Strengthening Fly By Jing’s DTC sales with an engaging loyalty program

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As Fly By Jing expanded from a scrappy DTC business to a major omnichannel brand, direct sales tapered off. Erin Choi, its Director of Digital Product, says this is a common CPG issue because website sales can’t compete with wholesale volume.

Still, Fly By Jing’s long-time, loyal customers were avid fans of the brand. Boosting sales with this core set of fans promised healthy profit margins and the ideal product-testing group. So the team wanted to give them reasons to buy directly from the website by combining retail-level convenience and exclusive benefits into a single loyalty program.

There was just one problem: Fly By Jing’s previous loyalty solutions, including a traditional subscription program and points-based rewards, fell short of producing the repeat revenue they hoped for. They identified a few drawbacks of these programs:

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• Subscription limitations: People subscribed to get the product discount and then immediately canceled. Some didn’t want to commit to the automatic charges when they weren’t sure how much chili crisp they would need.
• Low engagement: Customers didn’t want to do the math to understand their rewards, and delayed gratification didn’t promote purchases. The right loyalty program would offer obvious value, enrapturing the brand’s most loyal fans and nurturing new customers toward brand loyalty.
• Ineffective cost-to-value ratio: The old rewards program had three tiers, but customers didn’t get exclusive sales or point multipliers until they spent $150. As Erin says, “That’s a lot of chili crisp.” Instead, they wanted to provide immediate value to start converting casual buyers into loyalists right away.

They knew that implementing a new loyalty program in-house would require significant technical resourcing and effort, so they began looking into solutions. That’s when they discovered Inveterate and its membership-based solutions — and knew they were right for the job.

Launching a flexible membership program that provides immediate value

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The Inveterate team put in 100% effort toward clearing every hurdle from day one — even helping Fly By Jing implement a headless CMS to run the best promotions. Then Inveterate tackled one of the chili crisp brand’s central priorities: encouraging subscribers to move to the new membership program.

To do this, Inveterate helped them set up the Tastemaker Club, where for just $25 a year, customers enjoy exclusive perks, including:

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• Flexible discounts: Members are rewarded with 20% off all online purchases — without the constraints of subscription.
• Members-only bonuses: Tastemakers are the first to try new products and receive exclusive seasonal gifts.
• Free shipping: Club members also enjoy free shipping on all orders, so the program’s value is always front and center.

These instant perks generated an exciting volume of sign-ups off the bat — and over half of their existing subscribers migrated to a membership. Fly By Jing customers saw the immediate value of the membership, and they can still order on the cadence that suits them best — they’re not forced to choose between a subscription or a one-time purchase.

Generating $530k+ in member spend over two years

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Today, Fly By Jing’s Tastemaker Club has grown to over 4,000 paid members who have bought more than $530,000 worth of chili crisp and other products directly from the brand. What’s more, members have much higher repeat purchase rates than non-members, including:

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• 82% increase in member order frequency
• 130% increase in gross revenue per member, from $42 to $97
• 2x orders for members vs. non-members

Inveterate’s loyalty solution helped Fly By Jing grow DTC sales with a program that’s less costly to maintain and makes it easier to nurture and grow customer relationships. With new members joining daily, the estimated impact per member continues to grow. Inveterate’s impact on Fly By Jing is just beginning.