LEGO© is so much more than a toy brand. The colorful tiny blocks are a global phenomenon and have opened doors for endless creativity for children and adults alike. Starting in 1949 with simple plastic bricks, LEGO© has continuously evolved, adding new products to its collection.
One notable addition was the LEGO© Minifigure—small posable figures that brought the toys to life. This revolution opened doors for other creative brands. Brands like The Minifig Co., a DTC brand that sells premier custom-printed LEGO© minifigs, minifig accessories, and building kits.
The Minifig Co. founder, Garett Milks, shares his experience building a passionate community of loyal LEGO© lovers. With a loyalty program powered by Smile.io, The Minifig Co. has encouraged customers to shop with them over competitors.
- Garett Milks, Founder of The Minifig Co.
The Challenge: earning customer loyalty in a competitive niche market
As a custom LEGO© minifig seller, The Minifig Co. operates in a competitive market, competing with a giant toy brand. Customers have a variety of brands from which they can choose, so providing an incentive for repeat purchases is vital. That’s where The Minifig Co.’s loyalty program comes in handy.
The Minifig Co offers 1 Stud (point) per dollar spent on purchases. Shoppers can also earn points by signing up, celebrating a birthday, or interacting on social media. Customers can then cash their points in for a variety of rewards like discounts on future purchases or exclusive free products like drink koozies, pint glasses, fanny packs, and more.
“The items we offer are generally exclusive to the rewards program, so everyone feels special using points for them,” Garret explains. “We usually brainstorm things people may use that we can have branded or off-the-wall quirky items that are too hard to pass up. Like the fanny packs.”
Jonathan Roque
The Solution: Make retention obvious with a seamlessly embedded loyalty program
The Minifig Co. configured a motivating rewards program to attract customers to its store over competitors. But simply having the program is not enough to attract, engage, and retain customers.
Not only does The Minifig Co. offer motivating rewards, but they’ve made the program hard to ignore by embedding loyalty content throughout its website.
Points information on product pages
No matter what product a customer is browsing, they’ll find all the relevant information they need. This includes how many points they would earn by purchasing the product.
The Minifig Co. uses Smile.io App Blocks to seamlessly embed points information onto every product page. The branding matches the online store’s theme to enhance, not disrupt, the customer experience.
The App Block also seamlessly uses the store’s custom points currency name, Studs, and automatically calculates the points based on the product’s price. With no manual effort, The Minifig Co. can easily keep its loyalty program information relevant on every product page with a few clicks of a button.
Points information on the customer account page
The Minifig Co. makes points front and center again on customer account pages. Since Smile.io automatically integrates with Shopify customer accounts, shoppers can find all their loyalty program information on their store account page.
When customers view their individual store accounts, they’re greeted by a bright yellow message telling them how many points they have, encouraging them to redeem them, and guiding them to learn what they can redeem.
When a customer clicks on the “Ways to redeem” button, the loyalty program panel automatically opens and reveals all the rewards they can redeem and how close they are to the next reward.
Integrating loyalty program information into a critical touchpoint in the customer journey is a great way to encourage reward redemption and motivate customers to make another purchase.
The Outcome: 52% YoY growth in rewards redemption rate
The Minifig Co. is cashing in on the value of embedded loyalty content. It’s evident from a user experience point of view how these prominent reminders are helpful.
Using the embedded content, The Minifig Co. has achieved impressive results with its loyal customers:
- 52% increase year-over-year in its rewards redemption rate.
- Active loyalty program participants spend an average of 57% more per order.
- 893% more total average orders from customers who redeem rewards.
These impressive lifts in rewards redemption rates, average order values, and total orders indicate that customer retention pays off.
The Minifig Co. team puts the same attention to detail in its loyalty program that it does with its meticulous minifigs. After nearly a decade of trendsetting for LEGO© lovers, The Minifig Co. isn’t slowing down any time soon.
