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Feature availability: Some features mentioned in this article are only available on certain Smile plans or eCommerce platforms. Check the linked guides for specific availability and requirements.

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1. Make your loyalty program easy to find

Give customers clear places to discover your loyalty program, learn how it works, and access it:
  • Loyalty landing page: Use a loyalty landing page to give customers a dedicated place to learn about your program, including how they can earn and redeem, referrals, and VIP benefits.
  • Smile Panel: Customers can access the Panel from the Smile Launcher. You can also link directly to the Smile Panel from your store navigation or footer to make it easier to find, or use a direct link instead of the Launcher.
  • Loyalty Hub: Use Loyalty Hub to give customers access to their loyalty program from their customer account, including their points, rewards, and other loyalty information. The Loyalty Hub can be used alongside your landing page or Smile Launcher, or as the main loyalty experience for signed-in customers.
You can also promote your loyalty program through email and other marketing to help customers discover it and understand why they should participate.

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2. Make your rewards worth earning

Review your points and rewards from a customer’s perspective:
  • Make the first reward achievable within 1–3 purchases. Customers should be able to see meaningful progress toward a reward early in their relationship with your brand. If the first reward takes too long to reach, there is less incentive to keep earning. Review your earning rate and the points required for your first reward to keep it within reach.
  • Offer 3–5 rewards at different point values. Give customers an achievable first reward and higher-value rewards to work toward as they continue earning. A range of reward values gives customers more opportunities to redeem without making every reward equally easy to reach.
  • Make rewards competitive with your regular promotions. Loyalty rewards should feel valuable compared with the discounts and promotions customers already receive. A 5% loyalty reward may not be motivating if customers regularly receive 20% discounts elsewhere.
  • Give customers another goal after they redeem. The first reward should not feel like the end of the program. Include higher-value rewards that give customers a reason to continue earning after their first redemption.
For more recommendations on choosing earning and reward values, see How to build an effective points program in 3 steps.

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3. Bring loyalty into the shopping experience

Customers are more likely to engage when loyalty is visible throughout their shopping experience rather than something they need to seek out.
  • Make loyalty part of the customer journey. Use embedded content to keep the value of your loyalty program visible while customers shop. Use Points on product page to show what customers can earn before they buy, Show points at checkout and Redeem at checkout during checkout, and Points after purchase to reinforce what they earned after an order.
  • Give customers a direct path to the action you’re promoting. Use Smile Panel deep links in emails and other customer communications to take customers directly to specific areas of the Panel, such as ways to earn or ways to redeem.
  • Keep loyalty part of your regular marketing. Use the channels and integrations you already use to communicate with customers to highlight ways to earn, available rewards, and reasons to come back and redeem.

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4. Review your program regularly

Improving your loyalty program is an ongoing process. Use Smile Analytics to monitor program performance and understand how customer engagement changes over time. Review your results after making changes to understand their impact, then continue monitoring performance as your program and customer behavior evolve.