When it comes to customer loyalty, used bookseller ThriftBooks stands apart. The brand’s ReaderRewards program has driven a 31% increase in active shopping members and a 29% increase in average basket size.
So, how did ThriftBooks pull it off?
It differentiated its loyalty program by creating imaginative events and promotions that endeared customers to the brand.
Let’s dig deeper into how ThriftBooks crafted memorable experiences around its commodity of used books to build a wildly successful and emotionally resonant loyalty program.
Free books over discounts
ThriftBooks customers love affordable books. But what they love even more is free books, so the company built its loyalty program around satisfying that desire in a straightforward way. The dollars a customer spends earn points, and those points earn them free books.
The company made the program even more enticing by tiering the program so that customers who spend more earn more points and can redeem them for higher-value books.
For example, members enter the program as “Readers,” getting eight points per dollar spent, and when they earn 500 points, they get a free book valued up to $5. But once they spend $75, members become “Bookworms,” earning nine points per dollar and can trade their 500 points for a free book with a $6 value. At the top tier, members who spend $150 gain “Literati” status, getting 10 points per dollar and the value of their free book climbs to $7.
Leveraging what customers love provides an incredible incentive. ThriftBooks’ promotions drove a 14% increase in membership and a whopping 34% increase in Literati members.
The lesson? Understanding your customers and giving them the perks you know they value drives loyalty.
Magical brand experiences
For its 20th anniversary, ThriftBooks took a page from the Willy Wonka playbook and created a contest giving customers a chance to see the inner workings of a ThriftBooks processing center. Five winners were flown to the warehouse for a private tour of the facility and were invited to take “as many free books as they could carry home.”
ThriftBooks ended up giving away hundreds of free books and shipping them for the customers, so they didn’t have to cram them in their luggage. It was a thrilling event that winners raved about on social media.
Events like this drive loyalty because customers enjoy getting exclusive access to the brands and products they love, especially when it’s through personally tailored experiences. ThriftBooks’ warehouse tour contest was successful because it tapped into the emotional bond customers have with the brand and expanded their sense of community.
Imaginative giveaways
In addition to its warehouse visit initiative, ThriftBooks rolled out a special 20th-anniversary collectible bookmark program that captured the whimsy and imagination of its members.
On the front of each “moodmark” was a word that captured a feeling or genre related to reading, such as “Romantic,” “Thrilling” and “Ominous.” On the back was one-sixth of an illustration called “The Land of ThriftBooks,” an imaginary home for all ThriftBooks customers.
The company released a new moodmark every month for six months and gave them to all customers who purchased a book during that month. The moodmarks became a viral sensation, with customers in ThriftBooks’ social media group actively trading moodmarks and canvassing fellow customers for ones they missed.
ThriftBooks’ “moodmarks” program illustrates how a special promotion involving collectibles or “puzzle pieces” can capture the imagination of members while fostering emotional ties to the brand and its surrounding community. It’s a low-barrier-to-entry opportunity to inspire shoppers in a novel way that can set your brand apart.
Extra love for key communities
When ThriftBooks learned that many of its customers were teachers buying books for their classrooms, it created ThriftBooks 4 Teachers, a special loyalty program for them. The program grants all teachers instant Literati status in the rewards program and gives them special perks such as a daily “buy four get the fifth free” offer.
Because ThriftBooks 4 Teachers provides extra value, the company uses the SheerID Open Verification Platform to verify that only customers who were teachers could join. In addition to protecting the offer, verification makes the offer truly exclusive, which expresses the company’s high regard for teachers and gives them even more incentive to engage.
ThriftBooks also supported teachers by holding a contest where they could win up to 30 free books for their classrooms. The company personalized the prizes even more by allowing winners to handpick the books based on their students’ interests and grade levels.
The contest was a terrific way for the bookseller to give a key audience some extra love. It’s a smart strategy, too. Rewarding a deserving community like teachers generates tremendous brand awareness and goodwill. For ThriftBooks, it also nurtures the love of books for countless children who are the next generation of ThriftBooks’ customers.
While it seems like every loyalty program gimmick has been done before, it is still possible to wow your customers with emotionally resonant offers and experiences. ThriftBooks’ approach teaches marketers to know their customers, leverage what they love and get creative.
