Poundland Perks: Loyalty Made Simple with Emma Collins

Paula: Hello and welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV, a show for loyalty marketing professionals.

Paula: I’m Paula Thomas, the founder and CEO of Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV, where we feature insightful conversations with loyalty professionals from the world’s leading brands.

Paula: Today’s episode is hosted by Charlie Hills, Chief Strategy Officer of MandoConnect, a UK-based agency that uses smart data to create brilliant partnerships and rewards that really work.

Paula: Enjoy.

Charlie: Hello and welcome to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

Charlie: As Paula mentioned, I’m Charlie Hills, the Chief Strategy Officer for MandoConnect.

Charlie: In this episode, I’m delighted to interview Emma Collins, the Head of Digital Loyalty and Engagement for Poundland.

Charlie: Emma has a wealth of experience across different marketing disciplines and sectors, and has just launched an amazing new program called Poundland Perks, where customers can save, earn and play.

Charlie: Today, we’ll be learning all about her favorite book and loyalty programs, highlights and key learnings from the program she’s worked on, and all about Poundland Perks.

Charlie: I hope you enjoy our conversation today.

Charlie: Hello, hello, and welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV.

Charlie: I’m absolutely delighted to have you on the show today, Emma.

Emma: Hello, Charlie, so good to be here.

Charlie: Oh, it’s great.

Charlie: This has been such an exciting program launch.

Charlie: I’ve downloaded it, I remember, on launch day, and I’ve just loved watching all the different activations that you’ve done to bring your new loyalty program to life.

Charlie: So thank you so much for coming on the show today to tell our listeners all about it.

Emma: Yes, my feet haven’t touched the ground in 18 months, so it’s actually really nice to come on here and reflect and chat to you about what we’ve been up to.

Charlie: It is, isn’t it?

Charlie: Launching a new program is so full on, and then actually you get into the launch phase.

Charlie: And I think most of my guests say it never really slows down.

Charlie: You sort of hope that you then get a breather, and then actually it’s all about optimization and carrying on.

Charlie: So yeah, thank you so much for taking the time out, especially with everything going on at the moment, to talk to us about the program.

Charlie: But before we get into the program, this is my second live recording of 2025.

Charlie: I’m going to open up with Paula’s new favorite question that we now open all our shows with.

Charlie: So without further ado, please share with us, what is your favorite book about life, leadership or loyalty?

Emma: Well, this is quite an easy one actually for me.

Emma: And it’s all about leadership and a little bit about life.

Emma: And it’s by a very good university friend of mine.

Emma: I went to university in the States.

Emma: And it’s by a guy called Ryan Berman.

Emma: And he has written a book called Return on Courage.

Emma: And it’s all centered around the essence of building a courageous brand and the attributes that you need to build that courageous brand.

Emma: And he talks around this model around knowledge plus faith plus action equals courage.

Emma: And he, throughout the book, I mean, I think he spent a thousand days on this kind of professional pilgrimage, talking to a Navy SEAL, an astronaut, leaders from Amazon, Google, some of the biggest, most powerful brands out there.

Emma: And they all had this common thread around being courageous.

Emma: And he put this book together about believers of courage, building a courageous brand and the attributes you need for that.

Emma: And also, connected with me on a personal level as well, and building values around being courageous.

Emma: And I’ve certainly returned to it quite a few times over the last two years to keep my courage through quite a challenging transformational program at Poundland and sort of keep me quite balanced.

Emma: And that sort of link with faith and really listening to your gut, I think was really powerful for me anyway.

Emma: I’d highly recommend it.

Emma: And he does a number of podcasts and talks that you can go and listen to.

Emma: You know, he’s a real inspiration for me.

Charlie: Wow, that sounds amazing.

Charlie: And exactly the kind of book that we’re looking for, which is that combination of, you know, the professional, the personal, and then how that applies to loyalty and actually how on earth you do need a huge amount of courage to launch a new program.

Emma: You really do.

Charlie: And the number of times you must have had to sit there and then take a big leap of faith and ask, you know, senior stakeholders to take a leap of faith.

Charlie: I can only imagine.

Charlie: So, yeah, that’s brilliant.

Charlie: I will be adding that to my list.

Charlie: No, I do.

Charlie: I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this bit.

Emma: And do link up with Ryan.

Emma: He’s a really good connection.

Paula: I will have a look.

Charlie: Well, obviously, I’m on a podcast, but I love a podcast as well when I’m out walking the dog.

Charlie: So I shall add that to my collection.

Charlie: That’s brilliant.

Emma: No problem at all.

Charlie: And then as we sort of move closer into the world of loyalty and stuff, the next question we always like to ask is about your favorite loyalty program or loyalty programs.

Charlie: Which ones have really stood out to you?

Charlie: And you’re not allowed to answer your own, so we’re going to be learning about them.

Emma: I do love my love.

Emma: And I think this is a really personal question, and it kind of relates to the ethos around loyalty being a real.

Emma: Well, it’s about a connection with a brand and the things that are important to us as individuals and connecting with those loyalty programs that kind of make your world a better place and provide that surprise and delight, those surprise and delight moments in your daily life.

Emma: And obviously my phone, you know, going through this process for Poundland, my phone is now packed full of loyalty programs.

Charlie: Yeah, just like me, I sign up to literally everything.

Emma: Yeah, both, you know, for research purposes, but also for my daily life.

Emma: And I think it’s the ones for me that, you know, give me those surprise and delight moments, cost a copy.

Emma: I just love it.

Emma: It’s so simple.

Emma: You know, just collect your beans and get a nice coffee.

Emma: And then they’ve like built in their, you know, wider business model around your cakes and treats and birthdays and stuff like that.

Emma: And, you know, they’ve really centered on their customer.

Emma: They’ve listened to their customer.

Emma: And I, you know, I just really applaud them.

Emma: Likewise, Lidl, I’ve really watched them closely.

Emma: And, you know, both my husband and I have commented in the last week or so that, you know, that there’s such, there’s such a choice in where you, you know, where you do your supermarket shopping.

Emma: And we now are finding ourselves kind of driving a bit, you know, a bit further to go to Lidl because we know we’ve got, you know, 10% to unlock because we’ve spent enough.

Emma: So I think it’s really clever.

Emma: And I’ve really enjoyed watching how they’ve evolved their app and their loyalty program with the times they’ve added partners.

Emma: And they’re just sort of expanding how they’re rewarding their customers, which, you know, I’ve really enjoyed following.

Charlie: Those are two brilliant programs and two of my favorites as well.

Charlie: Actually, I promise I don’t say that to everybody.

Charlie: I think that Costa Club is just such a clever, simple approach.

Charlie: You know, they’ve removed all the pain points.

Charlie: They reward you for sustainable behaviors.

Charlie: They’ve brought treats in really well.

Charlie: It’s so much better than it was when they were sort of doing a points hybrid program.

Charlie: This new relaunch is really fantastic.

Charlie: And then Little Plus, I think, is one of the best examples of positive disruption ever.

Charlie: You know, they came along.

Charlie: A grocery loyalty program looked like Tesco Club Garden.

Charlie: That was it.

Charlie: And everybody copied the model.

Charlie: So, yeah, two brilliant, brilliant examples from two really, really cool brands.

Charlie: Bringing us on to sort of you and your background in loyalty marketing.

Charlie: So as well as having all the different loyalty programs on your phone and being a bit of a loyalty nerd.

Charlie: Like, how did you get into this industry?

Charlie: And what have you worked on?

Charlie: What do you love about working in loyalty marketing?

Emma: It’s quite an interesting journey as I reflect on it.

Emma: I’ve got quite an eclectic background.

Emma: But actually, I think, you know, I always used to think to myself, oh, God, I’ve bounced about a bit.

Emma: I’ve got quite, you know, quite an eclectic background of working agency side, client side, working with clients to develop their communication strategies, internal, external.

Emma: I’ve worked with, as in the sponsorship world.

Emma: And really, I was very passionate about fans for sports sponsorship and building a community around fans.

Emma: I think I introduced the very first in 2011, I think, 2011, 2012, the first virtual fan stadium.

Charlie: Oh, wow.

Emma: I worked on the Football League sponsorship, and it was all, you know, my campaign was all about building fans, you know, trying to get the fans really engaged in the sponsorship.

Emma: Yeah, and I built this virtual stadium.

Emma: So, you know, I’ve always been very passionate about community and communication.

Emma: So that sort of background and my tenacity, I suppose, was an attraction by the MD of Poundland.

Emma: I was actually working to try and get Poundland as a new client.

Emma: And he really had kind of admired how I was going about kind of getting them as a client and sort of talk to me about this opportunity.

Emma: And I didn’t really have a lot of loyalty experience as such, but he really saw something in me.

Emma: And I think my background kind of has helped me along the way to, I guess, build a holistic program that pulls out the importance of marketing, a strong marketing campaign, a strong internal campaign, and actually leading a number of specialists and experts to deliver a unified program, transformation program.

Emma: I mean, Poundland, it has been sort of heralded as the biggest transformation program Poundland has ever done.

Emma: So, yeah, it’s a huge, huge proud moment for me.

Emma: And I do think, you know, my learnings along the way and my background has helped me get there.

Charlie: Yeah, I think that’s a common story, actually, I hear with our guests, which is actually loyalty programs, because they touch so many different business areas and they touch so many different components, you know, from marketing to operations to legal to commercial.

Charlie: Actually, we often find the people that come into loyalty programs and launch new programs have this very broad background of different skills and different departments and different teams that they’ve worked in and across different sectors.

Charlie: And they sort of bring it all together and launch these big programs.

Charlie: I hope you’re here to stay because I think you’ve done an absolutely banging job on your program.

Charlie: And I think our listeners would love to hear more about it.

Charlie: So please tell us about it.

Charlie: What’s the call?

Charlie: How does it work?

Charlie: What do people get?

Charlie: And in particular, the sort of the launch activation that you did, you’ve got this brilliant image behind you, which I love.

Charlie: But I do think it’s had one of the most exciting kind of internal and external launch campaigns we’ve seen for a new program.

Charlie: So tell us all about it.

Emma: Yeah, so it’s called Poundland Perks.

Emma: We launched it nationally in October of last year, and it’s built on the premise of save and play.

Emma: So customers save through a number of discounts that appear in the app.

Emma: Ranging from 10p, obviously, the type of products that we sell at Poundland, and are your usual FMCG, GM, and clothing items.

Emma: So we feature a number of our normal products, but are offering that a little bit extra on top through perks.

Emma: So there’s a number of those that feature in the app, and then customers can earn points as they spend with Poundland.

Emma: So for every pound at the moment, for every pound they spend in Poundland, they get 100 points.

Emma: And then when they get to the 5,000 pound threshold, they get a pound digital voucher back in their app to spend back in Poundland.

Emma: And then the play bit is gamification.

Emma: We have a little game that we feature on the app every Wednesday.

Emma: So it’s called Win It Wednesdays.

Emma: And it’s a very simple spin the wheel.

Emma: And it’s an opportunity to win points, extra points in their reward bank.

Emma: And then also some prizes that are sponsored by some of our suppliers and partners.

Emma: That’s great.

Emma: So it’s very simple, but our customers like simplicity.

Charlie: I think that’s so important.

Charlie: You’re in a high-frequency market.

Charlie: As you’ve said, you can get a lot in Poundland for a pound.

Charlie: I’m sure a lot of our listeners are saying, they’re going, God, I wish I had an exciting reward portfolio where I could give somebody something meaningful and valuable for a pound.

Charlie: So I think that’s such a privilege.

Charlie: And I love how you’ve woven that kind of value into the program.

Charlie: And what about the launch of the program and some of the activity that you did?

Charlie: Because I know you’ve talked about internal and external.

Charlie: What did that look like?

Emma: I think the power behind some of the results that we’ve been, you know, we see now is as a result of the way that we launched it.

Emma: I was very, very passionate about internal engagement.

Emma: And I started that.

Emma: I mean, one of the really positive things that we did was that we spent quite a long time, nearly 18 months testing and learning.

Emma: So we had a proof of concept in, we started in the Isle of Wight, only four stores on the Isle of Wight.

Charlie: Quite a common test bed, neck to do a lot of testing there as well.

Charlie: Yes.

Charlie: It’s a popular choice.

Emma: Then we extended the proof of concept to Northern Ireland, where we had another 39 stores.

Emma: And then a few months before we went national, we also extended it to Scotland as well.

Emma: So it provided us with that really strong test bed of data, but also testing how we engaged with our colleagues and with our stores and the best route to do that.

Emma: And our colleagues are our best brand advocates.

Emma: So engaging with them, obviously through those proof of concept stores, but also really filling the rest of the business in on how it was performing and how powerful it was, the incremental sales that these stores were seeing through the Loyalty program.

Emma: So when it was time to launch it nationally, everybody, like people just could not wait for it.

Emma: So one thing that we decided to do, it was incredibly stressful and hard work, but it was so powerful.

Emma: We had our company conference the day before we launched nationally.

Emma: And that picture behind me is from that conference.

Emma: Oh, wow.

Emma: And we had quite a significant part on the agenda for Perks, and we went mad.

Emma: That’s so cool.

Emma: We talked, you know, we talked everybody through how the app worked.

Emma: We wrote a book for every single colleague.

Emma: So they had a central place to go for how the app worked, all the FAQs relating to the app, all the offers that appear on the app, how to change the point of sale execution, how important that is, shelf edge.

Emma: So, you know, there’s a lot to consider when launching this.

Emma: And there is a special source, I talk about it a lot, a special source internally, to deliver perks well.

Emma: And that is around shelf edge execution, making it so clear to the customer what the value is and what the perks are.

Emma: Team engagement, strong leadership, from head of region, area manager, down to every single colleague in the store being able to engage with the customer, knowing about the app themselves, experiencing the app themselves.

Emma: And both of those things combined deliver the performance and what we call the swipe rate.

Emma: So internal engagement, absolutely really strong.

Emma: We worked really, really hard on the brand.

Emma: I feel like the Perks brand was an opportunity for us to be a bit quirkier.

Charlie: Nice.

Emma: Bring in the joy factor.

Emma: And the loyalty program allows us to have that two-way conversation with our customers in a way that is right for us as a brand, Poundland as a brand.

Emma: I’m sure you’ve seen some of the stuff that we’ve done with the caravan.

Emma: So we created a, you know, we bought a 1970s caravan and turned it into Poundland Perks.

Emma: Sorry, Cafe Perks on the road.

Emma: We took it on a roadshow around the country.

Emma: And we, you know, it was really simple.

Emma: If a customer signed up to the app, they received a free coffee or hot chocolate.

Emma: We took it to some community centers as well.

Emma: So we did, you know, we got some really nice PR off the back of some community visits.

Emma: Yeah, we just tried to bring a bit of, you know, I call it the joy factor with this program.

Charlie: And I think that’s one of those things that’s really nice in it, actually.

Charlie: You can see it is a feel good program.

Charlie: And what’s really nice is it’s got gamification, it’s got play in it, but also the executions and the launch thinking and what you get and how it talks.

Charlie: You can see it runs through everything.

Charlie: And I think that’s so important to a program.

Charlie: I think one of the things that people talk at the moment about a lot in our industry is gamification and joyalty.

Charlie: And it’s more than just a single execution, isn’t it?

Charlie: It’s more than just having a play component or just having Win It Wednesdays.

Charlie: It actually runs through.

Charlie: So yeah, I would really recommend everyone go and check out what Poundland Perks has been up to.

Charlie: Go down to your store if you’re based anywhere near a Poundland and go and check it out and check it out on the, you know, online if you’re in a different country.

Charlie: It’s obviously been one hell of a journey.

Charlie: Lots of us have built programs and it’s not easy.

Charlie: And as you say, that’s been, you know, a long journey with pilots and testing and refining and optimizing.

Charlie: What are some of the highs and lows that you’ve experienced on that journey?

Emma: I mean, I would say internal engagement is, I can’t overstate it enough that getting the whole business behind this program was really hard work and investment in passion, energy and time.

Emma: But so the launch and engagement of our people was a real high, but it was hard work.

Emma: But I’d say the low, you know, the other, the flip side to that is just maintaining it.

Emma: And, you know, we’re three, nearly four months in now.

Emma: And keeping the momentum going, you know, everybody went for it for the launch, keeping, you know, compliance and execution balanced and, you know, every store delivering to how you’d expect it, you know, is a challenge.

Emma: So, you know, it requires that, you know, continuous awareness piece and, you know, making sure that you’re landing the commercial impact as well for these stores.

Emma: It is, you know, for us at the moment, it is a really challenging time.

Emma: We get a lot of criticism that not everything’s a pound anymore.

Emma: I mean, when we launched Poundland in 1990 with our first store in Burton upon Trent, when everything was a pound, if you relay that to today’s time, that, you know, that pound is now £2.42.

Charlie: Yeah.

Emma: So we’ve had to work really, really hard to reinforce our value proposition, amazing value every day.

Emma: And perks, you know, for our stores, it’s about making them aware that perks is actually that value on top and ensuring they get it.

Charlie: And how are you actually maintaining that internal engagement?

Charlie: I’ve seen lots of brands do it in different ways, from war rooms, to updates, to manager briefings.

Charlie: What kind of things have you got in place to keep that momentum going?

Emma: So we have a dedicated internal platform and an internal page on that platform, purely for perks.

Emma: We did a number of launch videos.

Emma: Yeah, obviously when we launched perks, we’ve also got an internal social channel called Blink.

Emma: And we are incentivizing our teams on a, you know, from launch onwards, we set them targets on swipe rates, which is swipe rate for those that don’t know.

Emma: It’s the percentage of perks, transactions over total transactions.

Emma: And that’s a really key measure for the whole business to grab hold of and understand.

Emma: So we had incentives to hit the highest swipe rate.

Emma: We gave them a target.

Emma: We gave them lifestyle vouchers as a team.

Emma: And now, you know, obviously we’ve gone through peak.

Emma: So there was that sort of competition in store for labour on all things, you know, to do with peak and Christmas.

Emma: We had a lot, you know, a lot to juggle.

Emma: But now that we’re into January, it’s time to reenergise and reset the perks.

Charlie: That’s great.

Charlie: I love that balance of sort of information, but also incentivisation.

Charlie: I think that’s so important, isn’t it?

Charlie: Because you actually want it to be as rewarding for them as it is for the consumer base.

Charlie: I think that’s lovely.

Charlie: That’s one of the trends, actually, that we are seeing in the agency.

Charlie: These sort of mirror programmes.

Charlie: There’s a consumer-facing one, but there’s also an internal one.

Charlie: Absolutely.

Charlie: What other sort of trends are you seeing in the loyalty industry, and all those apps you’ve downloaded, and I’m sure all the market and competitive reviews you’ve done, picking all the best bits that you think work for Poundland Perks.

Charlie: What sort of things are really standing out to you at the moment?

Emma: I think gamification is clearly a concept that many brands are looking at and rolling out.

Emma: And it was quite a strong concept for us to include in our loyalty program.

Emma: We listened to our customers.

Emma: We did a lot of focus groups.

Emma: We started the trial with a very, very basic proof concept without any gamification.

Emma: I love that.

Charlie: The number of times I get asked, can you do a pilot without all the trimmings?

Charlie: And the answer is always yes.

Charlie: Yes, you can.

Charlie: That’s superb.

Emma: So we started very, very basic.

Emma: And then we actually introduced the gamification element when we launched in Northern Ireland.

Emma: And it just went through engagement in the app, went through the roof on gamification day.

Emma: And it has done since we’ve launched nationally, our customers.

Emma: And it’s not necessarily right for every brand, but our customers absolutely love it.

Emma: And we know that the engagement in the app and also visits in store, that they work hand in hand.

Charlie: Yeah, we see that consistently.

Charlie: We do all the understanding what British people want from loyalty white papers.

Charlie: And actually what we see is a direct correlation at a national level between engagement in loyalty program and propensity to take part in promotion.

Charlie: So when you have a sweet spot audience like yours, who love that, and then it comes together, it just, you know, it goes nuts on the engagement.

Charlie: I’m sure you’ve got lots of graphs that go like this for when it Wednesdays.

Emma: And I share them regularly.

Charlie: I bet you do.

Charlie: That’s wonderful to hear.

Charlie: It’s obviously been hugely important to Poundland.

Charlie: It’s obviously a very difficult trading environment at the moment that the brand is in.

Charlie: I mean, how important do you think Perks is to the company or might become?

Emma: And yeah, I think the business, as I mentioned, it was the biggest transformation program Poundland has done.

Emma: So, you know, the whole business got behind it.

Emma: The leadership team got behind it.

Emma: The intent process, business case process to our parent company as well.

Emma: They are behind it.

Emma: You know, we are in a challenging climate at the moment.

Emma: So there’s a lot of pressure to demonstrate return.

Emma: As you know, we’re only three months in, as early as three months.

Emma: But everyone sees the value in it, and some of those green shoots that we’re already seeing is received very well.

Emma: And it’s not just a loyalty program for Poundland, it’s a digital ecosystem.

Emma: So one of the other things that I was going to share in terms of the trends that I’ve been seeing, and absolutely what we’re very passionate about is personalization.

Emma: And ensuring that the rewards that we present to our customers are relevant and timely and personalized to our customers.

Emma: And the investment that we’ve made in the architecture behind the loyalty program, behind our digital ecosystem, was always set up to deliver that personalization and an opportunity to really understand our customers and their behaviors.

Emma: When we started this journey, we knew nothing about our customers, and it’s amazing in the two years that we’ve been running this, how much more we know, and there’s a long way still to go, and we’re still working on it, and unlocking some of the development things that we need to do to unlock those opportunities.

Emma: We’re still working on this.

Emma: There’s all sorts of things, but that personalized experience for our customers and the data that we’ve got, we know how powerful and important that is.

Charlie: I think that customer understanding piece cannot be underplayed.

Charlie: The number of programs that we sit with, who are just like, oh my god, actually, it turned out that that turned to be the major value driver in the program.

Charlie: And actually, the business case can be turned on ahead because learning who your customers are and how they shop and what they need from you and how to serve them relevant stuff is great.

Charlie: I’m really excited because in year two, year three, you then start to actually see the business shift the product portfolio based on the insight from the loyalty program and things like that.

Charlie: So really excited and how glorious that you’ve got new technology that can do that and a new platform.

Charlie: It’s not a legacy program from 20 years ago where you’re trying to get it to work and actually you’ve had the chance to create something from scratch.

Charlie: I think that’s wonderful.

Charlie: What about the important lessons that you’ve learned?

Charlie: Obviously personalization, obviously the power of gamification and internal audiences.

Charlie: You’ve shared a lot as we’ve been going through, but is there anything else that really stands out to you as an important lesson learned on this journey?

Emma: I think that Poundland Perks and the Loyalty Programme has touched every single department within Poundland.

Emma: And it was just me to get this over the line.

Emma: So I would certainly stress, do not underestimate how hard you’ve got to work to get people on the journey.

Emma: And actually, sometimes to persuade people to do stuff outside of their normal job, to support the transformation programme.

Emma: I’d also say the relationships and trust you need in your partners.

Emma: As I said, we’re a lean business.

Emma: We don’t have the expertise in every area.

Emma: So, we did have to look externally.

Emma: And the choices that you make in selecting those partners, really, really important.

Emma: And I went on, as you know, which is where we met the masterclass for Loyalty.

Emma: There’s an element of me that I wish I’d have done that when I first started.

Charlie: I’m sure, I’m sure.

Emma: Because actually, making sure that you have the right partners to suit you as a business, and what you want to do for the future is really important.

Emma: And making sure that you do have an element of expertise inside the business to make sure that what you’re building is right and there are no gaps.

Charlie: Yeah.

Charlie: And I think that point about loyalty being so broad reach, and that’s one of the things I love about that Loyalty and Reward Co course, is the breadth of it.

Charlie: Obviously, I only teach a couple of the modules, so I thoroughly enjoy sitting there as a student for the rest of it.

Charlie: Because even me, even 20 years into the industry, there’s still actually things that you know, actually, yes, that is an area I need to focus on, that is something I need to develop.

Charlie: But as a team of one, I think, well done, well done.

Charlie: That’s extraordinary to bring it all to life.

Charlie: Yeah, and activate it so comprehensively across so many I’ve got a few more now, but yeah.

Charlie: Yeah, I know.

Charlie: Thank goodness, thank goodness.

Emma: Thank goodness.

Charlie: And what about the success of the programme?

Charlie: So you’ve talked about things like swipe rate and obviously member acquisition.

Charlie: What sort of KPIs are you looking at as a business?

Charlie: What matters?

Emma: Yeah, there are key ones that you’ve just mentioned, really.

Emma: So swipe rate is a key one.

Emma: Obviously downloads and active users.

Emma: Yeah.

Emma: So for the listeners out there, I’d make sure that you’re clear on your business case around the downloads and also updates.

Emma: Yeah.

Emma: Versus your active users.

Emma: So those people engaging with your app on a weekly, monthly basis.

Emma: Yeah.

Charlie: You wouldn’t believe how many brands change their definition of active rate throughout the year.

Charlie: So it will slightly adjust the KPI.

Charlie: No names to be mentioned.

Emma: And then basket size.

Emma: Yeah.

Emma: So we call it ATV.

Emma: And so, you know, and the, you know, the green shoots that we’re seeing, you know, we’ve shared, we’ve, we’ve had over 2 million downloads and we’ve just hit a million active users.

Emma: Oh, that’s fantastic.

Emma: So in-

Charlie: Hardly any time at all.

Emma: In three months, I think, I think we’ve done, done well.

Emma: And it kind of reinforces the fact that customers are looking for value.

Emma: They’re looking for a deal.

Emma: And it doesn’t matter what social class they’re in.

Emma: You know, it’s, it’s, it’s not, it’s not a negative for anybody to want to look for a deal in, you know, in our, in, in the world that we’re living in at the moment.

Charlie: That’s awesome.

Charlie: I mean, I love the British market.

Charlie: We’re so privileged to work in it.

Charlie: You know, it’s one of the most sophisticated, but Brits just love loyalty programs.

Charlie: Every time we do the white paper, I, I look at it every year and I’m slightly afraid that, you know, the, the propensity is going to gone down or the appeal will have gone down.

Charlie: And actually, every year, it just seems to be getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Charlie: You know, there’s always something that fuels that drive for it.

Charlie: And I’m a big believer, as I put in our research, that actually, I think the launch of brilliant programs that really deliver is a large part of that driver.

Charlie: You know, the best of the best encourages everyone to set the bar even higher.

Charlie: So I think that’s great.

Charlie: Those are some really interesting set of behavioral KPIs as well.

Charlie: Do you look at any attitudinal KPIs?

Charlie: I mean, obviously, you get internal stakeholder feedback and feedback from your colleagues.

Charlie: Or are you sort of at the moment in this launch phase, really focused on what people are doing as a consequence of the program?

Emma: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s important to walk before you can run.

Emma: Yeah.

Emma: So, you know, we built a foundation.

Emma: As I said, we’ve got a long, long way to go.

Emma: But we’ve got the foundations there to build on and to add to.

Emma: I always talk about loyalty does not stand still.

Emma: Yeah.

Emma: So, you know, the next challenge for me is to persuade our management team that, you know, we need to keep investing in this to keep…

Charlie: Keep growing, keep optimizing, keep innovating.

Emma: And keep engaging with our customers and making sure that they continue to come back and making sure that, you know, we keep abreast of what else is out there because customers’ expectations are high.

Charlie: Yeah, and getting ever higher.

Charlie: I’m sure there’s a whole load of programs sitting out there looking at what you’ve done at Poundland Perks and going, oh, God, it’s another one, you know.

Charlie: So we’ve got to kind of raise the bar again.

Charlie: What about, you know, obviously, I know you look at all that what’s going on in the market and you download all the apps and stuff.

Charlie: Where do you get your inspiration from in the market?

Charlie: Do you have any really good sort of insight sources that you’d recommend to our listeners?

Emma: I’ve been too busy, Charlie.

Emma: Delivery.

Charlie: Fair enough.

Charlie: I think that’s nice to have some honesty.

Emma: I would say LinkedIn is always a source of, you know, market insight and noise.

Emma: And I always love connecting with people on LinkedIn and hearing what they’re up to.

Emma: I do like to go to networking events.

Emma: I’ve met some, you know, the master class that I went to before Christmas.

Emma: I met, you know, met some peers in the industry.

Emma: So it’s always nice to hear what other people’s challenges are and the road that they’ve been on.

Emma: And, you know, some a bit further into the journey, so I’m just starting.

Emma: So, you know, all of the, keeping your network strong and, you know, LinkedIn is a fantastic place to…

Charlie: Yeah, I completely agree.

Charlie: I mean, thank God, LinkedIn.

Charlie: But that nice combination of, you know, digital networking and in real life networking, you can fit it into the schedule is really great.

Charlie: What about any ideas or innovations that you’ve spotted recently?

Charlie: I mean, obviously, you’ve talked about a lot of ideas and innovations within the programme, but have you seen anything that you’ve particularly admired in all that LinkedIn and networking you’ve been doing?

Emma: I can only speak for myself when…

Emma: From where I want to take the programme from an innovation perspective, and it’s just for Poundland is, you know, I see a real opportunity with the gamification and working with partners.

Emma: And I think that’s where we can differentiate ourselves.

Emma: I think that’s where we have an opportunity to really grow it.

Emma: So, you know, working with like minded brands that, you know, within the same sort of data pool that we’re, you know, we’re all swapping.

Emma: And yeah, I definitely feel like there’s a real opportunity for us there to grow that part of the…

Charlie: I mean, I always say I work in a partnerships agency at Mando at the day job.

Charlie: So I’m not even going, yes, that’s a brilliant answer.

Charlie: Well done, that’s a great answer.

Charlie: But obviously it is, you know, in this current climate where you need to get more for less, and you need to do really relevant rewards for your audience.

Charlie: Partnerships is a really smart way of innovating, but obviously keeping a track on budgets, because when you pool your resources, you can obviously do so much more than you can on your own.

Charlie: So I think that’s a marvellous answer.

Charlie: Paula’s going to tell me off for that, but I’m like, that’s brilliant.

Charlie: It is, I think it’s a really interesting area in our industry.

Charlie: And then as we kind of round out, we’ve kind of we’ve covered so much on the programme, from launches to how it works.

Charlie: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our listeners or how can they find you?

Charlie: Because I’m sure they’re going to get through this episode, go and check out the programme, and then they’re probably going to want to get in touch.

Charlie: What’s the best way for them to do that?

Emma: I mean, LinkedIn, as I’ve mentioned, absolutely the place to reach out to me.

Emma: I’d love to hear from anybody, love to connect, love to meet people in person as well.

Emma: Yes.

Emma: I’m a real people person and I love to chat.

Emma: Reach out to me on LinkedIn.

Charlie: What we’ll do then is we’ll put your contact details for LinkedIn in the show notes for everyone who’s listening, so you can get in touch with Emma.

Charlie: And I highly recommend connecting with Emma.

Charlie: She’s got so many more stories even than she’s been able to share in this format.

Charlie: But all that’s left for me to say is thank you for launching such an awesome program.

Charlie: I think it’s a real boost to the British Loyalty industry.

Charlie: It’s also brilliant as a proud customer of Poundland that I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

Charlie: And lastly, from Let’s Talk Loyalty TV and the podcast, this is absolutely exactly the kind of program and story that we love sharing.

Charlie: So thank you for everything today.

Charlie: It’s been a pleasure having you on the show.

Emma: Thanks, Charlie, and keep perking.

Paula: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty.

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