ORLANDO -- Scott Robinson, Senior Director, Loyalty Consulting & Solutions, for Maritz Loyalty marketing told attendees at his Thursday session, “From Cool to Creepy: Balancing Personalization with Privacy,” that 94% of respondents to a survey conducted by his company indicated they want to receive communications from your program. But only 53% of respondents described those communications as relevant.
“There is a tight link between relevant communications and customer satisfaction,” Robinson said. “Almost 50% say they want to receive messages through three or more channels. We’ve been noticing a paradox between personalization and privacy. Increasingly, customers want more personalized communications and experiences, but they’re concerned about how their information is being used and the issue of privacy.”
Robinson pointed to headlines from last year about 42,000 customer accounts being hacked at Zappos.com along with 12 million Apple ID’s. “Privacy is top of mind for your customers,” Robinson said.
According to the Maritz survey, 29% of respondents won’t join a loyalty program because the company requires too much information and 24% won’t join due to privacy concerns – believing their name might be sold to marketers.
Robinson said respondents deemed receiving personalized discounts based on purchasing habits as a “cool” thing. But, mobile in general is deemed a “creepy” channel. Specifically, the survey found that respondents view allowing programs to view your friends’ Facebook status and updates as “creepy”.
Robinson suggested that companies need to let customers know how they will use their information.
Katherine Dimopoulos, Head of Marketing and Brand Experience for SCENE – a Canadian-based entertainment loyalty program jointly owned and operated by Cineplex (Canada’s largest national movie theater operator) and Scotiabank – said the success of the loyalty program is because her team reviews every process and influence “so we can have a consistent member experience every hour of the day.”
SCENE targets socially and digitally the 18-34 demographic and provides instant value as well as incremental value.
“We clearly articulated, we listened, learned, and evolved to where we are today,” Dimopoulos said. “We did surveys, annual usage, and attitude surveys and looked at their behavior. Then we dove deep into our data and addressed cool to creepy behavior. Today we have acquisition enrollment on customer terms. We have to do it on their terms -- mobile, then email is the key communication vehicle.”
But Dimopoulos warned: “Don’t communicate if you don’t have any relevant message. Messages have to be simple with a clear call to action. This is what you’ll get and this is how you you’re going to get it.”
Each individual requires different on-boarding with different levels of education in place. “Every time we communicate with members, we let them know what their point total is,” Dimopoulos said. “Simplicity cannot be overstated. We simplified everything from enrollment, participation, engagement, and redemption.”
Previously when someone enrolled in SCENE he or she had to fill out three pages of data.
“Our executives thought that was forward thinking of us and that we were collecting great data, but we had no right to ask for all that data,” Dimopoulos said. “And the data didn’t match behavior. Validity was an issue. And be transparent. If you make a mistake, fess up.”