Then You Finally Get There!

The customer works really hard ... buying stuff at 40% off, earning rewards, doing the hard work.

I mean, you keep giving the customer points and the customer redeems the points and the machine keeps rolling along. Shouldn't there be an end and a new beginning? Remember Elaine on Seinfeld and her sub card ... each 23 subs and you get a ... 

... and then you start over.

One of the things I learned back in the 2005ish timeframe at Nordstrom was the power of having a "Super Bowl" for the loyal customer. The customer did all this hard work during the year, and if the customer spent $750 the customer was invited to the Anniversary Pre-Sale. It was our Super Bowl, and the customer got to pre-select merchandise, waltz into the store on day one of the event while the commoners were fighting for whatever we had on the sale floor, pick up her order, and walk out of the store while the commoners were shopping.

I remember quantifying something like a $20,000,000 lift that came from this tactic. Just a stupid amount of sales and profit, and it cost us nothing. It probably cost us less than the free subs that Elaine's sub brand had to pay for.

Your loyal customers deserve an annual Super Bowl, an event that "rewards" the customer for having a great year.

You are a smart marketer ... you aren't some wonky Lemonhead giving double and triple points that can be redeemed for 50% off instead of 40% off. Be creative. What is your Super Bowl at your brand? Please don't say it is Cyber Monday.