You know how and why loyalty marketing works. You’ve researched and compared loyalty marketing programs. You’ve chosen the right system for your business, and you’ve set up an enticing rewards structure. Now, how do you get as many people as possible to participate? You spread the news! Here are six foolproof ways to promote your loyalty program:

1. Thoroughly train employees to promote your rewards program to every customer

Your employees are your loyalty program’s most important promoters – If they don’t get the word out and strive to sign up every customer, your program will struggle to survive.

It doesn’t require much more than a launch meeting, and frequent updates to tell your staff about the program. However, you should ensure your employees are thoroughly educated on the following:

• Your loyalty program’s rewards structure
• Messaging, auto rewards and/or promotions you’re sending to customers
• Functionality of the app, software or tablet
• Troubleshooting and your loyalty program’s customer support number (if equipment goes haywire)
• “Scripts” or pitches to use to entice customer signups
• Customer objections (to signing up) and how to overcome them
• Frequently asked questions and answers about the program
• Game plans for busy times – Should employees ask every customer to sign up, no matter how long the line?

Follow this guide to ensure your employees are fully prepared.

2. Offer signup & referral incentives

People love getting things for free, and they love sharing that news with friends and family. Offering a signup incentive is one of the best ways to entice customers to join. Give customers more free things for bringing in a friend, and you’ll have even more happy members.

Upon signup, offer a reward instantly, like a free soft drink or coffee, or give new signups a reward to use on their next visit, like “buy one coffee, get one free.”

3. Advertise reward program incentives with displays

While your staff should always encourage signups, you should also add visual cues to the mix to ignite curiosity. The best way to do this is by making a display near your cash register or point-of-sale. Make a small sign, table tent, postcard, or even chalkboard that clearly displays your rewards structure.

When displaying your structure, highlight your signup incentive, quickly explain how people can sign up, and include a breakdown of the points and rewards. Here’s an example of the content you should include:

Get a free soft drink today!

Sign up for our rewards program using the touchscreen at the register and earn free drinks, food, and more.

Earn 1 point for every $1 spent

•  Sign up today = Free Soft Drink
• 20 points = Free Domestic Beer
• 40 points = 20% off purchase
• 60 points = Free appetizer

Having a display at your point-of-sale is also helpful for employees, as they can easily point to it when customers ask questions about how to earn points and what rewards are available.

4. Send an announcement via email or text message to your current customer database

If you already have a customer email or phone number list, alert those customers about your rewards program first. Loyal customers will be the most excited, and they’re 70% more likely to be upsold to make larger purchases.

In your email or text, highlight the signup incentive in your subject line, then in the body, explain how customers earn points and rewards and how to sign up. Here are examples:

Subject line: Get a free [insert item] on your next visit!

Hi there,

Fremont Grill is excited to announce we’re now offering special rewards and discounts to our very best customers!

Next time you visit, sign up for our new reward program using the touchscreen keypad at the register. You’ll get a free soft drink with purchase instantly, and more goodies to come.

Earn 1 point for every $1 spent

Fremont Grill Customer Reward Program

• Sign up reward = Free Soft Drink

• 20 points = Free Domestic Beer

• 40 points = 20% off purchase

• 60 points = Free appetizer

See you soon and thank you for being a loyal customer,
– Fremont Grill Staff

A text message has less words, so mention the benefit (free soft drink) right away, quickly explain how to get it (by stopping by Fremont Grill), and where to learn more about the reward program specifics (on your website, on your Facebook page, or in-store). Here’s an example:

“Want a free soft drink today? Stop by Fremont Grill and we’ll hook you up when you sign up to our new rewards program. Learn more here: fremontgrill.com/rewards.”

5. Post info about your rewards program on your website

People often search your website for hours of operation, location, menu items etc. Catch their attention with an announcement about your loyalty program. The Rock Wood Fired Kitchen posted a banner on the homepage of their website and created a separate landing page explaining the program:

Here’s another example from Colorado Baby, which links to a landing page:

6. Announce and promote your loyalty program on your social media

Social media posts with images garner more engagement; post your rewards program announcement using a killer visual. Use free design programs like Canva or even Microsoft Paint. Be sure to include your rewards structure, and again, highlight your signup incentive/reward.

Because Twitter has fewer words to work with, much like a text message, include only the most crucial information: The signup reward, and where to get more details. Post your image from on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram as well.

Example tweet: Want a free soft drink? Stop by Fremont Grill and we’ll hook you up when you join our new rewards program: fremontgrill.com/rewards

Here are a couple of example tweets from our customers:

Important sidenote: Make your loyalty program memorable by using the same wording and images across all promotions

You may have noticed that each of these six ways to promote your rewards program seem somewhat repetitive, using much of the same words, phrases, or images in all of them. This is on purpose because a customer needs to see or hear something multiple times before they remember it and take an action, whether it’s buying or signing up for something.

With these six ways to promote your loyalty program, you should be signing up and bringing customers back in no time. Be sure to check out what customers really want out of a loyalty program while you’re at it.