Did you know this shop has a rewards program?
In a recent Instagram stories poll I found out that about one out of five people knew.
What I saw
Prior to running the above poll, I've noticed two things happening with the program. 1) Fewer and fewer people were making use of rewards, and 2) most people who signed up were using some of the earning methods in a less-than-meaningful way.
The original program would let you earn points for sharing a link on your social accounts and for following Dapper Notes online. With few exceptions, every social share and follow was being immediately retracted as soon as points were earned. I don't mind that people were earning points in the ways that I made available, but I felt like the point of the whole program (excuse the pun) was missed. It no longer served as the meaningful experience I'd set out for it to be.
Two more questions
In addition to finding out how many people actually knew about the rewards program, I also asked two more questions to gauge how useful it was to people, and whether I should get rid of the program altogether.
The final tally indicated that roughly a quarter of the members used or plan to use points:
And it looked like less than a third of you wanted rewards to still be a thing around here:
Weighing in the results
I cannot say why a large majority don't seem to care about loyalty programs. Maybe they don't like stuffing their feeds with links, or perhaps they prefer to compensate independent creators the full amount for their efforts. (I know at least one of you is in camp with the latter group. Thank you for your kind message; you know who you are.) But what I do know is that I care a lot about forging a meaningful relationship with those of you who truly appreciate my craft, and are rooting me on at any given opportunity.
The loyalty program is not going away.
That's right. I created the program in the first place because I wanted to have a chance to reward you for being my best hand in spreading the word on what I'm doing. I want to continue rewarding you, and so I've decided to make some changes that allow for rewards to meet my original vision.
So what's changing?
I'm so glad you asked!
First
I changed the name from "Loyalty Program" to "Rewards". I honestly don't have a great reason for the name change, other than: it just sounds right.
Second
I removed the earning opportunities that were being gamed. I'm no longer awarding points for social sharing or for following. I'd love it of course if you followed my accounts and shared the website with your friends, but you do you and what's comfortable for you.
Third
I adjusted the earning and Rewards values, and added new redemption possibilities up to $150!
Fourth
You can now redeem your Rewards points with no minimum purchase amount.
And finally
I made the referral coupon better. Previously when you referred a friend they'd get $5 off their first purchase of $20 or more. I now doubled the coupon to $10 off their first purchase of $25 or more. I picked this value with care, knowing that a larger discount is more valuable, and that your friend can actually make a nice purchase. A total of twenty-five dollars can be met by adding a Dapper Notes ($15) and an enamel pin ($10), essentially allowing your friend to earn a free pin with their first Dapper Notes purchase.
That's all, folks
Thank you so much for always providing me feedback, and always giving me the drive to experiment and create better work. I'd love to hear what you think about the changes, and if you have any suggestions to further improve meaningful rewards.
Take a look at the brand-new Rewards page, where you can sign up if you're not yet a member, and everything about the program is explained in great detail (including a newly-added TOC section).
