How marketers can create loyalty this festive season
The Christmas season is here - it’s a time for family, friends, and the infamous office party.
It’s also the perfect time to create loyal customers - if you know how to do it right.
While you might think that it's enough to tell people what you have to offer and wait for them to come running, you're actually missing out on a huge opportunity: the chance to build relationships with your audience - ones that will last long after the holidays are over…
How can marketers create loyalty this Christmas?
Brands should focus on creating relationships - not just transactions. Effective marketing encourages repeat purchases by building trust and creating an emotional connection between brand and consumer.
Learn the differences between rational and emotional loyalty
It’s not just about great products and services - it’s also about creating a memorable experience and making sure customers feel extra special. And as we all know, this is especially important during the festive season, when emotions run high and people want a little more magic.
To help you out, we've put together a list of marketing ideas that brands can use to create memorable experiences and build relationships this Christmas…
Use storytelling to make an emotional impact
People love a good story — and this is especially true during the holidays! Those tear-jerking Christmas ads prove it: a brand that tells a good story is memorable.
Check out this hilarious example from Celebrations UK
Create engagement using social media campaigns
The festive season is the perfect time to use social media to create a conversation around your brand. Post a sharable campaign by running competitions, asking people to share their experience for a chance to win an exclusive prize.
UPS created a social media campaign titled "Wishes Delivered" in order to make customers' dreams come true. UPS asked their followers to upload a Christmas wishlist with the hashtag #wishesdelivered. While granting some of the wishes of customers, the company also raised funds for every wishlist shared - keeping the charitable spirit of Christmas alive.
Offer rewards to give customers a reason to come back to you in the New Year…
Many brands offer discounts around Christmas to incentivise customers to choose them for their Christmas shopping. But you don’t want seasonal customers who forget about you after the festivities end. Reward customers for shopping with you by giving them perks like cashback, free shipping, or points that they can use come January.
For example, customers who buy a Christmas tree from Ikea get a moneyback voucher they can use in the new year - incentivising customers to return to store and making it more cost-effective to buy a tree from Ikea rather than anywhere else…
Here are some other ideas of incentives you can offer…
~ Cashback and discounts
~ Vouchers to spend
~ Free shipping
~ Enter customers into a prize draw
~ Free trials
~ Charitable donations
~ Early access to sales or products
~ Double or triple their points!
Get creative with festive email campaigns
Customers receive hundreds of Christmas-themed emails at this time of year. Do something different if you want to stand out. Focus less on trying to sell your products and more on entertaining your customers.
We love this advent calendar idea from Wonderbly:
Use data to offer a personalized experience
Did you know that today’s customers expect a personalised shopping experience? According to Octane AI, “80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences”. Plus, “98% of marketers say personalization advances customer relationships”.
To deliver a personalised experience, you need to collect insightful data about your customers' habits, preferences, and needs. Then, you can create something that is tailored to each individual. This can include anything from recommending new products based on past purchases, or showing relevant ads based on a customer’s browsing history.
Personalisation also allows you to create targeted messaging that resonates with specific groups of people. The result? Increased conversation rates that can lead to more sales. Here’s an example of personalization in action from Google:
In its "year in review" email, Google summarizes an individual's travel highlights. It's a great way to entertain and impress an audience, while also making them feel extra special.
Learn how loyalty programs help brands achieve personalisation
The festive season is all about getting creative. As a marketer during this time, your goal should be to design memorable campaigns that stick in the minds of your customers and to build long-term relationships with rewards, personalization, and storytelling.
With the right strategies, brands can convince customers to engage and purchase over and over again. So if you want loyal customers this Christmas (and more importantly beyond), try out some of the above examples!
Happy holidays!
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Helen Walker
Senior Content Marketing Executive
Helen is our Senior Content Marketing Executive. She shares valuable information about the Future of Loyalty and will keep you up to date on the latest industry insights...