Bond Brand Loyalty wants to leverage the opportunity for customer loyalty currently in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) segment.
As a result, Bond Brand Loyalty launched SynapzeSHOP, a mobile loyalty app to drive customer engagement for CPG brands. SynapzeSHOP enables brands to offer consumers a mobile loyalty and rewards experience. Consumers can shop, scan receipts, and earn valuable rewards such as points, cash, and gift cards through this customizable, branded app.
Carlo Pirillo, EVP, Digital Solutions for Bond Brand Loyalty participated in an engaging interview with Loyalty360 to talk about the new app and how it can impact customer engagement, customer loyalty, and brand loyalty.
How and why did BBL create this new consumer mobile loyalty app solution for CPG brands?
Bond works with a variety of leading CPG brands and beyond the loyalty, strategy and analytics services that we perform for them, we identified a need in the marketplace to build more direct to consumer relationships.
We want to help brands build loyalty to their own brand vs. someone else’s coupon app (Checkout 51, Snap by Groupon, etc.)
The CPG category is ripe for loyalty and brands need to build stronger direct-to-consumer relationships as many only have email, Facebook, or limited CRM solutions in place. With brands embracing digital this solution opens up new growth opportunities to differentiate, and more tightly connect with empowered consumers at home or in the moment.. Brands need to be consistent and link in-store with advertising and other digital / social channels and SynapzeSHOP allows brands to put all of this in their consumer’s hands.
SynapzeSHOP was developed to deliver a number of benefits including:
Collection of Powerful Data – Brands have direct access to and own purchase, payment, competitive and store-level data to optimize promotional strategies and deepen consumer relationships
Build Loyalty – A white-label solution allows brands to create direct-to-consumer engagement, offers and personalized content at home, on the go or in-store with geo-location and beacon (“iBeacon" is an Apple term) technology
Lead the Category – It will help drive trial, growth and build share-of-basket opportunities with valuable data to optimize shopper marketing campaigns and strengthen retailer relationships
How will this app impact customer experience, customer engagement, and customer loyalty for CPG brands?
It’s easy, personal and provides instant value and savings when they shop and when they are rewarded. It’s also available on both major smartphone platforms; iOS and Android.
SynapzeSHOP allows brands to offer consumers a convenient, personalized, branded mobile loyalty and rewards experience that simplifies the process of saving and removes the hassle of paper couponing.
The branded app also ensures customers are building loyalty directly to a brand and not a savings app shared by many other competing brands.
A complete set of class-leading loyalty features allows for a personalized experience with relevant messaging and in-the-moment, location-based offers. Offers are targeted specifically to each customer to drive engagement with the brand and provide value to the customer – earn $$ and/or points when you shop. Surprise and delight offers will also make the experience fun and behavioral-driven notifications keep customers active. Recommended offers are also incorporated to increase product trial and adjacent product discovery.
Most important, the app is easy to use. Customers simply shop for the product, scan their receipts and receive rewards (cash, Pay Pal, or points that can be redeemed for gift cards from retailers or other partners. )
What makes this app unique?
First and most important is that it’s built on our Synapze Loyalty platform. Brands now have the ability to start with just savings features and can scale to include other modules, complete loyalty programs and the Bond services that come with them.
The app is also customizable, brandable, scalable, and allows brands to create a direct to brand relationship and build a database of engaged customers. Brands can now control the look/feel, messaging and create a brand-aligned program experience along the entire path to purchase in multiple languages and regions.
CPG brands can also develop quick to deploy short and long-term promotions with key retail accounts. Each retailer can receive a unique offer to drive sales, introduce new products or augment shopper marketing activities and promotions. CPG brands can provide extra value as they can track all sales data by product, store and location and share this data with the retailer.
How long did it take to create this app and when will it officially launch?
The app was developed over a six-month period and was built in-house by Bond’s digital and loyalty teams. The solution is ready to go live and we expect our first client program to launch this spring.
What are your goals for the app?
We want to help brands in this category build data rich, brand aligned and profitable programs that increase share of basket, create customer engagement, and deliver long-term value. To do this we are working with brands to launch longer term loyalty programs & shorter term promotion and savings programs.
We also see an opportunity for gamification (e.g. user generated content, check-in, etc.) using the app’s capture and location-based features and grassroots brand marketing using the app’s social features.
In the end we hope that this smarter digital loyalty technology will lead to more meaningful customer loyalty programs and experiences that engage consumers in richer contextual, personalized experiences that build brand loyalty.