Most store owners we talk to have mixed feelings about customer clubs. Many people probably see customer clubs as a significant cost in both establishment and operation. Besides, this is yet another channel where you are forced to give additional discounts and offers to customers. Here, however, it is important to look at it from a larger perspective, as well as look at what you can use the customer club for. The customer club is of course largely about building loyalty. But this can be done in other ways than just giving discounts and exclusive offers; namely by offering a fantastic personalized shopping experience that surpasses what your competitors can offer.

The customer club truly becomes useful when you have built a loyal user base that logs in to your website when they shop. In association with registration and adaptation of the customer club, you will suddenly have access to key information that can be used to offer a good and modern shopping experience. In e.g. a shoe store you can ask about gender and shoe size. This can be combined with other data such as purchase history (in the physical store and online store) and click / view history. The result is that customer club members who visit the shoe store only see products, offers, and suggestions that match. A customer could then meet a front page that consists of only men's shoes that are in stock in size 43. Brands that the customer has shopped or viewed before, are weighted highest. Shoe care products can also be suggested based on which shoes the customer bought 6 and 12 months ago.

The cost of establishing a customer club, providing an introductory discount, and maintaining the customer base must therefore be seen as an investment to offer a personalized shopping experience that provides increased conversion rates! Besides, it is probably not long before a personalized shopping experience is the minimum expectations of a modern e-commerce customer.

There are also different views on what customer clubs are and what they should include. How to define a customer club and its content will probably vary a lot from store to store and must be tailored to the individual customer journey. Therefore, we have developed a solution that enables us to tailor the perfect solution to each store. Customer clubs include much more than sending out newsletters!

Before you begin - Define your goal and plan

The first step in starting a successful customer club is to define what a customer club is for you and your business, and what you think a customer club should consist of. What can you offer your members? What benefits should they get? The offer you choose should give customers an advantage that makes them want to join your customer club. How do you differentiate yourself from the competition?
There is a wide range of solutions - it is important to think about what the best fit for your business is. Many people use, for example, point based systems, but this does not necessarily mean that this is the right choice for all types of businesses. Does your business encourage short-term and frequent purchases, or are we talking about rarer and longer-term purchases? Regardless of which solution you choose - keep in mind that it should be easy for the customers.

Furthermore, it is important to think about how to make the customer club visible in your online store. Do you want a large or small focus on the customer club? How much space should the customer club take? An important point is that the customer club is visible to the customers so that they see what benefits they get by being a member. It's all about getting users to sign in, so you can sell items to unique individuals instead of a large undefined mass.

Establish a good registration process

The customer club must contain a registration form with active consent for registration. Here, different forms are used among online stores, and the amount of information that must be entered varies. It is common to have a checkbox for whether you want offers and information by e-mail and/or SMS. It must be easy for customers to navigate to the registration form in the online store. The same applies to the customer club login function. Many people prefer to use a user icon for login in the web page header, in this way it is always easily accessible.

To succeed with a customer club, it is also important to think about how you can get members and non-members to log in or register at check-out in the online store. It is an advantage that non-members also have the opportunity to register in the shopping cart/checkout if they buy an item that has a membership price. Several online stores solve this by giving customers a choice in the shopping cart/checkout whether they want to register or proceed as a guest. To recruit even more to the customer club, it may also be an idea to give non-members this opportunity when they buy items that do not have a membership price.

Offer a good "my account" page

Having a personal page for members of the online store is important for a successful customer club. In this way, they get an overview of their membership. Such a page often contains various functions such as personal information, consent, and order overview. Here you can make it easy for customers to edit their information and unsubscribe if desired.

Give customers a seamless checkout experience

Logged-in users should always have easy access to information about which customer club offers are available, and it must be easy to use them. At checkout, it should be easy to activate/use the available offers. The user must also receive simple and good feedback on what benefits have been used and that they have received the discount or benefits they have been promised earlier in the shopping process. It's all about clear communication and facilitation of functionality.

The link between the physical store and online store

If you have a physical store in addition to an online store, it is important to adapt the customer club accordingly. Which solution works both in the physical store and in the online store? How can you create a link between these? Many customer clubs offer the opportunity to use membership benefits both in-store and online by registering a mobile number in the physical register or logging in as a member of the online store. It is also important that customers can register as members in the physical store. We have extensive experience in integrating various third-party systems to ensure that the customer gets a consistent experience. Make sure to give the customer an equally good experience wherever they start and do not let technical limitations make the processes difficult to use, or difficult for you to utilize for sales purposes.

Contact us if you need help developing or improving your existing customer club!