Four actions CMOs should take immediately
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…
Shoppers are now prioritizing convenience and value
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…
How Loyalty can help put your business back on track
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,…
New Generation Z data poses a critical question
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…
Who are your most engaged members?
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…
The Key Question of Loyalty
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…
Payment-Led Loyalty – Simply Rewarding
A favourite approach for many marketers is known as the KISS Principle – “keep it simple stupid”. It surprised me the first time I heard it, but once I learned it was the design approach used by the US Navy, it quickly impressed me. With increasing competition for customer engagement, this principle is more important than ever before. Simplicity is becoming an essential marketing mindset that benefits loyalty programme operations, propositions and even customer communications. As retailers, taking payment is the only essential step that takes place with every customer every time, and with the increasing dominance of digital payments, the payment card has become the simplest and most effective way that you can track customer purchases and reward them effortlessly. Simply recognising and rewarding customers WITHOUT them needing to present a loyalty card or even scan an app is one of the most exciting ideas in the industry today – and customers of course just love it. Keeping Things Simple. Payment-Linked Loyalty Reitan…
Why is a coffee chain leading our adoption of mobile payments?
So why does Starbucks top the charts for the most used mobile payment apps in the U.S. in 2018*: Starbucks app: 23.4 million users Apple Pay: 22.0 million users Google Pay: 11.1 million users Samsung Pay: 9.9 million users *in-store payments (Source: eMarketer) Admittedly, we are still just scratching the surface where it comes to payments using a mobile device. The same could also be said about commerce over the internet, where most consumer internet traffic relates to video. By adding up all the online video watched on websites, YouTube, Netflix and webcams and you have 77% of the world’s internet traffic, according to US tech firm Cisco. To really drive the uptake of mobile payments, a different approach to changing our behaviour needs to be adopted. What can be done on a mobile phone is a fraction of what can be achieved with a desktop, laptop or tablet. Without…