The Benefit of Rewards
What are rewards, and why are they important?
Rewards are the items and experiences that can be earnt for meeting goals, working hard, being a loyal customer or any other recognition territory that is measured. Rewards can be monetary or non-monetary, reward points, discounts, freebies, advance access to newly released products/ exclusive sales, and more.
In a recent survey, 69% of people in the UK claimed that rewards are important to them when choosing a service. With the right rewards, customers are happy to join a brand and choose to stay with them. The right content for rewards on a loyalty platform can acquire new customers and encourage long-term loyalty, whilst appreciating existing customers and nudging customers to engage more frequently.
Benefits offered on closed-user platforms have proven to be one of the most successful methods of inspiring loyalty. Rewards from partner brands are more appealing than those from the brand itself in every sector.
.
On average, 58% of British Loyalty Programme members want rewards from partner brands, vs 53% who want a brand’s own.
In sectors like Beauty and Telecommunications, the appeal of partner brands is even higher (67% and 66%).
At MLP, we believe that we need to create a reward strategy for our clients that is more than just a standalone new business ‘acquisition programme’, particularly, post FCA. Increasing customer retention is not just about creating a loyalty programme alone, it is about interspersing loyalty touchpoints throughout a customer lifecycle.
Loyalty is earnt gradually – by combining a loyalty programme alongside tactical nudges, excellent customer service and an understanding of what the customer values, you can optimise your offering to aim for maximum loyalty.
Benefits of Rewards:
- Improves customer retention by appreciating existing customers building a strong relationship between the company and the customer
- Boosts engagement
- Reduces slow periods/seasons by giving customers a reason to shop
- Improves general brand reputation and boosts exposure
- Encourages customers to advocate for a brand through word of mouth
- Increase Customer Lifetime Valu
MLP Reward campaigns:
MLP invest heavily in research, tech, and development, offering a suite of SAAS products such as, gamification, reward & cashback platforms, referral systems, rewards, and partnerships with a vast network of brands.
Customers are often seeking additional benefits as part of a service, whether this is from their bank, insurance provider or any other service. The issue with this, is that they may not know these benefits are available or how to access them.
The key to the success of any loyalty or cross-sales platform is an open line of communication. By integrating the message into existing comms, MLP aims to embed the proposition into the individual brands and increase the desire to be part of the scheme.
EXAMPLE OF REWARD CAMPAIGNS PRODUCED BY MLP:
RAC Rewards
RAC Rewards launched in Summer 2021 to replace the previous RAC Member Benefits platform that was previously managed internally by RAC.
Unlike most ‘loyalty platforms’, which are packed with poorly redeemed offers, RAC Rewards features a small number of ‘Always On’ partners, including brands like Shell, Greggs and ATS Euromaster. These partners have been carefully selected to align with RAC members’ needs and demographics.
Our Partnerships Team ensure we feature seasonal partners on the platform where we integrate the partner messaging with RAC’s CRM, to keep the content fresh and engaging.
Alongside these offers, MLP’s Take Time proposition also gives users access to thousands of great deals on Dining Out, Entertainment, Travel and more.
The platform was scratch-built by MLP and integrates with RAC member data via API to ensure a seamless customer journey from RAC’s customer environment ‘MyRAC’.
Wherever possible, we also use APIs to connect to the featured partners to give RAC members instantly available redemptions.
Take a look at our campaigns here – portfolio-item/rac-rewards/
.
Confused.com
Confused.com came to MLP wanting to create a newly added value reward scheme to differentiate them in the market. MLP was appointed as the chosen agency for this, and by using customer insight, developed a partnership rewards programme with four lead partners and reward options: £20 to spend at Lidl / IMO Car Wash – 12 free washes / Halfords £20 e-code / Dominos £20 e-code.
The campaign has now been live for 12 months+ and since inception, there have been various other partners and rewards included such as HelloFresh – free recipe box + £15 off a further 3 recipe box orders / £20 Shell Voucher, £20 Lastminute.com Voucher / Green Flag Breakdown Cover.
MLP developed the whole proposition – developing the partnerships, creating and integrating the UX journey, validation/data management and managing customer queries.
.
PSA Finance MyRewards
PSAF MyRewards was built by MLP and launched in early 2021, replacing a previous Employee Engagement and Incentive programme managed by another agency.
Available to around 2,000 dealer staff across the Peugeot, Citroen and DS dealer network, the platform simplified and sped up the fulfilment of cash rewards by switching away from a pre-paid Mastercard programme to a direct bank transfer.
In addition to managing the payments, the platform has many more reasons for dealer staff to engage – including product knowledge/compliance content that can increase rewards.
We also run engaging content such as ‘Free Lunch Fridays’, where all staff in the dealership can benefit from the programme – with courtesy lunch on PSAF.
Underpinning the Added Value is our Take Time proposition, giving users access to thousands of great deals on Dining Out, Entertainment, Travel and the like. There is a bespoke real-time reporting toolkit available to users at every level, giving total visibility to all involved.
For more information on how MLP can help you with Rewards and Loyalty drop us an email on – speaktous@mlp.agency