Ulta Beauty’s Loyalty Program Surpasses Significant Milestone

Reaching certain milestones is a measurement of a loyalty program’s success. In the case of Ulta Beauty’s Ultamate Rewards program, its recent milestone was an incredibly significant one: Surpassing 20 million members.

Eric Messerschmidt, SVP Marketing Strategy, Loyalty, and CRM at Ulta Beauty told Loyalty360 that Ulta Beauty officials are ecstatic about the achievement.

“We are absolutely thrilled to now have more than 20 million beauty-loving members in our Ultamate Rewards program,” Messerschmidt said. “It really is an exciting milestone. According to the 2015 U.S. census, there are 101 million women between the ages of 18-65 in the U.S., which means that approximately 20% of them shop at Ulta Beauty. It’s a wonderful time to be part of a company and in an industry that is relevant to so many women. We are focused on bringing our guest solutions for her beauty needs and satisfying her beauty wants by offering ‘All Things Beauty. All In One Place.’ That’s really what Ulta Beauty is all about and our success shows it.”

Messerschmidt talked about the history of the Ultamate Rewards program.

“We like to jokingly refer to Ultamate Rewards as the longest running test in company history,” he explained. “We started with a different program in 1995 called The Club at Ulta. This program enabled members to earn reward certificates up to four times a year, which they could redeem for free products from a limited menu of items. We gained valuable insights from that program and knew we needed to provide a program that was easier to understand, more flexible, and rewarded our guests with better value. In 2003, we rolled out Ultamate Rewards in three markets, testing different versions of the program. Over the next 11 years, we continued to add markets and refine the program.”

In 2014, the company introduced Ultamate Rewards to all of its stores across the country.

“We not only unveiled an entirely new program with a simplified and more rewarding value proposition, but we also developed branding that was focused on ‘showing the love’ to our members,” Messerschmidt said. “With a single, unified program, we were finally able to talk to all our members in the same way, promote our program on Ulta.com and, for the first time, enable our more than 28,000 Ulta Beauty associates to participate in the program. We succeeded! Our Ultamate Rewards members tell us that the program is simple to understand and valuable to participate in. In fact, the percent of members redeeming for rewards increased threefold over the prior rewards program. A quote from one of our members sums it up nicely: ‘I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Ultamate Rewards! It gives me the incentive to shop exclusively at Ulta for all of my product needs and the flexibility to spend my reward points the way (and when) I want to.’’’

Messerschmidt said it’s important for Ulta Beauty to continue to find new and exciting ways for guests to participate in the loyalty program.

“The recent addition of an Ulta Beauty credit card was a way for us to enhance our already fabulous Ultamate Rewards program and deepen engagement with our guests,” he explained. “The Ulta Beauty credit card allows guests to earn more points faster and gives them access to exclusive offers, special promotions, and 20% off their first purchase with no annual fee. Through a survey of a cross section of our Ultamate Rewards loyalty program member base, we learned customers had a strong interest in an Ulta Beauty credit card. The launch of our credit card is a response to their request and an innovative example of how we continue to take the guest experience to the next level.”

What’s more, Ulta Beauty’s mobile app is another way it places the customer at the center of it does.

“Since consumers are increasingly using mobile, we know it’s critical for us to communicate with her where she is already interacting,” Messerschmidt said. “Our mobile app puts beauty knowledge at her fingertips, allowing her to check reviews on products and compare prices when she's browsing in the store. It also gives her access to her Ultamate Rewards card, points, previous transactions, and progress toward platinum status.”

The Ultamate Rewards loyalty program “sends a clear message that we value our members and offer them better value that incentivizes them to continue to loyally shop with us,” Messerschmidt added. “It’s important to offer healthy rewards (e.g. point discounts on any product, offers, gifts, free samples) and engaging experiences and content (e.g. magazines, emails, events, new products, sweepstakes). By doing this, it enables us to gather rich data from each guest transaction and then use that data to target and communicate relevant offers that provide greater return on our marketing investment. It also results in a greater overall experience for our valued guests.”

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