Planet BrewDog: Boosting Purchase Frequency by 400%

Aligning with the customers’ values and supporting ESG causes is one of the hallmarks of a next-gen emotional loyalty program. But how can a reward program meaningfully contribute to a cause, such as sustainability? Craft beer retailer BrewDog does so by encouraging customers to offset their carbon footprint by purchasing the brand’s carbon-negative products. With a unique, badge-focused system and an array of appealing rewards, the Planet BrewDog loyalty program has a good shot at helping the planet!

For a full rundown of BrewDog’s loyalty program (powered by Antavo), download our case study.

Fostering Love and Loyalty Towards Craft Beer

BrewDog is an award-winning Scottish craft beer company known for its fierce entrepreneurial spirit, strong support of sustainability, and its mantra of breaking traditional business rules. The company sought to create a unique loyalty program to increase customer lifetime value and strengthen the community around the brand, for which they have chosen Antavo’s technology. 

Increasing Customer Lifetime Value and Engagement Among the Community

Initially, BrewDog had two goals for its loyalty program: to increase customers’ purchase frequency and to build a like-minded community. However, over time they decided to develop their concept into a more omnichannel retention strategy that engages the community and gives back to loyal customers with more than just discounts. 

Here are the company’s expectations for the Planet BrewDog loyalty program (and, subsequently, for Antavo’s technology):

1. Get customers from the first to second purchase 
2. Capture data online and offline
3. Ensure synergy between tech-stacks, especially Bloomreach

Planet BrewDog: A Badge-Tastic Loyalty Concept and a Focus on Sustainability

BrewDog went with a completely points-free concept for its loyalty program. Instead, Planet BrewDog members can earn badges by completing certain actions, such as placing orders online, completing their customer profile, offsetting carbon with their orders, buying the latest craft beer flavor, or referring a friend. 

Each badge is associated with a unique visual, a catchy name, and a reward. Among the rewards are a £5 discount, a free 4-pack beer collection shipped with the next order, one-time free shipping, and downloadable guides on beers and glasses. On top of the permanent reward offerings, BrewDog hosts limited-time events like prize draws, in which members can obtain special prizes and event-exclusive badges.

Drink BrewDog. Get Rewarded. Kill Carbon.

As a certified B-Corp and a carbon-negative company — meaning that the brand removes more carbon than it emits — BrewDog sought to use its loyalty program to further amplify its message. The primary way customers can get involved in sustainability is by earning a dedicated “Drink BrewDog, Kill Carbon” badge. In order to receive this badge, loyalty program members have to offset 35 kilograms of carbon through their purchases. This simple little feature plants the idea in customers’ heads that they are actively supporting planet Earth by ordering from BrewDog, which has already offset over 400,000 kg of carbon with the help of its community.

Antavo & Bloomreach Partnership: Empowering Personalized Communication

Since email marketing with customers had become a cornerstone of BrewDog’s strategy, embedding loyalty personalization in emails was a must. The company wanted to increase both click rates and conversions. 

The company compared the performance of emails sent to cohorts of loyal customers before and after implementing loyalty-driven communication. The loyalty-driven email communication is driving significantly better results, including a 136% increase in the email click-through rate.

Thanks to a seamless integration with Bloomreach, Antavo ensures that all loyalty-related data for these emails sync without a hitch. This makes Planet BrewDog communications feel truly relevant and engaging.

Nurturing Customer Lifetime Value With Badges

Planet BrewDog has proven to be a success among customers and has moved several KPIs for the company. Most noteworthy is the growing trend among members, where the rate of the purchase frequency and the average order value grow in correlation with the increase in the number of badges that customers have.

Here are some of the results:

• 100% more AOV for members with 6+ badges
• 400% higher purchase frequency for members with 6+ badges
• The average transaction per loyalty member is 1.9

Creating an Ethical, Engaging Loyalty Program Has Never Been Easier

Planet BrewDog’s example shows that pivoting away from the tried-and-tested loyalty model and venturing towards a more unique, more emotionally engaging reward system can be very beneficial — both in terms of ROI, and brand building (not to mention the good it does for the planet).

If you wish to create a similarly innovative loyalty program, or revamp your existing one to stand out more, our Enterprise Loyalty Cloud stands ready to turn your concept into a reality. To see what our technology is capable of, request a demo, or send us an RFP. 

If you haven’t already, make sure to download our BrewDog case study, which has even more details. 

Tamas Oszi

Tamas is the Head of Content at Antavo and a Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional - CLMP. Tamas is known for having a keen eye for loyalty and customer retention strategies and trends. Tamas is also a true gamer at heart and has an impressive collection of cyberpunk books.