Data-driven loyalty drives sales for hydration leader

This article was published prior to LiveArea's acquisition by and integration into global agency Merkle

Drop a Nuun tablet in 16 ounces of water and watch it go to work. The fizzy, colorful tablets pack a potent punch, blending flavorful botanicals with electrolytes, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatories for clean, healthy hydration.

Tee up a data-driven loyalty program for the brand and see sales rise. That’s what happened at Nuun as a result of a tiered loyalty program LiveArea created that rewards purchases with points and encourages referrals, social media activation, and more.

Teaming with loyalty partner Yotpo, LiveArea designed a program that not only starts conversations with customers but creates and reinforces an emotional connection to the brand. Research shows that 95% of purchasing decisions are made by emotions. To help achieve this connection, customer data was analyzed to understand personas and the customer journey, and the program was tailored with this data.

The results are effervescent. Since rolling out the program, Nuun has seen customer lifetime value triple. Nearly 13% of customers referred to the program through other users have made purchases since joining – a success by any measure.

In fact, LiveArea received the partner Excellence Award in EMEA from Yotpo. The award recognizes an outstanding agency for boundary-pushing work that elevates client growth, while also honoring the depth of the partnership and expertise in Yotpo implementations.

Nuun's program not only rewards with points. Free shipping, samples of new products, and early access to Nuun-branded merchandise can be earned, too. An ambassador program recruits and features athletes who serve as evangelists for Nuun products. Members of the community include teams and athletes that support, inspire, and motivate each other. This elite group enjoys its own rewards, including product discounts.

Quantitative and qualitative data

This data-driven approach to customer loyalty will help you gain a deeper understanding of your customers. Companies ramping up a loyalty program rely almost exclusively on basic transaction information like frequency of purchase. But this doesn’t tell the fullest story.

Highly successful loyalty programs like Nuun’s are built using a measurement framework that takes into account quantitative and qualitative data capturing meaningful behavioral and emotional data. Combining this data with the customer demographics will allow you to recognize your customers, and understand what motivates them, how to address their needs, and how to reward them.

So, what types of information should you include in your measurement framework? When you think about behavioral data there are several data points to consider. For example, a customer who writes a positive review, or refers a friend, or consistently engages with your brand on social media may be just as valuable as someone who places multiple orders in a year. Yes, it is easy to get lost in the vast amount of data available, so you need to determine what behavioral data is valuable to your business as you measure loyalty.

Customer personas and segments

Once you’ve settled on your measurement framework and start collecting the necessary data you can build out different customer personas and user segments. Personalization is key because what motivates one customer may not work for another. You can then begin to tailor your messaging, offers, and rewards within your loyalty program accordingly.

You can, for instance, unlock exclusive merchandise for customers who value exclusivity. The sky is the limit when it comes to creatively rewarding customers. Remember, no two customers are the same, so you need to leverage data to send the right messages and rewards at the right time. Once you figure this out you will gain traction in your loyalty metrics and, more importantly, turn customers into brand loyalists.

About the author

John Kalinoski is the director of analytics and conversion rate optimization in LiveArea’s performance marketing practice.