Increasing loyalty programme sign-up starts with understanding what drives customers to join and what stops them. This guide covers the key strategies, from simplifying the sign-up process and leveraging mobile apps to building exclusivity and maintaining long-term engagement.
Getting customers to join is the first challenge that all loyalty programmes have to face. Poor loyalty programme sign-up rates signal trouble from the start.
It doesn’t matter how generous your rewards are or how good your user experience is if there are no customers to use them.
But the good news is that most barriers to customers signing up are fixable.
This guide will reveal why customers do not join and ten of the most effective strategies for getting them to do just that. You’ll also learn what a healthy sign-up rate actually looks like for your business.
Before improving your sign-up rate, it helps to understand what is getting in the way. The barriers tend to fall into a few recurring categories.
Fixing these issues does not require a full programme redesign. Often small changes to the sign-up flow, messaging, or incentive structure make a significant difference.
Here are some ways to increase the number of activations or enrolments for your loyalty programme.
Your programme should be an immersive, extended brand experience where your customers can feel an organic, integrated extension of your brand and not some cobbled-on afterthought.
When you interact with programmes like Starbucks Rewards or Nike Membership, whether it’s earning stars for your morning latte or unlocking exclusive access to the latest sneaker drop with your loyalty card, it feels true to the brand.
It feels like something that enriches your overall experience as a consumer rather than just something to get you to spend more money.
To form this emotional bond with your target audience, ask yourself a few questions: What are your brand values and personality? And what makes you stand out from your competitors? What are those qualities and attributes that you can convert into unique loyalty programme features that naturally fit with your brand?
The more authentic and true-to-brand you can make it, the more likely people will sign up.
One of the easiest ways to get people to sign up is to give them some freebies when they do. And let me tell you, there are plenty of ways to do this that can really move the needle on your sign-up rates.
Tempting signup reward: Examples of this kind of reward include gift cards, bonus points, or a discount on the first purchase as a club member.
Tiers: A tiered rewards system based on spending or point accumulation can also be an excellent form of customer appreciation, encouraging them to purchase from you more frequently and spend more over time.
Brand partnerships: Last but not least, don’t overlook brand partnerships. Collaborating with other brands on experiences for your loyalty members can be a powerful lever for driving value in your programme; partnering with businesses whose products complement, but don’t overlap with, your own will ensure that your members have the kind of experiences that are bound to delight them.
Of course, even the most intriguing sign-up gifts won’t do you much good if sign-ups are a nightmare. That’s why the process needs to be as easy and seamless as possible.
Streamline sign-up forms: If your sign-up form is too long, or too confusing, or asks for information you don’t really need, you’re going to end up with a lot fewer new customers—for that exact reason! So go take a look at your sign-up page and see what you can do to make it shorter, simpler, and easier.
For example, do you really need information on credit cards, addresses, and phone numbers up front, or do you only need their email and can ask them for the rest later? Do you allow social sign-on options with Facebook or Google to make it even faster and easier?
Ultimately, the idea is to design the process in such a way that it feels like a no-brainer for your customer to sign up.
If you have a great loyalty programme but don’t promote it well, your customers won’t know about it. And if your customers don’t know about it, does it really matter how great your rewards and benefits are? The short answer is no.
You have a wide range of options to promote your programme:
In store: Make sure you display signage and programme information at checkout, in product displays, and throughout the store. Benefits of joining the programme and a clear call to action should be visible to potential customers.
Dedicated website: Another place to feature your loyalty programme is your own website. Specifically, you can use a landing page that lists the benefits, the sign-up process, and so on. Try to make the page easy to find and navigate, and use catchy images and copy to make the programme look fun and valuable.
Employee advocacy: Don’t underestimate the power of employee advocacy. Encourage your sales assistants and other front-of-house staff to share programme information with customers wherever possible. You can make it a competitive game to see who can sign up the most new members each week or month.
You can promote your programme on social media to create some buzz and attract new members.
Share content: Post about your rewards programme on your social channels. Your content could be customer success stories, testimonials, behind-the-scenes looks at how your programme works, etc.
Encourage customer participation and sharing: Another good use of social media is to run promotions and contests that encourage customers to participate and share their experiences with your brand and your loyalty programme. Design a branded hashtag for easy participation.
Activate referrals: Refer-a-friend programmes are another strong form of social proof. Reward customers with bonus points or other incentives when they refer their friends and family to your loyalty programme.
Chances are that many of the names on your email list have already expressed interest in your brand: they are the customers you want to be signing up for your loyalty programme, so make sure to use that information.
Create a targeted email campaign: Let it be just for promoting your newly launched loyalty programme. Use engaging images and copy to highlight the benefits and rewards of joining and provide a simple, easy way to join.
Segment: But don’t just blast the same message to your entire list. Take the time to segment your email list based on customer behaviour and preferences. For example, an elite segment of high-potential customers who have purchased something more than once at your site before might be interested in signing up for a loyalty programme.
Be sure to also always include an obvious call-to-action in every email: a button for subscribers to sign up or learn more about the programme, or a link to a page where they can join the community.
Creating memorable experiences is a very effective way to boost your sign-ups, and there are several great ideas to consider.
Gamification: Who doesn’t love games? The idea of designing your loyalty programme to mimic game mechanics, including earning badges, unlocking accomplishments, competing with other gamers in challenges and hitting your targets on progress bars with coloured achievement bars, is all the rage now.
Research indicates that integrating gamification into marketing can increase customer engagement by up to 47%.
The idea behind gamification is that your loyalty programme feels less like a transactional rewards scheme. By harnessing human instinctive desires to compete, succeed, and socialise within your programme, you can create a programme that attracts new members.
Use customer data: You can use this data to personalise your communications and offers. Collecting data on customer preferences and behaviour allows you to create personalised experiences that align with their likes and needs, as long as you remain compliant with regulations.
This could range from conditional rewards to product recommendations based on past purchases, including emailing them unique deals and discounts on their birthday or anniversary.
Another key strategy for encouraging sign-ups is to promote a sense of community and exclusivity through your programme.
A simple way to achieve this would be to introduce a tiered membership scheme, whereby customers move up the levels and accrue more status and rewards as their engagement and spending increase. You might have a basic ‘bronze’, a mid-range ‘silver’ and a high-rank ‘platinum’ level.
By providing extra value to higher tiers, you can incentivise your members to interact more meaningfully and frequently with your brand: think early access to sales and new product launches, VIP events and/or tailored customer support.
The secret is to make signing up feel and look like joining a community, where participants are valued and linked both to your brand and to each other.
We live in the age of mobile. This is the very reason a mobile loyalty programme would be a powerful game-changer.
A mobile app can simplify the sign-up process by offering social media log-in and mobile number verification in addition to—or instead of—traditional sign-up methods, allowing customers to join and start earning straight away.
Another popular functionality of mobile apps is the use of push notifications to send personalised offers and updates in real time. Keeping your rewards programme at their fingertips is a way to keep your brand top-of-mind and keep app users engaged.
Mobile-exclusive features, such as QR code scanning and location-based offers, can also be employed to enhance the experience for your programme members. For instance, you can incentivise members to scan a QR code in-store by providing reward points or unlocking a special discount only when a member steps into a particular location.
Include all these features in your programme, and you can make a strong case for savvy, modern consumers to sign up.
Send out monthly newsletters highlighting new rewards or emails tailored to the milestones of the programme, such as ‘Congratulations on saving so much’ or even a happy birthday.
Surprise and delight rewards are another effective way to keep your members engaged and excited about your programme. This could be extra bonus points or discounts, free gifts, or access to exclusive experiences.
Lastly, make sure that you continuously gather feedback and refine your loyalty programme based on what you hear.
Survey your existing members to learn why they joined or what might have made them join earlier, and use this data to improve your sign-up processes.
There is no single universal benchmark for enrolment rates in loyalty programmes. They vary considerably by industry, programme type, and the way sign-up is measured. That said, some useful reference points exist.
In terms of sector benchmarks, here is how that breaks down:
| Industry | Typical Enrolment Rate |
| Travel and hospitality | 50% to 70% |
| Retail | 30% to 50% |
| Healthcare | 25% to 45% |
| E-commerce | 20% to 35% |
Source: Umbrex
A practical way to set your own benchmark is to track your sign-up rate against your active customer base, and then monitor activation (the point at which a new member takes their first action in the programme).
Looking at the raw sign-up numbers can be misleading.
Deloitte research found that while consumers enrol in an average of eight loyalty programmes, they actively participate in only five, with over half engaging with just one programme. That gap between enrolment and participation is a reminder that sign-up is just the starting point.
A healthy programme converts sign-ups into engaged, active members. If sign-ups are strong but engagement sits below 20%, members are likely joining for a quick incentive and then disengaging.
Your redemption rate tells a similar story. Healthy programmes typically see between 20% and 30% of issued points redeemed within any given period, while the global average across all programme types is around 50%.
But if enrolment is high yet loyalty members are spending the same as non-members, your programme’s value proposition likely needs attention.
Increasing loyalty programme sign-up is not about a single fix. It is the result of getting several things right at once: a frictionless sign-up process, compelling incentives, consistent promotion, and a clear value proposition that customers can understand at a glance.
The ten strategies in this guide give you a practical framework to work from. Start by removing the barriers that are costing you the most sign-ups right now, whether that is a clunky sign-up flow, weak visibility, or irrelevant rewards, and build from there.
Do this well and you’ll grow your member numbers. You’ll also build a thriving community of customers who are more engaged, more loyal, and more valuable over time.
A loyalty programme rewards customers for their repeat business, fostering a sense of appreciation and incentivising continued patronage. By offering exclusive benefits, loyalty programmes encourage customers to stay engaged with the brand, ultimately enhancing customer retention and lifetime value.
An effective loyalty scheme offers a combination of exclusive benefits, tiered membership statuses, and a points programme that delivers real value. These features work together to create a compelling and engaging experience that encourages customers to sign up, participate, and remain loyal to the brand.
Businesses can offer enticing incentives such as bonus points upon sign-up, clearly communicate the programme’s value and benefits, and ensure a seamless sign-up process through a mobile app or website. Additionally, showcasing member success stories and leveraging social proof can further motivate customers to join.
Yes, a well-designed mobile app can significantly improve loyalty programme sign-ups by offering a convenient and user-friendly platform for customers to join, track and redeem points, and access exclusive benefits. By streamlining the sign-up process, mobile apps enhance customer engagement.
By introducing engaging and competitive elements into the programme, it motivates customers to earn points and interact more frequently with the brand. Tapping into customers’ intrinsic desires for achievement and recognition, significantly boosts participation and overall programme success.
A referral programme within a loyalty scheme drives up conversion rates by incentivising existing members to invite new participants. By offering attractive rewards, such as bonus points or exclusive perks, for successful referrals, a referral programme expands the loyalty club’s membership base.
Social media platforms offer an excellent opportunity to promote a loyalty programme, showcase member benefits, share customer success stories, and run exclusive sign-up campaigns. By leveraging the reach and engagement potential of social media, businesses increase programme visibility to get more members.
In paid programmes, customers make a purchase or pay a fee to get rewards, while a mission-based programme rewards customers for completing specific actions. Paid programmes work best for offering immediate value, while mission-based programmes build long-term relationships with customers.
Businesses can leverage their email list to send targeted invitations that highlight the programme’s unique benefits, share member success stories, and provide a seamless sign-up process through direct links. Segmenting email lists and crafting compelling messages encourages more customers to join the loyalty club.
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