Q2 Round-Up: New Features & Enhancements to Boost Customer Loyalty with Influence.io's Latest Innovations and Improvements for eCommerce Brands"
After a great start to 2023, it’s time for a Q2 round-up, where we take a look at some of the innovative work of our development team, and what it means to you as an Influence.io customer.
Influence.io came out of beta this January. Since then, our developers have been busy behind the scenes, working on new features and updates to both improve performance and enhance usability. Here’s a look at our Q2 improvements, and how they can help you engage and retain a loyal customer base:
Points for purchases isn’t the only way to reward customers for their loyalty. Plenty of other opportunities exist, and one of our earliest updates was designed to help you take advantage of them.
You can now encourage engagement with your brand on a deeper level by awarding points for things like social actions (likes, shares, follows etc.), for birthdays, and for reviews and UGC.
It’s an effective way to show you value non-transactional interactions and drive repeat purchases - and as a bonus, you increase brand visibility in the process.
We know how frustrating it can be when a customer receives points for a purchase only to return it. That’s why we introduced the Automatic Points Subtraction feature.
When you switch this feature on, the relevant amount of points are deducted from a customer's loyalty account when they receive a refund for one or more products purchased.
That means you’ll no longer give away points for free. It also means you’ll encourage considered purchases and lower return rates.
Running a unified loyalty program across online and offline sales is a piece of cake with our Shopify POS integration.
By installing our Shopify POS tile, you’ll be able to access your Influence.io dashboard directly from the Shopify POS app.
Whether in a brick-and mortar store, or at a pop-up shop or event, you’ll be able to view a customer’s points balance, apply discounts and redeem rewards on their behalf - creating a seamless loyalty experience whether they’re shopping with you in person or through your eCommerce store.
_waifu2x_photo_noise2_scale.png)
Awarding points for customer reviews is a win-win. The customer has a way to build up their balance without spending money, and you build up your review count to increase buyer confidence.
What you want to avoid though is review spam - customers leaving multiple reviews on the same product in quick succession just to earn points. That’s what the Earn Rule Cooldown feature is for.
It lets you set customizable cooldown periods for reviews left on a single product to prevent potential abuse of the system. Separate cooldown periods can be applied to individual products and for any review type, be it a written review, a photo or a video.
For greater flexibility in how you reward loyalty, we introduced Shopify Gift Cards to Influence.io, meaning customers can now redeem these cards in exchange for loyalty points.
Why offer this as an option? Higher perceived value for one. Say a customer exchanges 400 points for a £50 voucher - it feels like they’re getting more by way of reward. They can also use these cards in combination with other discount codes and across multiple orders.
The Redemption Rate Graph is a simple but powerful feature that helps you optimize your loyalty program.
Located in your Influence.io dashboard, this live graph gives you an overview of how often customers are redeeming rewards.
It allows you to easily track and analyze patterns in customer behavior, gauge the effectiveness of your program, and make data driven decisions to enhance loyalty and satisfaction.
You can never have too much data. That’s why, along with the Redemption Rate Graph, we also rolled out Engagement Analytics.
By leveraging this feature, you can track key metrics like customer interaction, point accumulation and overall program success. Use this insight to fine-tune your incentives, communications and rewards to drive higher participation.
The Shopify Plus Checkout Widget creates a simple and convenient redemption process for the customer. When they reach the checkout page, they’ll be able to see their points balance and apply a chosen number of points towards their purchase.
It contributes to a more personalized shopping experience and encourages loyalty members to take advantage of their rewards - increasing redemption rates and driving customer satisfaction.
Your experience with our product matters. We’re dedicated to building a user-friendly solution, packed with innovative features that help your business grow, and we’re always eager for feedback on where we can do better.
If you have any ideas on where our focus should be next, we’d be happy to hear your thoughts.
Whilst it’s true that Influence.io is a relatively young solution, we’re proud to say we’re already pushing boundaries, and firmly on the way to becoming the loyalty platform of choice for growing eCommerce brands. Not using Influence.io yet? Explore the platform with our free trial.