Frank Body is an Australian skincare company known for their bold marketing copy and for selling coffee ground scrubs. With a modest starting capital of $5,000 and social marketing strategies, they grew Frank Body into a multi-million dollar skincare brand in a couple of years. While exploring their website to find out what made them so special, their loyalty program really stood out.
It is called ‘Hotel Pink’ and from first glance, definitely looks interesting.
Let’s explore the hotel and find out what makes it so interesting and effective.
1. Hotel Pink has different tier levels, each with more perks and greater discounts.
Hotel Pink is an example of a tiered loyalty program; the higher the tier, the better the rewards. Unlike Sephora’s Beauty Insider, however, you don’t just get rewarded for spending – you also get rewarded for social sharing as well.
Designed around a hotel stay date, it starts from the lobby and ends (hopefully) at the penthouse suite.
All Frank Body customers, or Frankfurts, start at the lobby.
To check-in to the Pool Deck and beyond, Frankfurts will have to refer at least one friend and begin earning points.
Points are earned for each of the following actions: purchasing products, posting a public review and sharing the brand on social media.
Frankfurts will receive more discounts when they reach higher levels and are entitled to try out exclusive product samples before they even hit the stores. They will also be able to enter competitions to win themselves major prizes.
Supercharge customer engagement with gamification: A tier system that includes exclusive sneak peeks and discounts works really well due to its gamification nature. Customers are given the psychological pull to strive to get to the next level. This keeps them engaged with the brand for a potentially longer period of time, and with more drive!
2. Why is Frank Body’s Hotel Pink loyalty program so effective?
A. Hotel Pink is designed with consideration to their customers’ every possible interaction with the brand – buying, sharing, reviewing, referring.
Time to start earning those points!
Incentivizing these actions encourage greater active participation in a proactive way, through gamifying the experience with points and level, rather than just emailing them to do so.
Leaving reviews – What’s smart is how they are giving the most points to those who leave a review, usually the most difficult action to ask for! We have all had those occasions where a pop-up tells us to leave a review if we are enjoying an app. Who can put their hand on their heart and say they always leave a review when that happens?
Sharing – Frank Body also takes into consideration the ideal frequency someone should share something they like on social media without becoming too spammy and be ignored. Hence, Frankfurts can only get points once a month for sharing on Facebook and Twitter.
User-generated content – Frank Body encourages customers to upload photos of themselves covered in their coffee scrubs. They achieve this by holding monthly challenges and lucky draws on social media, where lucky uploaders can win themselves Frank Body products.
Incentivizing these customer actions provides a win-win situation for customers and the brand. Customers can earn points to advance to the next level, while the brand receives genuine reviews free marketing. Customer reviews act as a form of social proof, which can be very powerful in customer acquisition.
B. Letting fans feel like they are part of the inner circle with exclusive perks, competitions, and discounts.
Join competitions exclusive to fans like yourself!
In an article we wrote about Frank Body and identity marketing, customers buy from a brand they feel that they relate to and through which they can express themselves.
Thus, it makes sense to reward those who are fans of your brand with a special treatment that others can never attain. Giving insider perks only exclusive to them makes them feel even closer to the brand. It also gives them way more bragging rights – which they will use to buy and spread more love!
Giving higher referral rewards as they progress through the levels also encourages consistent referrals. This is more effective than giving a flat discount rate or a one-off discount. Again, this plays into the notion of exclusive perks of being loyal to the brand.
As Professor Jonah Berger, an expert in viral messaging found out, one of the reasons why people share things is because it gives them social currency. People enjoy sharing things online that makes them feel good. By giving customers different tiers to unlock, it gives them that ego boost, and will be something they want to share online!
C. The concept of a hotel is fresh and fits into the Frank persona of a guy pampering the ladies.
Frankfurts are people who can appreciate Frank Body’s brand copy and enjoy reading Frank’s playful messages on the packaging.
The Hotel Pink design plays further into that brand narrative, and fans who find it cute will share it with their friends.
Unsurprisingly, narratives are another viral element that Professor Jonah Berger researched. We are naturally drawn into stories, and we will share those that we really enjoy with those around us.
Having your brand focus wrapped around a compelling narrative is a great way to ensure people will share as well as remember it.
D. Minimize all the effort needed for customers to share.
An easy way to share referral links
Frank Body makes sharing social media and emails a breeze. All customers have to do is import contacts, hit send, and that’s it!
But that’s not all.
Be it sharing via email or social media, Frank Body’s template messages sound so natural and cheeky. Even if it doesn’t sound like you, you probably wouldn’t change it!
Removing customer effort is important for ensuring they will do it, and not be frustrated in doing so. How often have we encountered a form with so much information to fill that we simply give up and close the window?
3. How can you apply this to your own loyalty program?
Treat your customer like a VIP
Before you consider what specific terms you should add to your own loyalty program, ask yourself again its purpose.
- Treat every customer like your brand influencers – Encourage them to express themselves online, and reward them the more they do it! Incentivize customer actions like user-generated content, reviews, shares, referrals.
- Reserve special rewards to thank your most ardent fans – Everyone loves feeling special, especially the truly special ones! Pre-launch promos, exclusive giveaways, and big discounts are great ways to make them feel special. The more special they feel, the more they will share!
- Bear in mind what your customers love about you – If customers love your brand because of your unique brand narrative, make sure they get to show that aspect to their friends. Email templates and pre-typed social media messages are great ways to help them express their inner you.
