Customer loyalty Archives - MARKETECH APAC

2022 is fast recharging economic and business activity globally, with data and analytics playing a key role in helping organisations build resiliency and thrive in this uncertain landscape.

Analytics opens fresh opportunities to innovate, drive transformation, mitigate risk, and allow organisations to remain competitive.

But are we doing enough with data and analytics to drive success in our organisations?

This is the question that was recently unpacked in a panel discussion by Sisense, which celebrated the release of its Future of Data Analytics Report 2022 – Asia Pacific Edition alongside Abhishek Singh, chief information officer at UNICEF Australia; Patrick Hill, chief product officer at Propic; and Annette Slunjski, managing director at the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA).

In this piece, we take a deeper look at the conversation and debate that unfolded around the challenges and opportunities of leveraging data and analytics to drive success in the APAC region.

Offering personalised, customised data more important than ever

Sisense’s report reveals that almost half (45%) of APAC data professionals surveyed agree that offering personalised, customised data and analytics to customers could allow them to increase the average selling price of their products or services. At the same time, 43% of respondents also agree that data and analytics would help build loyalty and retain customers.

It’s clear that embracing data analytics is key to a brighter business future. Patrick Hill, chief product officer at Propic, is a huge advocate for the power of data analytics. He’s experienced, firsthand, the ‘data difference’.

“Data analytics is key to providing Propic customers with extra value,” he explains. “At head-office level, we provide data that gives customers real-time understanding of what’s going on internally in their databases next to the industry data. Bringing those two together means they can manage uptime and downtime very quickly.”

“At a local level, real estate agents need real-time data to prove their service as well. They need to be able to ‘point and shoot’ their work to make a sale.”

Propic is an artificial intelligence (AI) for real estate specialist company. The maturity of using data at every layer of the stack is not so commonplace in the real estate industry, Patrick says. “Being the home of AI, we’re always pushing the boundaries of data maturity for our real estate agency clients.

“AI and the proof-pointing inside our product, on our dashboard, shows the benefit of our AI platform. It’s driving our ability to sell more products and instruments,” he says.

Abhishek Singh, chief information officer at UNICEF Australia, highlights how data is “absolutely gold” for the not-for-profit sector. “We use data in the same way that large corporations use data. We look at it and ask what we can do with data,” he says.

Annette Slunjski, managing director at the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia (IAPA), asked Abhishek how his organisation is handling customers’ demanding greater personalisation against the backdrop of the demise of the third-party cookie.

To avoid overstepping that delicate boundary, Abhishek recommends leading with transparency. “Make sure your approach is very clear,” he says. “Ensure your organisation is behind you on what you want to do with the data because the data strategy is owned by everybody.”

Tapping into the untapped

When it came to rating their organisation’s ability to maximise the value of its data, respondents across the APAC region gave, on average, only a 6 out of 10 rating. The finding comes as no surprise to Annette.

“Are we doing enough with the data we have? The answer is no. And there are many reasons why,” she says. “Organisations know they need data. They’ve heard it’s the new bacon; it’s valuable. So, they hire a chief data officer (CDO) with good intentions.

“But then they never really pay attention to what the CDO tries to do. They won’t restructure to take advantage of the insights. They won’t give the CDO the runway to do something with the data that actually makes a difference. It’s all lip service – becoming data-driven doesn’t work like that,” Annette stresses.

Another key point that Annette highlights is related to data quality. She encourages organisations to work on their data quality to really start reaping benefits. “I can guarantee that if you start working on data quality today, you will get a benefit tomorrow,” Annette says.

“Everyone wants a shiny AI project without paying attention to their data. If you don’t deal with your data quality; then in six months, that shiny AI project just might not deliver the benefits you thought – and the c-suite will likely become disillusioned. But if you work on your data quality, then every single system you have now will benefit.”

While Patrick agrees that data quality is key, he adds that the first thing an organisation needs to do is define what it wants to do with the data. “You need to know what your end objective is,” he says. “If you don’t know what your end objective is, then you’re wasting your time.”

“At the same time, we shouldn’t still be talking about end-of-month reporting, but live reporting. AI can listen, categorise, document and predict patterns, behaviours and trends every minute of every day,” Patrick adds.

Data best practice needs less talk, more action

To improve organisational data strategies, 40% of respondents agree that it’s important for employees to become data literate and adopt business intelligence tools as part of their daily workflows. While it would be nice to simply wave a magic wand to accomplish this; the truth is, it takes patience and commitment..

When it comes to adapting to change, Patrick is reminded of what Steve Jobs has to say. He said when it comes to using technology, humans aren’t very sophisticated. So technology should be easy. If they open an email, send an email, and open a webpage; then they’re super users.

“That’s still true today. It needs to be easy. With embedded analytics, it’s really easy to go on that journey of digital transformation.”

Concluding the conversation, Abhishek says it’s just as vital to knock down organisational silos. “If you don’t, you’ll have a very disjointed effort. Everyone needs to derive functions that support each other in relation to the strategy.

“Bring awareness and let your people share their input on what they want to do with data. Everyone must be on board. Otherwise, you’ll be creating something that nobody in your organisation even knows about.”

Download the complete report here.

This article was written by Rohan Persaud, director of channels and alliances at Sisense for APAC.

Sisense is a business intelligence company. Sisense Fusion is its highly customisable and AI-driven analytics cloud platform that infuses intelligence for companies.

Sydney, Australia – Sisense, the leading AI-driven platform for infusing analytics everywhere, today announced its Future of Data Analytics Report 2022 – Asia Pacific Edition, which highlights data professionals in the APAC region seeing data and analytics as valuable to digital transformation and future-proofing their business, yet finding their organisations’ strategic capabilities are far from reaching their true potential.

Key findings from the report at a glance:

The Promise of Analytics

● Data ‘gold’ for boosting product pricing and customer loyalty: Data professionals were asked about the value of analytics and almost half (45%) agree offering personalised, customised data and analytics to customers could allow them to increase the average selling price of their products or services. Meanwhile, 43% of respondents agree that data and analytics would help build loyalty and retain customers.

● Data and analytics critical for business transformation: Almost a third (31%) see data and analytics having a critical role in transformation efforts in their organisation.

● Deeper value of data still untapped: Data derived from business systems is regarded as the most valuable, yet when it came to rating their organisation’s ability to maximise the value of its data, respondents gave, on average, only a 6 out of 10 rating.

Challenges and Obstacles

Data transmission, analysis, and risk management remain top concerns: Almost two-thirds (61%) of respondents say they are concerned about data transmission, followed by effective analysis of data (58%) and inadequate systems in place to manage risk (58%).

Budget and executive buy-in top barriers to data delivery: Budget limitations (46%) and securing executive buy-in (28%) are the top two barriers to improving data delivery to customers.

Data best practice needs less talk, more action: 50% of respondents see data best practice as important or somewhat important to future-proofing business performance. However, 15% are fearful of change, risk averse, and say change is too risky and would prefer to keep the status quo.

Opportunities and Next Steps

Skills, training, and data literacy remain top priorities: To improve organisational data strategies, 40% of respondents agree it’s important for employees to become data literate and adopt business intelligence tools as part of their daily workflows.

Businesses want better AI and predictive tools: Around two-thirds (60%) of businesses want better AI and predictive tools, more accurate data, and real-time analytics.

Rohan Persaud, director of channels and alliances for APAC at Sisense, says organisations across the APAC region have far too much at stake to not be truly data-driven, and it’s imperative they proactively improve existing AI and predictive tools to reap the benefits of more accurate, real-time analytics.

“Given the immense challenges caused by rapid market shifts, economic fluctuations, and advancements in technology; data professionals must transition to analytics solutions designed and available for everyone, including their customers,” he says.

“If leveraged properly, data has the ability to unlock immense value and new opportunities that weren’t previously apparent. Yet this report shows while organisations have more data than ever before, they don’t have a clear understanding of how to turn it into actionable insights. In fact, many companies are just sitting on these goldmines, fearing to make a change,” added Persaud.

“They’re missing out on a massive opportunity to use their data to help reduce churn, drive adoption, and boost their bottom line. It’s clear that data and analytics are more than a ‘nice to have’ – they’re a ‘must have’ and should be at the heart of all business decision-making,” he concluded.

The Sisense Future of Data Analytics Report 2022 – Asia Pacific Edition surveyed 1,047 data professionals in March 2022. Respondents were drawn from a diverse range of industries across a wide geographic cross-section of the APAC region.

Study Methodology

Findings are based on an online survey conducted by Sisense among 1,047 data professionals across the APAC region (Australia 52%, New Zealand 11%, Hong Kong 11%, Singapore 7%, China 7%, Japan 4%, Indonesia 4%, India 2%, other 2%). All respondents (referred to as “APAC data professionals”, “data professionals” and “respondents” throughout the report) work at a company with at least 20 employees, have the title of middle manager or higher in either an information technology, marketing/advertising, sales, regulatory affairs, research and development, or production department and have at least some influence in decisions made for embedding analytics solutions into the delivery of their product or service.

The survey was conducted in March 2022.

Access the report here.

A powerful customer engagement strategy involves more than a loyalty offering. It needs a ‘customer-obsessed’ mindset that puts the customer experience at the heart and centre.

A customer-obsessed culture will enable better customer retention rates, plus open up opportunities to generate. Getting revenue from your existing customer base, which is often easier and probably less expensive than acquiring a new one. But you have to do both, and loyalty can help achieve this goal.

However, a loyalty program also has to be easy and valuable for both existing and new customers. An innovative loyalty program is best integrated across all consumer touch points rather than live in a silo. This means loyalty needs to permeate all channels such as email, SMS, point-of-sale, and beyond.

In the recent Cheetah Digital Signals21 event, Richard Jones, CMO at Cheetah Digital, spoke with Brad Bissonnette, vice president for marketing & franchise recruitment at COBS Bread, the sister store to the iconic Australian bakery chain Bakers Delight. With over 100 locations across Canada, COBS Bread wanted to engage consumers with surprise and delight. They also wanted to gather critical product and sentiment data to help keep their offerings top of mind with consumers.

COBS Bread partnered with Cheetah Digital to build a unique solution that engaged customers, offered flexibility across the rewards, and fed the company with high-quality consumer data. COBS Bread wanted to optimise and personalise their offers for customers by feeding data to inform their product and menu items.

A loyalty program is more than just a point system

A loyalty program needs to go beyond points for purchase and provide more value and convenience for the customer. Bissonnette explains that by looking at loyalty in a silo, you’re really missing the larger opportunity with loyalty.

“Ensuring your loyalty program is an experience, rather than just points from purchase, will heighten a customer’s experience, leading to more sales for your business. This is because loyalty transcends far more than points and for our journey, it again is around how do we provide more utility for our customers? How do we make their lives so much easier? That’s the journey that we’ve embarked on,” said Bissonnette.

“For brands that are considering heading down the loyalty channel, it’s really asking that important question; how can I provide more convenience? How can I provide more utility for our customers?” Bissonnette adds.

Rolled out in Canada mid-2021, Bissonnette says the COBS Club loyalty program embraces loyalty as a more holistic approach.

“It’s early days into our digital loyalty program COBS Club. Our initial offering focused on points, but the ultimate vision is to deliver a digital customer experience that cannot be matched. This will transcend beyond collecting points and continue to add more utility for our customers,” Bissonnette says.

The key to success for COBS Bread has been buy-in across the organisation – from its franchise network to the rest of the organisation, which allows them to continue to embark on the path.

“We now have COBS Club up and running with customers now collecting points on everything they purchase within the bakery. We’re looking forward to the next iterations where we get to a single source of truth and the ability to ultimately order online and everything from store value and gift cards. This is phase one in what will be a multi-year journey to continue to provide more utility and convenience for our customers,” Bissonnette explains.

Unpacking the key phases of a loyalty program

Currently, COBS Bread is in the early stages of rolling out COBS Club. Bissonnette says the bakery franchise is solely focused on acquisition.

“Our goal right now is to do whatever we can to bring customers onto the platform, so that we can then start to truly understand our customer’s needs and wants. From there we’ll start to get into the other common metrics of sales per transaction, average basket size, and average monthly value of the customer. We’ll have all these metrics starting to flow through.” Bissonnette says.

COBS Bread has started off with great results. The company originally forecasted that in their first year they would acquire between 75,000 to 80,000 customers. But six weeks into the program and they have more than 100,000 new customers.

“Our goal in the first year now is heading towards 250,000 customers. While those metrics are interesting, they can give us a sense of the health of the program,” Brad explains.

Bissonnette says within three to six months into the program, the next phase will begin. In this phase, the company will start to know the demographic information and start to understand the behaviour of their customers.

“I am keen to view customer purchase patterns, explore what’s in their basket and start to really segment using this type of purchasing behaviour. If we can get into that and truly understand those commonalities, we can then start to cater content that is going to provide incremental value and truly take that core metric of active users to 60%,” said Bissonnette.

“It is basic numbers right now but it’s all about acquisition. Our goal is to have the numbers to be able to cater customer experience moving forward,” Bissonnette explains.

A digital loyalty platform can help in so many ways; he says, “Whether that is understanding the financial implications for your finance team to unlock further growth, developing consumer insights through your customer service team or understanding the operational aspects within each one of your units.”

“If you only look at loyalty from a sales or marketing perspective, you’re missing out on all the potential opportunities a loyalty platform can bring,” he adds.

Culture is at the core of a robust loyalty program

Bissonnette says loyalty culture boils down to the culture of a customer service-centric focused organisation.

“For us, it came from day one with the vision from Roger and Leslie Gillespie, who opened the first Bakers Delight in Australia. Their key focus was on delivering high-quality products, outstanding customer service environment, and supporting the communities,” Bissonnette explains.

When your DNA has ‘service’ running all the way through, it has to have loyalty running all the way through it as well, he notes. This is because you ultimately have to take that next step to deliver on a loyalty platform that allows you to elevate your service.

“Loyalty is the next phase of ensuring we can deliver a customer experience that cannot be matched. Having a loyalty platform, it’s giving us the data that we have missed for years. This data provides us with a true sense of what our customers want, what they are purchasing, and how we can ensure that we can meet their needs,” Bissonnette concludes.

This article is written by Billy Loizou, VP for Go To Market for APAC at Cheetah Digital.

Cheetah Digital is a cross-channel customer engagement solution provider that enables marketers to create personalized experiences, cross-channel messaging, and loyalty strategies.

It’s a stressful time for marketers. Many believe that their lives will be disrupted to the nth degree without cookies. Meanwhile, consumers are more protective of their personal data than ever. In the Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey 2020, 7 in 10 respondents nominated privacy as a major concern for them, while 87% wanted more control and choice over the collection and use of their personal information.

Experts like Lauren Solomon, CEO of Consumer Policy Research Centre, further notes how data processes are clunky and outdated.

According to research from the Consumer Policy Research Centre, 70 percent of consumers accept consent terms, even if they are not comfortable with them. When asked why, three quarters of consumers said it’s because it’s the only way to access the product.

Meanwhile, the research further revealed more than 90 percent of Australian consumers are uncomfortable with how their data is collected and shared – and they’re disempowered to do anything about it.

“They want the government to intervene and protect them,” Lauren says.

“There also isn’t actually any way for consumers to express the preferences that they have and to acquire products that meet those preferences – because it’s a take it or leave it proposition,” added Lauren.

What is the solution?

Companies need to stop ‘renting data’ and build their own database through direct-to-consumer relationships. The key to future success is building a loyalty initiative that offers mutual value exchange. Customers can willingly offer their personal details, in exchange for a better customer experience.

With the death of the cookies, the ‘value exchange’ between businesses and their customers’ willingness to share personal data has never been so important. Activating cookie-less data, using it to enhance customer experience and derive insights is a craft and skill that marketers need to invest in and develop.

Unlocking the value of loyalty in a cookieless future

The importance of loyalty programs should not be overlooked as a critical part of a marketer’s toolkit. Loyalty programs are the perfect replacement for connecting customers with brands in new and innovative ways now and beyond a cookie-less world. They give organizations a clear, zero-party data approach to unlock deeper insights into their customers, unlock fresh CX opportunities, and open powerful new ways to forge more long-lasting and meaningful customer relationships.

But what makes a great loyalty program? Adam Posner, CEO and Founder of The Point of Loyalty, shares the seven zones that make up the ‘wheel of loyalty fortune’. Organizations need to implement each one of these points to ensure they have a strong, steadfast loyalty program that will benefit both customers and brands.

1. Business: First and foremost a business must be profitable and sustainable.

2. Members: Organizations should understand their loyalty member’s behaviors, beliefs, and belongings.

3. Program: The loyalty program needs to be meaningful and desirable to consumers.

4. Team: The organization’s employees need to buy-in for the loyalty program and be willing to endorse it.

5. Technology: The technology should be fit-for-future rather than fit-for-now.

6. Data: Ensuring the loyalty program captures the data necessary for analysis and for relevant action.

7. Dialogue: Any company dialogue to the customer needs to be dynamic and personal at all times.

It’s time for a new marketing recipe

There is life after the death of the cookie. Zero-party data can help marketers connect with their customers. This preference data comes directly from the consumer. There are no intermediaries and no guesswork — it’s psychographic data that includes the customers’ values, attitudes, interests, and personality traits.

Marketers will need to survive, lead and stay relevant in a cookie-less society – a reality that is right around the corner. Leading with loyalty and adopting a Zero Party Data strategy will help marketers survive by creating long-lasting customer relationships with a clear and concise value exchange.

This article is written by Billy Loizou, VP for Go To Market for APAC at Cheetah Digital.

Cheetah Digital is a cross-channel customer engagement solution provider that enables marketers to create personalized experiences, cross-channel messaging, and loyalty strategies.

Singapore – Experience management (XM) company Qualtrics has announced three new customer experience (CX) solutions, specifically designed to attract more customers and increase loyalty to businesses in the mid of a global pandemic.

First on the list is ‘Relationship Health’ which gives companies a continuously updated view of the health of their customer relationships to help them deliver more personalized experiences, improve customer loyalty, and reduce attrition. In addition, organizations can collect feedback consistently across the customer journey to get an up-to-date view of the health of their customer relationships at key milestones.

As a result, companies can see how overall customer health impacts business metrics, such as share of wallet, so they can quickly adjust strategy. The solution also routes feedback automatically to the right teams, such as customer care or sales, and surfaces recommendations to help them take the right action at the right time.

In terms of a holistic view of an organization’s business-to-business (B2B) relationships, the new solution ‘Account-Based Relationship Diagnostic’ can help them build deeper connections and drive more revenue. Said solution combines experience data from every contact within a customer’s organization to give sales and customer success teams a complete view of the account’s overall health.

Instead of using just one individual’s feedback as a measure, teams can understand the key drivers for the overall account based on every stakeholder’s point of view of the customer experience. The account-based approach will become the anchor for successful B2B sales and customer success teams to measure relationship risk and generate actionable insights across the entire customer journey.

Lastly, the ‘Digital Support Optimization’ helps companies deliver frictionless customer care through any digital channel. This new solution enables care teams to use feedback to uncover gaps in their digital support experiences that may lead to unhappy customers and increased use of costlier support channels. These teams will also be able to deliver better customer support experiences across digital channels such as their website, text, and automated chat to increase customer satisfaction and reduce call center traffic.

In a press statement, Qualtrics stated that the pandemic has challenged every company to respond to sudden shifts in customer expectations —from the way people want to interact with customer service to their expectations of how brands responded to the crisis.

“As we move into the post-pandemic world, the most successful companies will make their decisions by deeply connecting with their customers to understand changes in their expectations, predict future behaviors, and create great experiences, even in the face of uncertainty,” the company stated.

For Jay Choi, chief product officer at Qualtrics, companies will need to adopt an experience-first approach to customer relationships moving forward due to the fact that the past years had customer preferences and expectations evolved significantly.

“The most successful companies adapt and thrive even during disruptive times by understanding the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind customer behaviors and using that data to proactively design and deliver the best experiences for their customers,” Choi stated.

Manila, Philippines – E-commerce platform Shopee has officially launched its new Shopee Loyalty Program, aimed at delivering a more rewarding shopping experience for users.

Through the Shopee Loyalty Program, users can enjoy a range of exclusive perks, vouchers, and deals every month when they shop more with Shopee.

The membership is free and consists of four tiers namely Classic (less than 10 orders in a month), Silver (minimum of 10 orders in a month), Gold (minimum of 25 orders in a month), and Platinum (minimum of 55 orders in a month). Shoppers can unlock higher tiers and enjoy bigger rewards by completing a certain number of orders within a month.

Martin Yu, director at Shopee Philippines, said the program will give users more ways to save and have fun with the platform and aims to help users unlock more value with Shopee.

“We are excited to bring more joy and reward Shopee users better with Shopee Loyalty. Shopee has seen online shopping grow in importance for Filipinos in the past year, as more people turn to Shopee for their needs, from groceries to entertainment,’’ said Yu.

Shopee has been ramping up lately its programs and initiatives, including training programs for Filipino e-commerce talents, and programs targeted at helping brands achieve greater brand reach.

Singapore – Consumer behavior in retrospect to brand loyalty has seen a greater shift, most notably caused by desire for customers to have their received services personalized and to be recognizing privacy, a report from analytics firm Futurum Research and software company SAS shows.

Significant pandemic-induced shifts in consumer behavior and opinions include changes in loyalty drivers and acceptance of immersive tech. In response, the majority of brands are rethinking superior customer experience and accelerating their technology development and deployment plans to meet the needs of the evolving consumer.

In the report, it is stated that the global state during the pandemic has heightened the interest of the general public to lean towards acceptance of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) and an integral part of the consumer process. Due to such response, a third of brands surveyed are speeding up investments in technology over the next two years. Some technologies include voice-based AI assistants, customer support holographics, and augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) technology.

In terms of customer view on technology, statistics showed their interest on the following:

Drones – last year, 23% of consumers expected delivery by drone or autonomous vehicle in the coming year; now 60% expect it by 2022.
Smart assistants – last year 65% of consumers expected to use them by 2025, but now 70% plan to use them by 2022
Chatbots – last year 36% of consumers expected to use chatbots to have questions answered or receive customer support about a brand, products or services. Now, 54% want a live person, and not a bot, available to talk to them.
AR and VR – about 69% of consumers surveyed expect to use AR and VR to sample products in 2021. In addition, 63% of consumers are willing to use AR and VR to visit remote locations, up from 56% in the previous survey.
Telemedicine – 67% of consumers are open to telemedicine.

In a ‘socially distant’ market, hybrid digital and physical experiences have become increasingly common as both brands and consumers look to technologies that provide convenience and safety – from the increased use of telemedicine to contactless payments and online ordering combined with curbside pickup. Brands that want to deliver truly personalized experiences must pivot to include these forms of engagement in the customer experiences they provide,” SAS noted in the report.

Due to such high demand, business disruption has been evident as six out of 10 brands reported that they’re unable to deliver their regular products to their customers. About 28% of brands have been unable to adjust and adapt and are riding things out until ‘normal’ returns.

In response to such disruption, some brands have accelerated development in online consumers tracking systems for behavior and habits (66%), mobile apps for customer engagement (64%), shared customer records for cross-departmental use (68%) and real-time product or inventory awareness systems (64%).

“The Experience 2030 global study, released in late 2019, clearly indicated that brands are planning to invest heavily in immersive CX technologies and AI-fueled automation over the next decade,” said Wilson Raj, global director of Customer Intelligence at SAS.

He added, “This Pulse report stresses that organizations have not changed these priorities, but urgently stepped up these investments to respond to the pandemic and ensuing disruptions. Brands have chopped timeframes in many of the areas identified in Experience 2030.”

The survey was conducted during June and July 2020, as Futurum Research surveyed more than 600 global consumers, executives, marketers and technology professionals.