Sabre announces agreement with Capillary Technologies

Posted on March 22, 2023 by Capillary Marcom

Airlines and hoteliers across the globe are now able to utilize the power of Sabre and Capillary’s advanced solutions together by integrating Capillary’s sophisticated loyalty tools with their existing Sabre technology.

Bangalore, India – March 23, 2023 – Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), a leading software and technology provider that powers the global travel industry, today announced an agreement with Capillary Technologies, a best-in-class loyalty management and customer data platform provider that delivers AI-based, cloud-native SaaS programs and solutions. Through the agreement, Sabre has incorporated the Capillary Loyalty Management solution into the Sabre platforms for airlines and hoteliers, adding Capillary’s advanced loyalty management capabilities to their comprehensive offerings.

The Sabre and Capillary agreement will provide:

Valuable insights into customer loyalty data through real-time analytics;
New opportunities for end-to-end loyalty management and incremental revenue opportunities for airlines and hoteliers; and
Enhanced customer experiences across the entire traveler journey

For Sabre Hospitality customers, the Capillary hospitality platform will be integrated with Sabre Hospitality SynXis applications, including Central Reservations, Property Hub, Voice Agent, and Booking Engine. For airlines, Capillary’s loyalty management solution can be integrated with SabreSonic, Customer Insights, Payment, and Dynamic Rewards products.

The Capillary Technologies solution goes beyond traditional points-focused loyalty programs to enable brands across travel, and other sectors, to enhance consumer engagement through digital transformation. Using AI to interpret comprehensive data sets, Capillary Technologies provides meaningful, real-time insights into customer preferences, providing recommendations to empower airlines and hoteliers to step-up their relationships with travelers, while enhancing revenue-creation opportunities, through truly personalized interactions across all traveler touchpoints. Capillary Technologies, has been named a Leader in “The Forrester Wave ^TM : Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023” report. Capillary’s Loyalty+ has earned 5/5 for 13 of the 28 criteria evaluated by Forrester.

Sameer Garde, CEO, Capillary Technologies.said,

The nature of the travel and hospitality industry has shifted dramatically in the last couple of years. With the advancements in digital technology, it is crucial that loyalty management solutions spearhead this change in the travel industry. Headless technology for customer loyalty helps airlines and hotels increase customer retention through advanced analytics and AI-powered nudges. We’re excited to partner with Sabre so that, together, we can bring Sabre customers, and the wider travel industry the customizable, integrated, cloud-based loyalty management solution they need for current times.

With offices around the world, including presence across the United States, India, the Middle East, and Asia, Capillary Technologies brings a global understanding and focus to loyalty management.

Corrie DeCamp, Senior Vice President, Product Management, Sabre said,

I’m delighted that through this alliance we can provide our airline partners with a novel approach to loyalty management that can be seamlessly integrated with their existing technology so they can rapidly respond to market conditions. Our joint loyalty management solution will enable airlines to stay connected with their flyers, understand their preferences, reward their loyalty and improve customer engagement through AI-driven recommendations that create incremental value for our customers and their frequent travelers.

Frank Trampert, Senior Vice President, Global Managing Director of Community Sales for Sabre Hospitality said,

I’m thrilled that we are further enhancing our hospitality offering through Capillary. It’s vital that hoteliers can understand ever-evolving guest preferences and expectations to create differentiated experiences and keep their guests delighted at every travel touchpoint.

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About Capillary Technologies

Founded in 2012, Capillary Technologies has a presence across the United States, India, the Middle East, and Asia, in particular, South East Asia. Capillary offers end-to-end loyalty programs, a comprehensive view of consumers, and unified, cross-channel strategies that deliver a real-time omnichannel, personalized, and consistent experience for customers. Powering 100+ loyalty programs, across 30+ countries, Capillary works with 250+ brands including Tata, Asics, PUMA, Adani, Fossil, Shell, Hoya, Pantaloons, GKB Opticals, Indian Terrain, Fossil, Vishal Megamart, and many more from verticals such as apparel, footwear, supermarkets, conglomerates, manufacturing and electronics, pharmacy and wellness, fine dining and QSR, luxury and jewelry, entertainment, travel, and hospitality. With a massive reach of 875 million+ consumers and processing 1.95 billion+ annual transactions, the company has the backing of Warburg Pincus, Sequoia Capital, Avataar Ventures, and Filter Capital. For more information, visit www.capillarytech.com.

About Sabre Corporation

Sabre Corporation is a leading software and technology company that powers the global travel industry, serving a wide range of travel companies including airlines, hoteliers, travel agencies and other suppliers. The company provides retailing, distribution and fulfilment solutions that help its customers operate more efficiently, drive revenue and offer personalized traveller experiences. Through its leading travel marketplace, Sabre connects travel suppliers with buyers from around the globe. Sabre’s technology platform manages more than $260B worth of global travel spend annually. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre serves customers in more than 160 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.sabre.com.

Capillary Named a Leader in Loyalty Technology Solutions Report by Top Independent Research Firm

Posted on March 15, 2023 by Capillary Marcom

What makes Capillary a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023 Report

Posted on March 14, 2023 by Jubin Mehta

Capillary scored 5/5 in 13 of the 28 criteria evaluated by Forrester in “The Forrester Wave^TM: Loyalty Technology Solutions, Q1 2023” authored by Mary Pilecki and Cole Walsh.

In Forrester’s 28-criterion evaluation of loyalty technology solution providers, they identified the 12 most significant solution providers and named Capillary as a Leader.

Download the Report

Capillary scored 4.12/5 in the Current Offering category, which is the highest among any solution provider in the evaluation and we believe that this is what truly sets us apart. Capillary scored a straight 5/5 in the following criteria (these are just 4 of the 13 in all):

In today’s world with an economic downturn across the globe, loyalty programs have become even more important. “90% of marketing spends are made in acquiring new customers while 70% of business growth comes from existing 10% of the customers. This clearly shows the importance of loyalty programs and how retaining customers can help give an unmatched ROI,” says Sameer Garde, CEO of Capillary Technologies.

Over the years, Capillary has helped enterprise brands in 30+ countries and we’ve touched 875mn+ end customers. Capillary’s omnichannel loyalty platform comes with a comprehensive integration marketplace which makes it easy for brands to go live. The report states,

Capillary has a robust partner ecosystem that includes tech providers, reward partners, and service providers as well as a commercial model designed so that clients can buy only the functionality they need. Capillary’s product vision emphasizes customer experiences, engagement, and emotions.

Considering the ecosystem trends, the report states that loyalty technology solution customers should look for providers that:

Modularize their offering
Excel in loyalty program management
Provide a robust partner ecosystem with seamless integrations
Demonstrate a clear and future-fit vision with an aligned roadmap

Capillary has a suite of products with Loyalty+ as its flagship product for loyalty management. The report evaluated the product and states,

Loyalty+ outpaces many in this competitive set because of robust functionality and a flexible data model. It excels in both loyalty program management and marketing, as well as creating actionable insights from both customer and business data. And the platform’s “nudges” feature leverages AI/ML to give marketers prescriptive advice on everything from program optimization to campaign management.

Importance of Customer Loyalty Programs in Recession

Posted on March 14, 2023 by Manan Kashyap

With the global economy going through a period of major volatility, brands need to keep their heads down and fight out the tough period. A time of crisis is also a time of opportunity. The world has gone through several economic downturns and this is not going to be the last one. Interestingly, during the previous recessions, we’ve seen brands deliver landmark loyalty innovations that have won customers and critics alike. For instance, during the 80s recession, American Airlines introduced the frequent fliers program, revolutionizing the travel rewards industry forever. Similarly, the ’90s downturn gave rise to card-based benefits and reward programs, which have been with us until recently, when digital made everything paperless.

Why an economic downturn is the best time to focus on Loyalty

Most brands spend up to 90% of marketing spends to acquire new customers while only about 10% is spent on customer retention and loyalty, but 70% of business growth comes from existing customers! In such a scenario, with marketing budgets getting slashed, it makes absolute sense to increase focus on customer retention and focus more on customer loyalty.

With access to zero and first-party customer data, brands can now build loyalty ecosystems that reward each interaction and meet customers wherever they stand in their brand journey. With rewards that run parallel to the customer journey, it is truly possible to enable it all – inspiring the initial purchase, incentivizing and improving purchase frequency, rewarding customers for long-term engagement, and building participation for social causes beyond the transactional purview.

Experiential Rewards provide real value

Let’s move beyond the narrative that value equals cheap deals. If a brand can determine what its customers value, it can create meaningful rewards and offer valuable experiences. Consider the XPLR Pass Loyalty Program from outdoor gear retailer The North Face. The program gives members a chance to earn extra points for exploring iconic places like National parks, monuments, and more. With access to exclusive products, limited-time collections, and an opportunity to field-test purchases, XPLR Pass is a great example of creating value without getting into cheap deals.

Personalization like never before

This is likely a year of changing consumer behaviors, so brands must give consumers compelling reasons to trust, engage and return. Look at delivering personalized interactions built around the customer’s unique preferences. A case in point would be the mobile brand O2 which gives privileged access to its best customers for top rock concerts playing in The O2 Arena.

Omnichannel approach to prepone loyalty participation

Incentivize customers in ways that prepone their loyalty participation. The Canadian shoe brand Poppy Barley’s rewards program gives away points for engagement – like creating an account, subscribing to SMS, following on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, and tagging the brand on social channels. A customer can gather 500+ rewards points by simply participating in engagement activities. Incentivizing customers beyond spend is a great way to prepone loyalty and getting them to engage months in advance. Other ways being increased point utility, limited-time exclusives, and offering a points-plus-cash option.

Emotional loyalty for the win

When a brand is able to create great personalized experiences which become cherished memories for the customer, emotional loyalty is realized. Think of the ice cream shop you stop by occasionally, the brand of sneakers you have three pairs of for your early morning runs, and the make of your first car which you still recommend to family and friends without hesitation. By experiencing a promise in a unique way, customers develop preference and affinity for a brand, beyond its products and services.

Emotional loyalists are not here for the discounts and are largely unswayed by competitor offers and more-affordable options. They typically concentrate on spending more with brands they trust. Research shows that customers with an emotional relationship with a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value.

When the market sentiment isn’t positive, consumers can be critical of brand communication and promises, but consider word of mouth seriously. Brand loyalists are also vocal brand advocates, and nudge their peers towards purchase consideration.

Whatever the impact of economic changes, consumers will continue to invest in the products and experiences that hold meaning for them. Frank Hamlin, Tuesday Morning, pointed out “The biggest mistake is not making sure that loyalty is a company-wide initiative”. When a brand adopts a culture of care, every touchpoint can be explored for potential loyalty impact and role in creating an honest-to-goodness customer loyalty.

If you want to preserve and grow customer equity, it’s time to set your sights on customer loyalty. This is where we come in. By engaging your customers in real-time and throughout the lifecycle, Capillary’s loyalty solutions help brands create seamless, personalized experiences that foster long-lasting loyalty.

Connect with a Loyalty Expert

Why Forrester Named Capillary as a Strong Performer

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Jubin Mehta

The Forrester Wave™ is a guide for buyers considering their purchasing options in a technology marketplace. In its latest report on “Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs, Q1 2023” authored by Rusty Warner and Xiaofeng Wang, Forrester has named Capillary a Strong Performer.

“Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs are defined as enterprise marketing technology that supports customer data management, analytics, segmentation, and workflow tools for designing, executing, and measuring marketing engagement across
digital and offline channels.”

– “The Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs Landscape, Q1 2023”, Forrester, Feb 13, 2023

Marketers Use CCMHs To Transform Campaigns Into Personalized Experiences

Cross-channel marketing hubs (CCMHs) can help marketers overcome data and channel integration issues to consistently engage with customers in their moments of need. Forrester previously called this category “cross-channel campaign management” (CCCM), but it has been updated to reflect the evolution from scheduled promotional campaigns to personalized experiences triggered by customer behavior.

According to Forrester, CCMH customers should look for providers that:

1) Support sophisticated cross-channel experiences at scale

2) Help marketers deliver both business and customer outcomes

3) Ease human workloads with AI-based recommendations in business language.

Capillary Earns a “Strong Performer” Mention

And it gives us immense pleasure to share that Forrester ranked Capillary as a strong performer in the report that provides the above. Capillary’s solution supports the needs of brands in terms of loyalty and customer engagement for mobile, e-Commerce, and marketplaces. The report states, “[Capillary] differentiates with innovative AI-based natural language recommendations to help users optimize marketing strategy and performance. It also provides unique features that leverage emotional loyalty for segmentation and activation.” Capillary received the highest scores possible in the following criteria of the report:

- Strategy optimization (incorporation of real-time insights to optimize cross-channel marketing in support of both customer outcomes and business objectives)

- Performance management (support for KPIs with real-time alerts for performance against defined thresholds to measure ROI)

- - Mobile (personalized CX via mobile channels)
- E-commerce and marketplaces (integrations and overall personalized CX via e-commerce channels)

At Capillary, we work with 250+ enterprise brands in 30+ countries, touching 875M+ end customers. Powering this is Capillary’s powerful platform consisting of Loyalty+, Engage+, and Insights+ built on top of a powerful consumer data platform (CDP+). The report states, “Capillary generates more than half of its CCMH revenue from APAC, but it’s rapidly expanding in the Americas and EMEA. It’s also aggressively pursuing enterprise opportunities, and nearly half of its global 400+ customers are enterprises with $1 billion or more in revenue.”

“We’re extremely proud to be a strong performer in this brand new Wave report on Cross-Channel Marketing Hubs. Over the past decade, we’ve made a strong foothold in the APAC region and are now quickly expanding our footprint in the western world. For us, this citation is a great validation along with the great customer testimonials we’ve been receiving. It helps us stay on course to strive for more and serve our customers even better,” says Sameer Garde, CEO of Capillary Technologies.

Click here to go to the download report page on Forrester. Available to Forrester subscribers or for purchase.

Speak to a Loyalty Expert

Customer Engagement & Brand Loyalty Learnings from Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) 2023

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Aprajeeta Singh

Dubai is one of the leading cities in the Middle East in innovation, creativity, and development. UAE was ranked first in the MENA region for doing business in the World Bank Group’s 2020 Ease of Doing Business survey. The country offers great benefits for entrepreneurs to build their businesses and implement strategic practices to support trade.

Events and festivals have always been a major source to attract tourists and increase trade globally. Likewise, in Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE) started Dubai Shopping Festival as a city event to promote retail businesses in 1995. He led the foundation of the Dubai Events and Promotion Establishment (DEPE) – now Dubai Festivals & Retail Establishment (DFRE), dedicated to conducting and managing Dubai festivals and events. For 28 years, DSF has contributed majorly to tourism marketing and retail trade in the UAE. ”Providing luxurious customer experiences” always remains the primary focus for Dubai’s trade & tourism authorities.

Several premium Emirati brands participate in DSF every year and use intriguing approaches to engage with shoppers. There is some surprise element in every DSF you haven’t seen elsewhere. Here we will focus on the approach DSF took in 2023 to improve customer engagement, which you can also use for your business. Also, we will talk about loyalty programs DFRE & Emirati brands deployed to drive brand loyalty.

Unique Customer engagement strategies at DSF 2023

DSF Black Box – Way to increase in-store Footfalls

“Guess & Win” that’s a simple strategy to solve the mystery of DSF Black Box. DFRE placed rewards for customers in Dubai’s 3 premium malls – Mall of Emirates, City Center Mirdif, and City Center Deira, one at a time. They rewarded 3 winners, one at each mall, who guessed right about the reward inside the black box.

Key Takeaways –

Brands can leverage this idea and implement it in their physical retail outlets to improve in-store footfalls.
At DSF, customers who shopped for a minimum of AED 200 were eligible to participate in the ‘Guess & Win’ campaign. Likewise, you can set eligibility criteria and set the timeline for more than a week to have more customers visiting the store.
Like DSF promoted DSF black box on deal portals on the web, you can promote such deals and put it on your website/mobile app to inform your shoppers.

Here’s how Capillary’s Engage+ can assist in the goal of increasing store visitors. It lets you personalize interactions with your shoppers using targeted campaigns across multiple channels. With the below features, you can do much more than the implementation of such events–

Set marketing objective: You can make your campaigns smarter by defining your marketing objectives. Say here it will be “increase store visits.” It lets you configure the regions, stores, or zones where you are offering discounts/sales or conducting any event.

Message optimization strategies: Engage+ lets you personalize your messages for product/store-specific promotions.

You can set the channel priority rules for your target audience per their response rate and minimize the cost of communication.
Leveraging the power of AI, you can reach your customers on the channels they most likely respond to with X-Engage. With the right message on the right channel, X-engage helps you boost your ROI.

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DSF Lucky Receipt – An approach to drive more social media engagement

That’s the signature promotion of DSF for customers to win incredible surprises like 75″ Sony TV, the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and more. It was a 10-day long discount offer open for anyone who shops for AED 500 or more from any of the 10 participating brands like Eros, Galeries Lafayette, and more. They announced DSF lucky receipt winners on their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter handles.

Key takeaway –

The approach is perfect to drive more traction on your social channels.
Further, you can keep organizing lucky draws along with monthly/ quarterly sales to promote more social commerce.

This gives you another channel to understand your audience a bit more with their social interaction patterns. Here, comes the role of Facebook Campaigns you can create with Capillary’s Engage+.

Utilize your existing target audience groups on Engage+, linking your official Facebook Ad account to your Engage+ organization’s profile. You can build a better connect with your newly added followers and give them offers on their next orders. You can run and manage as many as campaigns together as you want to create for different target audiences with variable marketing objectives.

Golden Tickit – DSF’s all-in-one Loyalty program

Golden Tickit – a loyalty app by Dubai Holdings (A real estate company of Dubai’s Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum) to let visitors and shoppers instantly earn and redeem points at DSF 2023. The app lets users sign up feeding their UAE-issued Visa or Mastercard. It is a group loyalty program designed for customers to earn reward points across diverse activities. While shopping in a mall, staying in a hotel, visiting theme parks, or dining in any restaurant, there is a reward for customers for every Dirham spent. Moreover, the app offers weekly prizes, daily awards, and a chance to earn double points on partnered brands.

Key Takeaways –

Loyalty programs are a great way to drive customer retention, increase referrals, and encourage repeat purchases. If you plan to incorporate a loyalty program that can create a holistic view of your business, Capillary’s Loyalty+ can make it happen for you.
Partnering with brands across diverse domains lets you offer more chances to earn customers and engage with them often.
A group loyalty program like Golden Tickit can be helpful to give quick rewards to your customers for their loyalty and increase their customer lifetime value.
Also, it gives you an understanding of your customer’s journey with multiple brands and gives you better insights to improve customer experiences.

Enrich customer relationships with conglomerate loyalty program like SHARE Rewards

SHARE rewards – UAE’s renowned conglomerate lifestyle reward program by Majid Al Futtaim gave an opportunity for its customers to win 1 Million reward points by shopping from them in Dubai Shopping Festival. They ran 12-hour campaign where their 100+ partnered brands located in City Center malls & Mall of the Emirates gave up to 90% discounts. A lucky winner of that campaign could unlock the chance to win 1 Million SHARE points. As a SHARE member, the winner will be able to redeem rewards to any of their 2300 stores within 16 shopping malls.

Key Learnings –

To claim rewards, shoppers were nudged to download MAF SHARE Rewards app. This approach helps you understand how shoppers think about claiming rewards and make decisions accordingly. A little nudge allows brands to build long-term connections with shoppers.
Multi-brand loyalty programs power customers with more choices to stay engaged for a longer tenure. You can partner with the brands in your domain to increase customer engagement and make rewards programs more widely accessible. (Learn here how to design an effective conglomerate program)
SHARE rewards allow customers to pull and gift points within a group. You can implement similar features in your loyalty program to give your customers more than earn-redeem options.

Uplift your digital engagement with Collaborations like 6thStreet.com X Club Apparel at DSF

6thStreet.com and Club Apparel collaborated for a campaign, “DSF VAT ON US week,” under which they waived Value Added Tax (VAT) for shoppers for a week. More than 25 renowned brands like Aldo, Calvin Klein, Levi’s, and Beverly Hills Polo Club partnered with them in the VAT ON US campaign. Also, they rewarded 24 lucky shoppers of the week with 1250 Club Apparel points (worth AED1,250). Additionally, 7 most fortunate customers had the opportunity to win 10,000 Club Apparel points.

Key Learnings:

Customers are more likely to sign up for a multi-brand loyalty program that offers them more choices to earn & redeem rewards. That’s where collaborations can earn you more success than a dedicated loyalty program solely for your brand.
Time-limited reward campaigns can drive instant engagement at your store. You can try vivid approaches to decide on the interaction patterns working well with your customers.

That overviews how DFRE, in association with Dubai’s premium retail brands, is driving customer engagement and brand loyalty in DSF 2023. Unleash new growth opportunities for your brand with us.

Monthly Archives: March 2023