Value of loyalty points

[Laura@FYP]

Im sure this has been discussed before, but we currently have our loyalty points set at 5p but are seriously considering reducing the value. We get a lot of customers who place large orders and come back with £10+ worth of loyalty points, spend them on a single item and bail, which does bug me a little bit. Im pondering whether it is the concept of loyalty points rather than their actual value necessarily that encourages people to return...

What value do you have your set at and have you edited their value in past? If so, did you notice any significant consequences?

I know changing their value will affect pending points also, but that shouldnt be too much of a problem as we are going to give our customers plenty of prior warning.

Is it possible to set values at say 2.5p? I seem to recall when we first set up we tried adding a decimal point, but it wouldnt accept it?

Laura

[icegems]

Hi Laura

We set the value high purposely to encourage repeat custom - mainly because we still make money as they very rarely have enough to cover a whole item. Only once did that ever happen but if I'm honest they had spent so much with us in the first place I honestly couldn't begrudge them a freebie (although at the time I did feel a bit peeved!). We actually give 10p in the £ but we always used to give returning customer discounts of 10% when they added a code so it is the same thing really.

I don't think you can do half percents I'm sure that has been asked before.

[KayJay]

We used to offer 1p and they had to spend £100 to use the points. We've just changed the value and threshold as it wasn't much of an incentive and not many people used them or mentioned that they were a bonus to have. Now they are worth 3p and they can use them after spending £35. It's too early to tell whether it will increase sales or not.

[petad]

We've recently upped ours from 3p to 5p - too early to tell if it's made a difference. My view is that it is mainly repeat customers who use them, who would probably come back anyway, so I'm not convinced that offer a big incentive. Maybe at 10p a point?