How Lowe’s created an ‘ecosystem’ of different loyalty programs for pros and homeowners
Almost three years ago, Amanda Bailey joined Lowe’s as an outsider to home improvement. She had previously worked as vp of customer retention and loyalty for Tory Burch and, before that, vp of global customer strategy and engagement at Hilton.
At Hilton, she had revamped the company’s loyalty program from something focused on business travelers to one that appealed to all customers. Then, at Tory Burch, she focused on personalization, using data to provide relevant recommendations to shoppers. Now, as vp of customer marketing and loyalty for Lowe’s, she has been able to bring her experience from hospitality and luxury fashion to create what she calls a new loyalty “ecosystem” for the retailer catering to both pro customers and homeowners.
She noted that, unlike a mass retailer like Target, Lowe’s has two distinct customer demographics to keep in mind.
“When we crafted these strategies, we had to take into account the unique needs of each of those customer bases and then find a simple way to deliver that value through one spine of loyalty that had discrete offerings for each customer,” Bailey told Modern Retail at the Shoptalk conference in Las Vegas in March.
Last year, Lowe’s launched the MyLowe’s Rewards program for homeowners, offering points that turn into store credit, free standard shipping, member-only gifts, workshops, exclusive offers and early sales notifications. As part of the program, the company also just launched MyLowe’s Home, which digitizes manuals for products such as appliances, windows and doors. According to Bailey, the program now has more than 30 million members, and they spend 50% more than non-members.
“We’re giving them reasons to come back to Lowe’s for free member gifts and different reasons they had never thought of before,” she said.
And in February, Lowe’s relaunched its existing MVPs Pro Rewards & Partnership Program as MyLowe’s Pro Rewards, which has its own perks for professionals, including easier authorization of people buying on behalf of the business, bulk discounts and volume savings. For example, there is a 20% paint discount for pros after they spend more than $3,000 on paint. It also has exclusive rewards for pros such as sports memorabilia, gas gift cards and concert tickets.
“Everybody wants a great deal, but to go beyond that to where successful loyalty programs go, you have to think about how else you can provide value in these customers’ lives,” Bailey said. “For a pro that wants to save time and money on the job, it’s very different than what a homeowner needs.”
Jordan Glazier, CEO of the loyalty platform provider Wildfire Systems, which does not work with Lowe’s as a client of its cashback platform, said customers widely are looking for simplicity within loyalty programs with easy-to-redeem rewards and perks tailored to them. At Lowe’s, “both the pro and consumer loyalty programs seem to now better reflect the shape of a more modern loyalty program,” Glazier said. “They’re simplified but give the feeling that Lowe’s understands what’s valuable to their customer segments.”
With the loyalty programs come lots of information Lowe’s can take advantage of, such as what customers are or aren’t buying, as well as characteristics such as whether they like to garden or own a pet — or for pros, what their trade is.
“That’s really the power of what we’re doing right now: taking all of that expertise and legacy we have as Lowe’s, combined with what customers are telling us and what we’re learning about them to really deliver the products they need and the offers they want to save on, and then, more importantly, going beyond the transaction,” Bailey said. She added that the data fuels Mylow, the company’s AI virtual adviser it unveiled in March, which helps homeowners search for new products or get instructions on home repairs.
The company also uses the data to provide curated content and offers, which change depending on someone’s interests or profession. “All of those things are different ways in which we’re using data— not just for the products they buy, but also, to ensure we’re providing help in more ways than just in our stores,” Bailey said.