One of the main objectives of any business is to create sustainable revenue growth; a model that stands the tests of time and improves year on year. A key to achieving this is by creating a loyal fan base. In 2021 Accenture reported that over 90% of companies use customer loyalty programs and offer incentives to maintain customer retention.
Effectively, the success of a business relies entirely on its fan base and it’s important not to lose focus of your loyal fan, when trying to attract prospective ones. Your loyal fan base is your low hanging fruit and you must do everything you can to keep them ripe (apologies for that one).
In this blog we want to look at how some of the biggest brands in the world have offered incentives to both maintain and grow their loyal fan base.
Manchester United
I’m using Manchester united as an example (Only right as I’m a fan) but most premier league clubs use this model. What clubs do it create fan memberships that offer a variety of exclusives. From store discounts to fan bundles including shirts. However, memberships are often purchased for first access to match tickets. This is done for bigger clubs as a way to ensure loyal fans get tickets, its also a great way to create sustainable revenue growth.
Manchester United offer different memberships at different prices to include very fan. They offer basic memberships which only include ticket access, to the highest level membership that offers discounts exclusive access to content and loads more. In Football retention isn’t the most difficult task especially with loyal fans. However, Manchester United offer discounts on memberships to exiting members.
Nike ID
This from Nike is a little different to others. It seems a life-time ago since it launched Nike ID and believe it or not, it has played a big part its customer retention. What started off as just a feature on the website has since grown to include over 100 in-store ‘studios’ all over the world.
Nike ID allows people to be unique by offering a unique service. Customers feel empowered in creating their dream trainer in which they know is likely to be a 1/1 throughout the whole world. Even if customers aren’t actually buying they can spend hours and hours playing around with the software to create their masterpiece, sending the fashion brand’s session duration stats into the stratosphere – believe me, I should know!
This hyper-personalised approach along with fan loyalty is a great strategy for creating sustainable revenue growth.
The Body Shop
The Body Shop’s loyalty scheme aims to COLLECT POINTS, CHANGE THE WORLD. MAKE A DIFFERENCE. The brand gives its Love Your Body Club members the chance to donate their rewards to one of its partner charities, which includes the British Youth Council, We Stand With Ukraine and Mindout.
I personally think this is an absolute masterclass from The Body Shop. An incentive doesn’t always have to benefit the individual themselves and giving people the opportunity to do something for the greater good gets my seal of approval. Well played, The Body Shop.
Amazon
I’ve saved Amazon until last. statistically it offers the most successful loyalty scheme in the world with Amazon Prime. In other words, Amazon is the pinnacle when it comes to sustainable revenue growth.
For most people, like myself, the biggest benefit is speedy one or two-day shipping (I still can’t believe how fast they are!). However, users also get access to Amazon’s popular streaming service, early access to deals, and a host of other discounts.
It currently boasts over 200 million subscribers and new benefits are also added frequently. This creates an intriguing element of anticipation and surprise for members, who never know what’s coming next.
