Loyalty Analytics: Expectations vs. Reality

Loyalty Analytics: Expectations vs. Reality This article reveals some loyalty analytics expectations vs. reality to help you navigate loyalty software solutions choices. Table of Contents Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin Share on whatsapp Share on email Let’s begin with a conclusion – customer loyalty programs without analytics is like driving somewhere not knowing either the road or direction. Therefore, customer loyalty analytics is a crucial part of the loyalty solution and equally important as an actual loyalty program as it helps to understand if the loyalty program is working. Data itself is useless without analysis – that’s why a self-service analytics hub is a must for every loyalty software solution.  However, loyalty analytics is not only about tracking how many users you have or how many points you reward. It is about increased customer visibility and a deeper understanding of individual customer behaviour, which helps define personalised offers that trigger brand loyalty and advocacy. But how can loyalty analytics boost up your business growth? Improved Customer Retention Customer retention and the intimacy of the relationship between company and customer are closely linked. Retaining customers is about more than just transactions, it is about building relationships. Analytics help you highlight these customers before they switch to your competitor. Loyal customers bring you better revenue and are easier to keep than attracting new customers. A stepping stone on the journey of business growth. Increased Customer Lifetime Value We have said it once and we will say it again, customers spend 33% more than new customers since they already know they love your products or service! Personalised services and products can only be delivered if you know your customer and have data to support personalization or are able to calculate their lifetime value.   Pretty much, businesses that track customer acquisition KPIs are 23x more likely to outperform their competitors. A win-win!   Improve Customer Experience Analytics provide insight into customers behaviour and personal preferences. 49% of buyers make increased purchases after receiving a more personalised experience. Slowly, over time a closer relationship will be developed which is vital when trying to keep the level of customer experience that is now expected.  “Customer Experience is not going away, but its value proposition is stalling because many of fundamentals of CX are now commonplace and no longer enough for differentiation and growth” Accenture 2021 With a high standard of customer service now being expected, analytics help create a competitive advantage in a competitive industry. Which means growth, growth, growth. Save time and money on marketing! Reduced costs are always a goal for a business. It is often the way that social media and paid advertising can be very expensive, with the award not always being clear to see. Analytics can help ensure the money you are investing is going to the areas where you are going to reap the most reward. Which KPIs are the most important to track? So let’s discuss the main KPIs (key performance indicator) every loyalty program app should track.  First, let’s start with the daily KPIs. These are important to understand to have a pulse on loyalty performance and plan daily campaigns or activities.  Customer enrolment – A standard KPI, which helps you to track customer enrollment in your programme. Who is in your community/ contact list? This is a great way to track if your community is growing.   Number of daily/weekly/monthly loyalty app users – How often is your community engaging? An important figure when it comes to budgeting for campaigns and creative scope. Number of transactions – How many of your customers are purchasing from you? This is important to see if your customers are actually spending? If customers are often visiting your store/website but are not purchasing there could be something wrong with your customer journey. This could be anything from customer experience to the product itself. Amount of revenue per loyal customer – How much are your loyal customers spending? This value, compared with the average basket, helps you to assess your loyalty program value. So keep checking! The second step is to get an overall customer overview, or how it is commonly called a 360-degree view of your loyalty program customers. Behaviour analytics would help put a face on every customer and understand their actual habits. Based on that, you can plan your future campaigns and improve personalisation. Need a refresher on why a more intimate relationship between customer and company is important? Freshen up here.  Back to customer overview, important KPIs to track: Most common days of checking loyalty app or buying goods and services – What days are your customers most active? These are the days you should be pushing out your brand new content; such as news or new offer campaigns. Take advantage of the organic engagement you are achieving and grow from there!   Most favourite places to visit – Work out if your customers are frequent visitors at one specific location. This allows you to take advantage of global and regional campaigns.   Purchasing behaviour – It is important to track the purchasing behaviour of your customers. Do some customers only shop in the winter? May be worth providing a discount code before the winter season to encourage them to return to you over a competitor. Bottom line contribution: points awarded, campaign redemption, etc – Do you want to understand your loyalty program engagement. Then track your rewards redemption, points awarded and understand what triggers customer behaviour.   Devices/platforms customers use – This one pretty much explains itself. Are your users using Google or Apple products more? Chrome or Safari?   The most read news, offers, events- is the content you are creating resonating? Are some events or offers not seeing a lot of interaction? Maybe worth investing the time and resource into content that will have more interaction  Last and most important is defining segments that require the most attention, either converting them to loyal customers/brand advocates, retaining them, or just rewarding their fantastic

Do you want to become a loyalty expert?

We like to think of ourselves as loyalty experts. So let’s break down the different types of loyalty programmes available and the unique benefits they bring.

How to know its time to add Customer Intelligence to your Loyalty Strategy

It’s time to add customer intelligence to your loyalty strategy Ever find yourself wondering why campaigns have not been as successful as you thought? Customers aren’t engaging with your content? Why do even high rewards not keep your customers coming back? Adding customer intelligence to your strategy provides an answer to your questions.  Table of Contents You’ve been thinking about updating your loyalty strategy. Let’s break it down. Breakdown of customer intelligence: Customer Intelligence is an umbrella term used to describe all data analysis focusing on your market and performance. One of the most critical aspects impacting any organisation’s ability to remain competitive is to stay one step ahead of the market. Therefore, it is vital to have an extensive understanding not only of your competitors but the state of the industry and the changing consumer landscape.    Collected data can be analysed to aid strong decision making and makes it easier for management to spot opportunities for new growth! Acting as “a guiding light”, The essential part is knowing what to look for and when.    Importance of high-quality data: Poor quality data can do more harm than good for your business; it can quickly lead you down the wrong path in terms of strategy. High-quality data provides a clear and accurate picture of your consumers. More on the importance of high-quality data here. High-quality data can be collected from the word go. Something as simple as app usage can collect high-quality data directly from your customers, so take a moment; what data do you think you might need in the future?  Start as you mean to go on: Is it essential to your brand that you offer birthday vouchers or perks? If yes, ensure there is a birthday data field. Want to send direct mails? It is vital that you have separate fields for the house numbers and street names. Plan to be sliding into your customers’ inbox with personalised emails? Again, separate first and last names fields will work wonders for you. 3-6 months: Time to deep-dive your data Great, you have a hold of a lot of data. Now what to do with it? Roll up your sleeves; it is time to deep dive into your data ( also known as inflow). You can now see how your programme is performing and how your new contact/consumer base is developing. How exciting!  The data you’re looking at is high-quality data, thanks to those registration forms, and has provided the perfect base for you to begin to investigate your standard demographics, i.e., age, gender, location etc.  Now, this step is crucial – it is important as any areas of concern can be picked up early. This is the perfect time to put together strategies to widen your base and target the right customers (or start getting them back).    Growth Opportunities: At this moment in time, you have a lovely opportunity to harbour some growth for your company. First, check out the behaviours of your loyal customers – are they lower in one area than another? Then, you can create location-based targeted campaigns or in-store promotions to reach these potential members. Happy One Year! Time to get to know your customers Like many relationships, there has been a shift in focus; we now will focus on the inactive customers (outflow) and improving retention. All this boils down to profiling and segmentation. The easiest way to do this is to create segments of customers based on their shared demographics and characteristics; this could be purchasing habits, push message open rates or click behaviour. You are pretty much looking for anything that lets you create segments of similar customers; by doing this, you can stay highly relevant messages to these groups—right messages to the right people ( we explored the benefits of this here. Let’s explore some ideas for your brand: There are numerous ways you can segment your members. Here are some fun ways: Style Sensitive Vs Discount sensitive (and the combination of both!): explore the engagement of these customers. Your data can provide substantial insight into behaviours. For example, are they engaging more with new items or upgrades? Do they sign up for push notifications for popular products? By using this information, you can create relevant content for your customers. Another example would be All-Round Client or Seasonal: Notice that your customer is pretty quiet until the winter season? Reach out at the beginning and end of the season, offering them vouchers or early access. This is going to make them feel appreciated and develop loyalty. Two Years down the line: Forecasting By this point, you have gathered a significant amount of data and insight into your customers; it is time to introduce a predictive technology to help forecast future performance. This will allow you to see the expected retention, inflow and outflow each month. How fantastic. You will create accurate strategies that can prepare for possible drops in engagement and will show you which subgroup you need to target.    Tips for long-term success: Long-term success is mainly dependent on the retention rate of your customers. A straightforward way to prolong this is by introducing an inactivity time frame; this can be any period you desire; 30/60/120days. When this period approaches, it is important to think of ways to get these customers to engage again. It is time to get creative – the opportunities are never-ending! Show your customers just how much you want them. For example, if a customer predominantly purchases socks, they could get emails with recommendations for the relevant items. Very quickly, the loyalty programme will seem tailor-made for each customer. Even something as simple as a special discount voucher offers a great incentive to re-engage with your brand. It very quickly shows that you have value for your customers, and it reminds them of the perks, benefits and rewards that your programme offers. Analyse. Analyse. Analyse. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the best aspect of integrating customer intelligence into your loyalty strategy. Monitoring the

Loyalty Programmes: 6 benefits they bring to businesses

Get to know some of the key benefits loyalty programmes can bring to your business here.