This Week's News
Mother’s Day was celebrated yesterday in the US and we can say with confidence that it is a “no miss” holiday. You might forget to buy someone a birthday present or even forget Father’s Day, but you had better not forget Dear Old Mom. Continuing a tradition first started by Anna Jarvis in 1907 at a Methodist Church in West Virginia, Mother’s Day is celebrated around the world, though on different dates in many countries. Mexico celebrates on May 10, Thailand on August 12, Peru on the second Sunday of May, and France typically the last Sunday in May, while the United Kingdom celebrates on the last Sunday of Lent, which varies each year.
From those humble beginnings in West Virginia, Mother’s Day has become one of the most commercialized holidays of the year, with consumers reported to spend about $33.5 billion this holiday. And the investment in customer loyalty never stops, either. You’ll see stories in this week’s Newsletter about investments in loyalty and digital marketing by Wendy’s, McDonald's, Morrisons, and Dave and Busters, among others.
And, if you read deep, you’ll see the prescient reminder that loyalty programs are “not just about rewarding transactions; they’re about rewarding trust, deepening the customer relationship, and making every interaction count. By closing the gap between perceived and actual value, brands can transform their loyalty programs from a cookie-cutter model to a dynamic, customer-centric engine driving repeat business.”
Stay. Loyal. Always.
- CRMC Conference takes center stage
- Wendy’s investment in digital assets resulting in customer loyalty and revenue growth
- Dave and Busters adding to loyalty and engagement tactics with “social wagering”
- MyMcDonalds provides more proof of loyalty success and opportunity for improvement
- Australian loyalty provider Roilti announces Ride Share Loyalty
- Morrisons More Card – a one-year review
- Understanding Trends in Customer Purchase Behavior in Hospitality
- Explore the Neuroscience of Customer Retention and Loyalty
- Wallet Relationship Management is the Web3 Version of CRM
- Is the success of UPI digital payments impacting Consumer Financial Health?
Here’s a Roundup of this week's Loyalty and Digital Marketing News
CRMC springs next week in Chicago, McDonalds, Wendy's, Dave and Busters, Morrisons, Roilti, and Wallet Customer Management in this week’s Newsletter.
CRMC Conference takes center stage
The 2024 CRMC Retail Conference is kicking off in Chicago next week. The event runs from Monday, 20 May – Wednesday, 22 May, and is hosted at the Chicago Hilton. Check out the agenda here, and you’ll see the quality of presenters on tap. A few sponsorships remain, and you can find that information here. Above all, make sure to register and attend to join in some fantastic networking and get some business done.
The Wise Marketer will be on site as a Media Partner and will be doing brand interviews on site. If you would like to snag an interview spot, look for our signage when you register. See you in Chicago!
Wendy’s investment in digital assets resulting in customer loyalty and revenue growth
Wendy’s is the third-largest hamburger chain in the United States and made an announcement earlier this year that it was investing roughly $15 million into enhancing its mobile app experience and loyalty capabilities plus an additional $20 million to introduce digital menu boards in all company-operated restaurants in the U.S. by the end of 2025. The investment was slated to unlock more seamless experiences and additional customer data to improve personalization.
In a Q1 2024 earnings call President and CEO Kirk Tanner shared results that show the investment is returning good results. He shared the number of monthly active users on Wendy’s app grew 40% from Q4 2023 to 6 million and total loyalty program membership reached more than 40 million in Q1. Read the loyalty program Terms and Conditions here.
Dave and Busters adding to loyalty and engagement tactics with “social wagering”
Dave & Buster’s launched in 1982 and serves up fun and games through more than 222 locations in North America. Its venues offer everything from bowling to laser tag, plus virtual reality. Dave and Busters Rewards is touted as “not your Mama’s Rewards program.” The company says it has five million loyalty members among the 30 million unique visitors to locations each year.
The program offers 1 bonus game chip for each $1 spent on food and beverage (max $50 per day), challenges to earn badges, rewards, and bragging rights and the ability to reload a prepaid card and skip the line at the kiosk on the store. The company just announced that it will allow loyalty members the ability to make “real money” wagers on games within their outlets – anything from a Hot Shots basketball game to a Skee-Ball competition. Take a chance and read about it here.
MyMcDonalds provides more proof of loyalty success and opportunity for improvement
MyMcDonald’s Rewards members included roughly 34 million “active users” and represented more than $6 billion in U.S. sales during the chain’s 2024 Q1. It is now reported the burger chain will ask its US operators to begin contributing to a new digital marketing fund in 2025 to support ongoing upgrades to MyMcDonald’s Rewards and its digital ordering channels. Examples cited are innovation through personalization and next-gen loyalty capabilities, such as being able to place orders through the website without having to download the app.
According to the news, US franchisees must contribute 1.2 percent of expected identified digital sales beginning in 2025, with the amount updated annually based on projections. With all of this success and investment continues to be an opportunity to improve personalization. This article cites the standing of the top points earners in the loyalty program and begs for more personalization in this and all loyalty programs. Must read here.
Australian loyalty provider Roilti announces Ride Share Loyalty
Roilti, the Sydney-based loyalty and incentive provider, announced a program in collaboration with ride-share businesses (including Uber) benefitting both users and travel retailers. Roilti was set up in 2019 to specialize in shopper strategy, promotional marketing, SaaS (Software as a Service) development and compliance.
The platform partners with global brands and retailers in the planning, setup and delivery of brand-aligned, high-conversion incentives designed to appeal to duty-free shoppers with time to browse and shop. Read more here.
Morrisons More Card – a one-year review
Morrisons is among the top five grocery retailers in the UK, sharing its status with Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Aldi. The chain relaunched its Morrisons More card about one year ago. The relaunch brought about several changes including the return of the popular Morrisons Fivers where customers can earn points on selected purchases, including fuel, and redeem for “Fivers” when shopping.
A year into this relaunch, there is plenty of news and data to analyze and we found this analysis of the MORE program from IGD Senior Insight Analyst Alex Rowberry.
Understanding Trends in Customer Purchase Behavior in Hospitality
What do Ozzy Osbourne and Prince Charles have in common? They are both 75-year-old men with two kids, but definitely not the same hotel guest seeking the same experience. Smart marketers realize that serving guests properly means going beyond demographic and psychographic profiling. Can anyone say Zero Party Data, derived from Loyalty Programs?
If you said “yes” and are interested in the hospitality industry, you should consider attending or sponsoring the 16th Annual Hotel Data Conference in 2024. It’s set for August 7-9, 2024, at the Grand Hyatt Nashville. Get all the information you need here.
Explore the Neuroscience of Customer Retention and Loyalty
Gerrit McGowan is a 4x founder (w/ 2 exits), angel investor, and globally recognized startup expert who's helped over 1000 entrepreneurs through evidence-based entrepreneurship coaching and training. He carries a PhD in Neuroentrepreneurship (we didn’t know there was such a degree) and Flow.
Gerrit was at the forefront of the Cause-Related Loyalty Marketing movement when he founded Kula Causes over a decade ago. In this article, Gerrit offers a consumer Neuroscience primer as he describes the many ways in which the brain of a loyal customer comprises a complex network of neural pathways that influences customer behaviors and connection with a brand.
Wallet Relationship Management is the Web3 Version of CRM
Wallet relationship management (WRM) is a web3 version of customer relationship management (CRM) created to enhance CRM data with token interactions to build loyalty in the digital economy. In web2, marketers and product managers use technologies such as cookies, advertising IDs, and email addresses to measure results.
Some believe that wallets will eventually replace emails, cookies, and other Web2 identifiers. “A crypto wallet today is going to replace many, many things that existed in web2 first,” says Samir Addamine, co-founder and CEO of Absolute Labs. “The way we connect to services online, internet services through email, and these complicated passwords and approaches we use … that as well can be replaced by a wallet.” To learn more, read and listen here.
Is the success of UPI digital payments impacting Consumer Financial Health?
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in India is a regulated smartphone tool that allows for mobile payments to be made without debit or credit cards. You can read about how it works here. Data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) showed massive growth in payments over the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) network, and on a year over year basis, transaction counts have increased by 50 percent.
According to companion reports, the convenience, ease, and utility of the payment method is leading many consumers to spend beyond their means. The result is a temporary boost to the local economy, with the longer-term impact on consumer financial health at risk. Read about the concerns here.
