Best of the Back Catalogue | ebookers Bonus+ Rewards Programme (#778)

PAULA: Welcome to Let’s Talk Loyalty, an industry podcast for loyalty marketing professionals.

PAULA: 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.

PAULA: So welcome to this episode of Let’s Talk Loyalty, which for me, I have to say, is very much a trip down memory lane.

PAULA: So as I mentioned to my guest, in fact, I used to work for the same company that she’s now working for.

PAULA: And essentially, this is a lady by the name of Nicola Helfet, who is the Loyalty Programme Manager for an online travel agency based out of London called eBookers.

PAULA: So before we get into all of the background, I’d first of all like to welcome Nicola Helfet to Let’s Talk Loyalty.

NICOLA HELFET: Hi, Paula.

NICOLA HELFET: Thank you so much for having me.

PAULA: Great, excellent.

PAULA: So as I mentioned in the introduction, Nicki, first and foremost, I worked in eBookers myself back in 2002, 2003.

PAULA: And it’s a long time before there was any loyalty programme.

PAULA: So I’ll be dying to get into what eBookers does in terms of loyalty.

PAULA: And in fact, we’ll do maybe a bit of background on the company.

PAULA: But before we do any of that, let’s first of all get into my usual first question, as you know, which is literally talking about my guest’s favourite loyalty statistic.

PAULA: So tell me, Nicki, what is your favourite loyalty statistic?

NICOLA HELFET: Well, my favourite one, and I double checked, I think this is a US statistic, but I seem to recall reading something similar for the UK as well, which is that the average consumer is a member of 14.8 loyalty programmes.

PAULA: Okay.

NICOLA HELFET: Of those, they’re active in around 6.5.

PAULA: Wow.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think that really resonated with me, partly.

NICOLA HELFET: I mean, I’m obviously a loyalty professional, a bit of a loyalty nerd, so I do sign up to a lot of programmes.

NICOLA HELFET: But I think even in general life, I know that we want to have a tendency to sign up to all sorts of different programmes, all sorts of different things.

NICOLA HELFET: And I think more and more companies and more and more types of industry are starting to introduce loyalty programmes.

NICOLA HELFET: So that idea of the number of programmes that people are signed up to, the number of programmes that people have to sort of understand, get their head around, kind of get the mechanics of, I think.

NICOLA HELFET: When you remind ourselves as loyalty professionals of all of the different schemes that people are busy seeing and busy participating in, it’s a really interesting one to consider.

NICOLA HELFET: And then I think also on the flip side, there’s that side of how many they actually engage with.

NICOLA HELFET: And the fact that we’re lucky if we’re one of the 6.5 that they are engaging with and active in.

NICOLA HELFET: And I think that’s something that loyalty programme managers will definitely resonate with in terms of trying to keep your members active, as well as just having the members join themselves.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think that that’s a really interesting one to kind of keep in mind.

NICOLA HELFET: And in fact, I think I was almost impressed that it was as many as that on average, because that’s still quite a lot of us to be asking of consumers.

NICOLA HELFET: But it’s one that I try and bear in mind when I’m trying to communicate, especially when you put changes to a programme, for example, or the onboarding process, and thinking about how many other things our customers have to think about and keep track of.

PAULA: You’re absolutely right, Nicki.

PAULA: Yes, and they’re not just thinking about loyalty programmes, obviously either.

PAULA: So it’s one thing to say to support in programmes, but they’ve got lives to lead.

PAULA: So you’re right, actually.

PAULA: I often have that very clear, I suppose, concern about the ability to cut through and talk to people about something that matters to us, as you said, as professionals, but clearly is a drop in the ocean of their everyday life.

PAULA: So I like that one.

PAULA: So that’s a great one to get started with.

PAULA: So tell us first of all then, Nicki, how did you get into loyalty?

PAULA: Where did your loyalty career start?

NICOLA HELFET: Well, it’s been a slightly windy journey across marketing to get here really.

NICOLA HELFET: And so I started off, my sort of first real professional job was sort of in a very small company.

NICOLA HELFET: We were six people and I was the sales and marketing department.

PAULA: Okay.

NICOLA HELFET: Started off with more of a sales role.

NICOLA HELFET: I’d done some sales experience while I was busy traveling after university.

NICOLA HELFET: So I, but I’d taken lots of sort of marketing options in my business degree.

NICOLA HELFET: I always knew that marketing was sort of more creative and interesting side of business that I wanted to get into.

NICOLA HELFET: So I took the opportunity to build that into a sort of sales and marketing role, get some experience.

NICOLA HELFET: I then moved over from that role after a few years to, I went from a company of six people to Sainsbury’s, which is my second biggest supermarket chain in the UK.

NICOLA HELFET: Obviously, a lot of our listeners will be familiar with the Nectar Programme, and obviously Sainsbury’s is the main partner of that.

PAULA: Yes.

NICOLA HELFET: I’m now owner of that.

NICOLA HELFET: So it was a bit of a contrast going into a big company.

NICOLA HELFET: My role was in fact in content.

NICOLA HELFET: I used to do printed content and I managed all the recipe cards, the three magazines in store.

PAULA: Nice.

PAULA: I love that.

NICOLA HELFET: Then when Sainsbury’s stopped doing printed content, I was needing to find another role.

NICOLA HELFET: It was right before Christmas, when a lot of people were busy leaving and leaving vacancies.

NICOLA HELFET: One of the roles that was available was working on the Necta programme.

NICOLA HELFET: Staying in the marketing department and doing targeted communications is very much a CRM role, but for Necta promotional events.

NICOLA HELFET: I used to work on things like their Double Up events, their Swipe and Win, the earn and burn promotional side of things.

NICOLA HELFET: That got me into the world of loyalty and CRM.

NICOLA HELFET: It was a slightly random jump really.

NICOLA HELFET: It wasn’t particularly calculated and planned, but I think once I got into the loyalty world, understanding how interesting it is, I think it’s an area of business and of marketing that’s got a really interesting mixture of the commercial side of things, the customer psychology and the psychology of buying behavior and incentivization along with creativity, with communications.

NICOLA HELFET: I think it’s a really great industry to be in, in terms of the mixture of different skills.

NICOLA HELFET: I really enjoyed it and I’ve stayed within the CRM side of things.

NICOLA HELFET: My following role was in the AA, so the Automobile Association in the UK.

NICOLA HELFET: I think the American listeners know it as AAA is the equivalent, but there’s some different versions around the world.

NICOLA HELFET: That was working on membership and CRM.

NICOLA HELFET: Again, there was the CRM and communication side of that, but very much with a loyalty element in a very different context.

NICOLA HELFET: Moving from supermarkets, which is very much the heartland of points and loyalty, to something that’s much more, it’s almost the sort of insurance side in the AA, as well as sort of breakdown cover has financial services and car insurance and things.

NICOLA HELFET: So it was moving from classic loyalty into the industry that’s sort of the hardest and notoriously most difficult to create loyalty because doing that kind of, you’ve got a once a year renewal cadence.

NICOLA HELFET: It’s not something that people are engaging with every week and seeing value in every week or every day in some cases with grocery and trying to get that engagement with the brand in the 364 days of the year where they’re probably not interacting with you or you’re probably not crossing their mind and the people that break down, they renew because generally they see the value and also they have a good experience.

NICOLA HELFET: We’re good at that.

NICOLA HELFET: For people that don’t, how do you instill loyalty and get them when it comes to their renewal time of year to want to reengage with the brand and stick with us.

NICOLA HELFET: That was an interesting kind of different aspect of loyalty that built my more rounded view I think of loyalty as a whole.

NICOLA HELFET: Then an opportunity came up with Expedia Group in travel, which obviously is the other really big part of the loyalty industry.

NICOLA HELFET: I feel like I’ve got a bit of a trifecta of grocery, of travel and of financial services.

NICOLA HELFET: It was an interesting and really cool opportunity for me to then look at another very different aspect of loyalty with travel and Best of Plus Loyalty Programme, which is the one that we have at ebookers, which is part of Expedia Group.

NICOLA HELFET: It was an interesting program and meant that I’ve now been heading that up for about three years now and had a really great time in doing so and learning about travel, and travel loyalty, and all sorts of great stuff.

PAULA: Wonderful.

PAULA: Well, we’ll get into talking about the program, of course, Nicki, and I suppose just for listeners, a couple of things I wanted to pick up on that you mentioned.

PAULA: There’s actually quite a lot of listeners in the US as well.

PAULA: They may be less familiar with Nectar.

PAULA: That I suppose for those listeners or anyone who’s outside the UK is a hugely well-respected coalition program.

PAULA: So incredible expertise and very much run, I suppose, independently of the individual partners.

PAULA: So I can imagine you got a phenomenal amount of experience working for someone like Nectar.

PAULA: And as you said then, into the insurance space almost with the AA, it’s less sexy, let’s say.

PAULA: And then obviously ending up in the office.

PAULA: So I think we share a passion for travel.

PAULA: I mentioned to you as well as e-bookers, I also worked in the airline business.

PAULA: But I think what I always loved, Nicki, about e-bookers was, first of all, I know it was the very first online travel agency in the UK.

PAULA: I was rereading back on my history.

PAULA: Established what, 1998?

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NICOLA HELFET: Yes, that’s correct.

PAULA: Incredible.

PAULA: And a couple of acquisitions along the way.

PAULA: And as you said now, part of the Expedia Group, and there’s other brands within that group.

PAULA: I know we’re only going to talk about ebookers today.

PAULA: But as I said, certainly back in 2002 and 2003, there was no talk of loyalty when I worked with ebookers.

PAULA: And I suppose at the time it had come to literally just educating consumers about the opportunity to book flights online, which I know is very different to the business that you’re running now.

PAULA: And I know you also, by the way, inherited the loyalty programme.

PAULA: I don’t think you built it yourself, but it looks like a really clear and effective programme.

PAULA: So I’d love to just maybe, if you don’t mind just talking through what the value proposition is of the programme, just so that listeners can get a sense of what ebookers is actually doing in the loyalty space.

NICOLA HELFET: Absolutely.

NICOLA HELFET: Yes.

NICOLA HELFET: And I think it’s a really great programme that I’ve been lucky enough to inherit.

NICOLA HELFET: So I’m definitely mindful of that.

NICOLA HELFET: It’s a really simple and really generous programme.

NICOLA HELFET: I think that’s what really makes it stand out in the marketplace.

NICOLA HELFET: And what really stood out to me as an autocompressional is finding that it was a great one to be able to take the reins on.

NICOLA HELFET: So our programme is called Bonus+.

NICOLA HELFET: It’s essentially got a sort of an earn and burn underlying element.

NICOLA HELFET: And then there are tiers, so a kind of tiering proposition on top of that.

NICOLA HELFET: So what’s really great about it and one of the main selling points I think for us in the world of loyalty kind of coming back to that idea of customers having lots of different loyalty programmes to have to understand and keep track of.

NICOLA HELFET: I think its simplicity is one of its strongest things.

NICOLA HELFET: And from a loyalty professional perspective, having something that’s simple to communicate obviously is really helpful too.

NICOLA HELFET: So customers earn a sort of a monetary amount of credit as opposed to being points that they then have to understand the value of and convert in their heads to a monetary amount.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think that kind of we do a lot of the maths for people and I think that is something that customers appreciate.

NICOLA HELFET: So you earn as a percentage of your booking, so for example, on flights you earn one percent.

NICOLA HELFET: So a hundred pounds on a flight, you earn one pound in Bonus+.

NICOLA HELFET: We obviously operate in different markets as well across Europe.

NICOLA HELFET: So in Swiss francs, for example, it’s the same in Switzerland, obviously euros for a lot of our points of sale, including Ireland too.

NICOLA HELFET: So it’s literally displayed right next to your booking amount, the amount you earn in Bonus+, is 2 euros 50.

NICOLA HELFET: And I think that’s something that is really helpful for us in terms of having our members really understand the value that they’re getting.

NICOLA HELFET: So there’s a 1% earn on flights.

NICOLA HELFET: We do 2% on packages and 3% on hotel standalone bookings.

NICOLA HELFET: And then we also have higher earn rates in our app, so 2%, 3% and 5% respectively.

NICOLA HELFET: And we’ve been encouraged by customers to engage on our app platform.

NICOLA HELFET: And the app offers lots of other great bits of functionality that are really helpful reminders and alerts and things.

NICOLA HELFET: So once our members, particularly the more engaged members that are traveling and booking a lot, get the value of the loyalty programme in the app, they also get lots of other benefits when they engage with us on that platform as well.

NICOLA HELFET: So there’s no redemption floor, which is another really great part of our programme.

NICOLA HELFET: So if you’re booking three hotels in a row, you can take the earnings off the first booking and take that off the second booking and get the redemption right away, which I think is another great feature.

NICOLA HELFET: And I know that that’s something that we as loyalty professionals talk about a lot is the redemption.

NICOLA HELFET: And it’s that moment of truth when people get the value of the programme.

NICOLA HELFET: So, rather than having to collect thousands and thousands of points to be able to eventually hope to get a redemption and possibly never reach that, I think that often plays into that.

NICOLA HELFET: There’s six and a half other loyalty programmes that people are members of and aren’t active in.

NICOLA HELFET: I think that’s often part of what creates that scenario.

NICOLA HELFET: So, the fact that people can save up and we get people making lots of bookings and get a really big balance and they can book a whole weekend away in an ice hotel and it’s entirely paid for using their bonus plus credit, but you can also see the value right away if you like.

NICOLA HELFET: Our redemptions are on hotel bookings.

NICOLA HELFET: So, it means that often it plays into that more treat element of things.

NICOLA HELFET: We often talk about the reward as being, it can be quite functional and just money off, but often when people are doing, for example, booking their business travel perhaps or a mixture of business and leisure, they then want to book a really nice five-star hotel for a long weekend perhaps.

NICOLA HELFET: They can use their redemption against that and it starts creating a bit more of a kind of emotional value to them in that respect.

PAULA: Wonderful.

PAULA: Well, I mean, I think the first thing to pick up on is, it’s incredible to see that the app bookings get double on flights, as you said, 2% instead of 1% and then 3% and 5% on your packages and hotels.

PAULA: So I always love actually even when I work for clients, I love when there’s a single-minded objective for loyalty, which is, let’s encourage people to behave in this way, rather than asking them to jump through too many hoops.

PAULA: So I think, as you said, there’s a lot of clarity of thinking for the business coming through there.

PAULA: I can’t imagine what the breakdown is, but as you said, I’m sure you’ve got plenty of business travellers and they might be tempted to book on just on the normal website.

PAULA: But obviously, if they’re going to get twice the rewards, they’ll go straight for the app.

PAULA: So that sounds super exciting.

NICOLA HELFET: Absolutely, absolutely.

NICOLA HELFET: And that means we get a lot more engagement.

NICOLA HELFET: And the Lawful Programme encourages a lot of engagement from customers that are generally more engaged with us as a brand.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think that’s really great that we give more reward on that kind of behaviour.

PAULA: Absolutely.

PAULA: And I suppose as you think through the travel journey as well, like it seems so straightforward to book all of your travel at your desk, maybe back at home or in your normal kind of working environment.

PAULA: But then I guess when you do get to your destination, it’s even more important to have your travel agency on your phone so that you can connect with anything that you need to check on.

PAULA: So I can kind of see the longer term thinking as well because there’s a better service opportunity when you can be with the consumer, because they’ll always have their phone with them obviously when they go.

PAULA: So that makes an awful lot of sense as well.

PAULA: And I know I did ask you, but again, for the sake of listeners, it is obviously an online travel agency, as I said at the beginning, Nicki.

PAULA: But you don’t issue any cards, I know, even though it’s digital.

PAULA: Sometimes some programmes do feel that’s important in the hotel or travel industry.

PAULA: But I know you have tiers.

PAULA: So tell us about some of the tiers that you have.

NICOLA HELFET: Yes.

NICOLA HELFET: So on top of the basic earn and burn side of things, we have our three tiers.

NICOLA HELFET: So entry level is silver, which is when people sign up and they can progress to gold and to platinum.

NICOLA HELFET: And we do that based on the number of room nights that they’ve stayed with us.

NICOLA HELFET: So once members reach gold, they unlock some of our first level of benefits.

NICOLA HELFET: So we do things like reimbursement to use the law of currency to offer reimbursement to things like luggage charges, some of their data roaming charges, things like that that they incur whilst they’re traveling.

NICOLA HELFET: So they can then get that back into their accounts of Bonus Plus credit.

NICOLA HELFET: And obviously, because we work in a currency amount with our credit, then it’s much more straightforward for them to understand the value proposition of that.

NICOLA HELFET: So we give reimbursements.

NICOLA HELFET: We also offer perks and benefits at our VIP access hotel programme.

NICOLA HELFET: So within Expedia Group, we have, and the numbers rising all the time, but it’s, I think, last I knew was around about 6,000 global hotels and properties within our VIP access programme.

NICOLA HELFET: And so whenever members who are gold or platinum tier check in at those properties, they get extra perks and benefits.

NICOLA HELFET: So they’re labelled on our site and you book them.

NICOLA HELFET: And it can range from things like meal vouchers, spa credit, room upgrades for platinum.

NICOLA HELFET: So that’s one of our sort of platinum benefits as well as whatever the kind of value add perk that they get is where they’re available.

NICOLA HELFET: So where there is an upgrade room that is free at the property when they check in, then they can get upgrades on that as well.

NICOLA HELFET: So we also have some benefits in the range across all of our markets, but in the UK and Ireland, we also offer free airport lounge classes.

NICOLA HELFET: So once members reach goal, they get one each year and once they’re platinum, they get two.

NICOLA HELFET: So that means that they can also experience some extra luxury, extra perks whilst they’re traveling.

NICOLA HELFET: It’s a really popular benefit of ours and really incentivizes people to want to maintain that here.

PAULA: Wonderful.

PAULA: Yeah.

PAULA: I was looking at your benefits and I was thinking, actually, before I had a lounge pass, like I really dismissed it, but now that I have a lounge pass, I can help.

NICOLA HELFET: Once you’ve done it, you don’t want to go back.

NICOLA HELFET: It’s a slippery slope, definitely.

PAULA: It’s easy to get spoiled.

PAULA: Just because you mentioned the other European countries, Nicki, how many countries in total is e-bookers operating the loyalty programme in?

NICOLA HELFET: We are in seven different markets.

NICOLA HELFET: We have actually a small brand that’s part of e-bookers group that’s under the Mr.

NICOLA HELFET: Jett brand in Sweden.

NICOLA HELFET: Mr.

NICOLA HELFET: Jett Rewards adds the programme in Sweden.

NICOLA HELFET: And e-bookers, we’re in six markets under Bonus Plus as the loyalty programme and under e-bookers as the brand.

NICOLA HELFET: So the UK, Finland and Switzerland are the main biggest ones.

NICOLA HELFET: But also we operate in France, Germany and of course, Ireland as well.

PAULA: Of course, yeah, yeah.

PAULA: And I was telling you before we came on air that we did a huge amount together.

PAULA: So at the time Dublin was the European headquarters for e-bookers in terms of both the call centre and actually just in terms of e-commerce.

PAULA: And I was thinking about it actually again, a bit of nostalgia when you were mentioning about, showing the benefits alongside in that booking journey.

PAULA: Because I think again, as digital marketeers, anything you can do to drive what I know e-bookers used to call, I don’t know if they still use this term, we used to call it the look to book ratio.

PAULA: Do you still use that term?

PAULA: Maybe more on the business side.

NICOLA HELFET: Yeah, I don’t think we do.

NICOLA HELFET: I think we would certainly recognize that, but I don’t think we use that terminology for it.

PAULA: Okay, there you go.

PAULA: So I’m showing my age now, but certainly yes.

PAULA: When e-commerce was a child, I think there was a whole piece around driving conversion, which again, you can see the simplicity of that thinking coming through there, and very powerful.

PAULA: The other piece I really wanted to get a sense of, Nicki, was, I suppose, the KPIs.

PAULA: What do you measure in terms of the overall programme?

PAULA: And what is it, I suppose, that keeps you up at night?

NICOLA HELFET: I think probably the most important KPI that I look at and give most attention to is around active members, which obviously, having talked about people becoming inactive in loyalty programmes, is something that is a really important one for me.

NICOLA HELFET: So the number of active members within our group is really important.

NICOLA HELFET: I think also probably the transaction penetration, so the number of bookings on our site that are made by members versus non-members.

PAULA: Very good.

NICOLA HELFET: That’s one that I think is probably a more important indicator in terms of the business context, because numbers of active members is very much dependent on a broader landscape of the number of bookings that we’ve got.

NICOLA HELFET: But when you look at, there’s context to that.

NICOLA HELFET: When you look at the transaction penetration, it’s a representation of what the loyalty programme specifically is driving within that.

NICOLA HELFET: I think from the absolute loyalty perspective rather than perhaps a more commercial perspective, that’s a really important one for me.

NICOLA HELFET: But I also look at things like just the numbers of earned transactions that we’ve got, and in particular, the number of earned transactions, so the numbers of redemption that we’re seeing.

NICOLA HELFET: Because as we know that redemption side of things, that moment of truth is so important when it comes to building that loyalty, and that relationship with the member.

PAULA: And obviously, as we’ve talked about before on this show, behavior is being impacted particularly in travel with the current pandemic.

PAULA: So have you done anything within the loyalty programme as a result of COVID-19?

NICOLA HELFET: We have, and it’s actually something that has been a really interesting thing to have to think about as a loyalty professional, particularly in the travel world, like you say.

NICOLA HELFET: And there’s been a lot that’s done across the industry.

NICOLA HELFET: It’s something that obviously I think we’ve all been keeping a very close eye on in terms of looking at trends and looking at what different companies and different sectors are doing as well.

NICOLA HELFET: So, for example, air miles and flights versus hotel chains versus OTAs, I think they’re kind of different considerations for each area.

NICOLA HELFET: So we have been looking to mitigate with members.

NICOLA HELFET: I think one thing that I have been really mindful of, I think as a sort of marketing professional or as a loyalty professional, is understanding not only what we do, but how we communicate it and when we communicate it.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think in a time like this, it’s important to think about the customer and think about what’s on their mind, what’s important to them.

NICOLA HELFET: I think my approach has been that probably in the midst of the worst of things, and I think in particular when we consider the fact that we’re also in lots of different markets.

NICOLA HELFET: So the crisis has hit different countries at different times and in different ways and different levels of seriousness to make sure there’s a sensitivity around what we do and when we communicate things and what’s at the top of our customers’ minds.

NICOLA HELFET: I think there was a lot of pressure, I think within the industry and within marketing as a whole, for lots of companies to be seen to be doing something right away.

NICOLA HELFET: And I think it depends on the lawful mechanics as well, of some of the structures of programs, it’s more important to communicate more quickly.

NICOLA HELFET: So for example, with our loyalty credit, each amount of credit that is earned has a 12-month expiry.

NICOLA HELFET: So people have points expiring, or sort of credit expiring in phases, depending on when they’ve earned it.

NICOLA HELFET: I think there are some loyalty programmes where there’s a sort of rolling expiring date, and your entire balance expires at once.

NICOLA HELFET: So I understand that with certain programmes, I think the approach needs to be different based on sort of the implications of the structure of the programme.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think that for some of those programmes, people’s full balance was expiring, and they couldn’t travel, they couldn’t put up.

NICOLA HELFET: I think there was a different need to sort of try and mitigate for that right away, the way that our programme is.

NICOLA HELFET: For me, it felt like it was the wrong thing to jump too quickly into something that was probably not our customer’s biggest concern at the time.

NICOLA HELFET: I think from everything that’s going on, you obviously need to be mindful of the fact that some people will have been very ill themselves, will have close family and friends that have been very ill or worse.

NICOLA HELFET: Is the fact that a proportion of their loyalty credit is going to expire and they can’t use it on their highest list of concerns?

NICOLA HELFET: Probably not.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think it can come across the wrong way if you communicate the wrong message at the wrong time.

NICOLA HELFET: So what I’ve been mindful of is trying to take action when people’s mindset is right for it.

NICOLA HELFET: So as we’re sort of beginning of June now, we’re coming into a time where in most of our markets, the worst of things is hopefully over.

NICOLA HELFET: It seems like the worst of things is over.

NICOLA HELFET: Also in terms of things like travel restrictions, those are being lifted a little bit.

NICOLA HELFET: People have the ability to at least start thinking about travel, booking travel, they might not be traveling for another few months or another year, but the mindset around wanting to start to plan, to travel, to potentially go and see family, it’s becoming a bit more of a reality now.

NICOLA HELFET: And so it feels to me more sensible to mitigate for things like points it’s tiring when people weren’t able to make any bookings or certainly couldn’t confidently make any bookings without knowing what was going to happen, what restrictions were going to be in place.

NICOLA HELFET: I think taking a look, understanding to the customer that we see that you’ve missed out on something that you’ve earned and you shouldn’t have missed out on because of what was going on and making sure that we mitigate that.

NICOLA HELFET: So give them the time to use that credit when they have the ability to actually do so.

PAULA: Wow.

PAULA: I like that, Nicki.

PAULA: It’s very quietly reassuring.

PAULA: And I haven’t really thought about it in terms of, as you said, there’s just so much going on for people.

PAULA: They might have lost jobs.

PAULA: They might have lost loved ones, as you said.

PAULA: So, you know, as businesses, again, it’s tempting to jump in with them with solutions, but may not be appropriate.

PAULA: But as you said, hopefully now in the coming months.

PAULA: In fact, I even saw today, I was looking at the Maldives are talking about opening up as well, which, you know, was exciting for me, because I love to dream about traveling all over the place.

PAULA: So really nice to see all of that.

PAULA: And then I suppose that the last area that I really wanted to cover off is beyond ebookers, I suppose just in general.

PAULA: As you said, you’re a busy loyalty professional working and living in one of the most exciting, I think, loyalty markets in the world.

PAULA: So I know you mentioned a couple of other programmes that you’re a fan of, just, I suppose, as a consumer.

PAULA: So maybe just, would you mind just telling us about any other programmes that you admire or tend to follow?

NICOLA HELFET: Absolutely, and I think in the last few years, in particular, loyalty has become, and certainly in a market like the UK, that’s part of a mature market in this space, it’s become really exciting because I think there’s been a bit of a push from companies whether they’re revamping loyalty programmes or whether they’re launching new ones.

NICOLA HELFET: I think there’s been a bit of a trend away from the very classic, just earn points, burn points.

NICOLA HELFET: And there’s a lot of, I know you have a lot of discussions every week about this and a lot of discussions in the industry about, you know, are points dead or, you know, is it a bit of a dead and tired?

NICOLA HELFET: And I don’t think it is, but I think that there certainly has been a sense of lots of companies wanting to do something different.

NICOLA HELFET: And so that’s been really exciting because it’s brought out a lot of really interesting ideas.

NICOLA HELFET: And so people have tried to be really creative about the mechanics, about what sorts of things that they can reward, what kinds of rewards they offer.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think some of the kind of more out the box ones are the ones that I particularly like or those that have a bit of a twist perhaps.

NICOLA HELFET: But I also do, you know, I do still like an earn and burn and obviously having worked on Nectar for many years as well.

PAULA: Yeah.

NICOLA HELFET: I’m particularly fond of, I’ll always have a bit of a soft sort for Nectar and engagement in Nectar.

NICOLA HELFET: I think one that always comes up about the UK is Boots, just because it’s a very generous programme and it’s very simple to understand and it fundamentally is its points, so it’s quite simple.

NICOLA HELFET: But some of the more interesting ones that I really admire, I think TK Maxx have quite an interesting one, the Treasure Programme, and that rewards based on number of transactions, so it’s not around spend.

NICOLA HELFET: And one thing I quite like about that, which I think a lot of points programmes have a bit of a trade-off on, is there’s no elitism around just rewarding people that have a lot of money to spend.

NICOLA HELFET: And particularly, in places like Bear Miles, where you have to be often in that top 20 percent, that we know give us the top 80 percent of our revenue, but it is only the better off, and those that notice less the level of the rewards compared to someone that’s perhaps not in that very high spend bracket.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think programmes that were based on number of transactions, I think it’s a bit of an indicator of share of wallet and engagement in the brand, and it’s also something that kind of democratises loyalty a bit better.

NICOLA HELFET: They also have sort of, it’s more of a surprise and delight mechanic in terms of the rewards.

NICOLA HELFET: So you have a selection once you reach a certain number of transactions, there’s a choice of rewards that you can pick, but they’re not necessarily always the same or always going to be the same each time you reach that threshold again.

NICOLA HELFET: So they do some interesting things, they give that element of choice and they do some surprise and delight stuff.

NICOLA HELFET: They sent me a nice box of lint heart shaped chocolates on Valentine’s Day.

PAULA: Lovely.

NICOLA HELFET: Just because, so there are nice things like that, that they do.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think that’s one, even just the fact that the programme is called Treasure, and it’s all around treasure seekers.

NICOLA HELFET: And I think it really links with the mindset of people that shop at TK Maxx, which I have to confess I do a lot.

PAULA: Yeah.

NICOLA HELFET: Is that kind of finding something that’s different, that’s a bit of a gem that you won’t find everywhere else and not everyone else is going to have.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think that the sort of branding of that is really cool.

NICOLA HELFET: So I’m a fan of that one.

PAULA: Wonderful.

PAULA: Great.

PAULA: Well, you’ve picked up on a couple of ones there as well, Nicki, which, as you mentioned, Boots is one that I think globally is particularly well respected.

PAULA: And as you said, it’s partly because of the generosity of the programme.

PAULA: And I know it’s a 4% reward rate on that one because everyone talks about it.

PAULA: But also, again, just because Boots, you know, certainly in Ireland was one of our biggest pharmacies as well.

PAULA: I think it was just at the point of sale.

PAULA: There was such a great experience that every single person at the till would make sure they ask you about the Boots Advantage card.

PAULA: So I know for you guys as an online operator, it’s probably harder to have that same experience.

PAULA: But as you said, it’s going through every single transaction.

PAULA: But I think it’s something that we talk about a lot again, as loyalty professionals, to say, OK, how often can we remind these customers that we genuinely want to care?

PAULA: And as you said, the whole treasure positioning of TK Maxx, that sounds like a gorgeous programme and one I’ll definitely have to check out next time I’m in the UK.

NICOLA HELFET: Absolutely, and in fact, the interesting that you mentioned Boots as well, because coming back to the app conversation, the Boots app on their Advantage card, Proposition is really a lot more generous than in store.

NICOLA HELFET: So we’re above the basic 4% earn.

NICOLA HELFET: They do lots of coupons, lots of much more generous coupons, I find, than the ones that you get just printed out as a sort of coupon until printed out when you’re in store.

NICOLA HELFET: I think again, they obviously have that element of rewarding the customers that are much more engaged with the brand and doing that kind of app based up weighting of rewards.

NICOLA HELFET: So I think they do that really well too.

PAULA: Great.

PAULA: Well, I’ve learned a lot, Nicki, now I have to say, I certainly didn’t know that Boots did anything special in their app.

PAULA: Ebookers did because you told me about it already, but I really do like the strategy that you guys are using for the Ebookers programme.

PAULA: So I’ve certainly learned a loads.

PAULA: I think it’s a very exciting journey that you’re on.

PAULA: Is there anything else that you wanted to mention before we wrap up the show?

NICOLA HELFET: I think it’s just echoing the fact that it’s a sort of interesting time for loyalty.

NICOLA HELFET: I think loyalty is something that we as professionals often think about in a very sort of transactional and commercial way because obviously we work in businesses where that’s part of it.

NICOLA HELFET: I think it will be really interesting over time with some of the new mechanics that are coming out.

NICOLA HELFET: I think obviously also with COVID in the way that customer behavior is changing and customer lives are changing.

NICOLA HELFET: I think it’s going to be interesting to see how different brands and different industries react to that, and also how customers react to the part that loyalty plays in that.

NICOLA HELFET: I always feel that there’s sort of transaction, we talk a lot about emotional loyalty in the industry, and you’ve got that kind of transactional loyalty, which is the very much functional carrot, and then you’ve got that kind of, is that customer a true lover of the brand, advocate of the brand, at what point does that kind of, the self-actualization, that is somebody who is truly loyal to a brand, who loves the brand.

NICOLA HELFET: I think that perhaps the way that a lot of brands respond in this current climate is possibly going to dictate what the kind of next generation of true brand loyalty looks like.

PAULA: Absolutely, Nicki.

PAULA: Well, I mean, I think you made the point really well earlier already.

PAULA: You know, it’s not the first thing on people’s mind, given the pandemic that that is going on, but it’s very important to be around for people need you.

PAULA: And I think you’re only now going to start emerging and showing people exactly what e-bookers is all about.

PAULA: So, yeah, I just want to say it’s been super interesting and very fond memories for me, as I said, for 18 years ago from my e-bookers days.

PAULA: So just want to say, Nicki Helfet, thanks a million from Let’s Talk Loyalty.

NICOLA HELFET: Thank you so much.

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