Go Digital or Die ! How about print?

Recently, I asked one Question of many of my customers in Dubai.

Q. You seem to be quite busy with orders, why do you want a website?

Case 1-Reply was
Well, one of my dream customers refused to register my company as a supplier because i don't have a website.

Case 2-Reply was
My son won't join my family business unless i have my business website.

Case 3-Reply was
These days every one has it...

Case 4- Reply was
I am loosing business to competition.......... and so on

So all businesses, small or big are realising the importance of getting their business online. However, not many are sure of how?

That was demand part of it. So there is a demand.
(I used website as example because website are central to all our digital decisions & we are still strugling with the idea)

How about supply?

Almost all agencies are offering Digital solutions. 
One such agency, in posh new dubai have a beautiful website home page done with images (only). yeah, there is text but as a part of the images. How good is that? they don't exist for search engines, at least.

There are, however, real good agencies as well.

So there is supply....Some great, some good, bad even ugly!!

How about traditional media's?

All are adding online media (most have already done that) to their portfolio.Some monetizing , some not.

Now here is my point. How much should they (traditional media guys) believe in the saying
             
                "Go Digital or Die"? 

We recently saw a major regional print media player going out of business because they believed in this statement more than it deserved. 

All businesses in general, as well as Media companies/agencies need to have a plan for this transition.
In this region (Middle East), we don't have much data to rely on (doesn't mean we rely on US statistics), so we need to be in touch with the ground realities and review the offerings.Take slow but firm steps in a definite direction called DIGITAL.

Test, Analyse, Learn, Apply, Listen, Analyse, Apply, Test, Repeat......

P.S.Assumptions are costly

Is launching a Loyalty program a Strategic move or Marketing?

Confused?

This is the common expression which occurs when I asked the marketing managers or the decision makers in this domain.

What is the difference?.... is the next question I face from them.

Most of the companies in Middle East initiate a loyalty program because either they are following the loyalty band wagon or their marketing department has to come with “New initiative”.

This ambiguity in understanding the difference clearly reflects in their approach, when they hire an advertising agency to develop a loyalty program and far worse when they approach loyalty software and hardware vendor.

You must me thinking these are those small companies next door which you see operating a couple of stores,  but the matter of fact they are not whom I intend to talk about .

I am specifically talking about some of the leading organizations, banks and groups who are not short of resources.

The result is obviously a delivery of another frustrating loyalty program which the brand and the customer was better without.

A list of these loyalty programs like these can be quite extensive in this region. However my objective here is not to name and shame but to highlight the root of the problem which is the lack of strategic approach to this marketing element.

Customer loyalty should be a strategic approach evolving right from the bottom of the vision and mission of your company. Retailer should question why they are offering this loyalty program. It should be a part of mid to long term strategy of the organization to gain competitive edge in the market. 

Only when a strategic approach is adopted, the whole program dynamics takes a new dimension.

A classic example is the recent report by Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Lab on iPhone Owner Loyalty Declines: Is Apple Losing its Innovation Edge? which found that only 75 percent of iPhone owners in Western Europe say they are likely to buy their next phone from Apple, down from 88 percent in 2011. US repeat purchase intentions have also seen a slight decline, down from 93 percent in 2011 to 88 percent in 2012.

What does this mean to you?

Loyalty cannot be earned just by great marketing 

Is your loyalty program Functional, Emotional and SOCIAL?

All this time and resources you have been spending in running your loyalty program but still your program fails to deliver?. For most of the companies in Middle East this is quite a common scenario.

Your company does not require a higher budget or resources to get your loyalty program moving it just needs the - STITCH

There are three basic elements which determine the success and failure of your  loyalty program. It  is its functionality, its emotional appeal and its Social reach.

Functional

Sadly, many programs are still mainly reward schemes that do not have the functionality and, sometimes the internal support to develop real customer loyalty. Reviewing several platforms I discover that they actually can deliver greater functionality than the program offers.

Customers and employees increasingly need more and more flexibility and speed in CRM platforms.

Employees want software that's as fast and easy to use and customers wants the points/rewards credited to their account immediately without additional delay or actions on their part. Failure to achieve this results in loss of transaction, data and ultimately loyalty.  

Emotional 

There is an emotional connection between a brand and an individual. It's what we talk about when we speak of "brand advocacy". It's what marketers’ dream of. And it's a mammoth task to achieve in a business/human relationship. All of us can name a few examples of companies that elicit this level of loyalty (think about Apple, Nordstrom and USAA, for example) and each of us has specific merchants and service providers that we're emotionally connected to.

Emotional loyalty doesn't require rewarding transactions, although that might be a component of a company's overall loyalty plan. So how do you make your loyalty program emotional?

The answer lies in the way a brand communicates with its audience online, offline, directly or indirectly. Just by sending a happy birthday message to your customer is not emotional communication but delighting him with a gift (without requiring him to make any purchases) will make your communication emotional. Do not forget Loyalty is a Human behavior and needs to be instigated.

Social

This is one of the important elements of your loyalty program.

Many programs are now rightfully targeting their audiences through social media but this trend still needs to be adopted by the loyalty programs in Middle East. Global trends in access to mobile technology has meant that the better programs and platforms now provide sophisticated back-end links for messaging and communication with smart phones and social media sites like face book and twitter. This not only attracts the existing customer but also helps them making them your advocates to their friends and family. By giving them an easy tool to tweet, post pictures, videos or comments or pins you just make their life easier. It also reduces your communication costs, and your effort to acquire a new customer.

However you have to give your customers a reason to sing your praises. This sounds like common sense but is certainly not common practice. Influencing incentives (other than purchasing your product) is the key to trigger to social advocacy.

Combining all sets of data from transactions to interactions across all mobile and digital channels is more holistic way to truly understand loyalty of your customer.

So if you are successful in stitching these three elements seamlessly of your loyalty program you are sure to have got your basics right and will achieve a better ROI.