Articles Tagged with: Customer Loyalty

Unlocking Loyalty Success: Why Partnering with Experts is Key to Successful Loyalty Programs in 2024

Unlocking Loyalty Success: Why Partnering with Experts is Key to Successful Loyalty Programs in 2024

Boost your program’s success by collaborating with loyalty experts

Gillian Setiawan

MarTech Blogger | Sept 10, 2024


Capturing and retaining customer attention is more challenging than ever. With the average human attention span now at 8.25 seconds – shorter than that of a goldfish (9 seconds) – businesses must develop innovative strategies to engage their customers meaningfully and consistently.

An effective way to achieve this is via a well-designed loyalty program. By leveraging the expertise of professionals in the field, firms can create robust loyalty programs that not only retain customers but also foster deep connections, driving long-term growth.

 

The Importance of Loyalty Programs in 2024

In 2024, loyalty programs have evolved from being a mere add-on to a critical component of any company’s customer retention strategy. A well-crafted loyalty program fosters an emotional connection between the customer and the brand, building trust and enhancing the overall customer experience. This ultimately leads to increased revenue and improved data quality that can be harnessed for future growth.

Moreover, in the competitive battle for customer attention, it’s crucial to note that acquiring a new customer costs five times more than re-engaging an existing one. This underscores the importance of investing in a robust and effective loyalty program, making it more vital than ever.

 

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

While loyalty programs offer numerous benefits, not all are created equal. Here are some pitfalls to watch out for:

1. Complexity
Overly complicated loyalty programs, such as those with confusing rules or long-winded reward collection processes, can deter customers from actively engaging with the brand. Currently, about 31% of consumers find it too difficult to earn rewards from their loyalty programs.

2. Lack of Engagement

A loyalty program that doesn’t engage customers will fail to keep them interested. Without regular interactions, nudges, and incentives, customers may not see the value in participating. With 80% of customers believing that the experiences provided by a company are as meaningful as their products and services, firms must continue to innovate and delight in order to keep their consumers happy.

3. A One-Size-Fits-All Approach

A generic loyalty program that doesn’t consider the unique needs and preferences of different customer segments will struggle to maintain interest and relevance. Nowadays, personalization is key! Offering customers a way to choose their rewards, for example, not only delights and engages them, it also provides the firm valuable insights into their consumers’ preferences. In fact, 71% of customers expect personalization, and 76% mentioned an inclination to switch to a competitor if they don’t get it. 

Choosing the Right Loyalty Partner(s)

To create a successful loyalty program and avoid common pitfalls, partnering with true loyalty experts is essential. Here are some key qualities to look for in a loyalty partner:

1. Experts in the Field
Loyalty experts bring extensive experience and a deep understanding of what works and what doesn’t in loyalty programs. They provide insights and strategies tailored to each firm’s specific needs and customer base. Their established relationships and industry connections can also offer firms the opportunity to reach a wider audience, engage in cross-promotions, and benefit from pre-existing customer trust.

2. Simplicity

Successful loyalty programs should provide customers with a simple and frictionless experience. This involves offering clear, straightforward processes for earning and redeeming rewards, and an intuitive, user-friendly interface to significantly enhance customer satisfaction, for example, to encourage active participation. 

3. Localisation
To truly be effective, loyalty programs must be tailored to resonate with diverse international customer groups. Addressing local preferences and cultural nuances is key to enhancing the relevance and appeal of the program. As noted earlier, partnering with experts who have experience with international audiences can then be highly beneficial for achieving successful localisation and maximizing the impact of a firm’s loyalty initiatives.

4. Customer Engagement at the Core (i.e., Gamification)

Effective loyalty programs place customer engagement at the forefront. Gamification elements, such as challenges, leaderboards, and rewards for specific actions, can significantly boost engagement and make the program more enjoyable for customers. In fact, integrating gamification has been shown to increase user engagement by up to 50% compared to traditional marketing efforts, demonstrating its effectiveness in fostering deeper connections and driving active participation.

5. Transparency

Transparency is the foundation of building and sustaining any successful partnership. Encompassing more than mere openness, it involves a commitment to honest communication and accountability. By partnering with loyalty experts who are transparent about costs, for example, firms can ensure they know exactly where and how their investments are being spent, minimizing the risk of unexpected issues.

6. Security

Despite extensive efforts to protect customer data, firms remain at risk of data breaches. In fact, data breaches increased by 20% from 2022 to 2023, underscoring the critical importance of security in today’s digital age. Therefore, reliable loyalty partners must implement robust security measures to safeguard customer data and ensure the integrity of firms’ loyalty program.

7. Innovation (i.e., Artificial Intelligence)

In the realm of loyalty programs, artificial intelligence (AI) can help enhance customer experiences and streamline program operations. For example, by leveraging AI to analyze past customer behavior and predict future actions, businesses can make more informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition. This proactive approach allows companies to tailor their loyalty programs more effectively, setting them apart from others in the market.

Conclusion


In 2024, a well-designed loyalty program can be a powerful tool for retaining customers and driving repeat business. By partnering with loyalty experts who understand the intricacies of creating engaging and effective programs, firms can avoid common pitfalls and ensure that their loyalty programs deliver significant value to their customers. This ultimately helps them build thriving programs that foster long-term customer relationships and business success.

The Perx Advantage


With international exposure, versatile gamification features, and a globally recognized dual ISO certification, Perx stands out as a leading partner in the loyalty space. Our secure, proven solutions are designed to effectively engage your customers and elevate your loyalty program to new heights.

Book a demo today to see how Perx can transform your loyalty strategy!

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Global businesses have driven over 5 billion customer-brand interactions on Perx.

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The image is of man and severel hands reaching out to him, indicative of reaching to the customers

The Forgotten Customer: Still a Ticking Time Bomb?

The image is of man and severel hands reaching out to him, indicative of reaching to the customers

The Forgotten Customer: Still a Ticking Time Bomb?

Drive Long-Term Growth by Re-Engaging Forgotten Customers

Gillian Setiawan

MarTech Blogger | September 10, 2024


In 2018, our founder Anna Gong shed light on a critical issue affecting many businesses: the Forgotten Customer. These are loyal customers who receive little to no engagement from the companies they support, whether through emails, phone calls, or other forms of communication.

Six years later, this issue still persists. With 68% of customers leaving a company because they feel neglected, addressing this issue is crucial for long-term success.

The Customer Experience

Customer Experience (CX) encompasses the customers’ perceptions of how a company treats them. It includes every interaction they have with the business – from browsing the website and speaking with customer service to using the firm’s products and services. A positive CX can differentiate your brand in a competitive market, fostering deeper connections with your customers and boosting loyalty.

 

 

 

Why is Customer Experience Important?

 

1. Proactive CX Fosters Loyalty & Repeat Purchases

In 2018, Anna emphasized that many companies engage with customers reactively rather than proactively. Customers typically receive attention only when they are on the verge of leaving or after they have had a negative experience. Engaging customers only during crises or at the point of churn is insufficient. Today, companies need to adopt a proactive strategy, sending personalized messages that delight customers and make them feel valued.

With 80% of consumers more likely to do business with a company that offers personalized experiences, and 78% stating that such communication makes them more willing to repurchase, it is clear that proactive, personalized engagement is crucial in today’s digital age.

2. Positive CX May Reduce Marketing Budget Waste

Anna also pointed out that it costs companies five times more to acquire a new customer than to engage an existing one. This principle holds true today. While attracting new customers is important, catering to the needs of existing customers is arguably even more crucial.

In fact, with 65% of a company’s business coming from existing customers, and loyal customers spending 67% more than new ones, it is essential that companies allocate sufficient marketing budgets toward delighting customers they have already built relationships with to see higher returns on investment.

How Can Companies Re-Engage Their Forgotten Customers?

1. Data Utilization

As Anna mentioned, many companies have amassed significant amounts of customer data but use it reactively. To truly engage customers, businesses must leverage this data proactively.

Taking Netflix as an example, they utilize historical customer behavior to predict viewing preferences and recommend content. This not only boosts engagement, but also makes customers feel understood, convincing them to remain loyal.

By analyzing customer data, companies can gain insights into individual preferences and needs. Predictive analytics can help anticipate customer behavior, allowing businesses to surprise and delight customers with personalized offers and experiences they didn’t know they wanted.

2. Personalization

With the growth of artificial intelligence (AI), personalization is now more achievable than ever. Companies that utilize AI to deliver personalized experiences at scale are better positioned for success.

Similar to the Netflix example, Amazon also leverages machine learning and AI to continuously refine its product suggestions based on user interactions.

Such real-time AI helps tailor future interactions, making customers feel more valued and understood with every interaction.

3. Gamification

Gamification has emerged as a powerful tool to enhance customer engagement. By incorporating game-like elements into the customer experience, companies can make interactions fun, engaging, and memorable.

Duolingo, for example, utilizes quizzes, rewards, and leaderboards to make language learning enjoyable. These interactive features not only keep customers engaged but also foster a sense of loyalty.

4. Omnichannel Offerings

Offering seamless, omnichannel experiences can also set your business apart. Omnichannel refers to providing a consistent shopping experience across all channels, including in-store, mobile, and online.For example, Singapore Airlines, through its partnership with AOE-integrated airports and shopping malls, allows customers to easily shop, pre-book, enhance in-flight options, and earn loyalty points in real-time. With 70% of all purchase decisions made at the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) stage, it is crucial for businesses to be present online when customers are researching products.

In fact, according to Adobe, companies with the strongest omnichannel customer engagement strategies enjoy a 10% year-over-year growth, a 10% increase in average order value, and a 25% increase in close rates.

Conclusion


The Forgotten Customer remains a pressing issue for businesses today. To overcome this challenge, companies must prioritize proactive engagement by leveraging data, personalization, gamification, and omnichannel offerings to create exceptional customer experiences. By focusing on delighting existing customers, businesses can drive loyalty, increase revenue, and build lasting relationships that stand the test of time.

The Perx Advantage


Are you still neglecting your loyal customers? Take action by evaluating your customer engagement strategies and adopting a proactive approach to create exceptional experiences that drive loyalty and growth.

With versatile gamification features, AI-powered campaigns, predictive analytics, and a plethora of adaptive rewards, Perx could be your trusted partner!

Book a demo today to see how Perx can help you strengthen relationships with your existing customers.

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Global businesses have driven over 5 billion customer-brand interactions on Perx.

Ready to join them?


Banner on How Gamification Hacks Cognitive Biases to Drive Customer Stickiness Blog

How Gamification Hacks Cognitive Biases to Drive Customer Stickiness

Banner on How Gamification Hacks Cognitive Biases to Drive Customer Stickiness Blog

How Gamification Hacks Cognitive Biases to Drive Customer Stickiness

Azmeen Ansar

Ever wondered why you can’t resist those loyalty points or why you keep coming back to that app with the daily challenges? Spoiler alert: It’s all about how gamification taps into your brain’s cognitive biases.

Yep, we’re talking about the hidden forces that drive your and your customers’ behaviors and how smart businesses are using them to keep you hooked.

Let’s dive into this fascinating world where cognitive bias meets fun and discover how these biases play a starring role in gamification strategies.

The Magic of Loss Aversion

Picture this: you’ve earned 100 points on your favorite app, and suddenly there’s a challenge that could make you lose 50 of them if you don’t complete it. Panic mode activated, right?

That’s loss aversion in action. We hate losing more than we love gaining. Gamification leverages this by setting up scenarios where the fear of loss propels us to engage more actively.

How Perx Gamifies This: The biggest bank in the Philippines used Perx to combine loyalty programs and gamified strategies, driving customers to readily redeem their points for vouchers. These vouchers were from partner merchants who also benefited from the bank promoting their brand to its 19 million customers. This led to an earn-burn ratio of 32%, well above the industry average.

The Endowment Effect: Your Digital Treasure

Ever felt super attached to those virtual coins or badges you’ve collected? Welcome to the endowment effect. Once something is ours, we value it more. Gamified apps give you rewards upfront, making you feel like you’ve got something valuable that you don’t want to lose. It’s not just a digital badge; it’s your badge.

How Perx Gamifies This: Many of our clients engage with their customers daily, thanks to the Perx platform that enables them to award badges for positive actions. Singapore’s leading telecom brand uses a similar approach, awarding points for each day the customer logs into the app and plays a game. Another client awards badges for transaction streaks, resulting in a monthly engagement rate of over 60% on their loyalty apps.

Social Proof: Keeping Up with the Joneses

Why do we care about leaderboards and social sharing features? Because we’re hardwired to look at what others are doing and follow suit. Social proof is a powerful cognitive bias that gamification taps into. Seeing your friends or peers achieve higher levels or unlock cool rewards drives you to do the same. After all, nobody wants to be left behind.

How Perx Gamifies This: Through gamified quests and leaderboards, we’ve helped our clients motivate their customers to unlock higher rewards by taking actions that grow business. For example, with our telco clients, we launched quest campaigns that encouraged customers to sign up for higher plans while showing where they stood on a game leaderboard. This led to the brand’s campaigns having over a 90% completion rate with over 85% returning users for in-app engagements.

Commitment and Consistency: The Journey Matters

Started with a small goal and now you’re deep into a complex challenge? That’s the commitment and consistency bias at work. Once you commit to something, you’re more likely to follow through. Gamified systems cleverly start with easy, achievable goals, gradually leading you to bigger challenges, ensuring you stay engaged throughout the journey.

How Perx Gamifies This: The largest digital bank in Singapore uses stamp campaigns powered by Perx to entice its customers to use the bank’s card for everyday transactions. By providing stamps for referrals, foreign transactions, and even just buying their morning coffee, the brand generated a minimum of $6.6 million in 6 months with a 70% average campaign engagement rate per user.

Ben Franklin Effect: The Power of Asking for Help

Ever noticed how asking someone for a small favor can make them like you more? That’s because of something called the Ben Franklin effect. When we do someone a favor or oblige a request of theirs, even if they are total strangers with whom we have no previous connection, we are likely to be fond of and trust them. This creates the basis for a strong and possibly lasting positive relationship. Gamified systems use this cognitive bias by incorporating feedback surveys and small tasks that ask for user input. By engaging customers in this way, they feel more valued and invested in the process, strengthening their connection to the brand. It’s a clever way to turn simple feedback into a powerful tool for engagement.

How Perx Gamifies This: Surveys are part of our clients’ regular campaign rosters. By launching journeys that collect feedback and additional preferences from customers, our clients get first-party data on their customers. Proactively collecting customer insights demonstrates that their opinions are valued, and rewarding their participation instantly nurtures a deeper sense of loyalty, satisfaction, and long-term engagement with the brand.

So, next time you find yourself hooked on an app or eager to earn more points, you’ll know it’s not just the game—it’s your brain in action. And that’s the magic of gamification.

At Perx Technologies, we’re passionate about understanding these cognitive biases and using gamification to create engaging, rewarding experiences for the end-users. This way, we help businesses build stronger connections with their customers, driving loyalty and engagement in ways that feel natural and fun.

Want to amp up your game? Reach out to us and let’s get talking.

In the meantime, experience what it would be like to engage with a global hospitality brand that uses Perx to gamify every interaction with their customers.

Click here for a demo.

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Global businesses have driven over 5 billion customer-brand interactions on Perx.

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Seamless Digital Customer Onboarding – Why are banks still dreaming of it, in 2022?

Seamless Digital Customer Onboarding – Why are banks still dreaming of it, in 2022?

 

Jagriti Shreya

Business Strategy Lead | Oct 12, 2022Read More

Is your customer loyalty rewards program scalable?

Is your customer loyalty rewards program scalable?

Grace Alexander

MarTech Blogger | June 6, 2022


When you’re implementing a rewards program that will keep customers engaged and loyal, you should have one eye on the future. Rewards, perks and interaction methods that won’t scale up as your company grows can present problems in years to come.

To take consistent value from your rewards platform, it should be consistently enjoyable for customers to interact with. That should remain true even as your audience increases in size and individual customers remain with the business for years.

Prepare for success: Include scalability in your rewards

What happens when your company scales up, but its rewards don’t? This could apply to a few different issues, any of which could cause long-term problems for your ability to maintain customer engagement over time.

Rewards programs that are limited rather than scalable, offering only a few potential options for customers, may fail to stay engaging in the long term. These may be point-based systems with few redemption options, or ones that don’t allow loyal customers to ascend to higher tiers over time.

A company with a rewards program that doesn’t scale up may find that no matter how many new users join, old users are disengaging. This makes it difficult to build and maintain a solid and engaged customer base.

Leading companies are realizing the need to scale up their rewards programs and become more ambitious with their offerings, as McKinsey & Company reports. Rather than settling for standard, point-redemption schemes, these businesses are building whole ecosystems for their customers to engage with.

The gold standard of this style is Amazon Prime, which has consistently rolled out new exclusive content and experiences for customers, including streaming video, alongside the retail discounts that first attracted shoppers. This is a true lifestyle platform, where customers have dozens of touchpoints to choose from when reengaging with the company.

In the era of cloud software, scalability and flexibility have become universal watchwords. Companies know how important it is to always be able to add new functionality, quickly and without friction. This concept should apply to rewards and loyalty programs to ensure businesses never feel stuck with a limited set of options for their customers.

Integrate rewards with other systems

One of the most promising ways to ensure a rewards program is flexible, scalable and consistently engaging is to make sure it doesn’t sit in its own silo. Customers shouldn’t have to struggle to find and use loyalty features — they should be natural parts of other touchpoints, from branded mobile apps to the point of sale and beyond.

Brands today are pushing to become true omnichannel companies, blending brick-and-mortar operations with digital offerings that span multiple devices. When customers engage with these companies in any of these locations, they get consistent experiences, ideally including loyalty and retention program features.

As The Wise Marketer explains, modern loyalty programs thrive on automation and integration with other systems. This allows the customer engagement features to have a greater reach, incorporating multiple communication methods and connecting seamlessly with the company’s other software systems.

The integration between rewards platforms and other systems should be seamless. Every time a customer has to specifically seek out a loyalty program, that’s a chance for that user to disengage. On the other hand, strong integration means that as the company’s other systems scale up, the reach of the rewards program grows along.

Integration doesn’t have to be limited to a single business’s ecosystem. When a business strikes a deal with strategic partners to make loyalty programs interoperable, that creates a positive closed-loop ecosystem that encourages customers to keep engaging and gives them more opportunities to do so. This is a way for a business to expand rewards beyond its own bubble.

Make sure data flows both ways, to and from rewards programs

As customer loyalty programs scale up to reach more customers through more touchpoints and deliver a greater variety of options, there’s an opportunity to derive extra value: increased collection and use of data.

Today’s powerful business intelligence systems support real-time analysis of data to turn customer behavior into actionable insights. A customer loyalty program that has scaled up to reach consumers on multiple levels is not only a source of more data than ever before, it also includes more elements that can be tuned with the use of data-driven insights.

Data collected about the way customers interact with a business can be used to shape further loyalty program elements. McKinsey partner Jess Huang recommended using data generated by transactions and engagements to determine how consumers prefer to interact with the company, rather than building loyalty features based on intuition.

Applying that idea of data-driven design to scaling up a loyalty program means a company can create a self-reinforcing cycle. More touchpoints mean more data, which fuels analytics to recommend what form new touchpoints should take.

Use Perx to unite rewards with other programs

The technology platform you use to build your loyalty and rewards program can determine whether you’re able to smoothly scale up and expand capabilities over time. This is a reason to adopt the Perx lifestyle marketing platform as your loyalty management technology of choice.

Due to the integration between Perx and other omnichannel solutions, your rewards program will be able to expand alongside your operations. You can give customers a wide variety of touchpoints they’ll want to use, earning and redeeming benefits at multiple locations, from your app to the point of sale. These programs are appealing whether an individual deals with your brand online, in person or by switching between the channels.

A true lifestyle marketing approach reaches your customers where they are, delivering experiences and rewards they’ll actually be excited and delighted by. Even as your customer base grows and top customers create years-long relationships with your brand, you can keep expanding and customizing your program so it doesn’t become dull for your audience.

Perx supports complex integrations to make sure the platform “plays well” with your company’s other systems, making loyalty a natural part of your operations, no matter how much the business expands.

Request a demo to see how the technology could propel your business toward its loyalty objectives.

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Global businesses have driven over 5 billion customer-brand interactions on Perx.

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5 Ways to Use Gamification with Customer Relationship Management

5 Ways to Use Gamification with Customer Relationship Management

Grace Alexander

MarTech Blogger | June 6, 2022


Customer retention. New customer acquisition. Is the balancing act between these two aspects of business keeping you up at night? Figuring out the ideal amount to spend on each type of outreach is enough to give anyone a headache. Fortunately, modern technology and tactics can provide an answer.

Customer Acquisition vs. Retention: Which Side is Winning?

There’s an oft-cited statistic — coined by Bain & Co. fellow Fred Reicheld more than two decades ago and treated as a guiding principle ever since — that says a mere 5% retention increase could boost your profits by 25% or more. Add this to the fact that customer acquisition costs have recently risen approximately 60% over a period of five years and the answer seems clear: retention is the safe bet.

But where does that leave acquisition? It’s expensive and time-consuming to go for new business, but if your company cuts off funding for its efforts to attract new audiences, how will you grow?

Fortunately, there is an answer that serves both sides. A modern customer relationship management (CRM) approach, embracing gamification and data analytics, frees your company up to excel at customer acquisition while delivering powerful levels of retention.

Many companies fail to turn their CRM strategy into a retention tool or leverage it to help with customer acquisition. By building a functional and relevant program, you can differentiate yourself from these also-rans.

Up Your Game With a Newly Imagined, Dynamic CRM Approach

Improved CRM practices can take a few forms, all worth investigating. It’s important to note that making better use of customer relationship data isn’t an end unto itself. Rather, this is a way to target big, important business goals.

Retaining your customers at higher rates? That becomes easier when you’re making decisions based on data and analytics. Having more time, money and other resources free for acquisition? That’s what happens when your CRM approach is more focused and efficient.

As long as your business interacts with customers through a digital experience such as an app, you have data flowing in that can inform the future of your CRM strategy, as well as touchpoints where you can use tools such as gamification to please and engage your audience.

Consider the success of companies that have taken this approach with the Perx platform:

  • An 86% customer engagement rate.
  • 225% user growth.
  • Outreach campaigns that are 320 times faster to set up and execute.

These types of transformations are in reach for businesses that commit to not just holding customer data but applying it to everyday interactions.

Some of the general effects of a dynamic approach to customer data include:

  • An opportunity to identify and nurture the most valuable communication channels.
  • A streamlined path for acquiring, onboarding and delighting new customers with dynamic experiences and rewards.
  • Deeper connections with existing customers, created by reaching them at multiple touchpoints, online and offline.
  • A higher volume — and quality — of customer interactions, improving lifetime value and promoting brand advocacy.
  • Better personalization of rewards, driving instant gratification, social virality and long-term loyalty.

Better CRM strategy, with all its inherent advantages, is at the core of customer retention. Now, to collect and use the data that powers this concept, you need a practical way to stay engaged in your customers’ lives and lifestyles. That’s where gamification comes in.

Playing the Right Hand to Win Your Customers’ Hearts: 5 Gamification Tips

Better CRM practices let you understand your customers’ lifestyles. You can uncover their particular interests, their unique differentiators and their wants and needs. While this would be a challenge in the more opaque world of analog business, data makes it possible. Gamification gives you a quick and practical way to use the resulting insights.

Your interactions with customers can evolve. Rather than dealing with a business, merely carrying out transactions, they’re doing something fun and compelling that boosts their serotonin.

Rewards programs are the perfect place to create gamified experiences that fit seamlessly into your customers’ lifestyles. When using your brand’s app feels immediately rewarding, your customers are well on their way to becoming enthusiastic arand advocates.

Here are five ways to launch a gamified customer interaction strategy in which everyone wins:

  1. Focus on instant gratification: If customers have to wait too long to earn perks and bonuses they like, there’s a greater chance they’ll abandon your platform. Delight them right away with a user-friendly mobile experience and an introductory reward to get off to a strong start.
  2. Create a continuous, exciting cycle of rewards: Legacy rewards programs tend to show a lot of user downtime. Customers earn a few points, and then they wait before logging back in to spend them at some later date. Offering more frequent interactions is an easy way to keep your brand top of mind.
  3. Build the entire program around customer lifestyles: What do your customers do for fun? What do they value? What kinds of rewards and interactions excite them — and how do they share that excitement with friends and family? These are the questions that should guide interactions and reward design.
  4. Make rewards personalized and meaningful: The more you know about each individual customer, the more closely you can align brand rewards with their interests. This is why improved CRM strategies are an essential building block for gamified customer interactions that really move the needle on retention.
  5. Fully integrate gamified interactions: You don’t want to silo away your fun, engaging customer experience so only a small group of people can take advantage. Pushing this new data-driven interaction style to as many of your customers as possible creates a powerful loop of good experiences and rich data that fuels future personalization.

With such a strategy in place, your brand can hold onto your customers through consistently compelling experiences. Running these campaigns with a heavy dose of automation behind the scenes means they are more efficient and cost-effective than manual efforts and frees up resources for acquisition and other marketing strategies. Add this to the referrals and brand advocacy of your newly delighted customers, and it’s easy to see how retention and acquisition can exist side by side.

Want to know more? Read our case study to find out how Mambu and Perx used supercharged last-mile experiences to turn brand customers into superfans.

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Global businesses have driven over 5 billion customer-brand interactions on Perx.

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How a Gamification Rewards Program Can Drive Employee Engagement and Retention

How a Gamification Rewards Program Can Drive Employee Engagement and Retention

Grace Alexander

MarTech Blogger | June 6, 2022


As an employer today, you’re likely thinking about how to engage and retain your employees. The balance of power is shifting somewhat, with workers suffering from burnout leaving their current jobs and taking their career paths into their own hands. It’s a big enough trend to get its own name: the Great Resignation.

Top performers departing: A real threat

According to Hays research, 61% of employees are considering leaving their jobs in 2022. That’s even more than the 51% who gave the same answer in 2021. This is an especially tricky time for companies to be losing so many employees, as 52% of employers told Hays they are struggling to fill open positions due to a lack of applicants.

Keeping your top-performing employees under such circumstances means rethinking your approach to rewards, benefits and everyday engagement. If your current solutions aren’t doing enough to hold workers’ attention, you need a new approach. But what form should this new strategy take?

Employee morale and gamification 

As it happens, the key to employee engagement may prove to be very similar to customer engagement: Modern, data-driven rewards programs. By gamifying and personalizing the interactions between you and your employees, you can create a more enjoyable, rewarding workplace, where employees will be happy to stay.

Leaders typically know that recognition programs are a key component of retention. The Hays survey discovered that recognition schemes are the second-most-popular form of retention measure, with 42% of companies trying this avenue. The only strategy seeing more use is increasing communication at 43%.

With more than two-fifths of companies ramping up their recognition plans, one thing is clear: simply recognizing employee achievements is not enough to differentiate a business. To really stand out to your workers, you have to deliver a plan that suits their needs and preferences. This critical edge can come from enjoyable, gamified experiences.

The gamification edge

Gamification, the process of using game-like mechanics in non-game situations, is a common strategy for making experiences more fun and engaging. Why is it such a useful tool in reaching out to employees? It comes down to motivation.

Gamification’s focus on fun and enjoyable interactions makes it a natural match for programs that people will want to engage with. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the competitive striving and reward-based structures associated with gamification are good motivators for employees.

Both private affirmation and public recognition of employee achievements can be important parts of gamified rewards programs. The SHRM noted that younger employees, millennials and members of Generation Z, are motivated by a need for recognition.

Indeed, the recommended reward types for employee engagement strategies look a lot like those associated with customer reward programs. In both cases, gamified experiences of interacting with company apps provide positive feedback for the person using the system, as well as social proof of their success.

More than leaderboards and badges

Another connection between customer rewards and employee rewards is the need for programs that will go beyond the baseline to create a connection with users. In the case of customer rewards, this means businesses should look beyond basic “earn and burn” point-spending programs. In the world of employee rewards, employers should move beyond genetic badges and accomplishment leaderboards.

Companies can reach this new level by building their gamified employee reward strategies around a lifestyle marketing platform, a more adaptable and data-driven form of technology. With such a responsive system, it’s possible to set up immediately gratifying rewards based on employees’ preferences.

With an advanced platform, your company can offer a variety of interactive features, putting your internal employee programs on the same level as industry-leading customer loyalty programs. This may mean creating a digital space for employees to communicate or receive feedback from leaders. It could also entail a marketplace for rewards and perks.

The key to crafting a gamified and personalized employee engagement strategy is to guide the deployment with data about your workers. No two companies will have the exact same ideal rewards scheme, because no two workforces are quite alike.

Psychological and cultural benefits of a gamified employee rewards program

Rewards and gamification can both have positive effects on the way employees think about their work and engage with companies, and when put together, the effects can combat the increasing rupture between workers and their employers.

  • Rewards can be designed to bring employees in line with a positive company culture. SHRM stated that employee rewards should be aligned with a company’s mission and organizational values, and should be integrated smoothly into employee life. A well-crafted program can tie rewards to events such as an employee demonstrating a commitment to company values, or having a positive effect on their coworkers’ morale. There can even be rewards attached to recruitment and retention, thanking workers for strengthening their teams.
  • Gamification is a tool that can make some of the most tricky elements of workers’ days into fun, or at least compelling, activities. Law Journal noted that, from encouraging employees to study new areas of competency to changing their behavior, human resources departments can tie some of their overall objectives to gamification. The serotonin rush of receiving a well-chosen reward can be a powerful incentive.

By combining carefully designed rewards strategies with well-integrated gamified elements, companies can become employers of choice, even at a time when employees are often searching for greener pastures. If your company’s rewards approach is outdated, or if you don’t have one at all, now is a great time to commit to an upgrade.

Employee engagement gamification: Powered by Perx

The connection between employee engagement and customer engagement becomes clear when you consider that the ideal tool for customer rewards — the Perx lifestyle marketing platform — is also perfect for use with your employees. All the features of a great customer retention program, from instantly gratifying app interactions to carefully selected reward choices, are useful tools for employee retention.

All of these capabilities are available through Perx. Learn more now!

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A Beginner’s Guide To Leveraging Brand Touchpoints With Gamification As Part Of An Ongoing Customer Experience

A Beginner’s Guide To Leveraging Brand Touchpoints With Gamification As Part Of An Ongoing Customer Experience

Grace Alexander

MarTech Blogger | June 6, 2022


Brand touchpoints give you the opportunity to interact with your customers and have them engage with your brand. Are you maximizing these opportunities or missing the chance to double down on positive customer experience? Gamification could be the missing link in your customer loyalty pipeline.

Are Your Customers a One-Way Ticket or Round Trip?

Every brand identifies touchpoints in a different way. However, all touchpoints can be shuffled into one of three categories:

Pre-purchase: All the interactions between brand and customer before the sale is made, including information gathering (including use of a knowledge base or automated chatbot), queries, requests for a price quote, consultations and demonstrations.

Purchase: The interactions of the brand with the customer during the sale, including laying out terms, upselling and cross-selling, discussions of subscriptions or automatic renewals, perks and introduction to a rewards program app.

Post-purchase: All the interactions between brand and customer after the sale has happened, including customer service, customer assistance, loyalty and rewards program interactions, repeat sales and referral/brand ambassador opportunities.

Many brands see this as a beginning-to-end linear journey that starts with pre-sales and ends at purchase, with a code of post-purchase interaction that may or may not happen.

This is a mistake. For optimal brand stickiness and customer retention, the customer journey should be cyclical, going from pre-sales to sale to post-sales and seamlessly entering the presales segment again.

  • Generating leads
  • Acquiring high-value customers
  • Converting one-time buyers to two-time buyers
  • Driving repeat category purchases
  • Reengaging disconnected customers
  • Reactivating lapsed customers
  • Conducting post-purchase surveys

Your customer loyalty program should cycle your customer right back to step one over and over.

Are You Targeting Or Using a Scatter Approach?

Many brand experiences are irregular, disconnected and fragmented.

Pre-sales touchpoints via offline channels such as direct mail, TV or radio advertising, or billboard usage, may be missing out on the opportunities provided by mobile-first contact. Purchasing may not be leveraged at all — a mistake since POS is actually one of the best times to drive the customer toward the next touchpoint.

Post-sales touchpoints may be sporadic and dependent on the customer reaching out, a reactive instead of proactive approach. McKinsey notes that some organizations have increased revenues by 30% or more by being proactive and reaching out to fulfill customer needs with the right offering at the right time.

Gamification can bridge the gap between touchpoints by creating an ongoing customer experience that doesn’t end just because of a purchase or reward redemption. It can also increase the number of touchpoints in each engagement segment to create a holistic customer journey underpinned by a seamless digital experience.

Are You Using a Can and String or Mobile to Reach Your Customers?

The importance, impact and significance of continuous mobile-first engagement cannot be overrated. Each digital experience allows customers to interact with you in real time, and is an opportunity to leverage your brand touchpoint and lay groundwork for the next engagement.

Mobile users are the ideal target market for a robust rewards program app. In January 2021, there were a reported 5.22 billion unique mobile users, making up 66.6% of the global population — an increase of more than 13% YoY.

Gamification fits perfectly into the natural inclinations of mobile users, meeting them in their environment of choice, feeding their need for instant gratification,  and engaging them in exactly what they enjoy most. Mobile users spend nearly a third of their time on mobile devices playing games.

One out of four mobile apps are gaming apps, far ahead of the second place category, which is business apps (accounting for around one of ten apps.) If your company can bridge the gap between business and gaming, your app can become part of your customers’ daily lifestyle, something they check as naturally and frequently as they do Facebook or their email account.

Let’s Play a Phone Game: StarHub Case Study

Brands can improve customer loyalty and retention through the art of gamification. Perx partnered with a large telco and proved exactly how impactful our lifestyle marketing platform powered by gamification could be when it came to leveraging brand touchpoints for a never-ending customer experience journey.

Telco StarHub’s focus shifted from chasing customer loyalty to driving a change in customer behavior, pushing them to actively engage with the brand and its offering. The MyStarHub app, developed in partnership with Perx, combined both needs and wants of the customer by launching weekly recurring campaigns, powered by gamification mechanics and tactics.

This allowed the brand to stand out with continuous customer experiences in an era of sporadic and reactive customer-brand interactions, improving brand interaction and customer-stickiness. The in-app experience carried forward the tiered setup of the best traditional customer loyalty programs, and added new touchpoints and experiences for customers to engage with.

By pairing customer actions with instant rewards throughout a continuing gamified user journey, StarHub was able to benefit through reward redemption rates that easily exceeded earlier benchmarks, and easily superseded their own goal for customer adoption, which was set at 10% in the first 30 days:

  • 30 days: 20% adoption
  • 6 months: 40% adoption
  • 8 months: nearly 50% adoption

90,000 rewards were redeemed monthly, reaching a total of 1.1 million by the end of the first 8 months. StarHub saw an increase of 25% in Monthly Active users post the launch of the powered loyalty program, as well as an 11% increase in new customer acquisition and a 6% YoY improvement in customer retention. Moreover, onboarded households interact with the telco’s app an average of 43 additional times compared to those not yet onboarded.

Interested in learning more about how the StarHub lifestyle, gamification and rewards program app powered by Perx boosted the telco to new heights of customer loyalty and engagement? Download the case study.

Want to know how Perx can elevate your own brand and empower your customers to join, participate in, and benefit from your rewards program app while driving revenues? Request a free demo from a customer experience specialist today.

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How a paid customer loyalty program generates value by changing customer behaviors

How a paid customer loyalty program generates value by changing customer behaviors

Grace Alexander

MarTech Blogger | June 6, 2022


They are the solid bedrock of your customer base, the ones keeping your revenue strong. These are your most loyal customers and the biggest spenders among your whole audience.

Rather than treating this elite group exactly the same as the rest of your customer base, you can deliver a premium experience that benefits consumers and company alike. This is where a paid loyalty program comes in, creating a cycle of positive interactions and increasing customer lifetime value.

The time is right for the kinds of more in-depth loyalty programs that come with paid subscriptions. McKinsey reported that the standard “earn and burn” point model is losing some of its appeal for customers. Despite this fact, 24% of companies still have basic rewards programs and 24% don’t have any loyalty scheme at all.

When a paid loyalty reward program makes sense

Almost any kind of company can put a subscription model in place, and this kind of effort almost always delivers results. Adding a paid option to a customer loyalty program is a way to “double dip.” You’re combining the reliable revenue of a subscription service to the engagement and positive brand experience of a rewards program.

There are two kinds of scenarios when this pairing is especially valuable, as described in a separate McKinsey study:

  • Funding premium rewards: When brands such as fitness clothing company Lululemon need ways to subsidize more involved and expensive perks for their most loyal customers, they can balance the books with a paid subscription program.
  • To create an ecosystem around customers: Subscription-based loyalty schemes are useful for businesses, such as pharmacies, that create long-lasting relationships with customers who always come back to the closest store with the most convenient hours. Since these buyers are committed to returning, they may be willing to contribute to more intensive paid rewards programs.

Once customers commit to entering such a paid program, they may engage more deeply with the brands than if there had been no fee. McKinsey’s researchers describe the effect as an “economic loyalty loop” where the shoppers now have a financial stake in staying with their chosen company.

But when does a paid loyalty program not make sense?

Of course, there are some cases when a standard loyalty program is perfectly acceptable as the only option. The McKinsey study suggested that brands should use paid loyalty to deliver new rewards they couldn’t deliver otherwise, and to stop high-value customers from leaving. If neither of those are relevant points, sticking with free loyalty for the time being could be a fine decision.

What kinds of companies can use a paid loyalty program platform?

As the difference between a clothing brand and a pharmacy chain demonstrates, there are no limits regarding which kinds of brands can create closer relationships with their customers through paid subscriptions and loyalty reward programs.

This effect can be felt across industries, including:

  • Hospitality and travel: Companies can offer positive experiences to their most loyal and committed customers, such as special deals, offers and bundles that fit their specific needs and history. Interacting with all-in-one travel companies through mobile apps is a way for customers to provide a rich stream of useful data that can shape future offers.
  • Entertainment: While standard perks such as discounts can be a factor in entertainment, the true value of a loyalty program may come from exclusive experiences. Consider premium video subscription services, where content is only available to paying customers. If they want to follow a show they have made an emotional connection with, people will have to keep paying.
  • Retail and food service: When selling premium experiences to customers at stores or restaurants, or even storefront banks and similar businesses, it can pay to go beyond a standard loyalty point system, especially for paying subscribers. These individuals are paying to get the best brand experience, so they should have constant ways to interact with the brand, potentially through mobile apps.

Building stronger emotional connections with a paid loyalty program

Connecting with paying loyalty customers through frequent contact and exclusive offers can give your brand a valuable type of bond: an emotional connection.

An Mblm study revealed which companies have an “intimate” emotional connection with their customers, and many of these major brands connect with their customers via subscription programs. Apple’s offerings such as Apple Music make it a part of users’ lifestyles, while the Disney+ subscription streaming service has put Disney directly into the homes of paying customers. Costco, running exclusively on paid membership, is also a strong performer in the loyalty space.

What do these top performers get for forging these connections? Mblm noted that its top 500 brands by intimacy outperformed the S&P 500 and Fortune 500 in both profit and stock prices, and virtually tied them in revenue.

Paid loyalty can provide a new revenue stream

When thinking about the endpoint of paid loyalty programs, it’s natural to wonder just how much businesses can earn from these offerings. To see the ultimate example of this phenomenon, you can look to one of the world’s biggest companies: Amazon.

The Prime program is a tier of loyalty rewards for the most committed Amazon shoppers, but it’s also more than that. It fits into those buyers’ lifestyles, especially through the connection with exclusive entertainment offerings via services such as Prime Video. People who want to watch a new streaming TV show they’ve heard their friends talking about may have to become Prime subscribers to do so.

So, what is the financial result of having this deep a connection, with such clear rewards for members in the form of discounts and exclusive content? The company makes an annual rate of $119 for each subscriber, $12.99 a month or $8.99 a month for Prime Video alone. Multiply that by the company’s declared subscriber base of 200 million people and you can see the financial power of customer loyalty.

Why is Perx the perfect technology to power customer loyalty?

Upgrading to a paid loyalty program based on high-quality gifts and premium, exclusive experiences is a big moment for a company. If customers aren’t thrilled by the offerings, they may decide against subscribing.

Your business needs the ultimate lifestyle marketing platform to power its subscription plan: You need Perx. Using data from customer interactions to power experiences that truly delight and engage shoppers, and keep them coming back for more, you can power a top-quality loyalty reward program with Perx.

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Why curated customer loyalty reward triggers keep multi-demographic audiences engaged

Why curated customer loyalty reward triggers keep multi-demographic audiences engaged 

Grace Alexander

MarTech Blogger | June 6, 2022


Customer engagement isn’t a one-and-done process. Capturing attention is only the first step when it comes to building lasting relationships between brands and their audiences. The most successful companies in this regard are those that actively fight back against disengagement and loss of interest using lifestyle marketing.

When businesses offer a narrow selection of rewards and loyalty offerings, they’re at heightened risk of losing customer attention over time. Having a variety of potential incentives for customers is a powerful advantage for a business, as is using automated triggers to guide each individual to the rewards that best suit them. 

Why do some customers lose interest in rewards? 

Simply having a rewards program is no longer a major differentiator for a business. Rather, a company that is serious about loyalty must consistently prove that its rewards offerings have value and meaning to customers. 

 Engagement is the goal of a customer rewards program, and that in turn is contingent on offering rewards that fit audience interests and meet or exceed their expectations. There are a few traits that can determine whether a rewards program fires up consumers’ interest or is quickly forgotten: 

  • Does everyone get the same rewards? If there’s only one rewards progression, a company may find itself failing to connect with a significant portion of its potential audience. Consumers today are very diverse, so an ideal rewards program will offer customized incentives to hold interest. 
  • How frequently are rewards given? If a business offers a low-frequency rewards program, requiring numerous interactions before consumers receive anything valuable, they may find that interest is low. The vague promise of future value is not very compelling to customers, so brands should reach out often. 

As Hubspot noted, the most effective companies at building loyalty achieve this goal by giving generous rewards often and fully integrating these programs with their overall sales processes. Rather than tacked-on additions, these businesses’ rewards offerings are fundamental parts of the way they sell their products and services to customers. 

Hubspot suggested that when organizations achieve a high level of integration between rewards and the rest of their business, the rewards program ceases to be its own separate entity. Rather, these businesses simply offer their loyalty incentives at all times, inviting customers to engage more deeply. 

How do you counteract customer disengagement? 

It’s one thing to create an environment conducive to audience engagement. It’s another to actively fight back against parts of the customer journey where buyers may fall out of touch with businesses. When working on this type of engagement strategy, it’s important to remember that nearly any interaction can be customized to keep customer interest. 

 Customer behaviors follow patterns. By collecting interaction data, businesses can map out the paths their audiences are taking. Do people typically disengage after a certain amount of time? Is there a supplemental experience that could make an ongoing connection more fun or entertaining? 

 McKinsey & Company Partner José Carluccio recommended that companies look into their breakage patterns, determining which segments of their customer bases are not engaging with loyalty programs. Figuring out which types of customers aren’t staying engaged is the first step to improving the relevance of rewards offerings and triggers. 

 Once businesses have determined where customers are disengaging, as well as which groups of consumers are most likely to break off engagement with the brand, they can respond by adding new elements to the program. Carluccio recommended offerings such as periodic reminders to clients that they have unredeemed rewards as well as more redemption options, potentially even including charitable gifts. 

What is the value of customized customer rewards triggers? 

One potential cause for disengagement — or a lack of engagement in the first place — is the use of rewards triggers that don’t match up with how segments of a company’s audience actually interact with the brand. Customization can resolve this issue, attaching loyalty points to nearly any activity and bringing a wide swath of customers into closer contact with the brand. 

 Companies can reward both online and offline interactions with custom rewards triggers. In-store purchases, app engagements, sign-ups for services, logging in to accounts — these and more can help customers earn points in a rewards scheme. 

 The ability to create a highly customized rewards-earning process helps businesses engage with their audiences in two ways. On one hand, it allows brands to reach their customers where they are, offering points for their preferred interaction styles. On the other, it lets organizations map out preferred customer journeys, encouraging certain types of activities. 

 To start creating these better-directed customer journeys, brands can map out the ways their customers prefer to interact with their rewards offerings. American Express recommended using diagrams of consumers’ dealings with organizations, across multiple channels and over time, to identify the gaps where disengagement is most likely to occur and target those weak spots. 

Businesses that understand how their customers interact with their offerings, and how they’d like to, are well-positioned to update their rewards triggers. Creating new sides to a loyalty program can open up the strategy to a wider selection of customer groups and demographics than ever before. 

Perx customization helps your brand thrive 

No two brands are exactly alike, which means customization is always relevant from a rewards and loyalty standpoint. This is one reason to choose the Perx Loyalty and Engagement Platform as the backbone of your organization’s rewards and loyalty program. 

 The Perx platform’s Rules Engine allows a high level of control over rewards triggers, right out of the box. By designing a system of tailored rewards based on what various groups of customers actually want for your business, you can deliver a rewards program with fewer obvious points of disengagement and a smoother customer journey overall. 

The value of a rewards strategy is at its greatest when consumers actually want to use it and engage with it. Customization via a powerful rules engine puts this goal within reach for your brand. Request a demo of the Perx Loyalty and Engagement Platform to see this solution in action. 

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Global businesses have driven over 5 billion customer-brand interactions on Perx.

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