How to create a VIP early access program

Overview

Reward your most loyal customers and drive repeat purchases by giving VIPs early access to new products, seasonal launches, or exclusive sales.

This guide walks you through how to identify high-value customers, set up your early access program, and incorporate it into your email strategy.

Why early access is great for VIPs

Early access is a low-discount, high-impact incentive that builds loyalty and drives repeat purchases by creating a sense of exclusivity.

It also helps offset declining engagement with standard promotions by appealing directly to your brand’s biggest fans.

This strategy works best when you want to:

• Increase repeat order rates from loyal customers

• Boost LTV (lifetime value) without relying on heavy discounts

• Encourage renewed engagement from high-value customers who aren’t responding to your usual campaigns

When to use early access for VIPs

A VIP early access program is most effective when customer behavior signals that exclusivity will drive action.

Here are the most impactful moments to deploy it:

Repeat customers with high LTV but low engagement on standard emails

If your best customers are buying less frequently or ignoring your usual promotional campaigns, early access can re-engage them without relying on steep discounts. These shoppers have already shown loyalty through past purchases but may be tuning out generic messaging. Offering them something tailored reminds them that their loyalty is recognized.

To identify these customers, create the following segment (adjust values as needed for your business):

• Contact Properties > Lifetime Value > is greater than > 200.00, AND

• eCommerce integration > Order > Fulfilled > Order Date > in the last > 3 > months, AND

• Activity > Did Not Open > Recent > 1 > month, AND

• Activity > Did Not Click > Recent > 3 > months

Declining performance from general promotional sends

Falling open rates, click-throughs, or revenue per recipient from your regular campaigns may be a sign your list is experiencing promotion fatigue. Instead of increasing the frequency or discount size, shift your strategy.

Send an early access email to a smaller, high-value segment before the full campaign. This lets you generate early revenue, build social proof (via user-generated social media content or reviews), and refine messaging before the broader launch.

New product launches where you want to build buzz and reward loyalty

Product launches are the perfect opportunity to offer VIPs a head start, which creates excitement and positions the product as something worth anticipating. It also helps you gauge interest and sales velocity early, gather initial feedback or customer reviews, and thank your top customers in a meaningful, low-cost way

Make sure to clearly communicate that early access is limited and time-bound to drive urgency and action.

How to determine who your VIPs are

Before you create a VIP early access campaign, you’ll need to define what “VIP” means for your brand. Here are some common criteria:

We generally recommend the following setup for VIP segments:

• Last purchase within 30 days

  • eCommerce integration > Order > Fulfilled > Order Date > in the last > 30 > Days, AND

• 3+ orders

  • eCommerce integration > Customer > Total Orders Placed > is greater than > 3, AND

• Lifetime value is greater than $200

  • eCommerce integration > Customer > Lifetime Value > is greater than > 200.00

See example

You can use the segment builder to combine conditions like LTV, order count, and email activity into one dynamic “VIP” segment. Adding more conditions makes your VIP pool smaller. Learn more about segments here.

Early access content best practices

Creating a high-performing VIP early access email means crafting a message and experience that feels personal, exclusive, and rewarding.

Follow these best practices to make the most of your campaign!

Lean into the exclusivity of the content

Use language that reinforces your customer’s VIP status. Phrases like “Just for our top customers,” “Private access for our inner circle,” or “You earned it: shop before the crowd” help customers feel seen and appreciated.

You can also make the design feel more elevated by removing standard elements like social links or other promotions to distinguish the email from your everyday sends.

Don’t discount heavily

Early access is the reward; no need to stack on extra discounts unless you’re clearing old inventory. Instead, focus your message on the benefit of shopping early: guaranteed stock in desired variants.

If you do include a discount, keep it small (10% or less) and position it as a thank you, not a deal or sale.

Monitor performance separately

Track your early access campaigns independently to see how they compare to your general sends. Look at open rate, click-through rate, and revenue per recipient to understand what’s working. Check out our guides to reporting here.

Use these insights to optimize future campaigns, test subject lines, or tweak your VIP criteria.