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A comprehensive resource of meticulously compiled examples of loyalty program segments, created in collaboration with experienced loyalty program experts.
For whom?
We put together this resource for any loyalty marketers who are looking for ready-made and expert-developed segmentation templates that inspire and provide a benchmark for the most effective loyalty marketing campaigns.
How can these templates help me?
There’s no better way to create a successful loyalty program than using proven campaign designs and adjusting them to the specific needs of your own industry and customer base.
Since you won't need to start from scratch, you can focus on the immediate implementation and execution of your loyalty segmentation strategies, driving tangible results and enhancing your marketing efforts.
You can get inspired by the expert guidelines and simply fine-tune them to the particular needs of your business.
What’s inside?
The templates are based on customer behavioral patterns, purchase history, and demographic and psychographic data, enabling effective identification, categorization, and targeting of customer segments based on their loyalty factors.
Also, each segmentation template is accompanied by detailed guidelines, descriptions, and best practices, empowering you to maximize the potential of your customer data.
The resource contains a database of examples of loyalty segments, such as:
- Light, medium, and heavy users
- High-value customers
- Loyal advocates
- Customers with high predicted customer lifetime value
- Champions/premium big spenders
- Brand lovers
- Product category X fans
- Loyalty lovers
- At-risk customers
- New customers
- Occasional customers
- Likely customers with no transactions
- Gift seekers
- Win-back customers
- Smart savers
- Store X shoppers
- Business customers/B2B
- One-time customers
- Inactive users/lapsed customers
Grab your copy of the segmentation templates today and unlock the potential to streamline your loyalty segmentation process, drive targeted marketing campaigns, and achieve sustainable growth.
How to use it?
For a detailed overview of the process, we encourage you to read the guide "A Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Loyalty Segmentation."
Briefly: you should verify analytically which segments reflect your customer base the best and what you would like to achieve with them. The fewer segments you have, the easier it'll be for you to manage them.
With the segments chosen, it’s time to implement them into your analytics software. The template includes a sample configuration for each segment. For example, "New customers" have:
- Number of transactions equals 1
- Total spending in the last 7 days is greater than $0
You can adapt the rules to what’s relevant to your customer base and then implement it in your analytics platform.
In order to be useful, every segment should be as unique as possible. The solution is to have restrictive rules.
In this blog post, we also refer you to how to easily implement them into the Open Loyalty platform.
Light, medium, and heavy users
Light, medium, and heavy user segments provide businesses with valuable insights into the varying levels of customer engagement and consumption. Take a look at the further expansion of each segment.
1. Light users
These are customers who exhibit minimal interaction or purchases with the company. They may have sporadic or infrequent engagement, making occasional or low-value transactions. Also, they might be new customers exploring your brand or individuals who have limited needs for the product or service. Understanding this segment can help you identify opportunities to increase their involvement, such as through targeted marketing campaigns or personalized offers tailored to their specific interests.
2. Medium users
These users fall in the middle of the engagement spectrum. They engage moderately with the company, making regular but not overly frequent purchases. They have a moderate level of interest and may have specific preferences or requirements that they seek from the brand. By analyzing this segment's behaviors and preferences, you can tailor your marketing messages and offerings to meet their needs more effectively, potentially encouraging them to become heavier users.
3. Heavy users / heavy spenders
These clients represent the most active and frequent purchasers within the customer base. They're highly engaged and make regular, substantial purchases from the company. Also, they're often loyal to the brand and rely on its products or services extensively. Heavy users can be a valuable asset for you as they contribute significantly to revenue and may also act as brand advocates, recommending your company to others. Understanding their preferences and providing exceptional customer experiences can help retain their loyalty and potentially turn them into loyal advocates.
"When developing loyalty programs, I worked with groups that were perceived differently depending on the country and even the region. A heavy user in Berlin is different from a heavy user in Leipzig. We also considered the accessibility of the points of sale (and consequently the accessibility of the brand) and the percentage breakdown of branches in a given area."
Monika Motus, Loyalty Expert, ex-Starbucks, ex-iSpot, ex-Douglas
High-value customers
They generate significant revenue through consistent and substantial purchases and are the cornerstone of any successful business. In addition, high-value customers act as brand ambassadors, spreading positive feedback and attracting new patrons. Their loyalty and support create a ripple effect, assembling a strong brand reputation and driving further growth.
What sets high-value customers apart is their willingness to provide feedback and share insights. Such a feedback loop allows companies to stay ahead of the competition by constantly adapting and meeting the changing needs of their most valuable buyers.
Additionally, high-value customers present unique opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. Their brand loyalty and trust make them more open to discovering additional offers. You can increase average order value and maximize revenue by leveraging personalized recommendations based on their preferences and previous purchases.
Loyal advocates
This is a precious segment that makes regular purchases and actively promotes the brand to others, contributing to its growth and reputation. Such customers regularly purchase featured items, share their positive experiences on social media, recommend the brand to others, and engage in referral programs. On top of that, these recipients may have a long history of engagement with the company, demonstrating high customer retention rates.
Recognizing and rewarding their loyalty is vital to keeping them engaged. You can implement tiered rewards, personalized offers, and surprise gifts to express gratitude and make them feel appreciated. By continually exceeding their expectations and maintaining strong relationships, you can foster long-term loyalty and advocacy.
Customers with high predicted customer lifetime value
These individuals have been identified as having significant potential to generate value for your business over their lifetime as customers. These shoppers may exhibit consistent buying behavior, make large transactions, or have a strong history of loyalty.
Identifying this segment allows you to prioritize resources and initiatives to maximize their satisfaction and prompt further commitment. By providing personalized recommendations, exclusive offers, loyalty rewards, and exceptional customer service, companies can improve the experience of these consumers and build long-term allegiance.
Champions/premium big spenders
Champions, also known as large premium buyers consistently make significant purchases or engage in high-value transactions, contributing a substantial portion of a business's revenue. Bear in mind that premium big spenders want quality, exclusivity, and the best possible experience.
To recognize and appreciate the loyalty of champions, you must offer exclusive benefits and rewards. This can include VIP treatment, personalized recommendations, and access to premium services or products that enhance their overall experience. By providing these additional benefits, you can foster a stronger sense of recognition and further encourage champions to continue their loyal support.
Brand lovers
Customers who are brand lovers have a deep affinity and loyalty towards the brand. They actively seek the cherished brand's products or services and often engage in positive conversations about it.
These customers may participate in company-related events, follow its social media channels, and share their positive experiences with others. Engaging with brand lovers goes beyond transactional relationships.
You can cultivate these relationships by creating a sense of community, sharing brand stories and values, involving people in co-creation or feedback processes, and offering exclusive brand-related content or experiences. The goal is to strengthen the emotional connection and turn brand lovers into advocates promoting the business.
Product category X fans
This customer segment has a strong affinity and preference for a particular category of products the company offers. They're passionate about specific products and actively strive for new releases, promotions, or related information.
To engage and retain this segment, you can focus on providing a wide range of products within the category, exclusive product launches, and personalized recommendations based on their preferences.
Use social media platforms or online communities centered around a specific product category to increase engagement and build a loyal customer base.
Loyalty lovers
These clients highly value loyalty programs and actively search for businesses that offer them. They like accumulating points, earning rewards, and receiving exclusive benefits in exchange for their allegiance. This segment values the feeling of being recognized and appreciated by a brand.
To attract and retain loyalty lovers, you should invest in robust loyalty programs, streamlined redemption processes, personalized rewards, and effective communications to keep them engaged and devoted.
At-risk customers
Clients with a high probability of churn are a segment of the customer base that exhibits behaviors indicating a potential break in the relationship with the company. These customers may show reduced engagement, such as reduced purchasing activity or a shift to competitors.
To counter the risk of customer loss, you can implement win-back campaigns to re-engage and retain at-risk buyers. By analyzing changes in customer behavior, such as deviations from their typical buying patterns, you can identify those most likely to churn and intervene before that happens.
To ensure the accuracy of churn predictions, you can use personalized and attractive offers as a validation method. By tailoring incentives to at-risk customers' specific concerns and preferences, organizations can gauge their response and determine whether offers are increasing their engagement again. This proactive approach allows market players to address the root causes of declining loyalty, effectively reducing the likelihood of losing these customers to competitors.
New customers
This group refers to individuals who have recently started engaging with a brand or business for the first time. These customers are in the early stages of their relationship and have not yet established strong brand loyalty.
Businesses aim to convert new customers into loyal, repeat purchasers by delivering exceptional experiences and providing value. By building trust, delivering exceptional service, and consistently exceeding expectations, you can increase the likelihood of turning new customers into loyal advocates who actively promote the brand to others.
Try customizing deals and offerings based on the unique requirements of new customers. Welcome gifts, exclusive discounts, and loyalty rewards create a sense of excitement and appreciation among new customers. By tailoring solutions that address their pain points and providing personalized experiences, you can foster a sense of trust and loyalty from the very beginning.
Regular communication is also crucial to maintaining a robust connection with new customers. Keeping them informed about product updates, new features, and relevant industry news. Whether through newsletters, personalized emails, or regular check-in calls, consistent communication helps to build trust, engagement, and a sense of belonging to the community.
Occasional customers
Occasional customers, also known as sporadic ones, are characterized by their intermittent purchasing behavior and lack of brand commitment. They make purchases infrequently, driven by sales or specific needs.
Focus on delivering value-oriented offers, conducting thorough research and evaluations, and using a variety of communication channels to keep them engaged. By creating targeted value propositions, offering personalized recommendations, and implementing incentives such as limited-time offers, you can encourage occasional customers to buy more often and nurture the relationship.
On top of that, a positive customer journey is paramount to retaining occasional customers. By offering excellent customer service, hassle-free returns or exchanges, and a seamless online shopping experience, you can leave a lasting impression on occasional customers, increasing the likelihood of future purchases.
To convert occasional customers into more engaged buyers, you can analyze their preferences and purchase history to personalize marketing efforts, provide incentives, and reward loyalty. By recognizing occasional customers' unique characteristics and needs, companies can develop effective strategies that focus on increasing their loyalty and driving long-term growth.
Likely customers with no transactions
These people have shown interest in your company but haven't yet made any purchases or engaged in transactions. These consumers may have subscribed to newsletters, created accounts, or shown initial curiosity about the brand. It takes personalized strategies to convert them into active buyers. Provide customized product recommendations, exclusive discounts, and incentives to capture their attention and encourage their first purchase.
Engage potential customers with informative and attention-grabbing content, such as blog posts or videos highlighting your offerings' value and benefits. Use targeted email campaigns and social media platforms to stay in touch, respond to inquiries, and proactively raise awareness.
Streamline the implementation process to ensure a seamless experience and collect feedback to build trust and increase customer satisfaction. By focusing on this segment, businesses can nurture potential shoppers and build a loyal customer base.
Gift seekers
These people interact with the company primarily to purchase gifts for others. They may have a specific occasion in mind, such as birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays, or they may eagerly desire unique and thoughtful gifts.
Provide selected gift guides, personalized recommendations, convenient gift-wrapping options, or gift sets that can improve the gift-seeking experience. Creating a seamless and enjoyable gift selection and delivery process encourages repeat interaction and positive word-of-mouth recommendations among gift seekers.
Win-back customers
These are individuals who were once loyal but stopped engaging with the company and ceased making purchases. The reasons for their withdrawal can range from negative experiences with the business to increasing competition or changing preferences. This group allows you to reconnect with them and re-establish a positive relationship.
Note that when customers who previously stopped buying return to a brand, they should be considered at risk, and you must constantly strive to regain their trust and loyalty. You can use targeted marketing campaigns tailored to their specific needs and preferences to win back these buyers.
Besides, communication plays a leading role in this process, and loyalty experts recommend categorizing returning buyers as part of the "customer at risk" segment. Keep in mind that only by truly understanding the reasons for their leaving and addressing any concerns can you offer personalized solutions to encourage customers to move back.
Smart savers
These are customers whose priority is to find the best deals and maximize savings when shopping. They often pay attention to prices and look for discounts, promotions, or coupon deals. This segment appreciates the value of their money and is likely to compare prices before making a purchase decision.
If you're targeting smart savers, focus on offering competitive pricing, loyalty programs with tangible rewards, and exclusive discounts to satisfy their conscious mindset.
Store X shoppers
This customer segment shows strong loyalty to a particular store or retail chain, referred to as "Store X." They consistently choose this specific store for their purchases, often due to convenience, product selection, or excellent customer service.
These shoppers tend to have strong brand loyalty and are more likely to make repeat purchases. Companies can nurture this segment by maintaining a consistent and positive shopping experience, providing personalized offers, and keeping them engaged through loyalty programs or exclusive benefits.
Business customers/B2B
Business customers, also known as B2B customers, are individuals or organizations that make purchases on behalf of their company. This segment typically has specific requirements, such as bulk orders, customization options, or specialized services tailored to their industry needs.
Building strong relationships, delivering exceptional customer service, and offering competitive pricing and tailored solutions are crucial for attracting and retaining business customers. Also, effective account management, consistent communication, and understanding their unique business needs can help foster loyalty and encourage long-term partnerships.
One-time customers
These customers pose a unique challenge for companies because they typically represent individuals who have engaged in a single transaction but haven't shown subsequent engagement or made repeat purchases.
Understanding this client segment can provide valuable insights into why they don't convert into loyal, repeat buyers — the primary difficulty is convincing them to return and establish a lasting relationship with you. This process requires dedicated communication efforts, especially given your limited knowledge of your customer's transaction history, preferences, and successful approaches.
You can implement aggressive promotional strategies to activate this group and encourage them to buy again. Experimenting with different triggers and identifying initial signals indicating potential interest becomes key. Comparisons with existing customers with a known transaction history can also be helpful in this process.
However, if one-time customers are unresponsive to these efforts, it may mean they aren't inclined to return to your brand. At this point, you must decide how much you want to invest in attracting and retaining customers from this particular group.
Inactive users/lapsed customers
This is a group of customers who have previously interacted with the company but haven't made any recent purchases or shown any signs of activity. They may have stopped engaging, lost interest, or switched to a competitor. Identifying these buyers and implementing a re-engagement strategy is essential to revive their interest.
So, instead of excluding them immediately, you can make a final effort to re-engage them by creating sub-segments, for example, inactive VIPs. Such an inactive VIP sub-segment could include previously highly active users who made frequent purchases and had a strong relationship with your brand. Use the shared history and experiences between your organization and these customers to entice them back and regain their interest in what you offer.
Summary
The "Ready-to-use loyalty segmentation templates" provides valuable insights for businesses aiming to optimize customer loyalty strategies. By leveraging these segments, companies can tailor their marketing efforts, enhance customer experiences, and drive long-term growth.
Understanding and targeting light, medium, and heavy users, high-value customers, loyal advocates, new customers, and various other segments can help businesses maximize lifetime value, foster brand loyalty, and increase revenue. This document serves as a valuable resource for organizations looking to navigate the complex landscape of customer loyalty and cultivate lasting customer relationships. Feel free to use it to create more data-oriented groups of clients.
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The resource is an extension of "A Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Loyalty Segmentation." We strongly encourage you to read that guide as well.
