting, why they still need a channel and a cap, and what to send on a customer's birthday and their fifth visit.
10 min read
The first thirty days after someone joins
The welcome message is not the whole job. What to send across the four weeks that decide whether a new member becomes a regular, and when to stop.
12 min read
The January problem: filling the quietest month
January is the lowest month of the year for food and drink in Great Britain, and the hole is deeper than the December peak is tall. Plan for it in November.
13 min read
Win-back messages that actually bring people back
Most win-back messages fail before the offer. How to tell a lapsed customer from a late one, what the two messages say, and when to stop sending them.
8 min read
How often should you message your customers?
Too many messages get you an opt-out. Too few get you forgotten. Here is where the ceiling sits by channel, and how to tell which mistake you are making.
9 min read
Automated loyalty campaigns: welcome, near-reward, win-back
Three standing campaigns do most of the work of a loyalty program, and none of them can be sent by hand at the right moment. Here is how each one is built.