About a year ago Amazon began testing its “Moments” loyalty platform with a diverse handful of brands.
More recently, the company announced that they would be rolling out the "Moments" program to another 100 countries around the world. Note: That a company could roll out anything into 100 countries at once is pretty impressive.
The basic premise behind Moments is that, because Amazon is who they are, they could develop a centrally operated, fully customizable platform for their vendors to use. The fact that it's operated through an API means that vendors can have easy access to a robust system without having to build or license one for themselves. Program costs are calculated on CPA basis so brands have very little exposure beyond initial setup and management – the rest of the costs are variable and are only charged if a customer takes the desired action. And because Amazon customers are already signed-in to their system, the Amazon Moment login will be seamless.
Beta users included Washington Post, TikTok, Sony Crackle, Sesame Workshop and USA TODAY
Several of them recorded impressive results. Marketing Land reports that TikTok, a short-form video app, “said it was able to quickly test and optimize campaigns to resonate with its global platform — making it possible to award prizes without putting the burden of storing or shipping prizes on the company.”
One of the other interesting aspects of Moments is that, because it runs within Amazon’s colossal ecosystem, it operates as a sort of coalition program, offering rewards from across its spectrum of vendors. List out all of the hurdles and impositions that running a coalition rewards program can face and Amazon has either solved for, or circumvented many of them.
What’s different?
Through Moments, brands can now operate a fully-functional loyalty program with very little upfront cost, and they can do so at scale. And, presumably, brands would have access to an Amazon-esque level of customer data as a result.
What are its best uses?
Amir Kabbara is head of Amazon's digital marketing and consumer innovation practice. In one of Kabbara's examples, a music streaming platform could decide to send a link for wireless headphones or an iPhone case to a subscriber if he listens to more than 20 hours of music in a given week. That example belies some of the unique benefits of the platform – namely, access to an unprecedented level of customer data (the customer owned an iPhone) and the ability to reward outside of one’s own product mix. Smart.
What types of brands will get the most out of Moments?
Playing well on Amazon’s playing field isn’t for everyone. Look at the kinds of companies that participated in the beta and you’ll see a short list of large, well-known brands and a few lesser-known but nevertheless unique services. I think this is telling.
If the ultimate goal of the loyalty program is to improve or create lift, shift, retention or brand affinity then Moments seems to have been designed for companies that can stand out within Amazon’s universe and not get lost in the mix.
Think about your most recent few purchases on Amazon. They might have been from a recognizable brand, but there is also a good chance that you purchased something from one of the thousands of vendors who are virtually anonymous there. In those cases, incentivizing customers toward deeper brand connection is going to be a much difficult task. Are you bonding the customer to the vendor or to Amazon?
"Are you bonding the customer to the vendor or to Amazon?"
We cover Amazon’s customer experience and loyalty efforts with some frequency and we’ll commit to paying close attention to Moments as more information becomes available.
Mike Giambattista is Editor in Chief at The Wise Marketer and is a Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional (CLMP).
