Cultivating loyalty through mobile devices is one of the new ways to engage with your customers, and Shopify merchants are turning to a loyalty program app.

A loyalty program app is one of the best ways to boost customer loyalty and build a relationship with your audience. 

And it’s not just about rewards and loyalty points. Discounts and offers attract customers in the early stages of loyalty but those in the later stages don’t care much about the rewards. They’re with you for the sense of community and the integrated shopping experiences.

So what is a modern-day loyalty program app, and how can you build one? Read more to find out.‍

What is a loyalty program app?

Mobile loyalty software describes programs implemented using mobile apps to create a positive customer experience. A loyalty program app aims to take the customer experience to the next level, enhancing different aspects of the customer journey – for instance, customer care services and shopping interactions.

A loyalty and rewards program allows your brand to interact with clients across different touchpoints while offering perks to customers that they won’t find in a typical shopping experience. These perks might include special offers and events that standard customers can’t access otherwise.

With a loyalty program, Shopify merchants can also get crucial customer insights and behavioral data to better understand customer interactions. These insights allow merchants to make informed decisions about the future of their brand for an improved marketing strategy.‍

Benefits of a loyalty program app

The main draw of a mobile loyalty program is that this solution offers unique benefits to customers they wouldn’t access without joining the program. These benefits can be separated into two categories: transactional and non-transactional.

The transactional benefits of a loyalty program app include coupons, digital currency, promotional codes, free products, and exclusive access to limited-time offers. 

The non-transactional benefits of this program include dedicated customer support, free shipping, no-receipt returns, access to exclusive shopping events, features to enhance the buying experience, free samples, exclusive rewards, and educational materials.

Other benefits of using a mobile loyalty program app:

• You become less dependent on paid marketing efforts
• You create a personal connection with customers
• You encourage customers to make repeat purchases
• You cultivate long-term customer engagement
• You expand your customer base
• You make customers feel more appreciated and valued
• You build high customer satisfaction

How to create a mobile loyalty program app

A mobile loyalty program is one of the best ways to increase customer satisfaction. Resources like Vajro, a mobile loyalty app builder on the Shopify marketplace, can help Shopify merchants create the best customer experience possible.

Rather than focusing only on loyalty points and rewards, Vajro enables Shopify merchants to craft memorable mobile shopping experiences to promote customer loyalty. 

Here are the most important steps of creating a successful loyalty program app.

1. Know your goals

The first step for any successful loyalty program app is identifying the purpose and objectives of your loyalty program. Having specific, measurable, and achievable goals will help guide you to success, offering a standard to adhere to during app building.

Take time to consider your business requirements. Understand your problems with customer loyalty and how a loyalty program app can address these issues. Vajro has many powerful features to help you reach your goals, whether you aim to boost customer engagement or access detailed reports about your audience to inform future efforts.

2. Understand your target audience

It’s crucial to understand what your audience wants from a loyalty program. A one-size-fits-all solution is not effective, so a thorough understanding of your audience and their needs will help you build the best program. Building loyal customers requires deeply understanding their shopping habits, preferences, and motivations.

Consider why customers would want to participate in your loyalty program and build your app to meet these desires. As you build your app with resources like Vajro, always focus on your customers and their expectations.

3. Have a product strategy

Strategy is everything when building a successful loyalty program app. Creating a strategy requires significant research to create value for your customers. During the product discovery phase, you can work with Vajro to complete the following:

• Competitor and market research
• Creating a business model
• Choosing your target audience
• Creating user personas
• Defining your value propositions
• Selecting a monetization model
• Creating a list of app features

Your product strategy will be an action plan that includes all these elements, defining how your loyalty program will promote customer loyalty. 

4. Choose a loyalty program type

There are different types of loyalty programs. To create a successful loyalty program app, you must first understand the type that best suits your business.

Different types of loyalty programs include tiered, cashback, and points-based programs, each appealing to specific customer segments. 

For example, Skin Kulture, a skincare brand, promotes combo offers and tiered discounts through their loyalty program app.

Ensure the program type you choose aligns with your business and customer base. Once you’ve decided on your program type, you can enhance your app using Vajro customization and personalization capabilities.

5. Customize your user interface design

A seamless user interface is crucial for promoting customer loyalty with your loyalty program app. Your UI/UX design should resonate with your target audience.

As you develop your UI design, testing the features on real users is important to ensure usability and make necessary changes before launch. This step lets you visualize how your app will appear to customers to guarantee the best shopping experience possible.

Take this example from Vintage Boho Bags, where they keep updating their app homepage with limited-time deals and offers. It’s chic, attractive, and sure to grab customer attention.

Vajro is critical at this stage of the app development process, as it enables you to preview your app in real time. You can see how your app looks and feels like as you make changes to the design. And it’s super easy. Here’s how you can preview your app with Vajro. 

Vajro also allows you to create personalized branding to promote loyalty across the entire shopping experience.

6. Launch your application

Once you have all the technical details worked out, you can launch your loyalty program app and see how users respond to it. To ensure your launch is successful, promote your app on social media through pre-launch campaigns.

Launch your app with a comprehensive promotional campaign, and once the launch is complete, continuously monitor user engagement and make adjustments based on feedback and customer analytics.

7. Promote your loyalty program app

Offer customers incentives to join your loyalty program app and convert them into brand ambassadors.

For example, Shop CCB offers a flat discount for first-time app users. They also have app-exclusive discounts and products that they highlight on their app.

Beyond promoting and marketing your loyalty program app, collect user feedback after launch to monitor app performance and make necessary adjustments to enhance the user experience.

Foster mobile loyalty with Vajro

Vajro can help you create a successful loyalty program app. Being the most trusted mobile loyalty app on the Shopify marketplace, Vajro helps you boost customer engagement and retention.

Through push notifications, social selling, advanced analytics, and a lot more features, Vajro empowers you to customize your loyalty program app to engage with customers using personalized features that drive sales.

Explore Vajro today with a demo or start a free trial to see why Vajro should be your top choice for a loyalty program app!

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