6 Trends to consider in the loyalty environment

  1. Loyalty is no longer just about points

Points alone do not create loyalty. Loyalty goes beyond discounts, air miles, coupons, exclusive tickets & rewards. It is all about the way we engage with our customers.

     2. Understand your customer data

It’s the age of the customer and acknowledging  their needs! A shift from “we know best” to “we hear you”. One needs to meet the expectation of the customer by listening to them. They need to consider you as a brand that is valuable and a brand they will remain loyal to because of the value & worth you make them feel for engaging with your brand.

     3. Feedback across all departments

Feedback from customers needs to be translated across all departments and understood by all. The value of the customers’ feedback needs to reside throughout your company. The customer is the judge of everything you do so unify the feedback and do something about it!

     4. Mobile

Mobile refines the way our customers access & receive information. Customers are constantly on the go and on the hunt for new, innovative ways to access this information and make their day-day activities as painless as possible. Payments via a mobile device are growing and mobile numbers are becoming increasingly more important than an email or physical address.

     5. Gamification

Loyalty goes beyond a “like” or “follow” or earning a virtual badge for visiting your favourite stores several times a week. Gamification is merging fast into loyalty thinking because of its  way of using game thinking and game mechanics to drive engagement.

“Make the journey (accumulating) as fun as the destination (redemption)”  

                                                                            ~ Shawn Bloom, GM, Scene LP

6. Right time, right offer, right location

Meet your customer where they are! Not where you want them to be.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Ros Siddle, Marketing & Loyalty Research Manager, Truth

So whose side are you on?

Marketers are now faced with the decision of which direct marketing medium to use in a world that is predominantly digital.

Some suggest Traditional Direct Marketing is dead and Digital is the only option going forward. On the other end of the scale, customers are believed to still enjoy the experience of seeing their favourite ad on a billboard as they drive to work every day and receiving something in the mail, having that excited sensation of walking to the post box and physically opening the envelope and revealing its contents. Customers are said to be more “loyal” to a brand that they can “see, touch & own a piece of.”

Let’s have a look at a few points that may justify each and why this may be the case as established by Keith Lindsay & Paul Geary at PrimaPlus recently presented at the Loyalty Exhibition & Conference in Cape Town hosted by TCI (Trade Conferences International).

10 points rooting for digital!
1. Cheaper to use (less hardcopy)
2. More personal (rich profile online, which you give access to 3 rd parties)
3. Highly targetable – when I am online, appropriate advertising finds me e.g Facebook.
4. Able to deliver qualified leads (relevant offer at the right time e.g Google)
5. Accountable (analytics & results)
6. Dynamic (live content, relevant real time offers)
7. Flexible – easy to adapt as the game develops.
8. Participatory – audience can lean forward and engage and you can engage with your audience.
9. Social – people like to share their experiences (brands, products & services). They like to endorse products they love online.
10. Elicit a direct response by using the same mediums (inbound)

Team TDM!
1. Everyone has their own loudspeaker! Digital gives everyone a voice and therefore the power to create content online which in essence clutters the web. One needs a filter to sift through what content is of real value
2. I don’t want advertising on my wall – the web belongs to its users. Marketers could come across as invasive and therefore irritate users by "bombarding" their online experience with marketing overkill. 3. Privacy concerns - lost out there such as spam that may deter your customers!
4. People still love paper!
5. People are more likely to and can more easily "opt out" of your campaign in the online space because they are irritated by being bombarded by marketing messages.
6. "I want the free version" - A culture has formed within the online world, where users have become so accustomed to be able to access valuable information for free, that if you, as a brand, do not offer any service or information for free then you are not seen as very valuable.
7. Not all digital platforms and content is created equal. The digital arena is open to everyone, & there are no real standards in place that separate the good from the bad (and the spam!).
8. App generation! A huge trend at the moment is turning everything a brand can offer into an app. Each country is at a different stage when it comes to owning a mobile/digital device. Does everyone have the mobile device that allows for an app?? The answer is..no.

Which are you in support of and why?

Ros Siddle, Marketing & Loyalty Research Manager, Truth