Jeanne Chapman, Executive Vice President, Corporate Marketing Solutions, Entertainment Promotions, will be one of the featured speakers during a session at the 7th Annual Loyalty Expo, presented by Loyalty360 – The Loyalty Marketer’s Association. The event will be held March 17-19, 2014, at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Florida.
Chapman participated in a thought-provoking Q&A with Loyalty360 on the topic of customer engagement and loyalty.
Q: What do you think are the top three keys to triggering effective customer engagement?
Appear to care about me as an individual and don’t lump your connection with me into a bucket with hundreds of others.
Send me relevant information based on your knowledge of me as your customer.
Speak to me at intervals that are appealing; too much and I’ll tune out, too little, I’ll think you really don’t care about me.
Q: How do brands figure out what rewards will resonate with their audiences to create engagement and loyalty?
Ask me when possible and capture this data.
Test, trial and measure.
Utilize secondary research
Q: What are brands doing well in this area?
The telecom companies are beginning to reward customers with hyper local rewards based on geo and demographic capture; banks and credit card issuers are trying with card-linked offers delivered based on spend information, but the offering is not robust enough to engage me on a regular basis.
Q: How much does customer feedback play a role in this process?
Asking customers about preferences and capturing individual information is a key factor in creating relevant dialogue with them. This also drives key primary research that drives development of your products/brand. Otherwise, secondary research must be applied.
Q: Are there certain cadences brands should adhere to regarding rewards programs to keep them fresh and relevant?
Because every program is different, to suggest a successful cadence would depend on the product or service purchase cycle, structure, and depth of the rewards program.
Q: How do you define customer loyalty and has that definition changed in recent years?
I think that over the years one was considered loyal if you stuck singularly to a brand across all products offered in a category. Nowadays, marketers recognize that there are degrees of brand loyalty and buyers can be considered loyal even if they rotate between a few preferred brands in a single category.
Further, today there is such diversity in products and services that you can be loyal to a particular product within a brand as well as to the brand itself.