Homewares brand Adairs shows how impactful a loyalty program can be

Building a culture of loyalty

For over 100 years, Australian furniture retailer Adairs has been helping people kit out their homes and spaces with gorgeous bed linen and home furnishings. The brand is synonymous with understated style and is widely regarded as a local leader in the manchester and homewares categories.

One of the things that sets Adairs apart is its hugely successful loyalty program, Linen Lovers. Running for almost 25 years, Linen Lovers boasts over one million members and accounts for approximately 80% of the brand’s daily sales. “We know that our Linen Lovers spend more and visit us online and in-store more frequently, too. Making sure these members are happy is a huge priority for us,” says Emma Porter, Senior CRM & Loyalty Manager at Adairs.

In fact, across the entire business, the Linen Lovers program is part of every conversation. “We have a ‘Linen Lovers first’ mentality. In every department, our teams are always asking questions like, ‘And what will we do for Linen Lovers? How will this work with Linen Lovers? How will we make sure Linen Lovers get more from this?’” she says.

Here, we take a look at how Adairs manages to maintain such a huge member base, before exploring the growing role that personalisation plays in their loyalty program.

Linen Lovers is all about rewarding loyal customers

The premise of Linen Lovers is simple: give back to loyal customers, so they keep coming back. From the moment a new member signs up, they get immediate value.

To join the program and unlock exclusive benefits, customers pay $19.95 for a two-year subscription. Straight away, new members receive a welcome reward, which effectively pays back the joining fee. Then there are perks like free standard shipping, birthday rewards and more—like a 10% discount on all purchases, as well as up to 30% off different categories and products each month.

Members also get free and extended returns, which is a huge drawcard for customers who want to get a feel for how a piece of furniture could work in their personal space. “Our Linen Lovers members have 90 days to trial a new purchase in their homes. Choosing homewares and furniture is hard—you need the ability to test it out in your own home environment and style it in your own space. With extended returns, we’re encouraging Linen Lovers members to take our products home and see how they look and feel,” Emma says.

When a member’s subscription is about to expire, the Adairs team implements a range of strategies to encourage renewals. For example, they might show a member how much they saved as a Linen Lover during their two-year membership. “We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to see how much they get back as a Linen Lover member,” she says.

Powering up the program with personalisation

Recently, Adairs has been investing in ways to personalise every interaction with Linen Lovers members. From building a data warehouse to gaining a better understanding of customers, the loyalty team is exploring the role that personalisation can play in driving more sales and encouraging members to renew. And the efforts are paying off.

“We’ve had really great success on post-purchase personalisation. For example, sending aftercare information for bed linen or bath towels — how to get the best out of them or how to wash them,” says Emma.

“We also engage in one-to-one communication with members. This can include personalised product recommendations, breakdowns of the benefits they get from the Linen Lovers program, or reminders about rewards they can use.”

Importantly, these personalisation efforts are scalable. “Scaling our one-to-one marketing is crucial. We still want to get as many messages out there as possible, while being mindful of using the right channel for the right person at the right time. Our metrics and attributable revenue indicate that we’re achieving this goal,” she says.

Playing the long game with loyalty programs

Emma has helpful advice for small businesses who are just starting out with a loyalty program. “Think about the future. Is your model sustainable into the long term? Can you afford to keep delivering these member benefits in five or ten years’ time? And do you have the resources to continue to communicate the ongoing benefits of the program to your customers?”

Finding ways to answer ‘yes’ to questions like these is well worth the effort. Your loyalty program could help keep your customers coming back, ultimately boosting your bottom line. “We’ll always go back to the fact that 80% of our sales come through our loyalty program. You can’t argue with numbers like these,” says Emma.