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.
Hello,
And welcome to episode 90 of let’s talk loyalty. And today I am chatting to Roz. Netto extremely well-known for her fantastic 10 years work consulting on loyalty programs in South Africa. Last year, Ross took on a fantastic client side role for the first time in her own career and has had the opportunity to take a very well loved and mature loyalty program and enhance it even more. She has been working with the real foods group and launching a subscription based loyalty program for a particular fast casual restaurant brand called in today’s show. She talks us through first state the importance of redemption as a key point in the loyalty journey, as well as some of the early learnings from the subscription program, which was launched just eight weeks ago.
1m 16s
1
So enjoy this fascinating conversation, all about subscription loyalty, particularly the fun of launching in a pandemic and some of the great lessons she’s learned.
1m 32s
0
1m 32s
1
Yes, I am delighted to have you with me here today. I know you are speaking to me from Cape town, South Africa, which I think you’re from, but you might have to correct me on that one, but I think there are probably very few people who have been brave enough to move into the restaurant industry in the middle of a pandemic. So I’m extremely excited to hear about the move that you’ve made, the incredible work I’ve been following that you’ve been doing over the last number of months, because it is a very exciting time for you. But before we get into all of the loyalty work, please tell me first and foremost, what is your favorite loyalty statistic?
2m 8s
2
Thank you, Paula, for having me today. I am indeed from Cape town. That is correct. Absolutely. My favorite loyalty statistic and they also have many to choose from, but this one is ready, resonated with me from my consulting days at trees through to two. My role now is, is really that power of redemption and why there is such a strong correlation between redemption and the success of a loyalty program. There are many measures often, naturally that, you know, yield the success of a loyalty program, but really one that has stuck with me statistic bias is one.
2m 52s
2
I came across during my consulting days at truth, and it was five bond, brand loyalty who release a annual loyalty report and they still do do so today. But this one will be a few years old, really stuck with me and it is, and it goes like this. The loyalty program members who do not redeem are 2.3 times more likely to defect than those who deem in the last 12 months. Wow. That is a phenomenal staff and why I already love it so much. Is it places that emphasis on that important role of measuring redemption and what impacts retention and of course, the role of Claire’s to ensure your customers do not churn and actually see value in your program?
3m 49s
1
Wow, that is an incredible statistic Ross. And I think I said to you, when we spoke last time, the real intention of even asking that question from my side is to give, I suppose, first of all, instant value. So really, so we can learn something from you as quickly as possible, but also I’ve often said on this show, Roz I’ve often found myself in a position of maybe having to defend a loyalty program. And again, given your consulting background, I’m sure you’ve done plenty of that as well. But to me that’s something extremely useful. I could literally sit in front of the CFO and say, well, look, if we don’t incentivize encourage and ensure the appropriate redemption levels and claiming of rewards, we’re going to lose the customer for sure.
4m 33s
1
And 2.3 times, as you said. So I think that’s incredibly powerful.
4m 38s
2
Absolutely. You know, and I think there is always that fine line between, you know, how much you give away versus what your breakage rates should be. And, you know, the old, old age, no loyalty measure, hot breakage nerd damnation, or sorry, low, low breakage redemption. But ultimately that has shifted completely the dynamic in measuring loyalty program success. And I think what I’ve experienced it over the last few years is really that loyalty program owners or creators really do spend or emphasize that earn journey and it’s not.
5m 19s
2
And I think it’s somewhat disproportionately emphasize. And, and why I say that is naturally, you want people to engage at the start of their journey in the store program, you know, that it’s that hook, it’s that piece that really gets them into the program. How do I earn? And there are multiple ways in which brands actually offer, you know, earning activities to the customer, you know, they not they’re transactional, so actual spend based, or is it non transactional these days? So is it behavior based? You know, have I reached my fitness goals this week? You rewarding the, you know, always it by channel.
6m 2s
2
So, you know, brands trying to incentivize or the adoption of specific channels. So therefore, you know, maybe accumulating a lot more points if you use a points based currency in, in that regard where may when often the focus on the redemption process and the actual offer is maybe not as sophisticated or thought through, you know, and, and I really mean that because, you know, there are some brands, obviously that gets the entire journey as seamless and convenient as possible offering really relevant rewards. But, but what we do find is that, you know, it goes beyond just the value of the reward so that the reward itself could be absolutely invaluable, many confines.
6m 54s
2
But if, if the journey to get there is, you know, a complicated journey with hidden rules with too many loopholes, you’ve lost the customer, no matter how seamless the earn journey was, no matter how wonderful the reward is, if that journey that experience to get there was complicated, you’ve lost the customer, right? And, and also, you know, it really just speaks back to, to the fact that, you know, customers, again, who redeem and find value in the program are more likely to stay, which again is another very popular loyalty, stiff statistic around, you know, the cost of acquiring a new member, as opposed to retaining your existing ones to do that.
7m 46s
2
There’s time in really well.
7m 48s
1
And do you know, you’ve reminded me Ross, I’m scribbling a note here. I remember Anne being brought in just to look at a program once and it’ll remain nameless for now, but it’s exactly the point that you mentioned about the process for redemption. And there was a, a really big flaw in the particular program in that the, the company operating, it wanted a fixed price for the rewards they were giving because they were using an agency. And so they didn’t want it to fluctuate, which I totally understand. So what the agency decided to do was make it as difficult as possible to redeem. So when you think about the conflicting priorities, I mean, I was absolutely appalled at the customer journey for the rewards.
8m 32s
1
And I was like, I get the business reason, but honestly, could we not find a better solution, which we did of course. And, but again, I suppose sometimes an external perspective, but I love that you’re focusing so much on rewards. And certainly today when we get into the work you’re doing at the moment, and that’s obviously a key part of the work you’re doing right now, so I’d love to get into exploring. And I know you did 10 years with truth, so phenomenal credentials there. And obviously with Amanda, so very well known and in the South African loyalty industry, but you did decide to move client side obviously last April. So how did that decision come about?
9m 10s
2
Oh, well, Paula, I mean, it’s wonderful. Yeah. Is that truth. And, you know, being in that consultancy role for a good few years rarely exposed me to multiple industries. So, you know, I had the privilege of working across whether it was retail, financial services, you name it. And under again, like you’ve just mentioned the guidance of Amanda and the tree’s team. I really, I really got to a point where I needed to explore the operational side of running a loyalty program and operational meaning ready, just honing in on, on a brand or in my case, it is actually a few brands, but within one industry saints, a ready learning the perspective from the brand side.
10m 8s
2
And, and that experience is something I, I really admired was working with clients in the consulting side, but was never really exposed to, you know, as you, as you do as a consultant, you know, I really wants to be able to roll up my sleeves and get fully entrenched in, in an activity from loyalty activities, initiatives, pro running a program from the brand side. So that is the brave and bold I did make last year.
10m 41s
1
So tell us, I know it’s the real foods group and, but the consumer brands. So, so tell us just all of the various different programs. I know there’s one lead program we’re going to talk about today, but just to give us a sense, I think it literally, it is a market leader, as I understand it.
10m 57s
2
Yeah. So the real food scrape is a multibrand food group. So thanks in South Africa and it’s comprised of seven brands who together really aim to be the lead in the natural food space. So really driving innovation in that field. Lovely. One of which is , which is very well known, healthy, fast casual restaurant group. And it is the largest in South African and the largest brand in the real foods group portfolio. Okay. So has been around for now 25 years and is in the, in the group and as part of the real foods group, the brand was the most mature loyalty program and, and offering to the consumer in that space, believe it or not they’ve been doing for 25 years since they started well.
12m 0s
2
Yeah, absolutely. And having learned the journey they’ve walked, you know, the loyalty journey has been a fascinating one and from the original physical cards. Yeah. Well, to the digital version of that in 2014, I believe. Yeah. And then with the resurgence relaunch of the app in its current format today in 2019, so they’ve been on a great girl teacher journey. The other brands are still very they’re in the infancy phases of loyalty and CRM. So a lot of work to be done to be done there.
12m 44s
2
Okay, cool. Being the most notable too, to discuss today.
12m 50s
1
Wonderful. Wow. So I think we have to acknowledge that it’s a visionary company first and foremost. So yes, 25 years ago to, to have the stomp cards up and running. That’s extraordinary. And I know it’s, it’s very digitally oriented from what I’ve seen on the co-op website as well. And, but the biggest change I’ve seen is obviously the subscription loyalty program that you guys launched literally eight weeks ago, Roz. So my first question really is, did you come and pitch this idea to the guys or, or was this on their horizon or, or who, where did the idea come from? I suppose initially
13m 27s
2
Great question pulled out. I wish I could take the credit. I’m initiating it. Definitely. So in our industry in South Africa, Kauai have been the first to launch the subscription model per se, in this industry. Subscriptions is nothing new to the South African market, but it was really pioneered by a CEO who is constantly driving innovation in our business. You know, learning from global counterparts, such as Panera bread, who also launched their subscription offer.
14m 11s
2
I think it was early last year and really saying, well, you know, what could, well, how could we talk and tell this to really offer value to the South African market? That makes sense with South African markets. So absolutely when I started in April last year, there were plenty discussions had and lots of, you know, groundwork done already, but with, you know, like many brands experiencing the, the pandemic and the hard lockdowns in different times of last year, whether or not that was something that either, you know, stalled initial lawns or for launch or FoST chapters, it’s really something we prompt to say that we could have delivered, you know, in January, 2021 and given the year that we’ve all had.
15m 5s
2
Yeah. So, so absolutely I, we, we did work on it. We’ve, we’ve had to really be, how can I say it very conscious of how we launched descriptions, you know, given the lessons learned throughout last year, timing is extremely important as well. Given, you know, in, in pre COVID lab, you would focus a lot on driving footfall into stores multiple times a day. And this is way our subscription model is very different to your typical offer in that it’s not a digital offering. It’s not something that you can well, to a degree, you can enjoy it in the comfort of your own home, through our delivery service.
15m 51s
2
But, you know, ultimately in a perfect world, we’d be driving multiple interactions with customers in the store environment, but that’s way the perfect balance has had to come into play and offering a, a fatty to customers that is exceptional, a very high value, especially during tough economic times through a convenient contact, this manner that doesn’t put any pressure on the customer, any risk of the customer engaging with in store environments or, you know, you name it.
16m 32s
2
So it’s, that’s really been balancing those factors in of course, you know, code wise, one of our key pillars as a business is being able to provide, you know, easy tasty, accessible, accessible being. The key word helps to customers. So accessibility is, is a very key, you know, draw the of subscriptions and, and why we launched it to,
17m 1s
1
And I do love the Panera bread case study. So I’ll make sure that I put some links in the show notes as well, Ross, because I know you guys again, are looking globally at these best practices. And I know we talked ourselves before and in the UK, has also done a subscription loyalty program, espresso house in Scandinavia, and thrilled to hear that you’re first and that innovation coming through for you guys in South Africa for Kauai, so well done on, on being first to market, because, you know, as you said, I hadn’t even thought about the, the challenge of driving footfall. I mean, it’s actually obvious as you say it, but, you know, just to, to balance all of those various objectives in a sensitive way with a commercial objective, but at the same time reassuring your, that their health is, is your top priority, particularly as you provide healthy foods.
17m 54s
1
So, I mean, that’s a lot to balance, huh?
17m 58s
2
Absolutely. And you know, I know we were talking about subscriptions here, but we, you know, during the panel DEMEC and hard lockdown months last year, you know, we learned so much like many brands did. And I think what we really, how can I say enjoyed was the customer feedback that we got that, you know, as much as we were trying to do this balancing act in, in getting, you know, our stores back up and running, when they were allowed to trade again, it was what was the loyalty initiatives that we could top and tail to make sense for the customer.
18m 42s
2
So for example, part of the co-op offering is a booth there reward. So if your birthday happened to be in those months of hard lockdown, or even, you know, as the restrictions eased, you know, customers were not as willing to, to, you know, leave their, their home, that, that they’d be nesting for a few months, you know? So it was up to us to really say, well, let’s not make these rewards expire any time soon. Lovely bearing in mind, many of our stores are based in the gym environment. So Virgin active gyms, and those are only opened, you know, a good few weeks after normal trading stores open.
19m 26s
2
So we had to be very cognizant of the fact that your typical or your usual career-wise store was probably, or most likely, you know, within a gym environment that, that only opened, you know, good few weeks after everything else did. So it was really not penalizing for lack of better word those customers for only having access to one, one wine store in, in the area. So we extended rewards, we did a lot, and we still see that today with customers purchasing subscriptions and wanting to redeem their subscription, that, you know, there’s, you know, they want to be able to get to our stores or get to the gyms, but there are certain caveats that we have to bear in mind that the whole time about customers having access to, to our stores.
20m 25s
2
So the driver, their port is ready to drive again where the app has played a phenomenal role in our day to day operations of running the new loyalty program and accessibility to customers is, you know, how do we then drive these additional contact as channels? And I think that’s where we’ve really been at the forefront. I mean, our industry to be able to offer that value to customers through own delivery or click and collect married into this, this subscription model and loyalty offering.
21m 0s
1
Okay. And given, I suppose the, you know, the, the inevitable debates and discussion that a subscription programs always bring Roz, there always is this obvious at risk that, you know, you’ll end up literally diluting revenue rather than building additional revenue. So, so how did you guys manage all of that? I mean, I can only imagine the complexity of the modeling. And again, I know you work with them like lots of different products, such as coffee, which might have a higher margin and then smoothies, which would have maybe, you know, I’m sure very different margins. So, so how did you plan for the level of acceptable redemption and the risk of over redemption?
21m 42s
1
I guess,
21m 44s
2
Great question, Paula, you know, we, like you said, we’ve been, we’ve been live for about eight weeks now and it’s being, we’re still learning very much so on how our customers are adopting subscriptions. So they almost two really important initial measures that we’ve considered. And that’s the purchase, the upfront purchase originally of the subscription itself, you know, so how many subscription purchases are we driving versus that redemption piece? You know, so how many of the rewards available subscriptions available within your subscription offer should be redeemed before we start to dilute it
22m 33s
1
And panic? Yeah, I can imagine.
22m 37s
2
Absolutely. And you know, and that’s, that’s really where we’ve started to play with the mechanics around the subscriptions. So, you know, we launched with a big bang around unlimited coffee, every two hours, you’ll get a coffee issue to your, to your app where you to re redeem for 50 days. And that was probably one of the ones I think were most frightful for sure. And you know, what it has without giving away any commercially sensitive information.
23m 18s
2
We have seen that, you know, the, the adoption of whether it is that unlimited coffee or the one smoothie a day has yielded very different results for us, but positive results saying that what I mean by that is that, you know, naturally we had to take margin and that into consideration. But if we looked at the reason why we wanted to launch this in the first place and it back to the results we’re seeing, it’s a different, it’s a different ball game we’re playing. And so what I mean by that is ultimately the intent was subscriptions for our customers. We’re really, I mentioned this before, but offer that exceptional value that accessibility to heart, the convenience, and, you know, really making sure that they, they, it drives a change of behavior or is it, it behavior that was, was once for lack of better word again, normal prior to COVID.
24m 23s
2
So I think we’re in a diff a different position here where we need to measure what was, you know, a normal life cycle of a customer possibly going into a co-op every day, twice a day, once a week. Yeah. Comparing that to what that might’ve looked like prior to COVID
24m 46s
3
Or during COVID. And then of course,
24m 48s
2
10 to four subscriptions for our business. The measures that we, we are tracking is that acquisition piece. So is it driving a new customer? No, that in itself usually has a cost associated to it wanting to acquire customers and growing off a base, offering new value to our existing customers, which again is, there’s a cost to doing that. Naturally, if we could just stop by ticking those two boxes, so acquiring new customers, but also retaining and keeping your existing ones happy.
25m 29s
2
It’s worse, it’s possibly worse with the commercial investment we’re making into the offers that subs that customers could redeem for their subscription reward. Then of course, there’s that drive and frequency, which is a tougher measure today based on, you know, being sensitive to customers, wanting to access our schools more frequently. And that’s exactly why we’ve made it available through any means where you order through the app. So whether it’s delivery or click and collect. So making sure that there’s an absolute contact list engagements, there’s no risk to the customer, but of course, driving redemption, which goes back to my favorite loyalty statistic.
26m 18s
2
It is finding that equilibrium between the absolutely group of customers that will try and redeem every possible offer within the subscription, finding the balance of the sweet spot between those that use it well. So still redeemed frequency is finding the value in the subscription. And of course, then seeing else they may be buying when they redeem their subscriptions. So it is a balancing act. We have seen phenomenal results of be at it’s only been eight weeks, but we have seen a positive, you know, double, double digit redemption rates.
27m 2s
2
We’ve seen, you know, a positive, incremental growth with, with customers purchasing or sorry, redeeming their offers. So again is, it’s still, we’re still learning. We’re still growing in this space, but those are, those are the key and kind of measures we put in place to say, this is something that we will have to track over time, given the validity of the actual vouchers associated to the subscription, right? So we can’t just put a blanket redemption rate over subscriptions as a whole.
27m 42s
2
It will have to be looked at, or has been looked at individually with some of them along a 50 day allowance where you to redeem certain botches within that subscription. So yes, it is still early days, Paula, but ultimately, you know, what we will be measuring against is, is this acquisition of a new customer base. Have we grown a new customer? Have we managed to offer exceptional value to existing customers? And the key there will be to see how they performed or behaved prior to purchasing a subscription to how they’ve been had.
28m 22s
2
Hey, now that they’ve got one, are we seeing an increase in the typical measures, like frequency, basket growth, et cetera.
28m 32s
1
Goodness, there’s so much in that Roz because, you know, I think I said to you last time as well, I really believe that subscription loyalty is something every brand should be thinking about right now. And, you know, we we’re all familiar with it, for example, you know, it goes back, you know, we’ve, we’ve had Netflix and magazine subscriptions, as you said for many, many years. So, so I will be actually keen to, to understand as well if customers needed a lot of education. But even before I ask you about that, you know, I was just thinking about all of the commercial benefits and what I’m loving hearing actually, just as you talk through your trials is your focus is very clearly on the benefits to the customer.
29m 13s
1
Like, you know, instantly, you know, you’re instantly talking about the extraordinary value to consumers, which is just a lovely loyalty mindset. And just from the work I’ve been kind of looking at in terms of other subscription programs, there is all of the kind of, you know, share of wallet, obviously to understand. And I think subscription brings that extraordinary opportunity. Like I can’t imagine subscribing to a coffee program and going anywhere else for a coffee. Do you know what I mean?
29m 42s
2
And I think that’s also the, the where we’re learning, which leavers we can pull, which, which products, you know, do we want to include in the subscription? And we can probably say that we’ve chosen the ones that we know our customers love. Sure. You know, whether it is a coffee or a smoothie or a newly introduced subscription, that includes our wraps. You know, so why are you rarely well known in the space for their smoothies, for their apps? And, you know, again, it’s a conscious decision of S of ours not to force the agenda too much on a specific product category we’re trying to grow.
30m 27s
2
It is rarely saying, well, we know our customers love these. So let’s start with these. And who knows, you know, as, as we learn more about how our customers will be adopting these in the future, we have that flexibility, luckily to add new subscription offers, as we learn, learn more from our customers,
30m 52s
1
For sure. And what I’m hearing as well is that you’re literally taking the time and the opportunity to build the trust. So because you’re the first in your industry, because subscriptions require, you know, just a bigger decision, I suppose, for a customer than one coffee will now I’m paying, I think I looked at as the pouch $20 and price point for your subscription program. So that is a bigger decision for a customer, but I love the fact that you’re doing it on the products that, you know, they want that they’re probably more likely to want on a daily basis. So then when you try and do it in more complex categories, or, you know, you look to create cross sell, then actually there’ll be just totally open to that.
31m 33s
1
Hopefully
31m 34s
2
Absolutely Porter we’ve, you know, you, you mentioned it earlier, this education process, especially being, you know, first to market with such a tailored, you know, tailored subscription, if you want to call it that it really, you know, UI that you like smoothies, or you like, perhaps you like coffee, you can purchase multiple subscriptions, but it’s at the end of the day, we as a brand need to be able to engage our customers so that they understand what, you know, we, as, as the team at Y have been staring at for many few months, trying to figure out which comes as second nature, but explain this new functionality and, and, you know, ethos again, is, is all about the customer and that accessibility.
32m 24s
2
And, you know, in, in, what’s almost been a year of me being, working with the brand is any new functionality that we have launched from the app perspective or loyalty initiative. We, we learn to engage customers to educate them, you know, on the process so that they can actually read the most out of what we’re trying to, to launch. But also of course it makes our job a lot easier once the customer has adopted it and that they then use it more frequently, et cetera. So again, you know, whether it was our own delivery last year, or order ahead, when we first launched the app in 2019 subscriptions is the same, you know, we it’s an education piece to our customer, but also our staff, you know, and that’s a really important they take into consideration.
33m 22s
2
You know, it’s not just the customers who are experiencing this for the first time, it’s on an operational level at store level, our, how our staff engaging in this offer, how do they communicate that to customers? And, and that, again is something, you know, I think with, you know, a lot of of brands may fall short. You know, we see it with loyalty launches is, you know, you can have this perfect, amazing solution or offer, but if you don’t take the time to really executed on, you know, to those that really need to serve the customer at the end of the day, then you might as well pack up and go home.
34m 8s
1
I totally agree. And I’d love to get just on that piece about the staff roles, because, you know, again, I think as practitioners and consultants, we know how important that moment of truth is dare I, you know, use Amanda’s lovely agency name again. And, but I’ve often said, you know, here certainly where I live and anytime I’m in an environment where there’s a loyalty program and available, and the, you know, the member of staff is in or asking or inviting me to join, like, I really am quite judgmental in terms of how that’s being executed, because I know the pain of the cost of the people behind that person, you know, have invested to create something that might fall very short, literally at that moment.
34m 53s
1
So given that, I mean, obviously there’s incredible legacy and, and lovely history with the brand, and I’m guessing your staff are very loyal and I don’t know why I say that, but just the way you’re treating your customers, I can imagine that your employees are, are the same. So where they, I would say either excited or concerned, would you say they were worried about delays at the till, for example, when they had to explain it, or did they see it as something new? I would just love to get a sense of their concerns in executing this for you.
35m 25s
2
Shit. What, so in our business, we really, and I’m sure I alluded to this is that we do focus on how we execute this new functionality or messaging throughout the business. So it’s not just at a head office level. It’s how do you know from area managers to store managers, to store staff across the entire country, you know, adopt this new functionality. So without, and again, it’s not unique to subscriptions at all that we launched, you know, in the business and, you know, because loyalty has been so inherent in the brand for so long, we apps, there is all this, this ethos that trickles down to, you know, all elements of the stores that once you explain the benefit to the business.
36m 29s
2
So, you know, to the sorry to the staff about the benefits back to the business and how, if they are more informed and almost, you know, embrace the change, they can serve the customer better, you know, and ultimately that is what we try to achieve. It is always a challenge when you have 150 stores plus, you know, but, but it is, it is something that is very well executed in our environments. And, and, you know, it’s not just buy and again, it’s, I think this is something, you know, we learnt in our consultancy years where it’s one thing to have buy in from the boardroom table, but on the execution where it really matters in that moment of truth.
37m 18s
2
Again, just like you said, you know, when a customer asks the question, I don’t tend to stand how this works. Can you please explain to me is empowering the staff to be able to do so. And we do, you know, we have our means and, and ways to do that. Yes, naturally, you know, you get, you’re busy at times during the day, and that is always a con operational concern. You know, it’s, it’s, you know, we’ve got the operational team who will always, you know, make sure, possibly challenge that twelves us, you know, hinder the in-store experience, especially during peak times.
38m 1s
2
And it’s really just goes back to our job again, sitting in the marketing team to say, well, how do we land how this new functionality works in the most simple explanation possible? And if the customer has any further queries or wants to read up on it, you know, further do we allow for those channels, do they exist? And they do. So, you know, to ensure that that buck doesn’t stop at, at any one individual, they have accessibility to whether it’s more information on the app or the website or our customer care team.
38m 42s
2
So it is really looking beyond just that, that moment of truth in the store environment.
38m 49s
1
Yeah. But I also think you’ve taken, you know, a good approach just over the years. And so the fact that the digital app has been around already. And so I’m guessing the, you know, the, the conversion to, to that digital format, I’m sure is very high. I know you can’t give me exact numbers, but now it’s just one extra feature within that. So I guess the, the adoption is purely around just to position the benefit. And for me, I’m very much of the mind that actually yes, if I can, you know, either skip the line or, you know, literally scan to pay, which I know is the kind of function you’ll have available to me, that’s an added, you know, total when, you know, in terms of my mind and $20 a month is definitely the kind of coffee minimum I would spend, you know, again in normal times.
39m 36s
1
And everyone’s a bit different at the moment, but, but that just sounds like a really nice, you know, just approach to us, you know, explain to the staff why it’s good for the business customer has the Apple ready. And again, they’ve got multiple channels to find out more if they need to.
39m 51s
2
Absolutely. You keep calling again, you know, it’s, it’s also making sure that, that the staff have accessibility beyond that first launch phase. You know, that, you know, if you do have any turnover of staff, how available is the training material to your, to your staff? And it sounds so obvious, but it really, it is rarely, you know, the, the, those simple accessibility points to customers that really also our staff, sorry for me to be able to access what they need and to your points again, pull it is. Yeah, it is. We have luckily had the app running in this current format for two years and when we do roll up new functionality yeah.
40m 38s
2
Loyalty is, so is part of that ecosystem. So it never leaves unexposed. So whether you’re ordering ahead or ordering for delivery or now subscriptions, he lives within that ecosystem. So it’s, it doesn’t require an extreme overhaul or training process necessarily.
40m 60s
1
Yeah, yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And again, sometimes I think, you know, very complex companies like utilities sometimes do have to have different applications for different parts of their business, which always, to me sounds just so confusing, you know, to be the customer. And so the fact that you have that single-minded digital solution with all the benefits of the contact list and obviously the whole loyalty even pre subscription. And now, as you said, just layering that in on top. And it just sounds like it just keeps getting better and better.
41m 31s
2
Well, we hope so. We, I don’t
41m 35s
1
Have any more question from my side. Is there anything else you wanted to mention before we wrap?
41m 42s
2
No, just a big, thank you. You know, we are very excited about the prospects of where subscriptions could go. You know, we, we know the pros and the cons of being the first market. So we do hope that, you know, we could share some more insights with you in the upcoming weeks or months. And we do hope that actually, you know, this becomes a behavior that does change, how customers engage with brands going forward, especially in, in, in our markets.
42m 22s
2
So we’re very excited about the prospects of this, for sure.
42m 26s
1
Well, I know I’m definitely not the only person who’d be picking your brains Ross on a regular basis. So I’m sure there’ll be influx of inquiries and actually just on that Ross, eh, where is the best place for people to reach you? Is it maybe LinkedIn or what’s the best place for people to find you?
42m 43s
2
Absolutely. LinkedIn is, is great, fairly engaged on LinkedIn. So I’m happy to explain you one to reach out to me there. We’ll get my details from you directly, Paula. That’s no problem.
42m 54s
1
That’s awesome. Roswell. I’ll make sure to link to you directly in the show notes as well, so people can find you easily. So with that, I will say Ross Neto, CRM, and loyalty specialist from real foods group in South Africa. Thank you so much from let’s talk loyalty.
43m 12s
0
This show is sponsored by The Wise Marketeer, the world’s most popular source of loyalty marketing news, insights, and research. The Wise Marketeer also offers loyalty marketing training through its Loyalty Academy, which has already certified over 170 executives in 20 countries as Certified Loyalty Marketing professionals. For more information, check out thewisemarketeer.com and loyaltyacademy.org. Paula Thomas (43:44): Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty. If you’d like me to send you the latest show each week, simply sign up for the show newsletter on letstalkloyalty.com and I’ll send you the latest episode to your inbox, every Thursday.
44m 1s
0
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