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When Lowe’s launched its updated loyalty program for professional customers last month, the company knew what features of the loyalty program were working. It designed MyLowe’s Pro Rewards to remove unnecessary aspects without sacrificing what customers liked.
"We had the benefit of having a great program that acquired a lot of members, but we had a lot of value packed into it that our pros just really weren't realizing,” Amanda Bailey, VP of customer marketing and loyalty at Lowe’s, told CX Dive.
Lowe’s overhauled its pro and DIY loyalty programs by stripping away complexity while maintaining their core value proposition.
For it’s pro loyalty program, Lowe’s studied how its pro customers interacted with the preceding MVP Pro Rewards & Partnership program. The retailer determined that the rewards and tools still needed to be there, but it streamlined how customers accessed them.
The company also took learnings from its DIY customer-focused MyLowe’s Rewards program, which rolled out nationwide last March. The positive response to the DIY loyalty relaunch, which also emphasized simplicity, provided inspiration for MyLowe’s Pro Rewards.
“How can we take the best of both worlds to create a great experience and value proposition for all of our customers?” Bailey said. “That was really the advantage and the learning that we had in bringing this new pro program to life.”
Both loyalty programs offer members points for every dollar spent. The points can be redeemed for rewards like MyLowe’s Money, which offers credit toward eligible purchases, and members that spend enough with the company can reach higher tiers with greater benefits.
Finding Lowe’s flavor
While many customers are seeking simple loyalty programs, the best offerings manage to stand out with unique, but unobtrusive, features.
For example, immediate benefits just for signing up are table stakes in modern loyalty, according to Bailey. They are easy to understand and a great incentive to get a customer’s foot in the door, but they won’t help the brand or the program stand out.
Lowe’s looked to its customers and their relationship to the business to strike the proper balance between simple but common and unique but complex features in a loyalty strategy.
“We could have done a lot of different things with the loyalty program, and every retailer has a little bit of a flavor,” Bailey said. “But what we really remain focused on is: What makes your experience with Lowe's different? How do we serve these customers?”