![[ ON DEMAND ] Creating Moments of Magic in Retail](images/loader.gif)
[ ON DEMAND ] Creating Moments of Magic in Retail
Comarch recently hosted a webinar on how to implement psychological principles in loyalty campaigns for retail brands.
The event boasted loyalty industry standouts such as Bill Hanifin of The Wise Marketer, Phil Rubin, founder of Grey Space Matters, and the esteemed Director of Loyalty Science Lab Yuping Liu-Thompkins – and was led by our very own Director of Strategy and Growth in Americas – Christopher Sandstrom.
The hour-long discussion was chock full of valuable insights, research-based conversations, and friendly-hearted debates on the future of loyalty in the retail marketplace. With 75% of loyalty programs coming from the retail industry, it’s no secret that competition is fierce – and finding ways to think outside the box was top of mind throughout the webinar.
During the event, we received many questions from our audience members. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to answer all of them. So, we thought it would be helpful to reflect on the roundtable and continue the conversation to provide further context and answers to the questions below.
Miss the webinar? Click the below and watch it on-demand.
Q: Do you think earn and burn loyalty programs are still relevant?
Earn and burn programs are just one of the many types of loyalty programs retail brands can take advantage of. In this more traditional approach to loyalty, customers can earn points for their purchases – and in turn, spend those points on further purchases.
Thompkins explained that from a goal-psychology perspective, earn and burn loyalty programs are still a relevant mechanism for a wide range of brands.
However, she cautions that the journey for earn and burn differs drastically for individual customers, and that engaging and communicating with customers at different stages of that journey is still crucial. Data analytics plays a major role in guiding these engagements, but the manner in which brands engage with consumers is where behavioral psychology comes into play.
“People want to be shown that they’re known by the brands. People want to be remembered.” Rubin stated. “They want to be informed and educated so that they can make their own choices, and feel good about making those choices. And they want to feel special, which requires access.”
Essentially, it’s about creating loyalty programs or overall purchase environments that go beyond simple pricing models.
Q: There are sources saying loyalty campaigns for supermarkets aren’t effective in growing your business. What’s your opinion on this?
The truth is that many supermarkets aren’t utilizing the right loyalty campaigns. Many brands rely on the age-old process of sending weekly coupons and membership-based pricing discounts. If we take a page from the webinar on the “foundations of human behavior” – these old-school loyalty models fail to address key psychological principles.
Autonomy is almost completely absent, as there is no room for discovery or growth in many supermarket loyalty programs.
Competence is also lacking, as there is no sense of achievement or mastery in these models.
Social relatedness is completely out the window, unless a membership program has matched customer-spend with a value-based mission.
Q: How does the state of the economy impact the value vs. emotional loyalty purchase decisions?
The economic trajectory we’re currently facing certainly impacts purchasing decisions. One would have to think that price increases and general economic changes would impact emotional loyalty – taking valuable customers away from certain brands that may even be increasing their pricing.
But that may not be the case.
Take Apple for example. Emotional loyalty continues to drive purchase decisions for their customers. Even during the Great Recession (2007-2009), their revenue nearly doubled. Apple is no stranger to creating emotional connections and experiences with its customers – and they are certainly not opposed to drastically raising their prices. Since the first iPhone, which sold for $499 – prices have doubled since then – and yet, the number of users has never decreased. In fact, it’s grown from 1.3 million to well over a billion in the past 16 minutes.
Q: What’s the biggest difference in retail customer behavior versus any other industry?
Sandstrom wrapped up the call with this rapid-fire question, limiting the panelists to just a few words for their answer. One by one, our experts shared their answers.
Phil Rubin: Available goods
With so many products available, retail customer behavior is volatile – and it’s difficult to capture.
Bill Hanifin: Promiscuity
The ever-increasing landscape of brands means that customers aren’t always in the mood for loyalty. Today one brand, tomorrow another.
Yuping Liu-Thompkins: Triangle-like relationship
Retail is a complex environment, where one brand is selling other brands – creating a triangle with the consumer.
