Leading Telco Loyalty: TELUS Rewards is Redefining Customer Value (#748)

Aaron: Today is not like any other day of our interview, so I’m thrilled to be joined by a loyalty leader from Canada’s telecommunications sector, Jacob Pullia, who leads the TELUS Rewards program, is with me today.

Aaron: Welcome, Jacob.

Jacob: Thank you, Aaron.

Jacob: Great to be on board.

Jacob: So last year, we transformed TELUS Rewards into a new national program, and it was built on really three pillars.

Jacob: The first being the introduction of tiers.

Jacob: The second is points and perks.

Jacob: And then the third one being strategic partnerships.

Aaron: One of the things we’ve been talking about already a little bit, but certainly we want to make sure we put some attention on it in this conversation, was the partnership between TELUS and WestJet.

Aaron: Talk about how this partnership came together and what’s the value it’s creating for TELUS customers beyond what you’ve already described in terms of the travel customer.

Jacob: Yeah, and you hit it exactly.

Jacob: We brought the two rewards programs together.

Jacob: Where we did something different is rather than a one-time points bonus for linking, as you’d see in many programs, we’re actually exchanging perks that renew annually for customers, giving them a benefit for linking, but something that keeps them engaged year over year with the program and continues to reinforce the benefit of being with both of our organization.

Jacob: The industry has definitely historically been very transactional and had some pain points when it comes to customer service.

Jacob: And I’d say TELUS has always done a great job in leading with a customer-first mentality, embedded in everything we do in TELUS Rewards.

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 part of the Wiser Loyalty Podcast Series and is hosted by Aaron Dauphinee, Chief Marketing Officer of Wise Marketer Group.

Paula: Wise Marketer Group is an education, advisory and research and media service company, providing resources for loyalty marketers through three business offerings.

Paula: A global leader in loyalty education through the Loyalty Academy platform, which offers the certified Loyalty Marketing Professional or CLMP designation.

Paula: A trusted advisor through its advisory and research services, supporting loyalty brands and a leading source of news, information and insights through the Wise Marketer digital publication.

Paula: I hope you enjoyed this episode brought to you by Let’s Talk Loyalty and Loyalty TV in partnership with Wise Marketer Group.

Aaron: Hi there, everyone.

Aaron: Welcome back to another edition of the Wiser Loyalty podcast series.

Aaron: This is a podcast series that’s now into its third year and has brought to you each month in partnership with Let’s Talk Loyalty and the Wise Marketer.

Aaron: I’m Aaron Dauphinee.

Aaron: I’ll be your host for today’s edition.

Aaron: And I’m currently the CMO here at the Wise Marketer Group, or WMG as we use for short.

Aaron: And our CEO, Bill Hanifin, at the Wise Marketer Group, he and I have supported Let’s Talk Loyalty and Paula Thomas with the launch of her programming about many, many years ago, in fact.

Aaron: But it wasn’t only until 2024 when she asked us to start sharing our thoughts and insights, actually.

Aaron: And so in that very first year of 2024, we focused on some of the loyalty constructs and topics from our core course curriculum here at the Loyalty Academy, which led into individuals obtaining their Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional Designation, or CLMP as we call it for short, since that’s a bit of a mouthful.

Aaron: And we tackled one course per month.

Aaron: We highlighted probably about four to five constructs from each course.

Aaron: And we did this every week, each and every month.

Aaron: And then, of course, things need to change, as they always do, for the better, we hope.

Aaron: And last year, we shifted our focus and the frequency of our connection points to align to the format of other hosts that are at Lets Talk Loyalty.

Aaron: And so we started more one-to-one conversations every month.

Aaron: Bill and I focus our conversations for the Wise Loyalty series to begin with practitioners of this trade.

Aaron: So those in our CLP community, those executives and senior marketers who are leading from the C-suite.

Aaron: And twice a month, we bring you in an interview with a C-level executive, a loyalty leader from our CLP community.

Aaron: But all of them have transformed strategy into practical application that has really generated strong business results from customer loyalty.

Aaron: And today is not like any other day or interview.

Aaron: So I’m thrilled to be joined by a loyalty leader from Canada’s telecommunications sector, certainly an industry in need of some sparks for how it approaches customer loyalty and rewards.

Aaron: And I believe that we’ve actually got the right individual to tell us how he and his team are creating such sparks.

Aaron: So Jacob Pullia, who leads the TELUS Rewards program, is with me today.

Aaron: Welcome, Jacob.

Jacob: Thank you, Aaron.

Jacob: Yeah, great to be on board.

Jacob: Thanks for having me.

Aaron: Yes, very, very happy to have you here.

Aaron: And so just really quickly, I guess, for those non-Canadian listeners, TELUS is one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies.

Aaron: They serve millions of customers across mobile, Internet, TV and digital health services.

Aaron: What makes TELUS particularly interesting from a loyalty perspective is how they’ve evolved their interactions with their TELUS services customers.

Aaron: So think mobility, think Internet, think security and TV.

Aaron: And they’ve done that through a tiered program structure, combined with points and perks, and then extending to some major leading category partnerships.

Aaron: So I’ll let Jacob describe this in more detail, obviously, but a bit more about Jacob himself.

Aaron: He’s currently in a role as a Director of Content Strategy and Business Development, and he brings a wealth of experience in loyalty marketing and customer engagement to this role.

Aaron: His background includes time with KPMG here in Canada, and then also in the US, and particularly looking into media and entertainment and sports when you were in New York, and a bit of a synchronic for meta for product strategy.

Aaron: So now he finds himself at TELUS, because again, these interesting moves in the partnership space that I want to talk about, and including collaborations with WestJet specifically, that are creating great new value propositions for their customers in both the travel and telco sector.

Aaron: So Jacob, what else should our listeners know about your background, TELUS, and or the TELUS Rewards programs before we dive deeper?

Aaron: What have I missed?

Jacob: Yeah, no, thanks again for having me, Aaron.

Jacob: And I think you noted it all well.

Jacob: My background includes consulting and strategy and deal space.

Jacob: And during this experience, I had the opportunity to work with a variety of industries with a number of different business models.

Jacob: And maybe there were two common themes that I want to highlight, and I’ll bring this up throughout today as well, that followed me throughout my career.

Jacob: So first off, there’s often a great strategy, well-articulated, well-understood at the leadership level, but execution itself often faults.

Jacob: So a big part of my career was spent on not just strategy definition, but strategy delivery and transformational program delivery.

Jacob: And delivery experience is critical to understand what it takes to bring a strategy to reality.

Jacob: And we’ll talk about the TELUS Rewards evolution and everything that we did in the past year.

Jacob: The other theme from that experience was that almost every organization had all the ingredients to a successful recipe, but companies often struggle to leverage their assets in a meaningful way to actually maximize value.

Jacob: So whether it be because of silent organizations, competing priorities, taking the time to actually understand the assets at hand, defining how to leverage them, and knowing where to play will support value creation.

Jacob: So two key components we’ll talk about today, as well as how those were implemented as part of our TELUS Rewards evolution.

Aaron: That’s a great compliment to set up for today’s conversation and to add a little bit more meat to the bones of what I described.

Aaron: So thank you for that and we’ll watch for those two items as we talk through the rest of the conversation.

Aaron: But a little bit before we hop in, get to commercial in terms of the business ideology, let’s first start to, and our regular listeners always know this, that we begin our podcast by kind of peeling back the proverbial onion, so to speak, to get beyond career highlights and accolades and get to know you a little bit more.

Aaron: And so we’re talking always about asking individuals that we speak with and saying, can you provide the book or set of books that you’re currently reading and specifically why, or what’s the most key, fruitful takeaway that you have from it so far?

Aaron: So let’s start with what you’re reading and why at this point first before we dive in.

Jacob: Yeah, no, good question.

Jacob: So I’m currently reading Personalized Customer Strategy in the Age of AI by Mark Abraham and David Edelman.

Jacob: Biggest takeaway so far is that brands need to, and I’d say or already should have, move from mass messaging to meaningful individual personalized experiences that make customers feel understood and valued.

Jacob: And as we just refreshed our program, we’re now pushing into the age of personalization.

Jacob: And of course, everything has to have a component of AI these days.

Jacob: But I figured this is a good one to help inform as we execute on personalization as part of our 2026 roadmap.

Aaron: I love that.

Aaron: That’s one that you’re building into your own personal use at work.

Aaron: But also, as you rightly said, people need to be thinking about this, if not already, then it’s really very quickly to keep up to speed and keep it on pace with everyone else.

Aaron: So that’s a good preface.

Aaron: Thanks for sharing that.

Aaron: Telco is a fascinating sector, of course, and for me, it’s always been like we can kind of put it as quote unquote interesting when it comes to loyalty, certainly because of the typical relationships being very long-term and much more subscription service oriented.

Aaron: So can you talk to us right off the bat about how TELUS thinks about loyalty differently than traditional transactional loyalty programs?

Aaron: And really what I’m getting at is, what’s your philosophy on building lasting customer relationships in the Telco space?

Jacob: Yeah, exactly.

Jacob: As you said, a traditional Telco loyalty, it’s passive, recurring monthly bill, usually a multi-year plan, whether it be two or three years, depending on jurisdiction.

Jacob: In some cases, Telcos have given points on bill payments and customers earn, redeem and repeat.

Jacob: In other cases, customers expect to call in or go to a store every two to three years and just negotiate a new plan and then restart the contract cycle.

Jacob: Very legacy model and that’s exactly what we’re all trying to shift away from.

Jacob: So, when you look at TELUS as an organization, we aren’t just a telco.

Jacob: We’ve continued to evolve our products and services.

Jacob: We’re in entertainment with a leading streaming bundle that we call Stream Plus, which includes Netflix, Disney and Prime.

Jacob: The big three streamers all bundle together.

Jacob: We have new smart home solutions including security, automation and energy management for our customers.

Jacob: We’re in the health and wellness space as well with virtual medical visits and pharmacy delivery.

Jacob: And we’ve also even expanded into the pet space with virtual vet care and pet supplements.

Jacob: So when you look at this diversified portfolio, and again, back to all the assets we have and we can bring to bear, TELUS Rewards plays as a unified platform that ties it all together and is a connective tissue across all these different lines of business.

Jacob: When we think about the philosophy, as you mentioned, we have a philosophy that we refer to as product intensity, and it relates to building long lasting customer relationships.

Jacob: And product intensity is really the more services in our portfolio that a household has, the longer term and more mutually beneficial that household relationship.

Jacob: So when we redesigned the program last year, we introduced tiers that tap into that concept of product intensity to help drive step up and have more reasons for customers to have more of their services with us.

Jacob: So I’d say we’re shifting as much away from the legacy core telco model to more of an adaptive and progressive loyalty program with things like tiers, points and perks that we can talk about as well.

Aaron: Yeah, let’s do that in just a second.

Aaron: In fact, I just want to comment on, I love the tentacles theory strategy that you put into play, right?

Aaron: The more tentacles like the octopus you can wrap around, your customer, the stickier and tighter, you’ll have that relationship to be.

Aaron: So that’s great to hear that that’s a hallmark, if you will, a core ideology that you have as you build up the program.

Aaron: In fact, let’s do that.

Aaron: Let’s talk more about TELUS Rewards program itself, because it’s been a bit of a growing program, right?

Aaron: Like I know some of the prep work that we had, there was, you know, you were regional programs in 2017, you hit the million-plus member mark in 2019, and now you’ve launched your national program last year, last spring.

Aaron: So for those, again, who are familiar with it, can you give us just an overview of how the program works?

Aaron: You talked about the tiers component and partnership, but maybe in a little more detail, and really get into, you know, what are the key value propositions for the members, and how has the program evolved since you’ve been stewarding it?

Jacob: Yeah, I think you hit it exactly.

Jacob: We had two, actually, disparate programs in different parts of the country.

Jacob: Both had a positive customer reception.

Jacob: However, we saw the opportunity to bring those things together and redesign the program and introduce it nationally for all of our customers, as we wanted to be as inclusive as possible with the relaunch here.

Jacob: So last year, we transformed TELUS Rewards into a new national program, and it was built on really three pillars.

Jacob: So the first being the introduction of tiers.

Jacob: So giving customers status and progression based on the services that they had with us and their engagement in the TELUS ecosystem.

Jacob: And it’s not just based on traditional programs that would tie to spend, we based it on the number of products or services that they have with us.

Jacob: So a bit of a different way to think about it.

Jacob: The second is points and perks.

Jacob: So a combination of both items.

Jacob: So points that customers earn that they can redeem or transfer to some of our partners like WestJet we can talk about.

Jacob: But also giving them perks with clear, tangible value that they can redeem and are getting the value of those items, whether it be roaming passes, so saving $15 per day when roaming internationally.

Jacob: Screen protectors at one of our shops, so $40 screen protector and installation service, or virtual vet consults included as well for their pet at home.

Jacob: So the combination of points and perks, we felt was a good combination to keep customers engaged and give them more value upfront and value that they can redeem as they see fit.

Jacob: And then the third one being strategic partnerships.

Jacob: So WestJet is our inaugural premium partner where members can link accounts and earn and redeem across both programs.

Jacob: And that went live in October and we’ve already seen really strong uptake and exceeded some of our initial targets within the first two months as well.

Jacob: So we were excited to get that partnership up in live.

Aaron: Yeah, that’s a pretty significant undertaking to go beyond your own program, particularly when you just launched your national program last year, now moving into partnership at the last half of last year.

Aaron: So kudos to you and the team for extending that value.

Aaron: Your partners appreciate that.

Aaron: I love the diversity that you talked about in terms of what you can offer, in terms of services and the connectivity across all those different products and services.

Aaron: So with that, there’s many different customer types or archetypes that you probably come across.

Aaron: So whether people are consuming consumer mobile products or home services like you talked about, or even linking through your health services and pet services through TELUS Health and TELUS MyPet.

Aaron: So again, a very diverse portfolio.

Aaron: So you have to be focused on a certain subset of customers.

Aaron: I know you mentioned the more products, the better in terms of connection.

Aaron: But can you walk us through a little bit about how TELUS Rewards currently addresses the different customer segments that you’re focused on?

Aaron: What are the core two or three?

Aaron: And then how you’re addressing the needs of those particular customers?

Jacob: Yeah, for sure.

Jacob: So TELUS Rewards, it’s primarily focused on our consumer and residential segment.

Jacob: A big focus for Telcos is driving what we call mobile and home convergence, and you see it across the US today as well from the big players.

Jacob: If you have home internet with one, they’re sending you weekly offers to bundle and get the mobility service with them.

Jacob: So we’re focused on the consumer and residential segment.

Jacob: We are focused on different segments within that.

Jacob: So for example, leaning into our great WestJet partnership that we’ve launched, we’re very focused on customers that are traveling.

Jacob: So you’ll see we have recently introduced refresh mobility plans that lean into Canada, US, Mexico, as well as even international roaming plans.

Jacob: So again, leaning into the frequent travelers, or whether it be for business or vacation.

Jacob: But how do we bring the benefits of the WestJet partnership, as well as our global mobility connectivity, so that those customers can stay connected while traveling?

Aaron: Maybe it’s too early, as you think about other partner strategies that are coming to place, but can you talk about the if, how, or when of the other groups that you might be expanding to in the future, or is it too soon?

Jacob: Yeah, I’d say we’re in a number of discussions.

Jacob: And I’d say, if you think about travel, a big aspirational category.

Jacob: And the other one that we’re very focused on is tapping into more everyday consumer spend.

Jacob: So you’ll see some more lifestyle and more consumer brands that they interact with more frequently coming on board here shortly as well.

Jacob: That’s great.

Aaron: I think that’s a savvy way to approach things for sure to hit both ends of the spectrum on rewarding your best customers.

Aaron: That’s perfect.

Aaron: I’m also particularly interested in how you measure success in a Telco loyalty program, because certainly across different sectors, different metrics mean different things.

Aaron: And so, traditional metrics of churn reduction, customer lifetime value are obviously important, but I suspect there’s some nuanced KPIs at play that you have.

Aaron: And so, what are the critical success metrics for TELUS Rewards?

Aaron: And how do you balance those short-term engagement with the long-term relationship building that you have in play?

Jacob: Yeah, so our rewards program for sure is an incredible retention tool that reinforces our industry-leading churn rates.

Jacob: So, TELUS has led the industry with post-paid churn below 1% for more than a decade now.

Jacob: So, churn is absolutely a critical metric, but as you mentioned, it’s table stakes in telecom.

Jacob: So, other KPIs we’re focused on and success metrics, customer lifetime value for sure, but more so at a household level.

Jacob: So again, this goes hand-in-hand with the product diversity that we have and helping drive step up in our rewards tiers.

Jacob: So again, a reason to add more services with us.

Jacob: Engagement is a big one.

Jacob: So shifting away from again, the legacy Telco of coming in to just check or pay a monthly Telco bill, but finding ways for customers to come and interact more often with us and positive reasons to engage besides just paying a bill.

Jacob: And then partner metrics.

Jacob: So as we bring new partners on board, account linking, perks usage, making sure that we’re giving them more value outside of just the core services that they have with us as well.

Aaron: And engagement is always a funny one.

Aaron: I don’t know if you can double click on that one a little bit more to give a more like a specific example of something that’s more beyond the product of how you would engage.

Jacob: Yeah, so I’d say traditionally we have monthly active users that come in and they open the app, pay their bill if they haven’t already set up for pre-off credit or pre-off debit.

Jacob: And those that have don’t even income in monthly.

Jacob: So for us, it’s about driving them and giving them reasons to come in, whether that be for for contest entries to see what they’ve earned or to use some of the perks that we’re giving them that they can use with some of our partner network or even within some of our own channels and our own stores.

Jacob: So for us, it’s about starting to drive some of the core engagement metrics that other programs already have, but things like MAU and down to weekly active users eventually is where we want to go.

Aaron: Oh, I like that.

Aaron: And particularly, you know, best practice from us always is where people can identify our track and see where they’re going, and so you can help them along the journey to get them to those rewards.

Aaron: So that makes sense through the mobile app for sure.

Aaron: One of the things we’ve been talking about already a little bit, but certainly we want to make sure we put some attention on it in this conversation was the partnership between TELUS and WestJet.

Aaron: You know, this seems like a natural fit, you know, telecommunications and travel, both longer term customer relationships, you’re both Western based Canadian organizations, so you’ve got some value structure that might align there.

Aaron: Can you talk about how this partnership came together and what’s the value it’s creating for TELUS customers beyond what you’ve already described in terms of the travel customer, but and then a little bit about like, what’s the response like?

Aaron: You alluded to it before, but love if you could expand a bit more.

Jacob: Yeah, yeah, and you hit it exactly.

Jacob: So two organizations, Western, Canada focus, both have national and international growth objectives.

Jacob: I’d say a big component of every partnership is whether both parties have aligned interests and the teams are collaborative and almost working as one team.

Jacob: And from day one, that was the case with the WestJet group.

Jacob: So we’ve seen a number of Telco and airline partnerships, typically around in-flight Wi-Fi.

Jacob: And of course, that’s one part that we’ve delivered.

Jacob: So we’ve sponsored all of the new Wi-Fi on WestJet aircrafts.

Jacob: But together, we’ve implemented a more fully integrated partnership with WestJet.

Jacob: And we believe this is gonna deliver exponential value for our customers.

Jacob: So what I mean by that, we brought the two rewards programs together so customers can link.

Jacob: But where we did something different is rather than a one-time points bonus for linking, as you’d see in many programs, we’re actually exchanging perks that renew annually for customers.

Jacob: So giving them a benefit for linking, but something that keeps them engaged year over year with the program and continues to reinforce the benefit of being with both of our organizations.

Jacob: So we found a nice one that fits well in the complimentary category.

Jacob: So for our customers, they get advanced seat selection.

Jacob: So when they go book a next trip with WestJet, they can already select their seats and don’t have to wait until 24 hours before during check-in to try to pick a seat.

Jacob: For their customers, we’re giving roaming passes.

Jacob: So next time when you book that flight and you’re traveling with WestJet, if you have TELUS Mobility, you can get a few days of roaming or roaming for your trip covered on us.

Jacob: So it just makes sense to book that next trip with WestJet and to have your connectivity with TELUS.

Aaron: Those are great and they’re annual, so they continue on in perpetuity.

Aaron: So, you know, two reciprocal pain points from either side of the equation being removed by you and WestJet.

Aaron: That’s terrific to hear.

Aaron: That’s a great example.

Aaron: You know, these examples of partnerships like this, you know, they’re one approach to expanding value, you know, your rewards catalog and the redemption options that you have as well that you talked about in terms of points used versus perks.

Aaron: How do you think about the right mix between these partnerships and creating that aspirational value versus kind of everyday rewards that customers can access more frequently?

Aaron: Like, what’s your philosophy on balancing the aspirational with the more tangible reward set?

Jacob: Yeah, it’s a great question.

Jacob: So I think, simply put, you need both.

Jacob: But what I’d say, it’s not constant.

Jacob: So, for example, right, we’ve launched with WestJet and they’re a great aspirational travel partner.

Jacob: And where we’re going now is we’re focusing on some more of those everyday, smaller redemptions, but might not have as much excitement and an aspirational nature to it.

Jacob: But it helps out the customer in something that they need at the point in time.

Jacob: You look at the economic conditions today and we see more consumers looking to reduce their spend in order to combat inflation.

Jacob: So I’d say everyday rewards are starting to matter more and more to customers.

Jacob: So we’re going to do our best to adapt and tailor to the customer needs at the point in time.

Jacob: And if we look a year or two out and let’s say economic conditions change and we see an even more up spike in discretionary spend and travel with consumers, then we’re going to double down on some of our partnerships like WestJet and others to make sure that customers are getting even more benefit in those areas they’re looking to spend in.

Aaron: Oh, I like that.

Aaron: It’s almost like an accordion mentality, the rewards of what’s most pertinent in the given point in time for your customer set to avoid.

Jacob: Exactly.

Aaron: Makes sense.

Aaron: That’s great.

Aaron: Certainly the telco industry here in Canada is highly competitive.

Aaron: We’ve got a industry in Canada that’s not unlike any other telco environment.

Aaron: I think around the world is very unique to our country.

Aaron: And customer service has historically been a pain point for the industry overall.

Aaron: So how does TELUS Rewards fit into your broader customer experience strategy and how do you see the role of loyalty programs in improving this overall customer satisfaction and reducing that friction that we often see in Canadian telcos for the customer journey?

Jacob: Yeah, the industry has definitely historically been very transactional and had some pain points when it comes to customer service.

Jacob: And I’d say TELUS has always done a great job in leading with a customer first mentality.

Jacob: And that’s embedded in everything we do in TELUS Rewards.

Jacob: So a few examples of that is it’s integrated into the customer journey.

Jacob: So when a customer upgrades their phone plan or adds a new streaming service, TELUS Rewards is there recognizing that action, rewarding progression, rewarding with points and providing more benefits to the customer to reinforce that we’ve earned their trust and providing them with value in return.

Jacob: Other areas is we spent time with our agents and they can see how our customers interact with the rewards program.

Jacob: And they can offer points or additional perks to not only resolve the challenge, but to leave the customer feeling heard and appreciated.

Jacob: So those are just a few of the examples of how rewards plays in the customer service space.

Jacob: And we’re continually looking to improve it.

Jacob: And customer first is at the heart of everything we do.

Jacob: And I’d say we have an even more renewed focus on it as we head into 26 here.

Aaron: Oh, that’s great to hear.

Aaron: It’s a common thing for many Canadians at dinner parties to talk about their dissatisfaction with Telco.

Aaron: So it’s great to hear what you’re talking about, like TELUS leading with the customer first and embedding that in the program.

Aaron: That’s wonderful.

Aaron: Let’s talk, you talked about AI as a component of the book that you’re reading.

Aaron: Technology is obviously core to what TELUS does as a business.

Aaron: It’s increasingly important for loyalty programs.

Aaron: Can you talk about how technology enables the TELUS reward experience, maybe through the customer interaction, through AI, maybe that’s a venue to go, but are there specific digital innovations or personalization capabilities that you’re particularly excited about?

Jacob: Yeah, so we’re a technology company at our core.

Jacob: We’ve been designing and building platforms in the last few years, like a new smart home platform that we’ve built out.

Jacob: And so we understand what it takes to create unified and scalable experiences for our customers.

Jacob: Same thinking applies to our rewards programs.

Jacob: We need a platform that can support multiple business lines, diverse customer touch points, and partnership integrations as well.

Jacob: As you mentioned, it was a pretty fast follow after our rewards redesign.

Jacob: We launched account linking with WestJet there.

Jacob: So digital experience has to be seamless and best in class.

Jacob: So we brought it into our app and actually earlier this month, we’ve now natively integrated parts of our rewards program into our app.

Jacob: So we’re expanding that feature set and going to continue to enhance what a customer can do via app without a push to web.

Jacob: What we’ve seen already is we’ve seen a 10 percent lift in app downloads for our rewards members versus other TELUS customers.

Jacob: So we’re definitely leaning into app first experiences for our program members.

Jacob: Where we’re heading and where I’m most excited, is data driven triggers for things like offers, contests, and even more.

Jacob: And again, leveraging all of the data that we as a Telco and technology company have, as well as the data from some of the partners we’re working with.

Jacob: We want to get more personalized and it goes back to where we started of how do we drive personalization in a meaningful way where the customer feels understood and is satisfied with the outcome.

Jacob: So, we’re working diligently this year to bring more and more personalization into the program.

Aaron: I like the way that you’re obviously a Telco company.

Aaron: People have that device literally in their hands as the first point of contact and making sure that’s the main channel that they’re utilizing and making it easy and efficient for them.

Aaron: That’s great to hear.

Aaron: Also, really excited to hear about the potential future personalization with, you know, think about the travel journey that starts with the mobile device of booking their flight with WestJet through the TELUS portal or app and on using their device through to that device going with them on their journey as well too.

Aaron: So that’s interesting to me as well.

Jacob: Very good.

Aaron: Listen, we’ve been talking a lot about Telco.

Aaron: I always like to, when we get industry experts such as yourself to talk a little bit broader, so maybe we can turn to a bit of a broader look at the loyalty landscape.

Aaron: You know, we’ve been seeing a lot of programs and truth be known, they’ve been in particularly in retail and travel more so than Telco specifically, but a lot of programs have been scaling back benefits and making it harder to earn and redeem rewards.

Aaron: What’s your perspective on this trend?

Jacob: Yeah, it’s a great question.

Jacob: And it’s one, when we just redesigned the program last year, we had a bunch of folks saying, add more, give unlimited of these perks.

Jacob: And what I’d say are two components that are critical with any rewards program, it’s extensibility and affordability.

Jacob: So, it’s always better, in my opinion, to have a path to drive more delighters versus having to scale something back from customers.

Jacob: So, with the launch of our program, there’s probably five to six other things that we could have added in the launch.

Jacob: And we’ve held back and are going to use those levers to help continue to extend the program, to add more benefits to the program.

Jacob: If a customer uses all of their perks, we can always go back and top up their perks as a nice delighter versus giving them, let’s say, 10 perks and then having to scale it down, give an affordability the next year.

Jacob: So, I think it’s always best to have that rolling roadmap and long-term planning whenever possible.

Jacob: Now, in certain cases, though, don’t get me wrong, there are examples where companies have done this really well.

Jacob: I’d say the Amex Platinum Refresh in the US, right?

Jacob: That was really a more for more and incredibly well received by consumers.

Jacob: Another one, Delta SkyMiles.

Jacob: So, when they initially put those changes forward, a lot of customer feedback came in, but they acknowledged and they adapted that program pretty quickly.

Jacob: And they were still able to achieve increasing the spend from customers in order to reach those tiers, but they did so in a more meaningful way after incorporating some of the customer feedback.

Jacob: So, I’d say we are seeing it.

Jacob: The best advice and guidance is always have levers for extensibility in the program, and it’s always better to go and delight a customer versus having to scale something back.

Aaron: No, we would agree a whole hardly with you.

Aaron: You know, one of our best practices in the Loathe Academy is always saying that if you’re going to take something away, you have to have equal or greater value, you know, to kind of shift the pendulum.

Aaron: What you’re talking about is a version of that, but it’s a metered approach to revealing the rewards and the add-ons and the benefits that your customers are going to receive from you over a long longitudinal period, as opposed to just everything up front right off the bat.

Aaron: So very, very good.

Aaron: You know, before I ask my final question, perhaps I’ll take a moment to just kind of open the floor to you for anything else that you may want to comment on, anything that you think loyalty marketers and business leaders need to know, particularly in those working in maybe, you know, subscription-based services or services industries, or so sorry, subscription-based industries such as Telco, or, you know, the nuanced ideas that you might have about where loyalty is going overall.

Jacob: Yeah, so I’d say loyalty, you need to deliver on two things, the first being the financial KPIs.

Jacob: So, especially in subscription-based businesses, incremental benefits beyond churn, and it comes back to understanding the assets you have at play and how to create as much value as possible.

Jacob: So, I’d say that’s baseline of what loyalty has to deliver.

Jacob: The second one for me is always the customer-first metrics.

Jacob: So, deliver on your financial plan, but always set aside plans to delight customers, to earn their trust when you have the opportunity.

Jacob: It cannot just be about touch points to drive upsell or cross sell with customers.

Jacob: You have to set aside plans around customer delighters and really driving customer first, and that’s all incremental outside of a financial KPI plan, in my opinion.

Aaron: No, I agree with you 100 percent, wholeheartedly on that.

Aaron: Oftentimes, we get caught up by the financiers driving the loyalty program and the value to the customer, and it sounds like you’re taking a good astute approach to balancing that out to make sure that the customer is first, as you say, and always winning for TELUS.

Aaron: That’s great.

Aaron: So, we’re nearing the end of our time here.

Aaron: Bill and I, at the end of our conversation, it’s kind of like Paul likes us to start off with the book, to introduce people.

Aaron: We always like to end with a final thought that really focuses around one example from either your business or professional life, doesn’t matter which it is, where there was a bit of an epiphany moment.

Aaron: So, that moment where you thought to yourself, man, this is exactly why customer loyalty works.

Aaron: I don’t know if you can share a personal professional example of that.

Jacob: Yeah, a big one for me is I’ll go build off that customer first mentality.

Jacob: And for me, it’s about embedding emotional intelligence within a program.

Jacob: An example of that that stood out to me was Chewy.

Jacob: So, understanding that when a customer contacts Chewy to cancel a subscription or order, when someone loses a pet, some customers receive flowers, condolences notes, keepsakes, whatever it is, this goes beyond any KPIs.

Jacob: It’s just pure empathy.

Jacob: It’s in that moment that you’ve earned that customer for life.

Jacob: And being able to show up, whether a customer is walking into a store looking for a cancellation request, or they’re going through a personal or life event, emotional intelligence cannot be overlooked within a loyalty program.

Jacob: So, always having the opportunity to, again, delight or support a customer, whatever it might be, is critical.

Jacob: And that was one for me that stood out, knowing that, again, goes beyond any financial KPI metrics.

Jacob: It goes towards the real customer connection that you, as a company, have built.

Aaron: I think that one hits the nail on the head for what we’re all kind of thinking about right now as loyalty marketers, as business leaders, particularly with the convergence of AI coming in, is the not to lose sight of that empathy and that human element that comes into play, because that’s where the real connections are cemented in some of these relationships.

Aaron: And as you say, at a specific life cycle period or a moment in time where there’s empathy needed, empathy first, perhaps, that’s a great example.

Aaron: So thank you so much for sharing that.

Aaron: I like that as well.

Aaron: Listen, Jacob, thank you so much for taking your time.

Aaron: We know you’re busy.

Aaron: We appreciate you being here with us.

Aaron: We also appreciate the listeners taking time to hear what you had to say.

Aaron: And so anyone can connect with Jacob, obviously, through LinkedIn as well, through Lets Talk Loyalty and through this connection.

Aaron: But thank you again for your time.

Aaron: We appreciate it.

Aaron: And we’ll see you do until the next Wiser Loyalty Series podcast.

Aaron: Stay tuned.

Paula: This show is sponsored by Wise Marketeer Group, operating the Wise Marketeer and Loyalty Academy.

Paula: For nearly 25 years, the Wise Marketer is the industry’s longest-serving publication and source for news, information and insights, which now includes its own branded industry research, insights and advice.

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Paula: The Loyalty Academy sets a global industry standard for loyalty education, with its Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional or CLMP designation, which has created a community of more than 1200 marketing executives and professionals across more than 50 countries.

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