Paula: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an industry podcast for loyalty marketing professionals. I’m Paula Thomas, the founder and CEO of Let’s Talk Loyalty, and also Loyalty TV. If you work in loyalty marketing, you can watch our video interviews every Thursday on www. loyalty. tv. And of course, you can listen to our podcasts.
Every Tuesday, every Wednesday, and every Thursday to learn the latest ideas from loyalty experts around the world. Today’s episode is part of the wiser loyalty series, which is hosted by our partners, the wise marketeer group. The wise marketeer group is a media education and advisory services company.
Providing resources for loyalty [00:01:00] marketeers through the wise marketeer digital publication. And the Loyalty Academy program that offers the Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional or CLMP designation. I hope you enjoy this weekly podcast. The Wiser Loyalty Series brought to you by Let’s Talk Loyalty and the Wise Marketeer Group.
Aaron: The Wiser Lottie podcast series for Let’s Talk Lottie leans into the expertise of both the WiseMarketer Group’s CEO, Bill Hannafin, and CMO, Aaron Daufney, respectively. The pair have been providing weekly perspectives on the Lottie Academy curriculum for their Certified Lottie Marketing Professional, or CLMP for short, designation, as this podcast series for a number of months.
Each month we select constructs from a specific course in that certification program and we provide our own perspectives, kind of guidance on what we need or think you need to have embedded as trues as loyalty marketers. This month we take on the topic of a revised course curriculum. [00:02:00] On multi member communications course 110 and we have a selection of information here around the ways in which you would want to ensure that your points of view on communicating with your members of your customer program and related initiatives are strong and valid in this week’s particular episode.
Aaron, that’s me. I’m on my own. We’ll discuss the differences in brand and loyalty communications and note some important channels that enable loyalty behaviors and what it feels like to be a loyal, to be loyal to a brand. Pardon me. Thank you again, everyone for joining us. As I mentioned just a moment ago, Bill is on assignment.
So you just have me and my thoughts as we kick off another month of loyalty learnings from our CLMP curriculum at the Loyalty Academy. And I think I’d first like to start off with, with saying that we all know that one of the most, most Kind of crucial elements of any successful relationship for that matter is the ability to communicate effectively and openly on an ongoing basis.
I’m sure we’ve all in some form or another, uh, experienced relationship downfalls when communication is weak or it’s [00:03:00] opaque. Uh, perhaps it’s inconsistent. Uh, it’s perhaps it’s not even what you want. It’s not even relevant or in some cases, uh, it becomes non existent. And in those instances, instances, it’s often not too long before you tune out.
Or more likely that you start to completely disengage. And so, uh, it’s easier to do this certainly when the relationship is in still the early or budding phases. Uh, or perhaps you’re just, you know, casually dating and then using the analogy that I’m, I’m going down right now. And you’ve not made a material commitment, but once you’ve made some form of commitment, there are expectations.
There’s expectations that the relationship has taken on a new level, and with that, there are expectations for communicating in a different manner as well. And that’s what I want to kind of hone in on today is the differences in those expectations of communicating once you’ve committed more into further relationship and how that relates to your customers in a loyalty program manner.
And so why I’m, I’m drawing on this line of thought so much really is, is because in our course, we first open up with the [00:04:00] ideas around indicating that there are differences between traditional marketing communications to your customer versus the loyalty communications that you send to your members. Um, those who have followed along with previous weeks would have heard Bill and I talk about the differences in understanding and the knowledge that your member care teams need to have in handling or servicing your brand related inquiries, versus more those programmatic inquiries that they might have to handle.
Um, this similar holds true for member communications, quite frankly. Being different, uh, in both those regards, uh, in terms of the traditional marketing communications relative to the communications that you would have in, in your little two program, the brand is often very much in support of just that, you know, it’s in support of the brand.
It’s, it’s a mass media oriented set of channels. Uh, it’s often about awareness, brand image and the differentiators that you have from your competition. And more often than not, it’s a one way form of communication. Versus say with program loyalty communications, they differ in that they’re a bit more permissive media.
In fact, not a bit more, they are permissive media. They’re aimed at customer segments and the behavioral influences of individual customers or sets of those customers. And they are more available in some channels to being, uh, open to two way forms of communication. So you see right there, there’s, there’s some significant differences in the two forms of, of communication.
And that’s okay. What I would say is with a customer becoming a member in your loyalty You now have an individual that is essentially raising their hand, right? They’re saying, I want a different experience than what I’ve had to date with your brand. I want more. And I’m consenting to this next level in our relationship by joining your program.
So, um, what this means is quite literally, I’m giving you more information about me, whether it’s my name, email, and phone number or whatever the like, it might be in terms of data collected, but there’s something more than that. And being unknown, I’m agreeing to you utilizing my transactional data and my demographic details.
Plus they may in fact even be providing you with zero party day preference, uh, zero day, sorry, providing zero party day preferences to you, [00:06:00] depending on how quick and fast things are moving in, in that relationship. And I guess my point is, is really that with this action, you’ve now a meaningful reason And expectation as we talked about to begin a dialogue and I am saying dialogue specifically because it comes with both speaking and listening.
It’s not just one or the other. And what’s more, this effect is deepened if the individual is actually leaning in or jumping into whichever firm you want to refer to. Uh, a fee based program, right? So now they’re saying I want more from the brand and they’re willing to pay for that differentiated and elevated set of benefits and experiences.
And with that communication expectations rises. That’s just seems obvious. Similarly with if they’re signing up for a co branded credit card. That may coincide with the mainstay loyalty program. Again, they’re furthering their interest in the relationship with the brand and thereby being willing to carry this financial instrument that brings more benefits and should lead to better experiences with the brand.
And further still again, their expectations around communications rise. And in this case, uh, in the particular case of co brands, there is consistency between the mainstay loyalty program and the communications that they receive through an institution, then that’s going to be a strong positive. Um, if there’s inconsistency, then that’s going to be a challenge in the minds of the member or the cardholder.
There should be one unified set of experiences that they have, uh, that are oriented towards strengthening the relationship that they have with the brand and member communications as a whole in general, and using co brand as, as the example to, to bring this home is typically the first sign of whether or not there is an additive to the relationship and it will be strengthened or if it’s going to be a friction field or even worse, if it’s going to cause some member disillusionment or dissatisfaction, uh, by creating a sense of, uh, or a false sense of importance with the brand.
And by this, I mean, uh, you know, whether it’s e first signing up or doing those extra steps like I talked about with a fee based [00:08:00] program or signing up for a co brand, all along that chain, there are expectations that are rising in terms of what, um, I am signing up for in terms of the next level of the relationship with the brand.
And along that same chain, My expectations for stronger, clearer, relevant communications, uh, rises as well. I’m going to give you a quick example of disillusionment. I think between some of the co brand cards that can come into place. Cause I think that’s often what we sometimes experience is being detrimental to the relationship when the main state little two program doesn’t align.
With the communications that the, and the experiences that they’re, they’re particular members having, uh, from the co brand communications and experiences that they have. And oftentimes that’s because the two different bodies, the issuer and the brand are operating them differently. And, and I do know of a Midwestern bank that, you know, in some cases was really down to the point of, of.
Why this was a differentiated experience was because the mindset of the bank was that on this co branded instrument that the customers were the banks. They weren’t the brands on the co brand. The brand had no access to. It was a petrofuel brand that we were working with. They were wanting to do just a survey to figure out more about their customers and find out what.
Were some of the missing components in the experience that they were having with the brand and also the credit card experience. And so we had a mechanism that was able to evaluate customer engagement across a battery of diagnostics that would have been both relevant for the mainstay program and the credit card.
But the bank would not allow that survey to go out to collect that information because they weren’t in control of the communications that were going out. The brand wanted to be in control of it. So there was this, this cross fighting between these two institutions. And the reality is that to the cardholder or the member of the, of the brand loyalty program, they don’t care who actually operates it because to them the experience is from the brand side of things.
That’s who they see that they’ve aligned with and not with the issuer. And so it, it caused some dis disillusionment. And so, um, we really need to make sure that we think about that as a whole in terms of our communication set of, of when it’s in two different organizations. Uh, how do we make sure that they’re aligned and that it’s consistent?
And I’ll come back to that thought in just a moment. I guess what this gets down to fundamentally, uh, for me is the importance of communication as an identifier for the health of a relationship. Um, if you bring it back to our personal lives, just real quickly again, before we go back into consumer loyalty, um, you know, how do I know if I’m important to my partner?
Well, my partner tells me this, right? There are verbal cues or non verbal cues. Um, often it’s told directly to me or, or perhaps it’s shared with others that I’m important. Um, but with that, the communication expectations again, rises, but it’s clear. And it’s consistent and it’s relevant to how we are proceeding forward together to build a strong tendered care oriented relationship and and this mindset I think is it holds true when we take it into the business application.
So the same is true for low to programs, you know, they need to have communications that are at a certain level. suitable frequency relative to the strength of the connection or, or, or at those moments of relevance or importance to the member, um, we all know over communicating is often the beast that we focus on, uh, and, and discuss to add no, add no length as to why members leave the program, but also remember that the opposite end of the spectrum is true as well.
You know, a lack of communication. Particularly for tenured members that can lead to the customers forgetting about the program and not having engagement is also possible. So we need to strike that fine balance. And it is a balancing act to play, but, um, you know, it’s better to break up the communications into bite sized pieces versus inundating someone, uh, overall.
And particularly in the onboarding process, I think this is true, right? Um, you know, oftentimes we get so excited about acquiring a customer that we just want to tell them everything and get it all out, and we do it all at once. But what if we don’t? What if we take a page from a couple of brands that have kind of got this down pat in terms of onboarding experience and we say, let’s take the information that we have to portray to the, this new member and we break it up into bite sized chunks.
And on day one, we talk about how they can set up the account. No more, no less. Just keep, keep that simple. Day two, maybe we push them into downloading the app if that wasn’t done already in day one as, as a ubiquitous component. Um, then on the next, uh, interaction, which comes a day or two later, we’re going to talk to them about how they can earn points, which partners they can earn points at, how they earn points at, at the actual brand and give specific examples of success of earning those, those points and those transactions and those interactions that the others have had with the brand themselves.
And then on third day, perhaps talk about the reward selection, what’s in it for, for the actual member. But the point being that you break up these components into a reasonable set of, of, uh, bite-sized communications and you’re not inundate them. So that sets a level of trust already at the onset in terms of and, and expectation for how, uh, the communication will unfold over the course of the, of the relationship.
And it starts right from the onboarding and can be true throughout the, the, this next part of the journey and into, um, the relationship as a whole as it moves on forward. I think that the real key element here, of course, is that, you know, communicating with purposeful intent and not for the sake of it is really what I’m trying to say.
Um, you know, you want to make sure that your members are fully aware of the CVP and what the loyalty program offers to them. Um, they want to understand how to enroll at the onset, of course, and then once they’re in, it needs to be made clear to them. What benefits they’re eligible for and how they’ll be rewarded for, for their behaviors that support the brand, whether that’s through purchases referral or advocacy or all three and the like.
Um, another thing to watch for is of course, digital communications need to align to those that individuals might have an in person interactions, right? This idea of having omni channel and channel choice needs to actually be a true choice for members, right? They, they need to, no matter which route they go, they have to get the same or similar information and results and a similar experience.
Um, you can’t have one play off over the other at the expense of disinformation or different information is probably a better [00:14:00] way to term that, um, and so that people to then move to migrate to channels that, you know, are about resolution and not necessarily what it is that they prefer in terms of choice.
To to have the communications back to them last. I mean, I think that the critical thing critical thing for me always is this element of consistent communication, right? This tone, intent, the content, whatever that might be all three of those, in fact, rise through to make consistent communications and the member doesn’t need to be guessing where they stand with the brand.
It’s really fundamental, uh, uh, that, and it’s what you want to strive to get right as being articulating to them their purpose and, and the importance of you to them, uh, as the customer said. And I, and I don’t think any of this is really earth shattering by the way, uh, in today’s episode, but rather it’s, it’s, I’m laying it out to serve as a reminder.
For all of us that, uh, of the critical role that communications has in fostering healthy and very tenured relationships, it truly is the first indicator, [00:15:00] uh, in terms, both in multi programs and our own personal lives as to whether or not, is there going to be a healthy relationship that unfolds or that a healthy relationship maintains and, and, and as I said, it’s true in our personal lives.
And it echoes similarly in the manner in which we develop these relationships with brands. And how we are trying to foster them with our customers. So I’ll leave it there. We’ll talk more in the coming weeks about some specificities on this. But this first one is just about setting the stage for why communication is so critical and an indicator for the direction that you’re going to have with the relationship with your customer.
As always for, for anyone who’s interested in joining, uh, our community of loyalty marketing professionals, you can always learn more@loyaltyacademy.org. Uh, and I hope that you can find out more about the thousand CMPs that we have in 54 countries around the world. Uh, if you want to dig into other previous podcasts, please do so.
You can do that, uh, through the Wiser Loyalty podcast series@thewisemarketer.com or of course, at let’s talk loyalty.com. And with that, I’ll say thank you very much for listening. I wish you all have a [00:16:00] great week, and look forward to listening again in the coming weeks. As always, stay loyal.
Paula: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.
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