Jon Buck, Director of Member Engagement and Retention at Angie’s List, is head of the AngieCash loyalty program that continues to spark customer engagement among members.
Buck and Robert Jewell, Chief Revenue Officer, Exchange Solutions, will be the featured speakers during an exciting session titled, Inside the AngieCash Program: How Individualized Incentives Can Deliver Increased Customer Lifetime Value, Retention and Profitability, at the 8th annual Loyalty Expo presented by Loyalty360 – The Loyalty Marketers’ Association .
Loyalty Expo will be held April 27-29, 2015, at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando in Orlando, Florida.
Loyalty360 caught up with Buck to discuss the AngieCash loyalty program.
Do you see Angie Cash’s individualized incentives driving valuable behaviors across your entire customer base, or only through the most engaged customers?
The goal is to drive marginal behavior from both groups, but we are focused more primarily from the group that is not as engaged (yet). Those users who are already doing the actions we want don’t need to be incented to do them as they do them organically.
Many brands have trouble measuring the ROI from a customer engagement program, so what makes Angie Cash different?
We are very focused on driving marginal behavior. If we are truly driving marginal behavior with the program, then we know that the money we are spending is driving marginal business, thus its money well spent. If we spend money that does not generate marginal behavior, we would then be spending money on activities that would happen on their own.
Has Angie Cash been more successful at attracting new users or retaining existing users? If there is a difference, can you explain why?
We’ve had more success with the already existing members, but we are always trying new things to grow the acquisition side as well. I think these two groups present different opportunities for different business models, and for us right now, we are more focused on the retention side.
What is the best piece of advice that you can give a brand that is launching a new customer engagement program?
Be patient and flexible. The work to maintain/build the program is never complete. It’s an evolutionary product that will take time to mature.
How can marketers effectively build an internal case for the launch of a new customer engagement program?
I believe it’s a requirement to have an intimate understanding of the unit economics of your business. Once you have this level of understanding, you will know how much business each activity brings into the company and then you know how much money you can spend in order to stimulate that activity.