Learning to love the mobile wallet
by Prada Handbag Prada handbagLearning to
love the mobile wallet
But today the proliferation of media channels
means brands have more options for making their loyalty schemes available to
consumers in the places that are most convenient for them.
At loyalty
brand Nectar, marketing director James Frost says: We have seen the user base
of our Nectar mobile app grow by 70 per cent in the past year, 40 per cent of
the statements we send out are electronic and we believe loyalty is going to be
critical to companies that want to win the mobile wallet war.
He says
the brand s aim is to create an experience for the customer whereby they can
live out the Nectar journey end to end on a mobile device . The main features
involved in achieving this include paperless coupons and location-based
targeting.
In the case of the former, a coupon is sent via the Nectar
mobile app and the customer is prompted to accept it; having done so they will
automatically have it applied to the purchase the next time they use their
Nectar membership when shopping. Nectar s location-based communications,
meanwhile, work by reminding consumers of live offers in nearby stores that are
Nectar partners.
In both cases the customer benefits from being freed
from the constraints of a physical voucher, while Nectar benefits from being
able to use personalised push marketing that, in theory at least, is seen as
helpful by the recipient.
Similarly, Game s new director of insight and
loyalty Fred Prego recently told Marketing Week (MW 13 June) that the video game
retailer s app is now fundamental to its reward programme, for example offering
a store locator function and the recently launched accolades initiative.
Accolades are awarded for carrying out actions such as trading in a game for the
first time.
But that s not all the app does. Prego adds: Not only
does it add tools for the customer, it also helps us gain an insight into each
customer and how they are using the app, through which we are listening,
monitoring and talking to them, and launching new functionalities they need and
have been asking us for.
Mobile devices are now crucial to loyalty,
according to Mark Stevenson, managing director of mobile network O2 s Priority
loyalty scheme. He calls them the remote control to our customers lives,
which allows us to have two-way conversations encouraging engagement and
building loyalty with an ongoing interaction .
As with Nectar, one of
the O2 Priority scheme s main selling points is location-specific offers, or
Priority Moments, which the brand has developed with strategic agency Cherry
London. They include exclusive deals on retail vouchers, cinema tickets and
music gigs.
Stevenson explains: We knew when we launched Priority
Moments it was go big or go home O2 had to offer its customers something
they couldn t get anywhere else. At the heart of Priority Moments is
location-based technology and valuable customer insights, as well as the
sequencing of relevant experiences and rewards, which enable us to reach and
excite over 23 million customers, wherever they may be.
Mobile, then,
is clearly the key way many brands loyalty programmes are evolving. But it is
not the only one. The full list of channels that O2 Priority uses to communicate
is long and varied, according to Stevenson. As well as mobile communication via
the app,Click on their website www.smartcardfactory.com for more
information. instant messaging and text messages, Priority also connects with
consumers through email, 460 high street retail stores, contact centres with
around 3,500 staff and brand experiences such as O2 angels , who give out
free lunches from Upper Crust kiosks at train stations.
According to
founder Chris Boyd, hotel booking site PointsHound negotiates both with loyalty
programmes and companies selling hotel room inventory to offer deals; but it is
the ability to earn more loyalty points than usual on their favoured scheme that
is PointsHound s main attraction.
Boyd explains: The selling rate is
going to be the same you see on any other online travel agent because we compete
based on the points offer we re passing through.
If the site has
negotiated a deep discount on a room price it will still mark this up to the
general market rate and instead pass the discount on to consumers in the form of
loyalty points.
The most crucial change in the evolution of loyalty
marketing has barely begun to take effect, though. Again it relates to mobile,
and more specifically the growth of mobile payment services. Mobile wallets
developed by banks and credit card providers, as well as internet players such
as Google and PayPal, are shifting the point-of-sale from the checkout to the
mobile screen while offering that space as a new point of engagement for brands
and their loyalty schemes.
As Nectar s Frost notes, If you make a
mobile wallet just an easier way to pay, that s fine and some people will want
it, but we believe bringing loyalty and offers into a mobile wallet will
accelerate the journey. A slick experience would be: as you pay, loyalty points
are awarded and offers for your next shop appear in your wallet.
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