And what they should focus on with their limited time
Editor's Note: To understand the mind of a CEO, it’s a good idea to talk with a person who occupies that role. Charles Ehredt, CEO Currency Alliance is a four-time CEO and understands that the time most CEO’s can dedicate to your loyalty program is probably close to zero. He also knows from experience that even 30 minutes a month spent asking the right questions and getting his team executing brilliantly, is time well-spent. Certainly, that’s the case if the outcome will be greater ROI from the department, and an increase in the brand’s NPS score.
Charles shares this article because many loyalty teams have, historically, not executed brilliantly. A minority of teams are brilliant, but the majority have only executed ‘OK.’ Here is his take on what a CEO should do if she only has 60 minutes per month to manage/monitor their loyalty program.
A poignant question for anyone in the C-Suite responsible for Brand, Customer Experience or Customer Loyalty is this: If your CEO were to be replaced tomorrow, and the new CEO had no previous connection to the current loyalty program, what changes do you think she would make?
The loyalty profession is characterized by cognitive entrenchment, as well as technological debt which further limits innovation. As a result, some CEOs don’t consider the potential of an excellent loyalty program: to be a significant profit center in its own right.
Chuck notes that since few CEOs have time to dedicate to individual marketing initiatives, there are 5 key areas where a CEO should focus if she only had 60 minutes per month to manage and monitor their loyalty program.
- Demand meaningful, engagement based KPIs
- Allocate more focus on less frequent customers
- Establish partnerships with complementary brands
- Break down departmental silos so cross-functional teams can collaborate to drive customer behavior
- Encourage experimentation to stand out
This is a timely article as an increasing number of retailers are recognizing that taking an enterprise approach to their customer marketing efforts is a key to success. Operating as the leader of a cross functional team composed of the heads of IT, Operations, HR, Marketing and Finance will lead to creating customer strategies that are effective and financially sustainable over the long term.
You can find Chuck’s full thinking process on the CEO role in customer loyalty here.
