Author Archives: irAdmin

Chief marketing officers (CMOs) and marketing leaders face an uncertain and rapidly evolving situation as a result of the coronavirus, and they must take an aggressively proactive approach to preparing their organization for disruption, according to Gartner Inc. This article is copyright 2020 The Best Customer Guide. CMOs must take immediate action in monitoring customer channels for unexpected and quick changes to customer behavior and purchasing needs, and prepare for potential disruption to budgets, plans, campaigns and strategy in the months ahead. “CMOs who wait for shifts in customer perceptions and needs, interruptions to supply chains and operations, or restrictions on mobility, travel and mass gatherings as a result of the COVID- crisis will only increase risks to their organizations and miss potential opportunities to build customer loyalty,” said Augie Ray, senior director analyst at Gartner for Marketers. “The key to managing risks and finding opportunities in such a period of…

Read more

Like it or not, the digital world is evolving. These changes might have happened over the course of a few years, but due to the coronavirus, the timeline has been shortened drastically. Flying cars aside, we already find ourselves living in hypothetical scenarios of a pseudo-future where everyone works from home, social contact is limited, and most of our time is spent in front of electronic devices (for now on the computer, the inevitable smartphone, and maybe even the tablet). For that reason, I was not surprised when my 4-year-old daughter thought the TV is broken when, by pressing the screen, she noticed that the Disney+ gallery wasn’t scrolling. As social behaviors change, digital ones shift with them. The changes we are currently experiencing must be managed, not suffered through. Precisely because, consciously or not, we are an integral part of it. Even though change can be difficult, the show…

Read more

Despite the persistent threat of a recession, consumers remain confident about their financial well-being and are contributing to CPG sales growth, according to IRI’s Q4 2019 Consumer Connect Survey. However, as consumers prioritize saving time, effort and money, they are shifting their shopping habits to channels they feel best support them. This article is copyright 2020 The Best Customer Guide. In the full report, entitled ‘Channel Trends in CPG Today’, IRI analyzes how this shift is affecting consumer shopping channel preferences and in-store behaviors. Joan Driggs, IRI’s vice president of Content and Thought Leadership, explained: “Despite an atmosphere of economic uncertainty, consumer confidence and outlook remain favorable. The optimism we recorded in our Consumer Connect survey is likely to have a positive effect on sales in the CPG industry, which we expect to continue growing incrementally through 2020, and exceed $886 billion by 2021.” That said, certain channels – such as dollar…

Read more

With much of the world locked down for the forseeable future, the conversations around loyalty are changing. Safeguarding our customers, our staff and ourselves has become our biggest concern.   While businesses adapt and loyalty programmes evolve, agile retailers who may never have needed to allow their customers to “pre-order and pre-pay” are now recognising the power of digital platforms to support social distancing, particularly in convenience retail.  As a consultant to the convenience industry, working with Liquid Barcodes, this episode unapologetically promotes a unique online solution and a tool that can be implemented by any retailer in just one week, in order to help retailers protect their customers and staff, and further build trust and loyalty long-term.  This article was first published by Let’s Talk Loyalty. Permission to use has been granted by the publisher.

Change. Sometimes it happens quickly. Often its agonizingly slow. But if the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us anything, it’s how quickly people, companies and governments can make huge changes and adapt their daily routines to get things done and meet the new normal when they absolutely have to. After all, necessity is the mother of invention. There have been some incredible examples of companies using their skills and technology to pivot completely to making new products, such as face masks (Foxconn), hand sanitizer (LVMH), ventilators, and breathing support devices developed in a week which would otherwise take years for approvals (Mercedes F1 team). In addition, restaurants and pubs turning not only to takeaway, but selling fresh fruit, vegetable, flour, butter etc. The one in my village is even selling cask beer to take away! In other words, all the essentials. There are always winners in any given situation, though perhaps…

Read more

The pandemic related impact to the Australian economy is already being felt; airlines to shut down, retailers forced to close, hotels cleared out and filled with returning residents, banks re-focusing to customer support. It’s clear that the ‘stay at home’ measures and the hibernation of many businesses has caused consumers to stop spending. So how does loyalty help these and other industries navigate this health and economic shock? From a loyalty perspective, BCG have a 4-stage framework which is a useful way to think about it: React, Rebound, Recession, Reimagination. We provide our perspective on how it can be applied. React (short term) Most of what we have seen so far in this domain are loyalty program members being hit with two types of messages: A – the useless “Are you ok? We’re here for you” emails: arriving from brands that I hardly remember buying anything from asking if I was OK,…

Read more

Wednesday April 29th, 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern Every brand must find new ways to survive and thrive in these unprecedented times. In this Webinar, you will gain insights into the top strategies used by successful brands to help them grow their traffic, improve conversion rates, turn first-time customers into repeat buyers and build brand loyalty. Now more than ever, brands are focusing on improving their digital strategies to weather this crisis, while also positioning themselves for future growth. Let us show you how easy this is to achieve with Mapp Cloud and its insight-led cross channel customer engagement capabilities. Some categories have seen increased demand, some a stark drop, and others no change. Those that have seen a large increase are often faced with supply side problems. Whatever your situation, it is no doubt you’re being affected by the huge changes in consumer confidence and buying patterns. The…

Read more

The Chalhoub Group is the largest retailer for luxury across the Middle East since 1955 with over 12,000 employees and a portfolio of some of the most exclusive brands in the world. With over 700 stores, the Group has spent the last two years defining and developing a unique loyalty programme proposition to appeal to premium customers and the luxury brands themselves.  In this episode of “Let’s Talk Loyalty”, I interview Nida Unas, Head of Group Loyalty at Chalhoub Group who tells us about MUSE – the programme that has been developed to reward premium Chalhoub customers with luxury experiences.  She shares with us some of the new ideas and solutions emerging through the programme as malls in the Middle East remain closed for now. This article was first published by Let’s Talk Loyalty. Permission to use has been granted by the publisher.

Employers and business leaders take note: a one-size-fits-all approach to defining a generation will cost both talent and customers. As Generation Z (the generation of those born between 1997 and 2007) begins to enter the workforce and flex its newfound spending power, connecting with them is critical. This article is copyright 2020 The Best Customer Guide. To do that, it is important to identify and acknowledge the differences within the generation – something many employers and business leaders failed to do with millennials, to their own detriment, according to Ernst & Young’s ‘Gen Z Segmentation Study’, which confirms bucketing the most diverse generation to date into one simple type, despite their individual characteristics, goals and values, will be a costly mistake. Gen Z contradicts many expectationsGen Z is a walking contradiction to society and past youth when it comes to social media usage, core values and politics. Employers and business leaders…

Read more

After seven incredible interviews, this episode looks back at the seven key lessons I’ve learned from my expert guests on the show. “Let’s Talk Loyalty” is designed to be educational and inspiring for any of us focused on engaging customers and retaining them to drive profitable business growth.  This summary episode is perfect if you’ve missed any of the great interviews – so you can listen back to anything relevant – or simply catch up with some inspiring statistics about our industry. This article was first published by Let’s Talk Loyalty. Permission to use has been granted by the publisher.

If you are an established retailer planning to launch a new or improved loyalty program, you can bank on the fact that your most engaged and most valuable customers will join first and in the largest numbers. Enrolments peak early and then taper off as high value customers sign up. If your business has seasonal peaks, you will also see enrolments increase in line with these sales ‘spikes’ as good customers visit to shop for Christmas or Mother’s Day. Routinely we see early enrolment members; spending more, buying more frequently, redeeming more rewards, staying active longer, than later enrolees. Marketing investment in the early life of your program is much more likely to be to an engaged group of heavy buyers. These members are more likely to respond to your calls to action and buy even more / take up your offers. Response and conversion rates should be good, return…

Read more

You’ve probably seen it in the news every day, the coronavirus is changing the way people are going about their daily life. In light of the outbreak of COVID-19, companies are also struggling to go about business as usual. Digiday sums it up clearly: “The economic shock of coronavirus is unique in that it affects both the demand and supply sides of the economy. On the demand side, there is less travel and likely more hesitant consumer spending. On the supply side, manufacturing supply chains are disrupted.” To try to keep employees safe, companies are taking preventive measures. But with these preventative measures day-to-day business processes – including manufacturing, marketing, and selling – are being put to the test. Who is it affecting? Companies are caught in a spiral of uncertainty, as the outlook for the spread of the virus changes every day. In the B2B realm, a lot of in-person events…

Read more

Film, music and games are all assets that loyalty programme owners can leverage to drive emotional engagement with members. Listen to this episode to hear partnerships expert Tom Sugg from Brand Culture London explain how to leverage the power of the world’s most popular entertainment brands as partners to engage your customers around their passion points.  This article was first published by Let’s Talk Loyalty. Permission to use has been granted by the publisher.

From a loyalty marketing perspective, few business tools are as useful as NPS – or Net Promoter Score – described by Harvard Business Review as “the one number you need to grow” – and the industry standard since the model was first published more than two decades ago as a way to measurably link your customer’s loyalty to your future profitability. The ingenuity of the NPS approach lies in the question it uses which reveals customer’s true motivation. Whilst the factors that drive our buying behaviour are complex and varied, the “ultimate question” effectively sidesteps irrelevant influences to get to the true heart of the customer’s mindset by cleverly asking customers whether they would actually recommend the brand to a friend. By putting their own reputation on the line, customers commit what Fred Reichheld (the man behind the model) calls “the ultimate act of loyalty”. An alumnus of Harvard Business School, and a Fellow and Consultant with…

Read more

In an ideal marketing world, traditional and e-commerce retailers would always know how and when to interact with their target audience to engage them in the best possible way. If there was only one communication channel, it would be a breeze to identify customers, track their activities, and address them in the most appropriate way. But the reality is different: consumers now not only use a wide variety of devices for surfing and online shopping, but also regularly switch between channels such as Facebook, e-mail, and customer apps. The challenge is, therefore, to identify customers across devices and channels in order to gain profound insights about them through data analysis. The new insights gained from this analysis allow a one-to-one customer approach that is appropriate for each channel. The need for such data analyses is enormous. According to a recent Gartner study, companies are already investing between 6.3 and 8.6…

Read more

15/77