Why Smart Loyalty Programs Prioritize Incremental Revenue Over Activity Alone

Many programs focus on rewarding social media shares, likes, reviews, or email signups. While these activities have their place, they often fail to demonstrate ROI, drive incremental revenue, or build lasting brand loyalty.

Loyal customers aren’t just liking your posts and opening your emails — they’re continually choosing to shop your brand instead of a competitor when shopping your category; that’s the measurable impact of loyalty. Loyal customers buy more frequently, explore more of your product catalog, and shop outside of seasonal sales. The purpose of any loyalty program should be getting more value from different groups of customers.

That’s why Inveterate’s loyalty programs are built around tangible rewards that shift behavior. When your program celebrates behaviors that fuel growth, everyone wins.

Activity-based programs don’t shift customer behavior (or your revenue)

Activities like quizzes and social media posts create buzz, but the impact on customer behavior is minimal. Why? Custom event triggers (including clicks and shares) don’t directly incentivize your customers to spend. As a result, your efforts don’t move the needle on incremental value — and they don’t incentivize customers to choose your brand vs a competitor, they don’t increase wallet share, or drive incremental revenue.

Plus, fragmented audit trails make linking customer behavior to revenue difficult. Will the email address from a quiz opt-in lead to a sale? Can you be sure which customer event triggered a social media post? While the questions pile up, your acquisition costs keep increasing.

So what’s the solution? A loyalty program with tangible rewards that shift behavior.

Loyalty programs that shift behaviors increase LTV

When a loyalty program shifts behavior, it means the benefits are successfully getting customers to spend more than they did before joining. This looks different for a first-time buyer than an already loyal customer. But there’s room to get more value out of each of those cohorts and the ones in between. As a result, this change boosts lifetime value by prompting more customers to spend larger amounts over an extended period. But how does this work?

Pull-based strategies drive meaningful behavior change

These strategies focus on building a flywheel that keeps customers coming back over and over again. Let’s say you reward a new member with a $10 signup credit. Right away, they’re incentivized to make their second purchase, which directly reduces acquisition costs and increases value.

But customers shouldn’t have to make multiple purchases to see program benefits — so you might encourage future shopping with regular recurring credits. Unlike other rewards (including item-specific flash discounts), pull-based rewards keep driving customers to make the next purchase. These strategies also build customer loyalty and repeat purchases by offering greater reward flexibility.

Tangible rewards create incremental traction

Rewards with direct value, like cashback as store credit, keep customers returning because the benefits are easy to see — in real dollars. Cashback also means instant gratification for your customers — unlike the delayed satisfaction of points-based systems. When each shopping visit yields a quick financial return, spending feels rewarding. AOV increases, and every purchase adds to the rewards pot, reinforcing the habit of choosing your brand over competitors.

Take skincare brand Bambu Earth, for example. While many beauty brands rely on activities like quizzes to collect first-party data and drive sales, they took a different approach — an alternative recurring revenue model that allows customers to shop when they’re ready.

After teaming up with Inveterate, Bambu built a flexible new rewards program. For each customer, a $40 monthly fee was converted to store credit. Credits built up over time and could be used anytime within one year of purchase. This approach gave customers the freedom to shop on their timeline without the rigidity of a subscription, boosting order frequency by 162%.

The result? Bambu Earth’s new loyalty program brought in $739k in incremental gross revenue over nine months. Bambu also saw a 25% increase in ARR.

Versatile memberships increase average order value and volume

Flexible rewards programs meet customers where they’re at as your business scales, developing the relationship at every stage of the customer lifecycle. While cookie-cutter loyalty programs can feel like a quick win with their low barrier to entry and high enrollment, signups are irrelevant if they don’t translate to incremental spend.

That’s why Inveterate offers multiple membership options, including paid memberships, spend-based tiers, free-to-join, and VIP or hidden tier options. With paid memberships, you can quickly boost average order value and volume. Because customers have already invested in your brand, they experience loss aversion, which prompts them to take full advantage of their program rewards.

Plus, you’ll generate a consistent stream of incremental revenue when you reward your most loyal customers — those willing to pay a fee to get members-only prices and premium benefits. This unlocks exponential LTV from your already strong base of repeat shoppers.

When condiment brand Fly By Jing noticed direct sales tapering off after their omnichannel launch, they switched their traditional subscription program to Inveterate’s DTC Shift model. Using pull-based rewards, they targeted their most loyal customers to boost order volume — and it worked. Fly By Jing increased revenue per member by 130% and saw an 82% lift in member order frequency.

Premium perks boost perceived value and loyalty

Members-only experiences and rewards increase customer participation and strengthen brand loyalty. One-off, generic rewards — like a limited-time discount — often aren’t enough to make a loyalty program successful. To truly thrive, your program should offer a mix of perks that deliver a perceived value greater than what customers spend.

As your business grows, you’ll also need to build a perks program that’s fine-tuned for your customers — so you can meet them where they are, offer the benefits they really want, and create lasting connections.

When lifestyle and clothing brand Aviator Nation teamed up with Inveterate to deploy a VIP program, their $39 monthly fee might have felt high for the average customer. But for their customer base, spending on luxury clothing was the norm. The $39 monthly fee felt like a steal — especially when paired with exclusive, members-only product access, same-day order processing, and free shipping.

Inveterate’s loyalty programs motivate revenue-driving behaviors

Unlike one-size-fits-all solutions, Inveterate gives you the tools to build versatile loyalty programs with flexible entry points — from paid memberships and spend-based tiers to free-to-join rewards. Our platform helps you deliver tangible incentives like store credit and cashback that shift customer behavior, not just capture attention.

Designed for incremental growth, our programs boost purchase frequency, AOV, and retention across the entire customer lifecycle. In fact, brands that launch with Inveterate see an average 3x increase in shopping frequency — not just engagement but measurable business impact.

Ready to build a loyalty program that actually grows your bottom line? Book a demo today!