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Our team member posed an interesting question during our latest internal Product Premiere Day: Can badges build loyalty when you strip away attached monetary incentives like points or discounts?
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Badges linked with monetary incentives work because they recognize the customer for their actions, and nudge buyers to perform actions again by rewarding them tangibly. This, in turn, helps with long-term loyalty.
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We understand this and provide the option of linking badges to our incentive suite.
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But if incentive-linked badges were the only way to earn loyalty, companies like Apple Health, or Duolingo, or Blinkit wouldn’t be offering non-monetary badges. So, why do they? Additionally, should you, a transaction-first company, take inspiration and use badges at all?
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All non-transactional badges tug at one or more of the following.
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- Identity: When brands recognize customers for being their unique selves and rewards them for it, fostering a long-term, meaningful relationship.
- Psychological ownership: Wherein customers feel a sense of ownership over the badges they earn and feel connected to the brand
- Status and recognition: Wherein brands help customers look better in front of their peers by providing them social recognition or granting them a symbol of recognizable exclusivity. Customers develop a closer relationship with brands over time.
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And they work incredibly well in the favor of brands.
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Take the case of Spotify Wrapped (a share card and not a badge), for instance.
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Wrapped is not just a marketing ploy by Spotify. Alex Bodman, the brand’s Vice President and Global Executive Creative Director, says they built Wrapped as a loyalty play first.
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Over 60 million users share their Wrapped on social platforms annually. Why? Experts think it’s because users want to be part of the ingroup that shares the cards, yet want to be different from everybody. Spotify’s sharecard design that balances personalization and cross-platform shareability helps. It’s no surprise that the campaign is successful, and several others have tried to create their own versions of the same.
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Blinkit, an Indian e-commerce company, released its year-end Wrapped in December 2023 and featured personalized badges based on their customers’ purchase information.
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Whether or not such campaigns will create an annual phenomenon like Spotify Wrapped is debatable. But the fact that the brand’s users talk about them and show off their brand association is undeniable.
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Should you, a brand operating in verticals like Fuel, Travel, Retail or CPG use badges without any attached incentives?
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We believe yes, if you can tug at the identity of your customers through those badges.
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Here’s some badges that we think will work.
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4. Travel and Hospitality 🛩️
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Capillary helps you create personalized, brand-aligned, share-worthy badges AND deliver them at the right moment to your customers today. Need help with creating them or have questions?
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- Helping you foster long-term customer loyalty always,
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