Loyalty Program Glossary (Small Bus

Learn what loyalty fatigue is, how to spot it early, and how to refresh your loyalty program so customers stay engaged, active, and coming back. What Is Loyalty Fatigue? (Signs Your Program Needs a Refresh) A loyalty program is supposed to make customers more excited to come back. But sometimes the opposite happens. Members stop checking their rewards, stop caring about points, ignore your promos, and eventually forget the program even exists. That is loyalty fatigue. Loyalty

Learn what active member rate is, how to calculate it, and why it matters more than total sign-ups when measuring loyalty program performance for small businesses. What Is Active Member Rate? (How to Know If Your Program Is Actually Working) If your loyalty program has 1,200 members but only 180 of them have used it in the last month, you do not really have 1,200 active members. You have 180 active members and 1,020 names sitting in the system. That is exactly why active memb

Learn what a win-back campaign is, when to send one, and how small businesses can re-engage lost customers using loyalty data, email, SMS, and wallet-based offers. What Is a Win-Back Campaign? (How to Re-Engage Lost Customers) A win-back campaign is a targeted message sequence that tries to bring inactive customers back after they stop buying, visiting, or engaging with your business. It is also often called a re-engagement campaign or reactivation campaign. For small busines

What is repeat purchase rate and how do you calculate it? Learn why this loyalty metric matters more than sign-ups for Canadian small businesses, with benchmarks and real examples. What Is Repeat Purchase Rate? (And Why It Matters More Than Sign-Ups) Sign-ups feel good. Repeat visits pay the bills. Every small business owner knows the feeling when a new customer walks in. It's encouraging. It feels like growth. And so most loyalty program conversations end up focused on the s

What is first-party data and how does your loyalty program collect it? Learn why it's the most valuable customer data a small business can own—and how to use it. What Is First-Party Data? The most valuable thing your loyalty program gives you isn't the retention A loyalty program builds visit habits, grows average order value, and reduces churn. All of that is real and measurable. But there's a second output that most small business owners don't notice—and it may be more stra

What is average order value and how does your loyalty program affect it? Learn the formula, benchmarks, and how Canadian small businesses grow AOV with loyalty. What Is Average Order Value? (And How Loyalty Programs Grow It) The per-transaction number that shapes your entire revenue picture Most small business owners know roughly what things cost and roughly what customers spend. Average order value—AOV—makes that "roughly" precise. It's the average dollar amount a customer s

What is purchase frequency and how does it affect your small business revenue? Learn the formula, industry benchmarks, and how loyalty programs grow it fast. What Is Purchase Frequency? (The Loyalty Metric That Drives Revenue) The metric hiding in plain sight Most small business owners have a rough sense of how many customers they serve in a week. Fewer know how often the same customer comes back—and almost none track it with any consistency. That number is purchase frequency

What is customer acquisition cost and how does it compare to retention? Learn the CAC formula, Canadian industry benchmarks, and why a loyalty program delivers better ROI. What Is Customer Acquisition Cost? (And Why Retention Beats It) The number most small businesses optimize for—and shouldn't Ask most small business owners where they spend their marketing budget, and the answer is almost always the same: getting new customers. Flyers, Google ads, social media, promotions, g

What is loyalty program ROI and how do you calculate it for your small business? Learn the formula, the numbers that matter, and how to improve your return. What Is Loyalty Program ROI? (How to Calculate Yours) The question every small business owner should be asking Running a loyalty program costs something—platform fees, reward redemptions, staff time, signage. The question isn't whether it costs money. The question is whether it's making you more than it costs. That's ROI:

What are loyalty tiers and how do they work for small businesses? Learn how to design Bronze/Silver/Gold—or custom-named—tiers that keep Canadian customers coming back. What Are Loyalty Tiers? (And How to Name and Design Yours) Beyond the punch card: why some customers deserve more A stamp card is built on a simple, fair premise: every customer earns the same reward on the same schedule. That works well—and for many small businesses, it's entirely sufficient. But there's a li

What is redemption rate and what does it tell you about your loyalty program? Learn how to calculate it, what a healthy rate looks like, and how to improve it. What Is Redemption Rate? (Your Loyalty Program Scorecard) The one number that tells you if your loyalty program is actually working Most small business owners with a loyalty program track sign-ups. Some track total visits. Very few track redemption rate—and that's a problem, because redemption rate is the single most h

What is churn rate and how does it hurt your small business? Learn how to calculate it, why customers leave, and how loyalty programs fix it for Canadian businesses. What Is Churn Rate? (And How to Fix It with Loyalty) The silent leak in most small business revenue Every business loses customers. Some leave because they moved. Some try a competitor and don't come back. Some simply forget—habit breaks, the routine changes, and your café or salon quietly disappears from their w

What is customer lifetime value and how does it apply to your small business? Learn how loyalty programs increase CLV for Canadian cafés, salons, and restaurants. What Is Customer Lifetime Value? (Why Loyalty Matters) The number that changes how you think about every customer Most small business owners evaluate customers by what they spend today—the size of the transaction at the counter. Customer lifetime value asks a completely different question: what is this customer wort

What is customer retention and why does it matter for small businesses? Learn how loyalty programs drive repeat visits, reduce churn, and grow revenue in Canada. What Is Customer Retention? (And How Loyalty Drives It) The metric most small businesses track last—but should track first Most small business owners spend the majority of their marketing energy on getting new customers in the door. Flyers, ads, social posts, Google listings—all of it aimed at the person who hasn't w