Jessica Stephens, Director for U.K.-based TagPoints, believes that mobile is the future of loyalty.
Stephens told Loyalty 360 that her company’s objective is to build loyalty programs that make sense and are relevant for consumers while delivering genuine value for retailers.
TagPoints is a loyalty program with 100% focus on mobile technologies with solutions for high street retailers as well as multi-use destinations including shopping centers, and leisure parks.
Stephens participated in a Q&A with Loyalty 360 to discuss her young company and mobile’s future in loyalty programs.
Can you explain the second screen concept?
Advertising is one of the areas where mobile use by consumers presents new opportunities -- the second screen concept is a prime example. The second screen supplements TV ads with mobile content – a symbiotic relationship between devices rather than a competition for attention. The potential outcome is an increase in engagement rather than passive viewing by the consumer.
Why mobile?
There wasn’t a lot of mobile engagement and loyalty and we knew there were markets who could benefit from this technology -- mobile engagement solution completely on the smartphone. The application is all based on behavior. We really like to focus heavily on behavior in a more relevant, advanced, and sophisticated way. Gamify it out of the box and run with it straight away
Retailers have been blindsided by this kind of mobile usage. We want to ensure that rewards are enticing through a broad mix of offers, tangible rewards, and unique experiences for your customers.
When did the app actually launch and do you have any idea how many downloads there have been?
Our white-labeled enterprise iOS app is currently in testing so we've had 400+ downloads through various testing programs. Our previous live beta testing of geo-location offers had over 10k downloads in March of this year. Our shopping center installation went live on Nov. 18.
What are your goals for this program?
We aim to be the top provider of sophisticated mobile loyalty solutions to medium and enterprise businesses. We also have big goals around advertising and second screens -- particularly in cinemas. We want to make ad tracking and spend accountable, while making brand engagement fun and rewarding for consumers.
How many brands do you currently work with?
We are currently actively working with 11 brands. Ellandi is the chain of shopping centers we are delivering the solution for. Other brands we’re working with include high street fashion retailers, the two more leading Shopping Center landlords in the U.K. and one abroad, plus a large cinema chain.
How do you enhance the customer experience and customer loyalty?
We haven’t seen a loyalty solution that successfully combines social, gamification, behavioral targeting for real relevance, and real-time geo-location messaging all in an off the-shelf solution like TagPoints (app) and TagCampaign (publisher). We don’t require our clients to join a coalition and we’re not trying to create a consumer-facing brand. We simply want all business who’ve been priced-out of adopting loyalty programs to use our great software to enhance their relationships with their customers.
The first question we ask any of our clients is: “What is your pain point?” We don’t believe loyalty is an ancillary or nice-to-have business tool, but an essential problem-solving communications device.
We also have our eyes firmly set on future technologies with a goal to be leaders in the new wave of loyalty. The solutions we have built using Augmented Reality, for example, are not only fun, but technologically very sophisticated.
What is your philosophy on customer loyalty and how do you think consumer behaviors have changed in recent years?
If you think your customers are loyal to your brand only, you’re wrong. It was different in the past, but now competition is fierce and the best you can hope for is a share of the emotional mind space reserved for brands. So be fun, be different, and be rewarding beyond the purchase.