Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to get your rewards program in front of your loyal customers.  With the Smile dotmailer app, you can easily incorporate rewards info into your existing email campaigns to get your customers informed, excited, and engaged.

How It Works

We’ve made it super easy to connect your dotmailer account to Smile.  In only a few clicks, you’re ready to start combining the power of email marketing rewards marketing to take your program to the next level.

Connect Your dotmailer Account

Sync Smile to dotmailer using your API key

You can easily sync your dotmailer and Smile accounts in the Apps section of your Smile Admin with your API key.  If you’re not on the appropriate plan, a rewards specialist can help get you set up.

Choose a dotmailer Address Book to Sync To

Once you’ve synced your dotmailer account to Smile.io, choose which dotmailer address book you’d like to sync rewards data to.  This will populate any member of that list with rewards program information if they match an account in Smile.io

Start Sending Rewards Marketing Emails with dotmailer

You can now start sending personalized rewards emails with dotmailer!  The dotmailer Smile App has added a number of data fields that you can use to customize customer emails.

These properties include:

  • Smile Points Balance (SMILE_POINTS_BALANCE)
  • Smile Referral URL (SMILE_REFERRAL_URL)
  • Smile VIP Tier ID (SMILE_VIP_TIER_ID)
  • Smile VIP Tier Name (SMILE_VIP_TIER_NAME)

You can use each of these properties to create personalized reward emails that get customers excited about participating in your program!

How to Use

A successful rewards program relies on effective and consistent communication.  Simply starting a program isn’t enough - you need to make sure your customers know it exists, understand how it works, and want to get engaged.

Sending regular email communications about their status in your program and how they can get more engaged is the best way to accomplish those goals, and with Smile and dotmailer it’s easy.

Segment Customer Lists

Your program’s imported rewards data is a valuable tool to help you segment your customers into different groups.  With these groups, you can build custom segment emails that help you communicate different rewards messaging to specific customers.

dotmailer and Smile allow you to segment customers by VIP tier

You can use the customer properties we mentioned earlier to help build these lists and start program initiatives.  For example, you could build a group that only includes customers in your highest VIP tier to let them know about an exclusive offer, or send a message to anyone with a referral link to boost your referral campaigns.

No matter what you choose to accomplish with your program data, you can use dotmailer’s different tools to determine which parameters must be met for each list.  From there, you’re set to start creating hyper-customized emails that are sure to keep your customers interested.

Send Personalized Emails

While it’s great to be able to group customers based on rewards program data, the dotmailer Smile App allows you to take it one step further.  Using your program’s rewards data, you can incorporate each customer’s personalized values into any emails you create. This could include their current points balance, their individual referral URL, and which VIP tier they’re in.

Including these personal details in your program emails gives you the chance to personally connect with each program member.  This individualized attention will not only encourage them to continue engaging, but also improve their relationship with your brand - a true win-win!

Pro Tips

There are tons of ways you can use the dotmailer Smile App to your advantage - here are a few of our favorites.

Send Special Offers to VIP Tier Members

By creating segments for each of your VIP tiers, you can easily send emails that are perfectly tailored to each of your program’s unique customer groups.  Use these lists to send messages that remind customers of the benefits of their tier, and what they could earn by moving up in your program to motivate them to engage with your brand more often.

Example VIP invite set up with Smile and dotmailer

You could also send special invites for VIP events, sales, or product launches.  No matter how you want to treat your VIPs, personalized segment emails will remind customers why they chose to join your program in the first place and why they keep coming back.

Supercharge Referral Campaigns

As one of the most effective forms of marketing, referrals have the power to dramatically improve your business.  You can get more program members actively engaging with referrals by sending monthly campaign emails. Remind them of their referral URL, the benefits of referring, and how to do it to re-engage and mobilize your best marketers.

Example dotmailer and Smile referral campaign email

You can make this process extremely easy by building a “Has Referral URL” customer list.  Sometimes all it takes is a small nudge to get your most loyal customers referring - get them moving with this easy-to-do campaign.

Encourage Spending with Points Balances

Points balance reminders are the tried and true backbone of rewards program communications.  Remind customers of how many points they’ve earned in your program and what they can redeem them for to keep them informed, engaged, and excited to participate.  Even though these emails are simple, they go a long way to making sure your customers understand the value of remaining a member of your program.

This is Just the Beginning

Like all of our other Smile Apps, we will be improving this app over time as we continue to expand our growing list of exciting reward apps!

If you have a suggestion on how to improve this app or want to see another app added, please fill out our app suggestion form.