A loyalty programme that changes what customers do next
A way of rewarding customers for coming back: points, tiers, perks or a paid membership. The scheme matters less than whether anybody tells customers it exists.
- 078Loyalty Programme
- A rewards programme offered by a company to customers who frequently make purchases, encouraging repeat business and customer retention.
- Common types
- Points, tiers, perks and paid memberships
- Costs you
- The rewards you give away, plus the app and the admin
- Works when
- Customers already buy from you more than once
- Lives in
- A loyalty app, synced into Klaviyo so your emails can use it
Points, tiers, perks or a paid club, and who each suits
| Type | How it works | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Points | Spending earns points that come off a later order | Frequent, everyday purchases |
| Tiers | Spend more to move up a level, with better perks | A clear band of big spenders |
| Perks | Early access, free delivery or a gift, no money off | Brands protecting their price |
| Paid membership | A fee up front for ongoing benefits | Regular buyers of things that run out |
Points are money off by another name, so a premium brand may be better served by perks. Tiers only work if customers can see the next one is within reach.
Who a loyalty programme can't help
Let's face it: points don't make anybody buy a second sofa. A programme rewards repeat buying, so it only pays where people already need to come back. If most customers buy once and vanish, fix the second order first.
The awkward bit is that rewards get spent by your regulars, and plenty of them would have come back anyway. That's a fair price if the programme brings them back sooner, or stops them drifting to a competitor. If it doesn't, it's a discount with a login.
The loyalty emails that make the programme real
A balance nobody's told about changes nothing. The programme works through the emails around it, and each of these fires on the customer's own position, not the calendar.
- A welcome to the programme that shows the balance and the first easy way to grow it
- The points balance in every campaign, never more than a glance away
- A nudge when somebody's close to the next tier, naming the gap
- Two warnings before points expire, with the date spelled out
- A reminder timed to when they'd usually reorder
None of it works unless your loyalty app sends points, tier and expiry date into Klaviyo. Check that before anything else. The full build is in loyalty programme emails.
Related terms
FAQs
Is a loyalty programme worth it for a smaller shop?
Only once a fair share of customers already come back. If most buy once, points won't change that, and the second order needs fixing first. When repeat buying is there, start simple: one points scheme or one perk, emailed about properly, before you add tiers.
How do I know if our loyalty programme is actually working?
Don't compare members with non-members, because the people who join were already your keenest customers. Compare how often customers ordered before they joined with how often they order after, and set the cost of rewards redeemed against the extra margin. If nothing changed, the points were a thank-you, not a programme.
How generous should loyalty rewards be?
Work it back from your margin, not from a competitor's scheme. Decide what an extra order from a regular is worth to you after costs, and keep the reward comfortably under that. Then check redemptions after a few months. If hardly anybody redeems, the rewards are too far away to feel real.
Rather we explained it on your own account?
Bring your Klaviyo account to a growth consultation. We'll walk through what this means for your numbers, in plain English, and what we'd fix first.
Half an hour with Theo, our founder.
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