by For independent farm stores, winning over new customers is only half the battle — getting customers to come back is the real driver of long-term success.
But don’t just take our word for it. Experts estimate that over half of a small business’ revenue comes from repeat customers — and those customers tend to spend more money, too.
Creating a farm loyalty program at your physical or online farm store is one of the easiest and most effective ways to retain existing customers and drive repeat revenue — but how do you set one up? And what kinds of loyalty programs are there?
In this blog, we’ll share our favorite farm loyalty ideas, along with practical tips on how to implement them in your store.
Why Customer Engagement Is Vital for Driving Sales
There’s a reason that both small businesses and huge corporate brands have customer loyalty programs — they work! 84% of customers prefer to stick with brands that offer some sort of loyalty program, and 64% of loyalty members say they’re willing to spend more to maximize their rewards. The more personalized that loyalty program feels, the more likely customers are to use it.
However, it’s not just about money and sales. The real reason these statistics are significant is that they show people prefer brands that engage with them. In an age where shopping, especially online shopping, can feel so impersonal, a loyalty program gives you a way to learn about and engage directly with your customers.
Customers who shop at a farm store aren’t just looking for a place to buy food — they can get that experience at any grocery store. They’re looking to support a local business that engages in ethical farm practices, produces high-quality ingredients, and is run by people, not nameless board rooms and investors.
So, as we run through these ideas for farm loyalty programs, think of how you can add a personal touch to them, whether it’s a meaningful name, curated gifts, seasonal expertise, or anything else that will help you stand out from the competition.
Related Read: What Is the Best Farm Website Builder? 5 Top Solutions
5 Farm Loyalty Ideas To Keep Customers Coming Back
The question isn’t if you should offer creative discounts and customer engagement, it’s how.
Here are a few farm loyalty program ideas to help drive sales and build customer relationships with your business.
Important note: Many of these ideas can and should be used together, so don’t be afraid to get creative! Your only limits are your customers and the technology you use (more on that below).
1. Upsell + Drive Recurring Revenue With Subscriptions
Why buy once when you can get delicious, homegrown products regularly? Subscriptions are an appealing and convenient option for customers and a great way for farms to drive repeat revenue.
Subscriptions generally take two forms:
- As a repeat purchase to keep a freezer or pantry stocked (e.g., get three lbs. of ground chuck delivered every month)
- As a curated box (e.g. a breakfast sausage pack, a steak sampler, a monthly chef’s choice)
Both are helpful. The first type is great for customers who know what they want and are looking for a good deal. The second is good for people who want to support a local farm business but are a bit more indecisive.
If you’re going to offer subscriptions, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Offer a discount: Subscriptions are most appealing when they offer added value to the customer. By offering a subscribe-and-save model, you can encourage repeat sales while helping customers save money.
- Make sure your tech supports it: Not all systems support subscriptions natively. Some online sales systems can’t do it at all, while others can only do it by purchasing third-party plugins. Also, while systems like GrazeCart can collect payment information without a deposit, some subscription systems require putting down a deposit, which can be offputting for customers.
- Specify what is and isn’t available for subscription: Not all products are a good fit for subscriptions. Make sure you can enable a subscription option per item on your system.
- Ensure pricing is calculated correctly: If selling produce or meat that varies by weight, it’s important to charge the correct amount to customers at the point it’s shipped out or picked up. Look for a system that can collect customer payment details, then charge an exact amount once it’s ready.
- Communicate seasonal availability: Unlike a grocery store that’s likely to have most products available year-round, farms are more seasonal. Make sure to communicate any seasonal changes to subscription customers well in advance and suggest helpful alternatives.
- Use subscriptions for marketing: Subscriptions shouldn’t just be the end-goal for a loyalty program, but a starting point — use contact information for regular subscribers to send them relevant deals and offers (e.g. announce a new sausage mix to subscribers who’ve bought sausage in the last 3 months, steak seasonings or prime cuts for people who pay for a steak subscription).
With built-in subscription support on your website, you can offer subscriptions as part of the normal online checkout process. This lets you upsell customers without any annoying popups or awkwardly placed buttons during checkout.
2. Build Customer Relationships With Newsletters
People prefer shopping at local farms because it’s more ethical, they get better quality, and they’re people-driven. A lot of farmers agree, and creating a newsletter to communicate with customers is a great way to put a personal face on your business.
Create a newsletter and use social media regularly to promote your farm. This is both beneficial for building your brand and sharing offers. Try to write posts that are personal, but leave some room to direct readers to your store.
Pointing out discounted items in your newsletters or social media posts is an effective method for convincing an on-the-fence reader to buy.
3. Offer Memberships, Points, and Exclusive Discounts
Everyone loves earning points, so why not add it to your farm’s online sales? A points system works in conjunction with a membership, giving members points for every purchase on your site. Those points can then be exchanged for various rewards.
Points are a popular way to keep customers coming back for more. After all, why buy somewhere else when you’re just 10 points away from a freebie?
That said, don’t be stingy on rewards. Many customers report being frustrated with loyalty programs that take too long to earn usable rewards. Use the reports on your point of sale (POS) or e-commerce system to understand your profit margins and break-even points, so you can come up with a points system that’s appealing to customers without hurting your bottom line.
Remember: You don’t have to upend your business model to create a membership program. Many farm websites require customers to create an account to verify that they are in a supported zip code, anyway. Why not rebrand this process as “becoming a member”? Many in-store POS systems also come with built-in loyalty programs.
Memberships make customers feel more special and give you a chance to send “member-exclusive discounts” right to their email.
If you do offer a mixture of online and in-store sales, ensure your farm POS system can sync membership information and rewards so customers get the same experience no matter where they shop.
4. Bring Back Customers With Targeted Promotions
Many modern farm e-commerce or POS systems automatically store customer information, sales history, and other data points. You can use these insights together with segmented marketing to create targeted promotions.
What do we mean by “customer segments”? A customer segment is just a distinct subset of your customers. You can segment customers based on things like:
- Frequency of purchase: Market differently to customers who buy subscriptions versus those who make larger purchases less frequently.
- Product preferences: Create different offers for people who primarily buy chicken versus people who mostly buy beef.
- Location: Send event invites only to people who shop in store or are close enough for in-store pickup. If you ship your products nationally, offer short-term discounts on shipping costs to entice your long-distance customers.
- Cart abandonment: If a person started the checkout process but didn’t finish, send out a targeted discount to encourage them to complete their transaction.
- New customers: After customers buy from you for the first time, send out a thank you promotion with a code that gives them 20% off on their next purchase.
- Birthdays: If you collect a customer’s birthday as part of your membership program, you can send out special birthday deals.
If this sounds like a nightmare to keep track of, don’t worry. Modern e-commerce platforms can handle these types of promotions automatically once they’re set up. So, spend some time looking at your customer data and setting them up once, then let the system take it from there.
Creating personalized offers is much more effective than blanket discounts because it feels more tailored to customers’ tastes. In fact, 83% of customers want personalized deals.
A POS system tracks purchase history, customer emails, locations, and more — so get creative with your offers based on the various data points at your disposal.
5. Create Unique Product Bundles
What’s the difference between a grocery store and a farm store? Beyond the gulf in quality, farm stores also offer fresh and seasonal products that can’t be found anywhere else. However, while you might be passionate and know your stuff, many consumers won’t know what a farm store can offer at first glance.
To succeed in direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales, it’s important to make the shopping experience as easy as possible.
In addition to simply selling all your products by weight, you can use your POS system to create custom and curated products to lure one-time shoppers back.
For example, you can create a special grilling pack for July 4th by creating a mix of ground beef, steaks, and sauces you’re selling in conjunction with another local business.
Use the contact information you get from your loyalty program to announce these new products and offer member-only discounts. These special promotions help you move seasonal inventory while educating your customers on the best way to use your unique products.
How Using Modern Technology Helps Farms Build Customer Loyalty
These days, even small businesses (including farms) are expected to provide a modern shopping experience, whether people are buying online or in store.
This extends to loyalty programs. If your loyalty program is disjointed or hard to use, customers simply won’t use it. Ensure that your farm store POS system supports a loyalty program that can:
- Look up customer information easily using a phone number or customer name.
- Sync customer information across sales channels (mobile site, in-store, social marketplace, etc.).
- Track points and apply discounts automatically.
- Track loyalty member sales data for better marketing and merchandise planning.
- Send out automatic or preplanned marketing messages via email and SMS.
Of course, your loyalty program also needs to be backed up by a modern shopping experience. To get the most out of your farm store POS system, look for features like:
- Real-time inventory and order management functions
- Sell-by-weight support for catch weight items like produce and meat
- Custom SKUs to create unique product bundles
- Subscription support to drive upselling
- Geographic gating for online stores so you only sell to customers in areas you support
While this isn’t a comprehensive list of features, it’s important to find a system that works for all aspects of your business. In other words, a system won’t be very helpful if it’s perfect for your customer loyalty program but needs a separate integration to support weight-based sales.
Stay Competitive by Thinking Outside the Box
Making your small farm stand out against big groceries and large competitors isn’t easy. But it’s not impossible.
Farm loyalty programs can benefit your farm in many ways, such as:
- Driving repeat sales with subscribe-and-save options
- Building brand awareness
- Understanding customer preferences
With a POS system built for the unique needs of farmers, starting a farm loyalty program is easy. GrazeCart comes with built-in features to help small farms drive repeat business, like an intuitive website builder, customizable subscriptions, email marketing, and more.
See what GrazeCart can do for your business by scheduling a demo today.