David Wachs, Senior Vice President of Mobile for ePrize, told Loyalty 360 that 2013 is the year of integration and customer preferences especially since he sees the lines blurring between brand loyalty and CRM efforts.
“It’s always about delivering the right message at the right place at the right time,” Wachs said. “Now customers are determining preference settings of when and how they want to be communicated with.”
Wachs believes customers want brands to understand them fully and completely.
“It’s an ongoing evolution,” Wachs said. “Now it’s about connecting the silos between various CRM, loyalty and promotion databases and developing a better understanding of your customers and having a centralized profile of those customers. I think you’ll see a proliferation of loyalty programs just because of that,” he said. “People’s key chains are weighed down from loyalty cards, but phones can support them.”
Wachs said the average consumer has 14 loyalty cards.
ePrize, a digital engagement company specializing in social, mobile and web campaigns, recently launched a new Mobile Software Development Kit whereby brands can give consumers access to multichannel ePrize campaigns marketed through the brand's native app. With ePrize's Mobile SDK, brands can more deeply engage with their customers on mobile via in-app promotions including sweepstakes, instant-win, and contest programs.
With over 800,000 offerings in Apple’s app store alone, it is a challenge for brands to drive consistent usage of their mobile apps. ePrize's Mobile SDK not only encourages repeat app engagement by supporting multiple promotions within the app, but can also notify the user every time there is a new promotion. Configurations are customizable and returning users are automatically logged in after the first visit, simplifying the participation process.
For ePrize clients, implementation is simple. The app team integrates the Mobile SDK library and configures it to fit the brand’s app. Then, all of a brand's ePrize campaigns are featured. When a promotion launches, an icon or banner appears to the consumer, signaling them to enter via the campaign's mobile-optimized microsite, while keeping the consumer in app.
What’s more, ePrize’s Mobile SDK secures customer data and relevant insights. By keeping consumers returning to their app, brands can reduce app abandonment, learn more about their customer base, and engage consumers with multichannel executions.
“We are building an ongoing communication stream between brand and customers by owning the entire process and making it transparent, and we think it’s powerful,” Wachs said.
Current smartphone adoption in the U.S. hovers around 58%, Wachs said. To communicate to everyone, there needs to be a common denominator like SMS or email.
“For those most loyal customers who take the effort to download an app, having an app-based strategy might be the right way to go,” Wachs said. “If they want online email, offer that too. We’re entering an age of preference centers allowing consumers to tailor their needs.”
In the world of mobile apps, Wachs said, the challenge for brands is ensuring frequent customer engagement and making those apps stand out. The ePrize Mobile SDK implements promotions from brands directly into their apps.
“For brands without a loyalty program, when they register for promotions within the app, we can track app usage habits from then on forward and attach additional metrics to that unique user,” Wachs said.