Early access is connected with privilege and exclusivity. It makes sense given that having access to goods and services that others are unable to speaks to our innate desire to feel exceptional. According to one study, early access has millions of users in the gaming business. However, it can be used in other industries with strong brand identities and regular product releases.
Since incentive systems offer many opportunities to make members “work” for the benefit of early access, having a loyalty programme is perhaps the best method to take the idea further. So, here are five suggestions to help you get the most out of the early access features of your loyalty programme.
First tip: Save it for your best products only.
You must first and foremost remember that early access has two sides. A major priority is to maintain equilibrium because doing otherwise leads to an economy with haves and have-nots. Some individuals can feel tricked if the most exciting products aren’t available for early access, while others may become irate if all the products are only available to early access members.
The best piece of advise I can offer is to identify the one product category that your audience most desires and use that as the centrepiece of the loyalty program’s early access. Knowing that customers valued sneakers highly, the upscale Italian boutique LuisaViaRoma committed early access to only the newest sneakers.
Second advice: Make early access a high-tier reward.
It is strongly advised to combine loyalty programmes with early access for two reasons. Running this feature is essentially free for you, to start. The most important prerequisite relates to your back-end or that of your loyalty programme provider because you need a setting that will allow some clients to access the campaign before others.
The fact that loyalty programmes teach users to earn rewards brings about a second advantage. The clearest illustration of this is through tiers, which show a long-term progression in which customers approach their rewards with each transaction.
For instance, early access is most effective when given as a Gold- or VIP-tier prize. Loyalty programme participants will intensify their attempts to rank up as quickly as possible when they see such an alluring incentive, and you accomplish this without providing any pricey perks.
Tip #3: Develop various early access offers
Building on the previous piece, you can make your loyalty programme even more appealing by categorising early access into several tiers and separating it into various categories.
As an illustration, a Silver-tier reward may be early access to special sale dates, allowing shoppers to take advantage of Black Friday deals before the crowds arrive, while Gold-rank members would also get first access to monthly product deliveries. By doing this, you can affordably provide something worthwhile to clients on various tiers.
Tip #4: Allow special interest clubs early access.
If you don’t like the idea of tiers or your loyalty programme doesn’t have them, you can still get the same effects by joining special interest clubs. These serve as the loyalty program’s inner circle, or an exclusive VIP tier.
Special interest clubs require members to pay an entry fee; this contrasts with tiers, where advancement happens automatically after each purchase. This can be in the form of a subscription fee or a set number of paid-for loyalty points. But in the end, only those who have proven their commitment are given access to early access benefits.
Customers can obtain this benefit more quickly and directly with the help of this strategy. You can reach out to members year after year if you make membership in your special interest group renewable.
Tip #5: Give customers a sampling by using challenges.
As was previously noted, if you place early access too high on the proverbial shelf, certain clients might feel left out. Offering a free trial as a reward is one approach to prevent this from happening and to give customers a sneak peek. For instance, a customer will only be qualified for early access if she thoroughly fills out her customer profile after registering.
As you can see, this is an excellent chance for you to offer a worthwhile activity in exchange for the trial. In this case, the client not only enrols but also contributes valuable data by filling up her profile. In a similar way, challenges can be used to promote repeated actions. Simply defined, challenges keep track of routine activities like daily logins or the quantity of purchases and automatically award users when they hit certain milestones.
In other words, you can provide a free, one-time early access trial in exchange for daily consumer interaction.
Early Access Has So Much More Potential
Early access can be used as the main reward in a loyalty programme, which is a fun and adaptable method to build buzz and ultimately boost customer lifetime value. It’s absolutely worth your attention because it makes for a fantastic launch promotion for a loyalty programme or because it may help you give an existing programme a fresh lease on life.
Please feel free to get in touch with us or mention us in your RFP if you’re interested in learning more about how Antavo’s enterprise-grade loyalty programme technology may assist you in implementing cutting-edge consumer engagement solutions. And if you’re interested in finding out more about novel, fascinating ways to engage customers, you’ll definitely like our comprehensive ebook on gamification.