Joseph Adriano, Manager of Marketing Strategy for Xerox, told Loyalty 360 that the company hopes the launch of the new Genuine Xerox Rewards loyalty program creates more of a direct relationship with its customers.
“We don’t have a direct relationship with the customers and this program gives us an opportunity to establish more of a direct relationship with our customers who use Xerox Genuine Supplies,” Adriano said.
The idea behind Genuine Xerox Rewards, Adriano explained, is to focus on non-cash rewards with a loyalty/advocacy program.
“If you want to drive business, you do a discount promotion or rebate promotion,” Adriano said. “We had a business that was primarily rebate-oriented. Discounts and rebates have been the main fare of the industry. Often customers are motivated by discounts and rebates, but they abandon the brand when those discounts and rebates disappear.”
Adriano said Genuine Xerox Rewards began with a soft launch at the end of February without advertising, which “allowed us to build participant population slowly and get feedback. The feedback has been good and with more market awareness our signup rate has increased significantly. We have a number of fairly large customers buying Genuine Supplies. By signing up for the program, they’re saying they’re willing to be loyal.”
Genuine Xerox Rewards allows customers to redeem points for gift cards, downloadable music, movies, books, travel, Xerox equipment, and more. The rewards program offers 3.5 million music downloads; 160,000 music CD and DVD movie titles; 1 million book titles; and 37,000 theaters with movie tickets.
The Genuine Xerox Rewards program validates the authenticity of the Xerox products, letting customers know they are purchasing genuine supplies, not counterfeit items. Customers earn 1,000 points for enrolling in the program, one point for every dollar spent on Xerox supplies, and an additional 100 points for each eligible device registered.
With Genuine Xerox Rewards:
· Points can be accumulated no matter how supplies are purchased, including from Xerox partners, resellers, retail stores or ecommerce websites.
· Incentives can be redeemed with even small point balances.
· Rewards can be directed as gifts to family and friends or as charitable donations.
· Extra points can be garnered when customers participate in other activities on the rewards website.
· Points do not expire as long as users remain active in the program – which requires only one transaction per year.
Adriano said that Xerox customers who buy Genuine Supplies are more likely to be satisfied with their equipment and more likely to buy from Xerox again. When customers validate their products through the authentication label, it also confirms the item is not counterfeit.
“In two to three years we’d like to develop a database of loyal customers who we know are interested in buying Genuine Supplies,” Adriano said. “The basic tenets of loyalty marketing say that once you establish a relationship with a customer and they’re rewarded for that loyalty, it tends to strengthen that vendor-customer relationship. This will help us protect our Genuine Supplies franchise and customers will be willing to replace Xerox equipment with more Xerox equipment and be more satisfied with the product.”
Genuine Xerox Rewards allows customers to earn points regardless of where they purchase products. The program incents customers to spend with their resellers and service providers equally as dealing with Xerox itself.
Customers can join Genuine Xerox Rewards through the company website – www.xerox.com.rewards – or via the new product registration process. To claim points for the program, customers must enter the full authentication label serial number.
“The average consumer is signed up for seven programs and participates in at least three of them,” Adriano said. “I think the population at large says ‘I understand this and it’s working for me.’ I think we’re striking a chord with the population in general.”