AARP officials are very proud of their Rewards for Good loyalty program.
Engaging with the 50-and-older population with a unique customer loyalty offering has resonated incredibly well across the U.S.
At the 2015 Loyalty360 Awards, which were held at at the 8th annual Loyalty Expo presented by Loyalty360 – The Loyalty Marketers’ Association, AARP won a Gold Award in the Best Customer Experience & Engagement category.
Loyalty360 caught up with Stacey Walker, Director, Digital Analytics at AARP to discuss the program’s success.
Can you talk about AARP’s Customer Experience approach, as far as what is involved, and why you think it resonates so well with your customers?
AARP’s first-of-its-kind loyalty program, Rewards for Good, rewards users of AARP.org for engaging with exclusive online tools and information that has meaningful impact to their lives. And it’s completely free!
Unlike most loyalty programs, Rewards for Good provides incentives to users with no upfront spending requirement. There’s no other program like this in the marketplace that is specifically aimed at the 50 plus audience. The more users engage with content and tools on AARP.org, the more points they earn. In 2014, 2.3 million more people have used a qualifying social mission tool, quiz or calculator versus the same time period last year. This is a 92% year-over-year increase in usage of AARP’s social mission activities.
This resonates with members of the rewards program, as we are incentivizing them to do things that help them enhance their lives, such as using retirement savings calculators, Social Security Q & A tools, or fitness devices to improve their health.
What are your CX goals and how did the results match your expectations?
Our CX goals include engagement, awareness, customer satisfaction, penetration, retention and loyalty. The Rewards for Good program celebrated its one year anniversary in February 2015. The program exceeded first year goals, adding over 300,000 new users each month. There are currently 4.1 million users earning points in the program.
A post-awareness study of the program showed that 43% of AARP visitors were aware of the rewards program. This group was more satisfied and more likely to become or continue to be an AARP member, volunteer with AARP, and return to AARP.org than those who were unaware. Customer satisfaction among Rewards for Good members is 2 points higher than the AARP.org site average.
How do you define CX at AARP and how does Customer Feedback impact that theme?
AARP aims to create a unified customer experience, where the user and their needs are first priority. Our goal is to present one, cohesive AARP to our users. A simplified approach of delivering value through advocacy, information and service is the guiding principle for AARP in order for all people to fulfill their goals and dreams. The concept of a valued customer experience is embedded throughout AARP’s work, including monitoring and responding to voice of the customer data. Customer feedback and resulting action plans are implemented and communicated broadly on an ongoing basis.
With an abundance of technology solutions available in the marketplace, how do you know which ones best fit your customers and their expectations?
AARP works very closely with our technology partner, Deluxe Rewards, to assist us with our objectives by designing a customized program that supports ongoing positive interactions with our members. AARP uses Deluxe Rewards’ expertise in the marketplace to drive customer interaction, loyalty, and retention. This partnership is key to delivering exceptional results from this one of a kind loyalty program focusing on the 50-plus audience.