Stephane Latreille, VP Retail and CPG, Aimia discussed five actions retailers can take to reignite their loyalty programs during Thursday’s Loyalty 360 webinar, “Throwing Off Sparks: Rules for Reigniting Your Retail Loyalty Program.”
Latreille listed the five rules, or actions, retailers can take to enhance their loyalty programs.
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Focus Your Data Efforts: Determine transactional data set that will identify the most promising opportunities with a brand’s best customers.
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Develop loyalty personas: Analyze transactional data of most loyal customers; develop a set of personas that reflects shared interests and behaviors; design and test offers geared to each group.
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Connect the Data Dots Across Channels: Linking these data dots across all channels creates insights that augment the overall customer experience.
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Battle short-term discounting with loyalty data: Test and learn. Compare redemption rate and lift from offers to most loyal customers with a generic offer sent to all customers.
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Reimagine recognition and rewards strategy: Test reward element through social media.
If brands execute on each of the five steps, they will be well on their way to creating real relationships with their customers.
Creating the right customer experience is very important, Latreille said.
“Loyalty programs have typically been focused around the retention side of the business while other parts of the brand focus on acquisition,” he said. “Most loyalty programs engage the customer after the purchase.”
Latreille said the goal of customer engagement should be pre-purchase through post-purchase. He offered four things retailers should remember:
Interaction centricity: Recognize and respond to every interaction, not just the transaction
Mobile: Being with the customer wherever and whenever
Social: Create social currency, not just a points currency
Real time: Shorten time between action and reaction
Quality, service, cleanliness, and value are four critical components of any good brand and any good loyalty program, Latreille said.
“The onus is on retailers to close the loyalty loop by delivering information back to consumers that increases more value and allows you to be more relevant with offers,” he said. “Personalized offers, differentiated experiences, and relevant rewards can set brands apart. The bottom line is the fundamental drivers for loyalty remain unchanged.”
Latreille believes the future of multichannel – or omnichannel – lies in acceleration.
“Brands have to know who’s your customer and how do they want to engage with you?” he said. “Put the right disciplines in place. It’s about investment, focus, and commitment. The reality is we’re all emotional in our buying decisions. Part of it is an emotional appeal of the brand. Find out who your customers are, and find out how they want to engage.”