Loyalty & Retention
Bandit membership breakdown
See how Bandit Running is revolutionizing the activewear market with its community-focused membership program.
Bandit Running is a community-centric apparel brand dedicated to promoting running culture globally. With a mission to "Evolve Running," Bandit has curated a membership program for its vibrant community of passionate, goal-driven runners.
In the rapidly growing and competitive activewear category, brands like Bandit are exceedingly looking at their core values, internal capabilities and external stakeholders (collaborators, brand ambassadors, customers) to drive differentiation and build a competitive moat around their business.
Almost anybody can make a great pair of running shorts these days, but only you can be you.
Paid membership programs have emerged as a highly effective way to translate this value into a mutually beneficial relationship between the brand and its most valuable customers to build true affinity.
At a price point of $125 per year, members receive a suite of over six tangible benefits including a pair of member only socks (its more important than you think, see reaction analysis below), a $50 gift card, free shipping, access to test products and more.
Let’s dive in!
The landing page
The landing page for the Bandit membership program is extremely thorough, providing prospective members with a hyper-clear understanding of what to expect from the program.
As a bonus, Bandit includes a visual representation of the program’s history. A great way to provide prospective members with social proof and aspirational imagery.
The benefits
Bandit offers a ton of benefits so let’s break down a few key benefits that stand out for their strategic significance.
Bandit Running: Membership benefits
Free socks
A free pair of socks may seem like an insignificant benefit, but in reality it achieves a couple of important objectives for Bandit.
Gives members a physical token of their membership, creating a sense of belonging (imagine running into someone on the street with that same pair of socks on!)
Helps prospective members rationalize the yearly fee (hey at least I am getting a pair of socks out of it!)
$50 Bandit Gift Card
The free gift card, similarly to the pair of socks, front-loads the value, further increasing the likelihood of conversion.
When offering benefits with a hard cost associated such as a gift card or free product, it is important to have a clear understanding of your margins, customers average order value (AOV) and lifetime value (LTV). There’s no hard and fast rule here, it will depend on your margins, cost, etc, but we recommend offering a gift card equivalent to between 15 and 25% of your AOV when possible.
Small Batch Lab
Bandit releases a monthly product design drop. This gives members an inside look into the Bandit’s design process and an opportunity to contribute to the evolution of the brand. Here is why sharing product concepts with your member community makes sense.
No incremental costs (designers are designing anyway)
Gather feedback on product designs
Build demand for pre-released products
IG Close Friends
Granting members access to close friends on Instagram has been an increasingly popular membership perk. There are a couple of reasons for this:
It costs virtually nothing (marketing coordinator/intern’s time adding members).
It allows the brand to build stronger rapport with members on existing channels.
It makes members feel valued.
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