Bryan Pearson's Blog, page 46

Data Sharing – Courting Customers the Old-Fashioned Way

I never thought my personal information could lead to the courtroom, but for some curious consumers, it may.

This is what is indicated, anyway, in events described in recent news reports. Consumers who have requested their personal data from telecom service providers or other utilities were politely told, “Thank you, but not without a subpoena.” Somewhere along the path to creating the industry we now call Big Data, organizations apparently decided they have more right to a customer’s personal information than does the customer.

It defies logic to me that any company that benefits from gathering consumer data wouldn’t be willing to share those insights with its customers. Fortunately as I read on, I learned that some organizations do, and they even offer their customers tools to make the most use of that information – to create utility for the consumer.

All of which gets me pondering the “what if” question: A lot of companies use customer-provided information to create value for themselves, but what if they made all that data available to the customer, essentially creating a platform upon which they can elevate the entire brand experience? Would a more open system of data create a more powerful consumer cooperative?

Such efforts are forming today. Intel recently introduced a venture that encourages organizations to welcome consumers as participants in the information economy, using a site called WeTheData.com as an aid, according to a story in the New York Times. And the regional supermarket chain Meijer offers an app, called Find It, that organizes the customer’s shopping list to align with the most convenient route through a given store. Even better, if the consumer goes off course, the app will automatically adjust the list.

That’s sharing the customer’s data in a way that directly benefits her.

Such forward-thinking initiatives, wherein the consumer is seen as a collaborator and not merely a source of insights, will be required for the data-science industry to grow prosperously. If we operate with uneven philosophies, wherein only some organizations invite consumers to review their information for the purposes of better interactions, then those that choose the non-communal approach will likely get shut out.

It is, after all, easier than going to court.

June 5: Loyalty Links & Likes

Here are a few loyalty links that caught my eye this week.

1. Today’s customer loyalty game — CMO

A look into the Australian loyalty market.

2. New Reward Program Habits May Cost Consumers Money — CNBC

Numbers from the 2013 COLLOQUY Loyalty Census are revealed.

3. Using Big Data To Target The Right Consumers With The Right Offers — Forbes

How online marketers can tailor Web experience to individual preferences.

4. Employee rewards pay off for employer, too — The Globe and Mail

LoyaltyOne is partnering with a company to offer an employee rewards program.

5. A smile will get your business far in the customer loyalty stakes, finds study — smallbusiness.co.uk

Study suggests small businesses should return to loyalty program basics.

United’s MileagePlus Model a B2B Partnership with Wings

I once wrote that growing market share while reducing business locations is akin to changing wings on an airplane in midflight. Few industries may be as familiar with this challenge as the ever-consolidating airline industry, which is seeing fewer carriers, fewer hubs and fewer direct flights.

But United Airlines appears to have found one fresh path to market share growth: It is partnering with a bunch of other merchants, including Staples, UPS and Apple.com, to appeal to its small business customers.

The major carrier has launched MileagePlus Small Business Network. The business-to-business initiative is dubbed the first U.S. travel loyalty program that allows businesses to earn and redeem miles. But more important, it appears to be among the few programs that realize the potential of partnerships to create a coalition of companies that focus on rewarding customers with a common currency. Ultimately, the winners here are the small business customers and the partners in the program.

A coalition program is one that allows members to earn points by shopping at a number of partner vendors, and then redeem those accumulated points at any of those same brands. But unlike credit card loyalty programs that offer a similar model, members of a coalition do not have to charge their purchases on a specific credit card. They can use cash, checks, credit card, whatever.

This is how the MileagePlus model works – it recognizes the aggregate value of its small business customers and uses partnership marketing to deliver them value while also bringing potential new business to its network partners.

It’s about time. I recently completed extensive research on a number of B2B loyalty initiatives for my forthcoming e-book, The Loyalty Leap for B2B, and was surprised by the upside growth potential, particularly among airlines.

MileagePlus achieves many of the requirements I found are necessary to excel in the B2B realm, particularly among small businesses. For example, the program offers a variety of perks that would be relevant not only to a small business itself but also to the small business owner, from air travel to a chance to bid on sports packages or shows. This is crucial to succeeding in the B2B environment because the smaller the business, the more like an individual it will act.

Further, through its partnerships, United can capture a more comprehensive snapshot of its customers’ spending activities over time, helping it determine needs and preferences as well as the critical touch points for creating relevance. If the MileagePlus member directs a disproportionate amount of total spending to partner merchant HomeDepot.com, for instance, MileagePlus can deliver incentives that appeal to a contractor or interior designer.

I only wish the MileagePlus program were available to consumers as well as business, but it’s a solid start. I’d wager other marketers are watching in the wings.

The Globe and Mail: Employee rewards pay off for employer, too

BRYAN BORZYKOWSKI

Special to The Globe and Mail

Despite running a company that’s all about loyalty points, Bryan Pearson’s employee rewards program is surprisingly traditional. The chief executive officer of LoyaltyOne, the company that runs the Air Miles customer loyalty program, gives staff annual bonuses, praises employees when they do something right and often gives other smaller prizes for a job well done.

GAME CHANGER

While that’s all well and good, after six years of running the company, he’s found that simply telling an employee she’s done great work or giving a group of people a pizza lunch for doing something successful doesn’t motivate staff the way he’d like. It gives an individual a nice ego boost, he says, but that confidence doesn’t filter its way to co-workers.

“These things would happen in an isolated part of the business,” he says. “There wasn’t a celebratory feel or sense of momentum cutting across all parts of the company.”

Rather than simply brainstorm with human resources on how his current program can be adapted, he turned to technology to help him overcome this recognition challenge.

Two months ago, Mr. Pearson teamed with Achievers, a Toronto-based business that has developed a novel way to reward staff. The company, which started in 2002 and used to be called I Love Rewards, has developed a cloud-based, social media site that allows any employee to recognize any other employee. A news feed feature – similar to Facebook’s – lets the entire company see who is being rewarded and for what. Other companies, such as Kudos Inc. in Calgary and Globoforce of Southborough, Mass., have similar offerings.

Most companies still reward staff the old-fashioned way – with a pat on the back or a Starbucks gift card – but technology is making it easier and less costly to recognize employees. It’s also allowing executives to see whether rewarding workers actually helps to boost the bottom line.

Rewards, says Achievers founder Razor Suleman, aren’t just telling staff they did a good job. A recognition program should increase employee engagement and performance, he says.

“More than ever, human resources is being held accountable for driving results,” he says. “Reward programs can get expensive if you’re not getting results and most of the time people aren’t tracking the return on investment on their rewards.”

Software allows executives to more easily tie recognition to returns. With Achievers’ “employee success software,” managers can view who was recognized for what and can then look at that person’s performance numbers to see whether they’ve been enhanced. Managers can also see how recognition is motivating entire groups.

Allowing others to see who gets recognized is a big key to this type of technology’s success. Usually, when someone is rewarded, only a handful of people – if anyone at all – knows. With social recognition software, everyone can tell who’s stepped up.

“It’s not one-to-one any more, it becomes one to many,” says Mr. Suleman. “When other people see it, that behaviour is reinforced. What gets recognized gets repeated.”

That’s what Mr. Pearson is hoping will happen. He says that when employees are satisfied in jobs with measurable outputs, they produce better results. If everyone can see who gets rewarded, that will spark others to worker harder and get recognized as well.

However, there is more to this program than the satisfaction that comes with seeing your name and picture broadcast on a social media news feed to co-workers. Achievers lets employees collect points, which can later be redeemed for bags, iPads and other goodies. Do a good job and receive some financial reward in addition to recognition.

At Toronto-based LoyaltyOne, those points take the form of Air Miles rewards. Every employee receives a certain amount of Air Miles that they can give to fellow staff members. Those points can be redeemed for travel and the numerous other items the program offers.

Those tangible rewards are important, says Mr. Suleman, and they can also take the place of a year-end bonus. “Instead of giving everyone $500 every Christmas, you break that down into weeks and give employees the power to determine who gets it,” he says. He’s found that a “gift” isn’t always given every week and that can actually save a company money over the year.

While Mr. Pearson has only implemented this recently, he’s already seeing results. He’s found that people are getting recognized who don’t usually get noticed. “People are popping out of the woodwork,” he says.

He’s also confident that this software will help boost engagement and make it easier for managers to track the work employees are doing. He thinks it will make a good retention tool as well.

“This will get people excited about work and connect them better to our culture,” he says. “A lot of business success comes down to communication and the ability for employees to get excited about what they do.”

May 29: Loyalty Links & Likes

Here are a few loyalty links that caught my eye this week.

1. Customer Loyalty Lessons From The NHL — Business 2 Community

What companies can learn from hockey team loyalty.

2. It’s not you. It’s your customer service. — The Globe And Mail

The author shares some classic and inexpensive ways to keep customers coming back.

3. Checking In After Checkout — The New York Times

How hotels are monitoring customer feedback and experience through data collection.

4. Walmart to add automatic shopping lists to its mobile app — Retail Customer Experience

The chain is using customer data to create a mobile shopping list to improve in-store experience.

5. The Most Under-leveraged Factor Driving Customer Loyalty — Total Customer

Businesses can boost loyalty by empowering employees.

COLLOQUY Loyalty Summit 2013

Heading into its 11th year, the COLLOQUY Loyalty Summit is the must-attend event for senior executives leading customer-centric companies.

The three-day event brings together inspirational speakers and valuable insights from industry experts to enrich your customer relationships.

Keynote speakers include Avinash Kaushik, Digital Evangelist for Google, and Sally Hogshead, Author of Fascinate.

Speakers include Jeff Maddock, Fed Ex; Scott Voeller, MGM Resorts; Jeff Diskin, Hilton; Kim Gnatt, The Coca-Cola Company; Melissa Studzinski, CVS/pharmacy and more!

Loyalty World US 2013

Reeling in the Exabytes: How Big Data can Create Emotionally Engaging Experiences

Bryan Pearson, President and CEO of LoyaltyOne author of the “Loyalty Leap: Turning Customer Information Into Customer Intimacy,” will draw on more than 20 years of loyalty marketing experience to explain how to use Big Data to create emotional loyalty in a rapidly changing world.

• How to transform vast amounts of data into curated customer experiences, while addressing demands for personalization, contextual messaging and real-time recognition

• Recent examples of ambitious programs that elevate mere loyalty marketing to a personalized service, through the practice of Enterprise Loyalty

• Maintaining emotionally engaged customer relationships (not mere repeat customers) while keeping abreast of rapid-fire industry expansion

• Building the systems to meet the burgeoning growth of the industry, and training the future workforce that will be responsible for your data asset

Forrester Research Shows Zoning in on Loyalty Takes More than Price

I always knew that customer loyalty was the result of a combination of good practices, but never have I heard the “zone of consistency” as one of them – until now.

This was the phrase used by Maxie Schmidt-Subramanian, a researcher at Forrester, to describe the practice of keeping prices reasonably in line with rival brands – not undercutting them. Do this, she advises, and enhancements to the customer experience become “more critical to create and sustain customer loyalty than trying to lower prices.”

Her theory is based on new research by Forrester, which reveals that price and value contribute only a smidge to improving consumer loyalty, while improvements to experience count for the lion’s share. For instance, the study finds that among retailers, the customer experience accounts for 47 percent of loyalty. Factor in price and value, and it rises just 47.2 percent, representing a marginal gain at best.

The experience factor, in addition to the “zone of consistency,” raises the question of how loyalty programs fit into the equation. Those marketers who think it begins and ends as an extension of their price proposition are missing the boat, and this study confirms it.

So how do we deliver an experience that really resonates with our best customers? The answer is through the data acquired from the loyalty program, but that is only the beginning.

The data should be shared and analyzed with leaders in all departments across the organization, even finance, so it can be parlayed into insights that form one-of-a-kind experiences in each department’s respective realm. The data can help to organize message sequencing, to enhance products and to guide pricing in ways that are increasingly relevant to key consumers. There is a reason Amazon is the largest online retailer on the planet, and why people will shop at Nordstrom even when it rarely has sales. These are companies that deliver personalized experiences that build brand love.

Using loyalty program data to distinguish yourself from rivals, both from a standpoint of experience as well as to ensure you are strategically pricing against customers versus by category, are ways to fully use your loyalty asset.

To me, that is one zone to consistently aim for.

Huffington Post: Influence: Trust Me on This One

Buying is ultimately about trust. And the unconscious calculation (if you can even call it that) in the mind of the buyer about whether or not they trust you is best described using the following formula:

TRUST = [(Credibility) + (Authenticity)] / (Perceived Self-Interest)It takes into consideration your track record, your authentic wish to improve the lives of the customer with your offer, and any selfish motives you’ve snuck in to the process. Remember, people like to buy from people they admire, and no one admires a self-interested bully.

Don’t position yourself as the old-fashioned self-motivated sales person knocking on doors. You are a consultant there to help fill gaps with your offer to enable prospective buyers to achieve an aspirational version of themselves. It is a peer-to-peer interaction and your intention should be to add value.

Consider the following example, from Kelly Hlavinka, the recent managing partner of COLLOQUY, the independent thought leadership arm of LoyaltyOne, a global provider of loyalty services.

“The point of the COLLOQUY research and publication is not to figure out a way to sell more to people. Rather, it’s designed to take a genuine look at the bigger picture. I want to help teach and inform the loyalty industry on how to do things better — that’s what motivates me.”

LoyaltyOne exists to enrich relationships between brands and customers and to ultimately cultivate an environment for longer-term loyalty. Bryan Pearson, president and CEO of LoyaltyOne, has literally gone as far as to write the book on loyalty.

The impetus to develop the COLLOQUY brand as well as for Bryan to write the book was one in the same — all parties believed that loyalty just wasn’t being done right. It wasn’t about figuring out how to build relationships with customers so that they might buy more, but was rather about understanding that if they focused on legitimately building strong loyalty programs that genuinely gave back to the customers, the increased revenue would come on its own. A subtle shift in perspective, positive intent truly can make all the difference.

Watch the video as I unpack the “trust equation” even further, looking at how you can proactively ensure you maximize your perceived credibility and associated authenticity when compared to your self-interest. Does the buyer believe you can follow through with your offer? Does he or she associate you with a sense of authenticity and positive intention? Are these attributes undermined by an explicit or perceived sense of your self-interest?

We will specifically touch upon seven proven strategies you can use to rapidly build trust:

1. Passion and persistence


2. Appearance


3. Referrals


4. Testimonials


5. Guarantees


6. Price
7. Pitch less, pull more

I know the video is a bit longer than usual, but trust is a key component and deserves your full attention and time commitment. After you watch, I want you to do a few more things. Employ at least three of these strategies in your pitch, advertising, website, language, etc. Seriously, get some testimonials, consider offering a guarantee, ask for a referral from a satisfied client. This stuff is not rocket science, but it could make a world of difference on your path to success.

Above all else, come up with five ways that you could demonstrate a greater level of passion for your offer. If your offer doesn’t get you emotionally charged, then there is little or no chance it will strike much of a chord with anyone else. Remember what got you so inspired to embark on this journey in the first place, and make it a stand-out component of your offer.

Influence – The Trust Formula from Peter Sheahan on Vimeo.

 

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post and Peter Sheahan on the topic of Making It Happen in Small Business, focused on turning those with the ideas into those with the influence. To see all of the posts in the series, click here.

May 22: Loyalty Links & Likes

Here are a few loyalty links that caught my eye this week.

1. Uniting a customer loyalty program using data — CMO

United Airlines’ CRM leader shares the process of integrating 90 million frequent flyers into a single program.

2. App offers online loyalty program for local businesses — The Telegram

Free online application Brownie Points serves as virtual punchcard for Canadian businesses.

3. How to win the loyalty marathon — Fast Casual

Loyalty marketing lessons with a marathon runner’s twist.

4. Using Social Media to Build Customer Loyalty — Business 2 Community

How three companies are using social media to build loyalty.

5. How loyalty programs influence the way you shop — Chicago Sun-Times

The reporter examines the potential for personalized pricing stemming from loyalty program data.