Vitamix is mixing loyalty program features and personalization into its email strategy, says Jimmy Wojtila, associate manager of email marketing for the brand manufacturer of blenders and other kitchen electronics. The move is driving more loyalty program members to Vitamix.com to redeem their rewards.

The retailer launched its loyalty program in June 2019 and currently has nearly 120,000 loyalty club members. Vitamix, which uses Adobe Campaign Standard as its email service provider and Movable Ink for email personalization, can see if each customer is part of its loyalty club. Each member is assigned a unique ID, which can automatically pull in that customer’s total points earned over time, how many she has spent over time and how many points she currently has to use. Once a month, Vitamix sends an email with that data to its loyalty club, and reward redemptions spike immediately, Wojtila says. “Last month, we got 2,000 rewards redemptions from that email,” Wojtila says. More redemptions also mean more site visits, Wojtila says.

Members can redeem points for products from several brands that it partners with, such as smoothie, soup and health food company Daily Harvest, and Coconut Bowls, which makes bowls, spoons and straws out of coconut shells and bamboo. Vitamix is working on making those point emails more personalized by including the products each shopper can get with his available points or how many points he needs to unlock other rewards.

Vitamix also ties each consumer’s loyalty ID to the refer-a-friend messages it sends its members. Members receive a “hefty” reward for referring a friend who makes a purchase, he says. In its refer-a-friend emails, Vitamix includes a link that the member can email or share on Facebook or Twitter that will automatically credit the member’s account when a friend clicks that link to make a purchase, Wojtila says.

Other retailers beyond Vitamix are also finding ways to communicate with loyalty club members in a personal way via email. For example, high-end home furnishings brand Jonathan Adler recently hosted an online event available only to its loyalty club members. The brand sent each JA Insider Perks member a private code the customer could enter on the site to access the event. Members who made qualified purchases received 1,000 loyalty points, which amounts to $100 off, says Esme Hovekamp, director of marketing.

Jonathan Adler, which began using email marketing technology firm Listrak in October 2019, has generated an 85.0% increase in traffic from email to its site since employing the vendor. Additionally, conversions from email are up 10.0% and revenue from email has grown 98.0%.

Meanwhile, using Movable Ink, Vitamix also is dynamically changing its emails based on when the shopper opens them. For example, it places countdown clocks for flash sales that update depending on when the shopper views the email. If a shopper opens the message after the sale has ended, it will let her know the promotion is over and suggest other pre-selected products for her to view.

Vitamix, which plans to launch additional new products this year, last month launched its second new item for 2020, the FoodCycler FC-50 countertop composter that turns food scraps into fertilizer. Vitamix is using Movable Ink to show shoppers in real time the number of shoppers currently viewing the product based on how many have clicked to view it from the promotional email.

While email isn’t as sexy as TikTok or Instagram, retailers are still finding value in the long-standing marketing channel and plan to continue investing in it. 54.0% of retailers spend more than 10% of their marketing budgets on email, according to a Digital Commerce 360 survey of 105 online retailers conducted in May and June 2020. Additionally, 76.0% say email is somewhat to very effective, 53.0% list email as one of their top three customer acquisition marketing tactics and 58.0% plan to spend more on email next year.