#205: Loyalty Insights from the IKEA Family Club (Short Summary Show)

“Let’s Talk Loyalty” is today looking back on our conversation with IKEA’s global vice president of loyalty, Aaron Mitchell. 

As one of the world’s most iconic retail brands, IKEA boasts 156 million members of its Family Club worldwide, a programme that brings the very best of the IKEA brand to its customers.

The IKEA Family Club focuses on community and creating emotional loyalty with customers, with the intention to create value, deepen relationships and personalize interactions with customers.

Listen to learn what we learnt from Aaron Mitchell and IKEA.

Show Notes:

1) Episode #70: Ikea Family Club with Aaron Mitchell – Global VP Loyalty

2) Aaron Mitchell on LinkedIn

Audio Transcript

#205: Loyalty Insights from the IKEA Family Club (Short Summary Show) (8m)
Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an industry podcast for loyalty marketing professionals. I’m your host, Paula Thomas. And if you work in loyalty marketing, join me every week to learn the latest ideas from loyalty specialists around the world. Cheetah Digital’s relationship marketing platform, bridges the gaps in your customer data. Moving people from unknown consumers to loyal brand ambassadors with customer acquisition, multi-channel messaging and customized emotional loyalty programs. Cheetah Digital is a one-stop-shop for enterprise brands looking to simplify and scale their relationship marketing strategy.

Paula Thomas

00:00:52
Learn how brands such as American Airlines and Discovery Incorporated use Cheetah Digital to drive increased revenue with video case studies available on cheetahdigital.com. Hello, and welcome to episode 205 of Let’s Talk Loyalty. This week’s short episode, looking back at my conversation with IKEA’s global vice president of loyalty, Aaron Mitchell. When I spoke with Aaron almost a year and a half ago, he shared with me Ikea’s unique vision for their loyalty program. What I loved was that the IKEA Family program has been built literally from the ground up to be an expression of the brand’s purpose.

Paula Thomas

00:01:44
The IKEA Family Club is not based on accruing points or any type of transactional currency, but simply on the idea of satisfying the needs of their customers are in talked a lot about trying to build emotional loyalty and not just using the rewards program to generate more transactions. This was immediately clear when I started off the show, as I always used to do, asking my guests to share one of their favorite statistics about a program, instead of sharing the massive size and scale of Ikea’s program. He talked about what he calls their customer data promise and their commitment to being a good steward of the customer data they collect, which of course just builds more and more trust with customers.

Paula Thomas

00:02:37
IKEA collects data for one very specific purpose, and that is to unlock value for the customer. They don’t simply collect all the data they can, but instead on actionable data that they can then use to serve the customer’s needs. Aaron told me that they’ve built their program based on three. The first is that idea of creating value for the customer as opposed to selling more items. The second pillar is to deepen the customer relationship and to do that, I love the idea that they’re building member centric, clubs, experiences, and connections.

Paula Thomas

00:03:20
So instead of just accruing points, members of the IKEA Family Club actually get invited into a whole community of other IKEA customers. The third pillar is building personalized and engaging moments. Ikea, once every action a customer has with their brand to feel like they’re interacting with their family. So that is of course, the reason that it’s literally the name of the program, the IKEA Family Club, the benefits that a customer sees when they sign up for the Club is based around the principle that the home is never done.

Paula Thomas

00:04:01
And IKEA then of course, makes it easy for customers who always want to improve their home. So for example, members might get a discount on certain seasonally, curated merchandise, and it doesn’t even stop at the physical home. It also includes the community and the planet as a whole. So there are rewards around building the community, even things as simple as free tea and coffee. When you were in the store all the way up to building this virtual online community of members who can share tips and strategies on how they are making their own homes, a better place.

Paula Thomas

00:04:42
Again, to me, this just shows how their loyalty program is so deeply woven into the brands, purpose and mission. And to me, that’s the biggest key to IKEA success and what makes their program stand out and really be so unique for its members. So for those of you listening and building your own loyalty programs and propositions, there’s loads of wonderful information from Ikea, definitely worth going back and listening to the full conversation quite simply on let’s talk loyalty.com/70. So that’s it for today.

Paula Thomas

00:05:22
Tomorrow, I have a very exciting education update and scholarship opportunity for you with our friends at the Loyalty Academy. So no matter where you are in the world, if you’d like a chance to win a free Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional qualification, tomorrow is your chance. And finally, on Thursday’s show, we are announcing our latest global content partnership with the Australian Loyalty Association. So join us to hear all about the latest growth plans for Let’s Talk Loyalty and how we’re even more great content that’s perfect for perspectives on loyalty all across the Asia Pacific region.

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00:06:07
This show is sponsored by The Wise Marketer, the world’s most popular source of loyalty marketing use insights and research. The Wise Marketer also offers loyalty marketing training through its Loyalty Academy, which has already certified over 245 executives in 27 countries as certified loyalty marketing professionals. For more information, check out thewisemarketer.com and loyaltyacademy.org.

Paula Thomas

00:06:48
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