Kellogg’s Family Rewards loyalty program launched in 2012. According to Mark Staples, Associate Director - Kellogg's Family Rewards Loyalty / Kellogg Company, that program “laid the foundation for what the program should be and would be. We’re a CPG company looking for a way to differentiate ourself.”
Fast forward to 2015 and a revamped technology-driven Kellogg’s Family Rewards (KFR) loyalty program, which launched in June.
Staples and Atul Sabharwal, Co-founder, CEO - Snipp Interactive, talked about the relaunched KFR program during Thursday’s Loyalty360 webinar titled, Treading New Ground with Kellogg’s: Loyalty & Technology in the CPG Industry, which was presented by Snipp and Kellogg’s.
With 2014 sales of $14.6 billion and more than 1,600 foods, Kellogg is the world’s leading cereal company; second-largest producer of cookies, crackers, and savory snacks; and a leading North American frozen foods company.
KFR launched in 2012 with the following objectives:
Identify, engage, and increase the yield of our most profitable consumers
Core Benefit: With KFR it’s fun and easy to get more from the brands you love.
Functional Offering: By offering multiple ways to earn points fast, KFR makes it easy to get rewards my whole family can enjoy. “This goes back to the whole idea of rewards for the whole family,” Staples said. “That’s been the core foundation of the program.”
-An ‘always-on’ points-based consumer loyalty program using unique code-in-pack technology to reward consumers
-Consumers enter codes to earn points and then redeem for rewards like high value coupons, gift cards, sweepstakes, and merchandise
-A cross-Kellogg/cross-category platform that enables National Promotions as well as Retailer-specific Promotions
-Opportunity to have a companywide national platform
Sabharwal outlined some challenges faced by multichannel brand loyalty programs:
-Purchase Validation
-Limited data
-Building awareness
-Ease of use
-Encouraging engagement
-Driving membership
“This newer program gives you a richer set of data,” Sabharwal explained.
Staples outline some pain points associated with a code-based program:
-Unique Code in-pack
-Cumbersome for users
-Code management and printing on pack complex and expensive
-Codes difficult to read
-Other Missed Opportunities
“We relaunched the program in June,” Staples said. “We couldn’t track to where a customer purchased the product before and not every brand could participate. Pringle’s was one. That’s a big brand that couldn’t participate in the program due to code printing.”
The solution?
Receipt processing + loyalty integration.
Kellogg announced enhancements to the loyalty program whereby millions of program members in the U.S. will now be able to collect their points automatically. Members no longer will need to enter codes found on the inside of packages to collect points and earn rewards. In addition, more Kellogg brands are participating in the program, which means more purchases than ever provide points that can be redeemed for high-value coupons, gift cards, sweepstakes, and merchandise. Members can also donate to U.S. K-12 schools or a variety of hunger-relief charities. Kellogg is the first consumer packaged goods company to use a combination of retailer frequent shopper integration and receipt scanning to collect points for purchase.
With these technology enhancements, points for Kellogg foods purchased at U.S. retailers with participating frequent shopper programs will automatically be added to members’ Kellogg's Family Rewards accounts when shoppers link their retailer membership number to Kellogg's Family Rewards. For purchases at retail locations without participating frequent shopper programs, members can simply take a photo of their receipts with their mobile phones and text or upload them to Kellogg’s Family Rewards to collect their points. Members can also use a digital camera or scanner, and upload receipts from their computers, if they prefer.
“No app is required,” Sabharwal said.
Staples said Kellogg has officially stopped printing codes on packages.
“It was a big decision and a big move on our part,” Staples said.
The new and improved KFR is here:
-Improved purchase validation
-Full basket data capture
-Better user experience
-Enhanced mobile channel
-More promotion options
“We wanted to make the process easy through multiple channels,” Sabharwal said. “And we’re getting more accurate data.”
The new KFR also offers the following:
-Purchase validation done right
-More ways for members to collect points
-More participating brands
-Ease of use
-Encouraging engagement
Staples said the adoption rate is rising quickly.
“Being very transparent about the changes coming and why was very important,” he said.
Sabharwal offered the following Best Practices for Marketing Technology:
-Avoid requiring an app for participation
-Leverage tools that are familiar and compatible with many devices, such as texting and image capture
-Have a central project manager, especially when multiples vendors are involved
-Communicate frequently and openly between vendors
-Create a culture of openness and problem solving
Meanwhile, Staples offered the following Best Practices for Building Multichannel Brand Loyalty:
-Approach loyalty as a holistic brand strategy that ties together all facets of marketing / promotion
-Reflect consumer lifestyles and behaviors to enhance overall customer experience
-Promote on-going engagement by rewarding interactions, not just transactions (leveraging social channels)
-Collect and use data to provide a highly personalized customer experience, without crossing the line
“What we have seen over the years is an increase of members in the program that have collected more points and redeemed for more rewards at a higher point value,” Staples said. “We’ve got more than 150 items in the catalog that are constantly updated. We make sure we have a variety of rewards and make sure there’s something there that is attainable for everyone in the program. We’re pleased with the way the program has performed. We’re pleased so far with the results.”