Monthly Archives: September 2016

Designing Loyalty Programs for an Omnichannel Customer

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Does your loyalty program and customer engagement programs account for changing customer preferences?

 

With over 7 billion global cell phone subscribers and nearly 1.7 billion active social media accounts online, the world continues to rapidly digitize. With ever demanding customer expectations, retailers need to continuously innovate with technological solutions that go beyond the online transactions.

 

As a retailer, you can leverage the ubiquity of mobile phones and the growing popularity of social media to ensure customer satisfaction while driving footfall and conversion rates. So let’s ask the key question: Does your loyalty program and customer engagement programs account for changing customer preferences? Consumers today don’t like stacking up their wallets with loyalty program cards. They prefer an easy and adaptable mobile app loyalty program.

 

The Different Facets of Digital Loyalty Programs

 

Technology acts as an enabler in designing loyalty programs that encourage customer adoption and customer loyalty. Depending on your mobile loyalty application vendor, you can set your own rewards or use pre-defined rewards. The following three steps outline the prerequisites for implementing a successful digital loyalty program:

 

Define the program goal and the target audience: It is necessary to first identify the primary goal of the loyalty program (increase in repeat customers, increase in average order size, decrease in customer churn, etc.) and the intended target audience.(high loyal customers, repeat customers with high order size, etc.)

 

Set and measure ROI objectives clearly: While your loyalty program should motivate your target audience, it should also ensure positive ROI for the business. A well thought out loyalty program should consider the needs of both your customers and your brand. Merely setting goals is not enough; you need to ensure that there are credible means to measure these goals and incorporate mechanisms to improve upon existing systems.

 

Promote your program through the right channels: Again, merely implementing a loyalty program is not enough, you need to promote it wisely. Social media, email marketing, and mobile marketing are the main channels you can use to successfully build program awareness. You can also use various other creative means by using content promotion and syndication tools to promote your programs.

 

Executing a Successful Digital Loyalty Program

 

Capturing customer information is a prerequisite to execute any successful loyalty program irrespective of the channels they were acquired from.

 

Typically, a customer’s mobile number is often used as a unique identifier for a program registration. Customers may need to enter their mobile number into a kiosk at an outlet; alternatively an in-store device may automatically recognize their phone and punch a mobile card. For home deliveries, a QR code on the receipt can be scanned to add loyalty points. Online purchases also automatically add points to the customer’s account. Your mobile loyalty program should easily integrate with email and social media so that you can send tailored offers to repeat customers based on their buying patterns; and customers can share offers via social media to earn additional loyalty points.

 

Payment disruption players such as Google Wallet, Apple Pay and a surge of other prominent players such as Paytm, Citrus, etc. are changing the way people transact at retail outlets. Your mobile loyalty app should be able to integrate with these popular payment options. Ideally, using a payment app at checkout, you should be able to fill the bill details, add a customer’s loyalty points, and incorporate any available discount coupons. It is also important to keep track of customer trends while integrating loyalty programs across mobile and social channels.

 

The total value of mobile payment transactions in 2016 is forecasted to grow by nearly 210%. Retailers need to capitalize this opportunity and devise the best coupon offers, loyalty program deals, discounts, and other campaigns that can be accessed through mobile wallets.

 

So, go ahead and stay competitive by building an omnichannel loyalty program that incorporates the demands of today’s digitally savvy customers.

 

Image Source: PYMNTS

 

Showrooming and Webrooming: Are They Two Sides of the Same Coin?

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The retail industry is going through a dramatic revolution with an unprecedented impact of tech-savvy customers indulging in one-click purchases. From checking online reviews for products to comparing prices on different websites, consumers have multiple options at bay to keep retailers on their toes.

 

Two principal phenomena that are defining the retail ecosystem today are ‘Showrooming’ – a practice of browsing products in-store but actually purchasing them online and ‘Webrooming’ – where shoppers research for products online but eventually purchase them offline in physical stores.

 

Retailers across the world are facing a challenge of leaking revenue owing to either one of the above phenomena. But can leveraging both trends be a win-win situation for all the parties involved?

 

Embrace Interchanging Retail Trends

 

According to an independent study, 46% consumers showroom while 69% webroom. Also, a Forrester Research study predicts that web rooming will result in $1.8 trillion in sales by 2017. These stats show that while consumers want to avail the benefits of online shopping (convenience, discounts), they still crave for an in-store retail experience, either due to the look and feel factor or due to sizing and personal preferences issue.

 

One common attribute that stands out is the consumer’s need for a seamless shopping experience –with respect to both the channel and the platform. This observation proves the fact that retailers need to be present across different channels (in-store, mobile, social, web) and improve their customer engagement strategy to provide consistent shopping experiences.

 

Omnichannel Customer Engagement is Key

 

Online shopping has taken on a new dimension with the emergence of mobile platforms that offer a user-friendly, intuitive shopping interface. In this context, showrooming and webrooming are becoming more relevant than ever before. According to another Forrester Research study, smartphone and tablet commerce will reach $293 billion in sales by 2018. Smart retailers should realize what can attract and retain mobile-shoppers – from detailed product descriptions, customer reviews, and product availability information to easy price comparisons.

 

Brands can enhance their store experience with exclusive apps for in-store shoppers or by synchronizing mobile payments and mobile loyalty programs. Having well-trained staff with knowledge of multi-channel inventory or a user-friendly website with a strong e-commerce engine will also help influence consumer purchase decisions.

 

Implementing an omnichannel approach is the best way to stay ahead of the curve to handle these new changes and trends in retail value chain. It’s all about providing shoppers with one digital channel that runs across multiple platforms to ensure an enhanced retail experience. Technology is a great enabler to balance out both showrooming and webrooming trends. Retailers need to step up and implement the right technology measures to cater to their customers’ shopping expectations and offer superior, enriching experience across all platforms and channels.