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2022: Year in Review

Charlotte Baker | January 3, 2023

As the year has just come to an end, we’d like to take a trip down memory lane and review the highlights of the past year. 

This last year started with a bang for Loyale, with the roll out of Welbee’s mobile application, and the steady launch of new features month on month throughout the year. We kept our user base in the know about these new features with the launch of our monthly newsletter. If you’re not already subscribed to it, what are you waiting for?

Collision Conference

Back in June, we packed our bags and headed across the pond to Toronto, Canada for Collision. Collision brings together the people and companies redefining the global tech industry, with 35,000-plus enthusiastic attendees enjoying three days of content across more than 20 tracks. The sheer number of attendees and speakers alike was phenomenal. It was a great experience, one we thoroughly enjoyed and from which we gained great insight about international markets and competition.

Fresh, New Look

Loyale’s website got a fresh new look but not only this, its content also provides a fresh take on the product as a whole really explaining the benefits of the platform to both its users and their customers. 

Taking on this dual approach to showcasing what Loyale does for both the consumer and the user really solidified its USPs to our potential clients. This fresh new look went hand in hand with what’s to follow, we’re expanding our reach to new markets. 

Web Summit

The annual Web Summit is one of the biggest technology conferences in the world. It brings together groundbreaking startups, Fortune 500 companies and speakers to redefine the global technology industry. This year’s event has undoubtedly been an exceptional experience!

It was an “eye opening experience” and it solidified that we are on the right track in terms of where we want to take Loyale. We received a good response and feedback overall from attendees that visited our stand. 

Additionally, we had interesting conversations with attendees and potential collaborators and clients alike. These conversations were central to us understanding where we stand on an international landscape in terms of our competition.

Market Expansion

This has been a long time coming and we’re still going to keep this under wraps for the time being. That being said, watch this space to learn more about our next steps outside of the rock.

Review Closing Thoughts

In light of this, determining where Loyale should be heading in the new year is the greatest approach to determining what we should be doing right now.

We have more than enough knowledge to look forward to and make our best, educated judgments, even if it is impossible to forecast the future with absolute accuracy. Reach out via email to hey@loyale.io

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How can FMCGs build relationships with their customers?

Charlotte Baker | December 13, 2022

The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector is one of the largest growing sectors in the world. With changing lifestyles, growing awareness, and easier access, the number of competitors vying for customers’ attention has only multiplied over the last decade.

Surviving in this sector entails capturing attention from the target audience with the right positioning in the market.

FMCGs have surrendered brand experience control

FMCGs are sold in supermarkets where the customer gets a homogenous supermarket experience, rather than an experience reflecting the brands on shelves. Brands can do anything they like to drive purchase intent but the minute your customer steps into the supermarket, right at the point of purchase, there are few ways for FMCG’s to influence decisions outside of discounting and paying for eye level shelf space.

When it comes to intermediaries (such as supermarkets, pharmacies, wholesalers and online retailers), brands often have little to no direct influence over them. However, these brands are reliant on the intermediary to administer and promote their brand to the consumer. The FMCG producer is at the start of the chain and the final customer is at the end of it, with the intermediary in-between.

This poses the question: How can FMCGs build relationships with their customers?

As brands who sell their products through intermediaries have no direct contact with their customers. FMCGs can have a relationship with their customers, but it requires disruption to the current distribution model in order for FMCG’s to regain brand experience control. The solution to this is investing in a loyalty program. 

FMCG brands can increase customer loyalty and customer retention by investing in a digital loyalty program in order to essentially cut out the middleman. Some of the more obvious benefits of a rewards marketing program include customer retention, data collection, increased visits. 

Although how can a digital loyalty program help FMCG brands increase their brand loyalty? This is where Loyale comes in.

We’ll outline the benefits of Loyale for FMCG brands below;

1. Direct to consumer communication

Loyale enables its users to have a direct channel to their customers with the ability to send push notifications, emails, alerts, coupons and more directly to their mobile devices. Customers can be notified of competitions, new products, and receive reminders about their loyalty status (i.e. “Hey John, you’re only 3 points away from a free X with any Y!” or “Purchase any of our products this Thursday for double points towards your next reward”).

2. Gain consumer data

Loyale allows brands to track and analyse consumer behaviour. It allows admins to gain access to invaluable information such as; what customers are buying, when they are buying it, how often they are buying it, and what they are buying in conjunction with it. These insights give brands the ability to make informed decisions about how to tweak their offering to further appeal to their target market. 

3. Personalisation

It’s no secret that personalisation is important. Loyale allows its users to segment their customer base into not only different tiers to create a tiered loyalty scheme but also into different segments related to different demographics for example; age, gender, purchase frequency, purchased item etc. This therefore enables brands to send their customers increasingly tailored offers, communications and rewards. Whilst doing so can increase customer satisfaction rates to as much as 604%. 

Sending emails with personalised content will cover both your active and lapsing audiences. Alternatively, use instant Web Push Notifications to maximise the readability (no opening required, native to each internet browser).

Admins have the choice of sending single-product emails or group-product emails. Single-product emails usually work well for other retail segments, as FMCG has a rapid product flow and it’s easy to tire the customer with too many single-product emails. On the other hand, the group-product emails are designed to help your customers with their regular shopping plan. Supplied with the data, the system optimises upcoming shopping sessions offering a checkout-ready shopping cart for a group of regularly purchased products. The customer can pay on the go and never runs out of the supplies.

For example, every 10–15 days, a regularly shopping customer gets a reminder email with a checkout-ready shopping cart.

Takeaways

By implementing a well structured loyalty program FMCG brands can exponentially increase their brand loyalty and increase their customer retention rates.

If you’re looking to implement a loyalty program that not only increases sales but one that’s proven to increase customer retention rates, check out Loyale!

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Worried about inflation?

Charlotte Baker | November 11, 2022

Focus on customer loyalty rather than customer retention

A “price war” is likely to kick off on supermarket shelves in the first half of next year, according to the IRI, as small and medium sized FMCG brands are increasingly squeezed by private labels amid the pressures of inflation.

The “squeezed middle” is already losing volume and value, IRI finds. In the year-to-date (YTD) to May 2022, medium sized manufacturers had a 25.4% share of food sales, down from 26.1% in the second half of 2021. Similarly, small brands saw their share of food sales decline from 14.1% to 13.8%.

Meanwhile, supermarkets’ private labels increased their share of food sales from 35.8% in H2 2021 to 37% over the YTD to May. Inflation has risen even further since then, and consumer concerns about the cost of living over the winter months is likely to drive an increasingly rapid move towards cheaper private label goods, IRI says.

Pressures of inflation on shoppers

Shoppers are switching to own-labels and discounters to manage inflation. They’re planning to employ three main strategies to help combat the rising cost of living. This includes monitoring the overall cost of their basket, opting for supermarket own-labels over brands and shopping at discounters more frequently. More affluent consumers can afford to switch discretionary items to cheaper alternatives, however, low-income shoppers have already been doing so prior to when inflation kicked in. 

There’s been a small shift away from fresh to frozen, suggesting shoppers are spending less on fruit and vegetables and more on impulse confectionery and soft drinks. However, shoppers returning to supermarkets with in-store visits have risen in comparison to last year. Therefore, online FMCG sales have also dropped. 

Taking an omnichannel approach

Worldwide we’ve seen sales rebound strongly online over the last year, with a 61% increase in-store sales as consumers returned to physical stores post pandemic. The share of online sales in the market dropped 20% to 45%. It’s evident that customers prefer to shop both online and in store averaging at around 50:50. 

Businesses are focusing on the three big customer benefits enabled by omnichannel strategy. The first benefit is that stores are ‘never out of stock’, it now allows customers to make online purchases through their in-store staff. The rise of click-and-collect has enabled customers to get hold of their purchase the same day as they order online. 

The solution

Loyalty schemes, credit and omnichannel approaches are some ways in which brands are planning to build a customer base that keeps coming back. Companies are focusing on building a base of valuable customer relationships ensuring that customers keep coming back. As they predict a decline in sales due to the pressures of inflation. 

It’s no secret that rewarding customers for their purchases will entice them to keep coming back to your business. This traditional approach to loyalty has worked for decades, however, Loyale does more than what was done traditionally. Loyale has a fresh take on loyalty, it couples rewards with marketing and data analytics so both the customer and the brand benefit from its usage. Customers gain their rewards whilst brands benefit from their personal data including demographics, shopping habits and more. Brands can then use this data to tailor their marketing approach and personalise their messages to increase customer retention and sales. Loyale’s automations make it simple and easy to implement and use, taking away the hassle for everyone involved. 

If you’re looking to implement a rewards marketing platform in the next quarter, look no further than Loyale

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Business Analytics in Rewards Marketing

Charlotte Baker | October 26, 2022

Most business analytics tools cannot explain verbatim what it is that they actually do. It’s difficult to overestimate the significance of the process of business analytics as it provides an overall picture of how your company works. It helps you make business decisions at all levels; sales, marketing, and HR. 

Business analysis covers a wide spectrum of areas across the business as a whole. This article will discuss the process of business analytics in rewards marketing.

Any rewards marketing strategy aims to minimise expenses and save time spent selling a product or service. You can achieve these goals using a business analysis strategy.

So, what exactly goes into a business analysis strategy?

Target Audience and Returning Customer Analysis 

A visitor turns into a client when they understand that the product or service solves their problem and caters to their needs. To find out the user’s problem or needs we need to analyse the target audience.

Understanding your client allows you to build a more detailed sales process and increase probability of a purchase.

How To Analyse the Client Database and Their Activity

The next step is to analyse the clients who’ve already engaged with your product or service and those who’ve made a purchase.

Loyale uses the following questions to study clients;

  1. When was the last purchase made?
  2. How many purchases were made?
  3. How much did the customer spend?

Loyale allows you to segment customers into tiers by the degree of their loyalty, each of them requiring a special approach. You may name the segments of your customers whatever you wish however for in the case of this example we will use the placeholder terms ‘Bronze’, ‘Silver’ and ‘Gold’.

Gold: VIP Clients – lots of purchases, the last purchase wasn’t made long ago. 

Silver: Loyal – quite a few purchases, the last purchase was made quite a while ago.

Bronze: Newbies – 1-2 purchases, the last purchase was made fairly recently.

Lost Loyal: Made lots of purchases, the last purchase was made long ago. 

Lost: Last purchase was made long ago.

Sleeping: the last purchase was made rather recently.

How to Turn Newbies into Loyal Customers

Make them aware of your product and its benefits and entice them to join your loyalty scheme. Create a mutually beneficial relationship with your new customers and foster brand loyalty.

How to Wake up the Sleeping Clients

If these customers aren’t re-activated soon they will enter the lost category. Offering personal discounts and special offers for these customers are a great option.

Customer reactivation is a useful tool to have up your arsenal. This is due to the fact that acquiring new customers cost significantly more than retargeting engaged customers. 

Loyale makes this easy to do with its automations. Send notifications directly to your customers mobile phones reminding them to visit your stores. 

How to Return Lost and Lost Loyal Customers

Want to get clients out of the danger zone? Offer the ultimate deal to re-engage these clients. However, if you want to find the real reason why they nearly left and eliminate it, you’d need to dig a little deeper. Loyale’s analytics dashboard helps you understand customer purchase behaviour in order to pinpoint these instances. 

How to emphasise VIP clients’ status

It’s important to show such clients that their status gives them additional benefits. As these clients demand a higher level approach. 

How to Calculate Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

Customer lifetime value is the amount of revenue a customer generates in their lifetime. LTV measures the efficiency and pay-out of the business model, as well as forecast future revenue. 

LTV can help with;

  • Optimising promotional channel expenses
  • Focus on acquiring new customers
  • Figuring out how much to spend on customer retention
  • What income to expect in the future

It is important to have a good understanding of your LTV as it will help give an idea about the points listed above.

Takeaways

With all the metrics you’ve gathered, you’ll have a deeper understanding of your company from your customers’ perspective. This will help you pinpoint your successes, fix your failures, and create loyalty programs that address both. 

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The Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Customer Nurturing

Charlotte Baker | August 25, 2022

Get smarter at making it easier for customers to fall in love with your brand

A nurturing strategy can be compared to cooking eggs – it can warm up a cold lead. Doing so can build trust, loyalty and brand affinity. 

A cold window shopper comes into your store, a warm brand loving customer leaves. It sounds simple. But we all know how easy it is to ruin sunny side up eggs. 

  1.  Set the temperature too high and you get burnt yolks
  2. Set the temperature too low and you’ll have runny yolks.

Even the most skilled marketers mess this up.

The best marketers aim for the Goldilocks zone

  1. Not too hot
  2. Not too cold 

Below we break down how they do it. 

Personalisation

Cater to different people as they need different things.

People don’t hate marketing, however they do hate bad marketing. 

Therefore, it shouldn’t feel like marketing, you shouldn’t hard sell. It should feel personal, add details that matter. Where do you find these details?

Loyale’s backend gives you access to raw customer data that gives you insights into customers purchasing behaviour and therefore their likes and dislikes.

Segment your customers

Group customers by their interests.

In order to get better at getting personal, spend more time segmenting your customers. Segment customers not only based on demographics but also based on user interactions, interests and locations.

Loyale allows its admins to segment their customers based on whatever niche they wish as only segmenting customers by demographics such as race and gender has become obsolete.  

Break the mould

Think outside the box

Before you gain someone’s trust you need to grab their attention. The easiest way to do this is to go beyond expectations. If a customer is expecting X gives them X+Y. 

Use Loyale to trigger direct notification to surpass expectations and retain more loyal customers. 

Don’t overwhelm

Cut the Cognitive Load

Humans can only focus on one thing at a time. Focus on sending one lead generating message at a time.

The myth of multitasking has been debunked long ago, all we’re really doing is quickly switching between tasks. It’s an unnatural state as your brain doesn’t know what to prioritise – leaving you in a state of mental paralysis.

You never want to leave your customers feeling like this.

Break your message down into bite sized pieces.

No more dear valued customer

The world is already filled with those brands – we don’t need another one.

Humans value meaningful interactions, therefore it pays you to speak with and not at your customers. Before writing a cold customer email, ask yourself this; Does this sound natural? As if talking to a friend.

If not you’re probably talking at and not with your customers. Talking with someone feels warm, talking at someone feels cold.

Loyale has integrations with a number of different tools, one of which is Mailchimp. This enables users to send emails that can be personalised to their brand as well as their customers. In turn making the customer feel valued. 

Keep loyal customers loyal

Make it as easy as possible for customers to stumble across and interact with your brand. Loyale’s API can easily be integrated into websites, mobile apps and POS system’s making it easier for customers to interact with your brand. 

Customer Nurturing is much more than closing a sale. It involves building effective and long-term relationships with potential customers. 

Get it right and you’ll have a brand people will love.

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Your Current Loyalty Program Is A Liability

Charlotte Baker | June 15, 2022

The importance of a solid rewards program

A strong rewards program can increase your customer retention and customer satisfaction rates, as well as boost your reputation and sales. It can serve to encourage new customers to stick around by creating mutually beneficial shopping experiences as well as ensuring that existing loyal customers feel valued. Research shows that it costs six times as much to attract a new customer than to retain an existing one, therefore standard loyalty programs are an obvious solution to mitigate costs… right? Maybe not.

The problem

Traditional rewards programs can quickly become a financial liability. Most businesses don’t know the true costs of their rewards programs. Point based programs are becoming commoditised making it harder for businesses to drive participation. After hiring a data analyst and marketer to analyse, test and report on the success of the rewards program, it can cost more than it produces. In addition, most rewards programs come with an expiration date which detracts from the very purpose of the program, which is to provide added value to the loyal customer.

In addition to this, most loyalty programs come with nothing more than a plastic card. This leaves customers in the dark about what rewards are redeemable as they cannot keep track of their points balance and points value.

The solution

With the rapid disruption of technology and consumer expectations, it is imperative for businesses to adopt a rewards program that is agile and flexible in order to keep up with the digital age. It no longer makes sense to use twenty different plastic cards for loyalty programs that could all be managed online, or on our phones.

Loyalty Wallet provides a complete, friction-less rewards program that benefits both businesses and consumers. Additionally, customer’s rewards schemes are easily managed in a single online wallet rather than having multiple plastic cards running around. Customers also have the ability to track their point balance, view their redeemable rewards and points value all in one easy to navigate mobile application. 

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Stop Marketing to Consumers & Start Acquiring Brand Advocates

Charlotte Baker | April 22, 2022

Mark Twain undeniably penned one of the best sales scripts of all time in Tom Sawyer. Here’s what happened. Young Tom Sawyer is ordered by Aunt Penny to whitewash her fence, which he wasn’t so keen on doing since all of the other neighbourhood kids were out playing. Tom proceeds to head outside with his bucket of paint and paintbrush and makes whitewashing a fence look like so much fun that soon every kid in the neighbourhood was begging him for a brush. 

In summary, Tom Sawyer managed to make a real paid job into something so fun that people would do it for free.

The Tom Sawyer Method of Marketing

This anecdote applies to marketing at its best and more specifically to customer success.

Customer success is quickly becoming one of the most integral parts of the modern philosophy of SaaS marketing. This is so as it neatly ties in with revenue growth and retention. When executed well customer success can lead to reduced churn, expanded revenue streams and more importantly the opportunity to create brand advocates.

Brand advocates are money making, growth-generating machines.

They are so because they’re the ones who;

– Leave reviews and ratings

– Write great testimonials

– Comment on your socials

– Read your blog

– Share your posts and offers

– Engage with your brand on all platforms 

– Recommend you to friends

They’re the most effective brand advertising that you could have asked for. However the benefits of brand advocates don’t end with their marketing efforts. Brand advocates also spend twice as much, or more, on products and services than average customers while acting as a virtual sales force driving new leads with their activity.

Brand advocacy begins with effective customer success. Take a page out of Twain’s book and create an environment wherein helping you is so rewarding, your customers want to do it for you – for free.

Many businesses think it’s simple to create brand advocates and that there is a quick fix to do so for example by offering referral bonuses or hosting a contest on socials. However, the reality is that you also need to provide outstanding experiences, proactive services, usability, empowerment and appreciation. All these ingredients put together create top notch brand advocates. However, the last two are more often than not neglected.

Customer empowerment

Gymshark, the online eCommerce sportswear retailer that needs no introduction, is made up of a community of athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike, who not only wear and promote their clothing line but also share Gymshark’s content. By elevating their top customers into a community of like minded individuals, with their ‘United We Sweat’ campaign, Gymshark not only shows appreciation but gives these highly valued individuals a platform on which to shine.

Content creation, marketing, and social media outreach is hard work, however, if your customers are happy and satisfied with your product or service, it’s work that they will happily take on themselves.

If you’re interested in turning your customers into loyal brand advocates and are unsure how to go about doing so, feel free to check out our rewards marketing platform features.

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5 Examples of Rewards Programs in the Grocery & Food & Beverage Industry

Charlotte Baker | February 28, 2022

The food and beverage industry is an extremely competitive industry. The stiff competition means that you are not only competing against other products like your own but also other alternatives. In comparison to other industries, the slim margins and relatively low price tags means that it’s imperative to sell in high volumes. Sales volumes can be increased by getting customers to repeatedly visit your store or to increase the amount when purchasing. This is where rewards programs come in handy. 

Rewards programs for food delivery companies, supermarket chains and luxury restaurants are fundamentally different from what you have come to expect from other industries. One example of their differentiation is the kind of rewards they offer. Discount coupons aren’t the biggest draw-ins for this industry, however, free treats, complimentary delivery and branded items do the job. 

The industry saw a spike in demand these past two years due to the global pandemic, unlike other verticals such as fashion who were struggling to maintain contact with their loyal customers. The projected market volume in the food and beverage industry will reach $476,177 billion by 2025, according to a study on Statista

Wondering what it looks like in practice? Here are five examples of effective rewards programs in the grocery and food & beverage industry. 

Welbee’s Loyalty Club

A national supermarket chain that has recently digitised their offerings to include a rewards program on their mobile application and website. Following their rebrand when merging four different supermarket chains to form Welbee’s, it was a natural step to upgrade their loyalty program from their previous system. One result of these supermarkets joining forces was that customers can now shop at eight different locations around the Maltese Islands and benefit from the exclusive offers that are available to their mobile rewards scheme users. 

– When spending 50 or more at any of their 8 store locations you are entitles to choose either 3 cash in card or 400 bonus points

– With every 100 spent you are entitled to choose either 7 cash in card or 1000 bonus points or 18 bottles of water or 5 bottles of soft drinks.

Welbee’s Loyalty Club is powered by Loyale. 

Alajmo+ Club

Alajmo is a Michelin star restaurant group based in Italy with several chains around the globe. In an increasingly crowded space, Alajmo differentiates itself by rewarding their customers with smiles for dining at any of their multiple restaurants across the globe. They fostered the notion of positive reinforcement to a tee, as customers automatically feel happier when getting rewarded with smiles rather than points. With a name that makes you feel part of an elite group, Alajmo+ Club creates a sense of exclusivity right off the bat. 

Another aspect that makes Alajmo a cut above the rest is the incorporation of a top-up feature. Members may top-up their account without necessarily making a purchase in order to benefit from more rewards or to enter into a higher tier. 

Alajmo’s rewards program led to significant increase in customer lifetime value, and most customers decided to take advantage of it.

My Panino Giusto

Panino Giusto is an Italian casual dining restaurant chain that in the 80s revolutionised the Milanese lunch routine, introducing the panino as a gastronomic idea of high quality. The advantages of enrolling in Panino Giusto’s rewards scheme are the following;

– Priority Lane: Takeaway, delivery and table payments

– Exclusive advantages: points, cashback, coupons and offers

Panino Giusto thrive off of their tier system which motivates customers to reach Panino Club status which allows them to unlock exclusive events, previews and behind the scenes footage. This is a perfect motivator to encourage customers to spend more when visiting their outlets or to visit their outlets on a regular basis. 

Zen Sushi to Go

Zen Sushi to Go is Malta’s first sushi takeaway restaurant to digitise their offering with a website, mobile app and an integrated rewards platform. Zen Sushi to Go has implemented its rewards program in an effort to provide customers with a truly omnichannel experience. Zen Sushi to Go’s primary platform is its physical stores, however they also have an eCommerce website and mobile application. Therefore, connecting the in-store and online experience made perfect sense. 

Customers can save their favourite menu items for quicker access as well as add entire previous orders to their basket. Users can also scan the QR code featured within the app in store to claim or redeem their points. This allows for a seamless experience between the company’s physical and online stores.

Costa Coffee Club

Costa Coffee Club is an amazing example of a food and beverage rewards scheme done right. Whilst there are multiple reasons as to why, let’s hone in on the first two. Firstly, their rewards scheme makes use of premium rewards levels to motivate customers. When customers reach the top status, they unlock exclusive rewards such as special invitations. 

These tiers are the perfect motivator for customers to shop more to achieve that desired Golden bean status. The thrill of the chase is even sweeter than the reward, however in this case a free cup of coffee hits the spot nicely.

Want to learn more about our custom builds?

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Hyper Personalisation: How B2C Businesses Can Be Competitive

Charlotte Baker | February 1, 2022

We are living in the era of the evolved consumer, where consumers actively seek information to make informed decisions and don’t place their trust implicitly in brands. Customers are focusing on reviews and ratings as well as turning to influencers and user generated content to make their decisions as to whether or not to purchase from a brand. It’s becoming increasingly harder to differentiate yourself from competition nowadays when the market is becoming more and more competitive. The challenge is that there is always going to be noise no matter the industry, businesses are no longer only competing against customer experience in their own field but also are up against the last customer experience customers had in any sector, so businesses are up against companies such as Amazon, Spotify, Netflix etc.

Andrew Forster at Enteractive stated that “the secret sauce to gain customer affinity is communication and building a one-to-one relationship with customers” on the panel of ‘The Complex Question of Customer Loyalty at iGaming Next Malta 2021. The panel talked about how personalisation is the key to acquiring customer affinity and to maximise customer lifetime value and customer retention. Operators in the industry have seen that although the market is becoming more competitive, customer loyalty rates are increasing. Read on to find out more about how to gain a competitive advantage over those in your market pool.

What is hyper-personalisation?

Hyper personalisation leverages real time data to provide more relevant and personalised content, product and services to every customer. It is the more advanced next step in terms of marketing. Hyper personalisation goes a step beyond the inclusion of personal and transactional information like name, title, organisation and purchase history. It utilises behavioural and real-time data to create highly contextual communication that is relevant to the customer. 

Why use hyper personalisation?

Businesses have only a short period of time to make an impression on customers, to be exact only 8 seconds. To stand out from the crowd your communication needs to be clutter breaking. Hyper personalisation can help your brand stand out from the crowd and increase engagement and conversions. 

How Loyale can help

Loyale collects data about users at multiple points, such as user attributes, purchase data, and behavioural attitudes. Users can identify events that will act as triggers to execute custom notifications and campaigns. Loyale’s back office amalgamates all user purchase behavioural data and makes it possible for companies to assess customers on a singular basis and trigger/notify them accordingly. Take a look at our features to find out more. 

Where Loyale is heading

International top brands have moved past hyper personalisation and are using predictive personalisation with the help of AI. This is where Loyale could potentially head with the implementation of AI the possibilities are endless as well as the amount of personalisation. 

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Delivering Emotional Gold: The new era of rewards programs

Charlotte Baker | January 17, 2022

The basic premise of a rewards program is not new; buy X, get Y points, redeem Z reward. However, a shortcoming of this approach is the oversaturation of these programs. Research by Capgemini suggests that 90% of customers have a negative perception of loyalty programs and around 54% of them are inactive. Customers have a high level of expectation for being rewarded for being loyal. Research suggests that customers are twice as likely to spend more on brands they are loyal to than those without an emotional connection. 

The new era of affinity

Around 28% of customers abandon rewards programs without redeeming any points, this suggests that people have become accustomed to and have stopped seeking out rewards programs that offer points and discounts and that a new era of affinity is upon us. The average consumer signs up to multiple rewards schemes however is only active on around half of those. Customers want more from their favourite programs other than standard rewards. When it comes to investing in customer’s emotional wants and needs, brands need to dig deeper and do better. 

Going beyond archaic methods

With the advent of the pandemic and the realignment of brands to a slower, more ecological way of production, there also needs to be a shift in the loyalty sphere away from archaic schemes that do not add value to the life of the end consumer. Most rewards schemes offered are static and predictable, which leads to customers playing the field looking for better deals to spend their money on. Getting to know your customers on an emotional level does not only include their names, emails and phone numbers but also their likes, dreams and aspirations. Establishing such connections requires a new way of thinking and a rearrangement of what companies define as the ‘why, what and how’ of reward schemes. 

A shift in consumerism mentality

As mentioned previously, customers are more conscious of their footprint and of the ripple effects that their consumerism has on the environment through wastage and carbon emissions. This has in turn contributed to customers putting pressure on their favourite brands to align with causes and start supporting those that are important to them. As a result, many brands are taking a different, more ‘human’ approach to their rewards schemes. A number of major fast fashion brands have embedded sustainability into their business model such as H&M and Zara with their ‘Join Life’ collection. Customers are reassured of their commitment to lowering their carbon footprint, waste reduction and reusing and recycling items. 

Applying empathy

Businesses need relationships to thrive, empathy is essential to build these relationships in order to create repeat customers. It’s a no brainer as to why companies focus on customer retention than customer acquisition, repeat customers spend 67% more on purchases than first time customers. Utilising empathetic marketing means that your client is at the heart of your operations. This style of marketing focuses on understanding who your customers are and taking a more human approach on things. In a world where there are endless options to choose from, people are willing to search for and select a brand that aligns with their beliefs. Moreover, they want to support businesses that support them in return.

Out with the old and in with the new

Another aspect foreseen to change the rewards space is paid rewards schemes. Paid reward schemes have the potential to increase engagement and spending. Customers pay for the privilege and exclusivity of joining a brand’s rewards scheme, it’s success can be seen with Amazon Prime. Similarly, the subscription market is also becoming popular.

How Loyale can help

Investing in an intuitive rewards scheme like Loyale will enable you to disrupt the shopping experience of today. Minimise your risk of falling behind in the quest to earn and preserve valuable customers. Loyale can give your company a competitive advantage. Learn more about Loyale’s features and what your brand can do in this new era of rewards schemes.

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