Mobile has taken off in recent years as far as its wide-ranging impact on customer engagement and, ultimately, brand loyalty.
Loyalty360 hosted a webinar on Thursday titled, “The State of Mobile Loyalty: Bridging the Gap Between Consumer Expectations and Current Brand Strategies,” which was presented by 3C Interactive.
Current research shows that 52% of consumers say that mobile loyalty rewards motivate them to purchase more often, but only 35% of brand marketers say they know how to launch a mobile loyalty program.
What’s more, consider that:
U.S. households hold memberships in 29 loyalty programs, but are active in only 12
Engaged consumers buy 90% more frequently
Returning customers spend on average 67% more than first-time customers
92% of the general population trust brand advocates
“Mobile adds boundless opportunities,” Brian Heikes, Vice President, Product, 3C Interactive, told attendees during the webinar. “It is still a nascent and innovative space, but mobile does provide a multitude of opportunities for engaging members of your loyalty program.”
Some of those opportunities include: Social sharing, coupon codes, deep linking, alerts/notifications, data capture, mobile wallet, and interactive coupons.
Here is what mobile has done for customer loyalty:
Increase lifetime value: Higher basket size, increase in visit frequency, enable in-store engagement
Reduction of cost: Less operational administration; eliminate costs of print and mail, reduce unused and irrelevant offers
1-to-1 engagement: Drive targeted engagement, integrated with existing back-end CRM systems, relevant content leads to higher return
Separation from competition: Meet customer expectations for loyalty offering, adapt to new technology and trends, decrease customer churn
Mobile wallets are becoming increasingly popular as well.
Here are some of the benefits associated with mobile wallets:
Enables Easy Mobile Access: Lightweight, app-like functionality, conveniently stored in background, no user-initiated updates necessary
Integrated with Loyalty Platform: Real-time loyalty points balances, dynamic updates to reflect loyalty status or offer expiration date
Location-aware: Allows for location-relevance to trigger lock screen notifications, drive store traffic, deliver contextually-relevant content
Multichannel Delivery: Issue mobile wallet loyalty cards through existing email campaigns, integrate easily with SMS broadcasts, can be delivered proactively or on-demand
Margie Kupfer, Vice President, Marketing, 3C Interactive, told attendees that consumers spent 24% of their digital time on mobile devices in 2014 while just 8% of digital ad spend went to mobile campaigns; 52% of consumers are motivated by mobile loyalty, but 65% of marketers say they lack IT resources or knowledge to mobilize their loyalty programs.
“This represents a huge opportunity for brands,” Kupfer said. “Used correctly, it can be a game-changer.”
Here are some other key statistics:
48% of consumers prefer to receive loyalty communications via SMS vs. other channels
21% of brands use SMS to send loyalty communications to consumers
Barriers to loyalty signup:
Too frequent communications
Irrelevant offers
Too much information required
Inconvenient signup times
Kupfer said brands need to make the signup process to join a loyalty program easy, considering that 70% of consumers do not sign up for a loyalty program due to the amount of time required and inconvenience; and 72% of consumers are more likely to sign up for a loyalty program if the process was simplified by text message.
“It’s important to remove as much friction as possible throughout the loyalty signup process,” Kupfer said.
Give them customers want they want:
Rewards (40%)
Events (22%)
Deals (20%)
Content (11%)
Points (5%)
Mobile touches all points of the customer journey and it provides marketers toe ability to empower their customers.
Heikes said mobile is always in flux and “you’ll see a lot of innovation in the space.”
Personalized offers that brands can track can go a long way toward effectively building out CRM and customer profiles.
“Seeing which calls to action drive individuals can be very powerful,” Heikes said.
What’s next?
The convergence of wallet and loyalty
Beacons (deployments continue to grow as well as the capabilities they offer)
Chatbots
Kupfer offered some best practices:
Make It Simple
Simplify signup process, add SMS CTA and in-store signage, assemble data gradually
Make It Convenient
Most customers won’t make a purchase without a coupon, empower clients with mobile wallet, take advantage of in-store Wi-Fi. “Think like a customer, not like a brand marketer,” Kupfer said.
Make it Rewarding
Surprise with customized offers, reach out at the opportune time
Make It Fun
Add gamification elements, inspire social sharing, boost overall brand image