Home Improvement Retailer, The Home Depot has expanded its user base and continues to reap the benefits of customer loyalty through the value it delivers. Its loyalty program, Pro Xtra, happens to be a major means of attracting new customers and maintaining high-value customers while rewarding them for shopping with their brand.
In this post, we take a careful look at how the Pro Xtra loyalty program works, why it has been successful, and some of the improvements that could make it more attractive.
How does the program work?
The Home Depot’s Pro Xtra Loyalty program offers numerous benefits to members who continue to shop with the brand. The program is free to join, and customers only need to sign up on www.homedepot.com. In addition, customers who already have a personal account with Home Depot only need to update their existing accounts to join Pro Xtra to enjoy its benefits. Once they update their accounts, they can go to the “my account” section and click on Account profile, check the “I’m a Pro Customer” box and enter the rest of their details. In addition, new Pro Xtra members are welcomed with a $20 discount on any purchase worth $200 or more.
Customers who choose to join this program have two options. They can either create a personal account or a Pro Xtra Account to shop for their businesses.
With this loyalty program, one can earn rewards such as Pro Xtra Dollars or Tool Rental perks for shopping at The Home Depot. Members also earn bonus perks such as free drinks or snacks. The rewards earned are based on the customer’s spending frequency. Members can track their spending by scanning their Virtual ID whenever they check out. The more you spend, the more perks can be unlocked and the more rewards you can choose from. In addition, Pro Xtra Members enjoy several exclusive benefits, including:
Volume Pricing: Members can enjoy huge savings on the items they purchase for their next project. To access this, members need to assemble their project list, bring it to the Pro Desk and get a quote.
Paint Rewards: Members can save up to 20% on the paints, primers, and stains they purchase online and in-store.
Personalized Offers: Pro Xtra members access personalized offers such as coupons on products and services through notifications received in their email and in-app message center.
Purchase tracking: This feature enables members to save up to two years of their purchases and organize them according to date, location, PO, or job. Employers can also authorize employee purchases via text through the Text2Confirm Authorization feature.
With the Pro Xtra Business Tools, members gain access to Reloadable Gift Cards, National Rebates for professional trade organization members, and the Virtual ID.
The Paint Rewards in the program was revamped to incentivize high-spending customers. Thus members are divided into savings tiers based on the amount spent on qualifying purchases of stains, primers, and paints in Home Depot stores. The tiers are as follows.
Bronze level: Members get 10% off when they spend $1,000 or more
Silver level: Members get 15% off when they spend $3,500 or more
Gold level: At this level, members get 20% off when they spend up to $6,500 or more
The amount members spend throughout the calendar year is tracked and accumulated on their Pro Xtra account. Once they reach a particular threshold, they receive its equivalent discount on each purchase until they progress to a higher tier.
Members can enjoy access to all of their perks by downloading the Home Depot App.
What are the good things about the program?
Detailed Explainer Page and Tutorials
A clear explainer page characterizes a good loyalty program, and The Home Depot nails this attribute with their loyalty program website and vivid descriptions. The brand leaves no room for misunderstanding by carefully explaining its loyalty program to the customer. The messaging of the entire page, which is centered on the phrases “Save Time. Save Money. Get Rewarded”, is excellent for attracting both existing and new customers to join Pro Xtra. Home Depot has taken the pains of outlining all the steps involved in joining the program and all the benefits a user stands to gain once they join, with visuals, written content, and tutorials. Throughout the pages, several bold Call-to-Action buttons encourage shoppers to either join the platform, log in or download the mobile app. The details and clarity provided on the explainer page allow any visitor or customer to see the program’s value and eventually desire to experience it for themselves.
Mobile App with Helpful Features
The Home Depot has done an excellent job creating a Mobile app that eases several burdens from the customer and helps them understand their loyalty program better. Once downloaded, members enjoy convenience, can save more time, money and stay organized. The app has incredible features such as a barcode reader, which customers can use to scan items and read reviews. In addition, the app enables its users to find the items they need faster through voice and image search, locate products, check inventory, or find tutorials on checkout steps. One of its most-loved features is the true-to-life 3D visual that can be used to visualize certain items by seeing how they will look, feel and fit. The mobile-friendly nature of this app and its great user experience are enough to keep members engaged and loyal to the brand for the long term.
How could they have made the program more attractive?
Not beneficial for low-value or less frequent shoppers
While the Home Depot Pro Xtra loyalty program offers many perks to its customers, it is largely targeted at high-value customers. As seen in its structure, members enjoy more benefits as their spending increases. The drawback with this structure is that the program does not offer much value to customers who are not frequent buyers. Because individuals may not frequently order home improvement tools and services, the structure is not appropriate. Apart from businesses, a large section of individuals may not be frequent buyers. The loyalty program could be more attractive if more value is offered even to less frequent buyers. Then, the brand can level the playing field and offer some general benefits that can be enjoyed by both visitors, sporadic and regular shoppers alike.
Reward soft actions and not just transactions
Another drawback with this loyalty program is that most benefits can only be earned through a purchase, either in-store or online. While most brands seek to benefit from their loyalty programs by making them transaction-focused, other ways to win customers’ loyalty may not require them to place an order. For instance, you can reward them for writing reviews or testimonials about your brand, for referring their friends to your website, or for engaging on your social media platforms. All these activities are valuable to your brand and should not be left to chance. As a brand, you may be missing out if you don’t incentivize buyers to engage or appreciate them for engaging without spending. The Home Depot can make its Pro Xtra loyalty program more attractive by incentivizing such soft actions.