Last year I bought new contact lenses online and the retailer asked whether I wanted a reminder when new ones were due. The gentle reminder was timely and relevant. Loyalty Tips В« 15 Keeping it simple How did Sad win the trust of its shoppers? “We started to really think about our core shopper and what we needed to do to win their trust. We could have gone down the route of complex segmentation, but what we wanted was an actionable picture of our core shopper. Alex Churches Head of Insight and Pricing Sad www. Sad. Com @Sad “Loyalty is about earning customers’ trust as a shopper. As a brand we work hard to earn the trust of the customer through great pricing, products, quality and service.
We don’t have a loyalty programmer but rather focus on doing the right things to win and retain We talked about the Sad mum. She has children, buys the majority of the food and household goods and she maybe has to manage on a tight budget. We wanted to understand her shopping needs and emotional needs in terms of elements such as how our stores are laid out or how our pricing works. The outcome was based on hard stats and a lot of research but brought to life by talking to mums and bringing mums in to meet the business. We thought if we can get it right for mums we can get it right for everybody.
One example of the insight was recognizing how important it is to make shopping easier by offering simple price points, such as El or app and trying to take out complicated promotions that don’t offer genuine value. ” My own view is that there can be a risk that vouchers and coupons become the first thing a business looks at when something not right. But for Sad when sales are down we look how we can do better on the things shoppers need: price, quality, convenience and service. As a business you need to give customers hat they want and for us that is about providing a great multinational retail experience. My best customer experience… “Using the Sad Grocery Shopping App on my mobile. It’s a brilliant piece of design and it brought home to me Just how big the opportunity is for mobile to be a key part of the shopping experience. ” 16 В» Case Study case study В« 17 Building loyalty the Penguin Books way Charlotte three tips for creating a lasting customer loyalty are: Charlotte Richards Head of Insight Penguin Books www. Penguin. Co. UK @Penuriousness 18 В» Loyalty Tips “Creating a meaningful and useful proposition for the customer: why should they be loyal? Are the benefits really clear?
What will you give them that other brands do not? As a business you may want to sell more things, or sell higher margin things, or get people to visit more often, but does that make sense for the customer? ” 1 Test, measure, optimism: always tweak and improve what you are offering customers and don’t be afraid to run a test and see it fail’. You learn as much from the things that don’t work as the things that do, so comprehensive and honest measurement is key. 2 Look to other industries for ideas for innovation: learn from what works in there verticals and find ways to apply it to the relevant parts of your industry and business. Be honest and true to your brand: consumers can spot insincerity or inconsistency from a mile – if your interactions with them are rooted in your core brand values, you will build a genuine relationship with them. “A bit cliché for someone working in publishing, but for me it would have to be Terry Parachute. I have loved his books since I was little and would read anything and everything by him, whatever it was! ” Loyalty Tips В« 19 Building a competitive edge in the charity sector
This year Sofas launched a partnership with Nectar so customers can now collect 100 Nectar points when you sign up to our Gift Aid scheme in shops (tag Your Bag’) and 2 points per El when their donated goods sell in our shops. Sarah Fraught “For Sofas shops, a personal connection with our staff and volunteers is so important – the Sofas shop should feel a core part of their local community. ” “Offering this incentive gives us that much-needed competitive edge on the high street and develops loyalty, as we know that the decision about which shop to donate to is often based on practical considerations such as where to park,” said Sarah.
It’s a win win really – people can feel good about supporting Sofa’s work fighting poverty but are also able to treat themselves at the same time. It’s allowed us to access an entirely new audience and we hope this will lead to better quality, more frequently given donations for our shops. ” Head of Retail Brand Sofas www. Sofas. Org. UK @spermatophyte 20 В» case study Case Study В« 21 Building emotional loyalty Mark admits emotional loyalty is a bit of a holy grail, but here are his tips for building it: Mark Thomas Director – Brand Marketing MEME Hilton Worldwide www. Wildernesses. Com
