Which party is the best data party? A slew of loyalty M&A announcements, what to do when your card issuer out-does you, loads of loyalty stats, pushing the boundaries of AI intrusion in Macau, and can loyalty solve your traffic jam? Here is what we are following in loyalty news …
CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY
Why Retail Marketers Turn to Behavioral Economics
Quotable: “… companies that apply the principles of behavioral economics to their overall marketing strategy outperform their peers by 85% in sales growth and more than 25% in gross margin.”
CONSUMER DATA
Marketers Must Boost their Data Confidence
Quotable: “Data confidence isn't so much an end state as it is an ongoing operating model and mentality that comes from having a clear first-party data strategy," says Tyler Pietz, vice president of global consulting at MightyHive.”
The Rise of Second-Party Data
Quotable: “As second-party data relationships are coming back into fashion, marketers who take proactive steps to ensure privacy and ethical use, and that the data can be confidently matched at the highest rate possible through identity resolution, will reach the highest number of receptive customers, which is what second-party data relationships are all about in the first place.”
Australia: Consumer Data Right Legislation Could Delay Open Banking
Quotable: “Open banking was originally scheduled for roll out this month, but instead, the big four banks, in partnership with the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and data standards body Data61, will conduct a pilot programme to test the performance, reliability and security of the open banking system.”
DEALS
SoundCommerce Closes $6.5 Million Seed Round Led by Defy Partners
Quotable: “Delivering amazing consumer experiences is incredibly hard — it’s the reason brands that directly serve consumers are worth ten times their wholesaler counterparts,” said SoundCommerce CEO Eric Best. “You’ve acquired the shopper, and now it’s time to deliver on your customer promise.”
Joko Raises EUR1.6 million to Reinvent Loyalty Cards
Quotable: “After a few months of beta, Joko has already been adopted by tens of thousands of people, with the user base doubling every month. Users have already earned tens of millions of points since the launch of the beta.”
Global Fintech Player PayU Expands its Operations to Southeast Asia
Quotable: “According to one Google-Temasek study, Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing digital payments markets in the world, and is expected to triple in size to US$240 billion in total payments volume by 2025.”
AIRLINES
United Blames Chase for Customers Not Using Their Lackluster Credit Cards
Quotable: “… unless you are a major United traveler (and then you would probably have elite status anyway), the Chase United Club card doesn’t come close to earning business from the Chase Sapphire Reserve.”
Why Frequent Flyer changes are Key to Qantas’ Future
Quotable: “… the airline is going all in - making more seats available at peak times and popular routes to get members using their points and more often. While this might seem counter-intuitive, Qantas is sacrificing revenue in its airline business by making more points seats available, it has the long-term aim of supercharging engagement.”
Air France-KLM Launches The ‘Jetlag Social Club’
Quotable: “… a mobile app available on the Google Play store – sorry no iOS for now – that offers personalized experiences that match your biological clock so you can navigate your way out of jetlag. For now the app is only available to anyone who visits Tokyo. It offers over 130 experiences from food to shopping, culture and more, carefully selected to enjoy at any time of the day or night. Thanks to the ‘Jetlag Social Club’ app, you get to rest, eat and explore the city when you want as the whole city goes at your pace.”
HOSPITALITY
Radisson and Jin Jiang deal for Loyalty Programme
Quotable: “By going live on WeHotel, Radisson Hotel Group’s properties will benefit from significant exposure in China, the world’s largest travel market, access to more than 148 million members of Jin Jiang WeHotel’s loyalty programmes, local language booking options, Chinese digital payments and more.”
Accor: Going ‘ALL’ Out to Build a Modern Loyalty Programme
Quotable: “Speaking at the event about how Accor’s new vision for loyalty was Senior Vice President, Guest Experience and Engagement, Fernand Fernandez. “We want to see engagement with the guest beyond the stay. We want to be much more than just a product. We want to become part of the guest’s everyday life,”
RETAIL
Sainsbury’s Sales Fall as Strategy to Meet Customer Change Fails
Quotable: “Sainsbury’s sales have fallen in Q1 2019 by 1.2%, excluding petrol, with like for like sales falling by 1.6%. This is the third straight decline for the supermarket.”
Fashion Shoppers Want Meaningful In-store Experiences
Quotable: “… suggests the Understanding and Influencing the Customer Journey for Fashion report series, two-thirds of fashion customers do not trust retailers with their personal data.”
GROCERY
Grocers Look Deep into Customers’ Shopping Carts
Quotable: “Nearly half of U.S. consumers buy groceries online, and about half buy at least some consumer packaged goods online, according to a report by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Nielsen. Online grocery shopping is expected to quadruple by 2022, reaching $100 billion in annual sales, but only 7% of retailers and 22% of manufacturers think they have the skills to succeed in a digital landscape …”
CX
The State of Customer Experience
Quotable: “Companies in the CX space have been talking about the importance of ‘omnichannel’ for years now. But the reality is, the customer doesn’t know what that word omnichannel really means, nor do they care. What they do know is that if they want to purchase something or have their questions answered, they just simply pick up their phone or open up their laptop. In other words, they’re not thinking in ‘channels’...”
Bolster the Last Mile of the Customer Experience
Quotable: “… research also showed that shoppers who returned an item through a branded returns portal were nearly 30% more likely to be a repeat shopper than consumers who returned items through another method.”
Create a Winning Digital Experience Strategy
Quotable: “Removing existing pain points and blockers our users struggle with, is the first step in improving digital experience. This means ensuring users can go through and complete different journeys or find the information they are looking for, more efficiently.”
AI
Improving Engagement With an AI-Powered Segmentation
Quotable: “A common challenge for retailers is the gap between AI insights and operational efficacy. A company might invest in data scientists who have been using AI to find out what people’s top three product choices are, but the e-mail marketers haven’t heard about the findings due to silos in the organization. And it’s not just a problem of getting the e-mail marketers on board — if you have a critical segment that needs attention, you want every part of the business that customer could touch to be on board: the store, the call center, the web site, etc.”
China's Big Brother Casinos Can Spot Who's Most Likely to Lose Big
Quotable: “Some of the world’s biggest casino operators in Macau, the Chinese territory that’s the epicenter of global gaming, are starting to deploy digitally-enabled poker chips and baccarat tables, hidden cameras and facial recognition technology to track which of their millions of customers are likely to lose the most money. The new technology uses algorithms that process the way customers behave at the betting table to determine their appetite for risk. In general, the higher the risk appetite, the more a gambler stands to lose and the more profit a casino tends to make, sometimes up to 10 times more.”
LOYALTY STRATEGY
You Can't Buy Loyalty, But You Can Reward It
Quotable: “According to Nielsen, "67% of customers agree that they shop more frequently and spend more at retailers with a loyalty program."
Digital Channels Increasingly Important to Loyalty Programs
Quotable: “There is no evidence that consumers are signing up to fewer programs due to concerns over security and fraud. However, the research reveals that members are concerned and therefore brands or businesses with programs who are transparent with why they collect and how they use the data have a greater opportunity to build trust and hence increase program interaction.”
The Value of Data to the Loyalty and Engagement Industry
Quotable: “18-24 year-olds are significantly less likely to be members of loyalty programmes; whereas only 61% are members of a loyalty programme, compared to a national average of 77%. The data highlighted that in order to engage this age group, brands need to ensure that they are online, engaging consumers through a digital platform, offering instant rewards for signing up and building awareness and understanding quickly. Rewards that offer freedom, flexibility and choice work best.”
Are You in Loyalty Points Limbo?
Quotable: “A third of Ontarians (33%) believe that earning loyalty points is more satisfying than redeeming points, according to a recent survey by PC Financial Mastercard. And when you look at what customers find most satisfying about their favourite loyalty programs, it’s the dollar value of the points, and ease of earning and redeeming them.”
Kantar Study Shows Top Insurance Brands are Less Differentiated on Customer Loyalty
Quotable: “Younger customers are more loyal than older customers and are 1.2X times more financially aware.”
MoviePass Seeks to Resuscitate its Business
Quotable: “MoviePass, while a great idea, is a horror show in terms of execution and customer service. It’s hard to exist as a company when you don’t have the public’s trust nor can you deliver what you promise.”
LOYALTY FOR GOOD
Could Rewards Systems Get More People Using Public Transit?
Quotable: “Driving will get you the same the number of miles you traveled, taking public transit will get you triple and walking will get you 10 times as many as you actually walked. Then, users can cash those "miles" in for rewards like gift cards and promotions for stores, like 250 points for five dollars off cosmetics.”
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.
