Students returning to college campuses and high schools in the next few weeks will be able to take advantage of a new loyalty rewards program from eCampus.com, an online book retailer that sells and rents books to high school and college students.
The company’s newly launched eWards loyalty program enables students to save money on future textbook purchases and retails through their own purchases and rentals and through referrals.
“College textbooks have become like commodities, so we wanted to build brand loyalty,” said Sean Johnson, eCampus online advertising manager. “It makes sense for us to reward those customers who are engaged with us. We are hoping to build customers for life.”
However, eCampus also designed the program, which runs on the LoyaltyPlus Software-as-a-Service platform from San Francisco, Calif .-based 500friends, so that rewards would be earned, and wouldn’t be seen simply as discounts, Johnson added.
There are two ways for eCampus customers to enroll -- after a purchase, or via the customer’s eCampus.com account. The initial enrollment in the program earns a member 50 points. Once enrolled, members receive a 5 percent off deal that they can easily share via Facebook, Twitter or e-mail. If a friend completes a purchase through the shared link, referral points will be awarded to the original customer.
Members can come back to eCampus.com throughout the semester and continue to earn points by sharing deals and products to their social network. This way, members collect points throughout the semester that can be used toward next semester’s textbook purchases. In addition to social media and e-mail, members also earn eWards when buying, renting and selling books and other merchandise.
The program also includes badges awarded after each purchase. Badge earners can share them with contacts throughout social media. Badges represent college progression from freshman year to graduate school and beyond.
Another profitable feature for members is the ability to earn eWards when renting books—two points per dollar. According to a recent eCampus survey, 79 percent of the retailers customers rent their textbooks, so earning points from renting could easily become the most popular and lucrative consumer feature, according to the company.
Customers can also earn cash and eWards when selling books back to eCampus. eWards members will receive one point per dollar when selling books back to eCampus.com or through the eCampus marketplace, where books are sold to other students.