Loyalty Cards

The discussion about the role and effectiveness of Loyalty Schemes has resurfaced in the last few weeks, what with Tesco's double up offer and the advertising by Nectar. The recent article in Marketing seems to talk about issues I wrote about in an article ..well, it must 10 years ago now on ''Relationship Marketing and Loyalty - What we actually mean.''.

Even then I talked about the fact these schemes are not the be all and end all of a Customer Relationship Strategy. There is no doubt that Tesco have used the data collected to really understand their customers in such a way that the opportunities to cross and up sell products and services are never ending. And does such insight make the customer any loyal? Well, if Tescos are able to promote relevant products then I am more likely to buy them. But that doesn't make me a loyal customer.

The latest Mintel report states that

● Nearly three in ten adults state that cards have no influence on where they shop, they simply collect points on offer. Only 7% of adults aim to spend as much as they can in stores they have cards for, and only 2% stated that they would stop using a store if it stopped its loyalty scheme

The last comment would seem to suggest that its not the schemes that make them shop there.

The 'Loyalty' schemes need to be seen as part of the bigger Customer Strategy.

''It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it. It ain't what you say, it's the way that you say it''

Twitter or The Critics - who you going to believe?

A couple of articles in the Daily Telegraph highlight the power and speed with which Twitter can operate . Twitter killing Hollywood movies? shows the power of Twitter in slating a movie or indeed promoting it despite what the critics say. This is true in the piece that talks about the success of Inglourious Basterds.

But its the speed that is really scary. A few years ago we would wait for the critics review or indeed what our friends said the next time we bumped into them at the pub. But the use of Twitter now suggests that I can cancel this evenings planned trip to the cinema because I'm getting Tweets from people watching that movie right now!!

Reputation gives you attention, gains you time, gives you a chance

The Nobel Prize Economist Herbert Simon claimed that ''What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.''

Of course this attention depletion is partly due to the fact that we are now a time poor society. We have so many demands on our time and hence our valuable attention that it's a wonder that brands can make the cut through required to make an impact.

Of course that's the power of Reputation. It gives a brand the level of attention from consumers that translates into time, and ultimately market share. That's all well and good if you are an established brand with large market share and a budget big enough to have a present you with a large share of voice in the market place.

But what of the challenger brands?

The recent IPA/Nielsen study 'How Share of Voice Wins Market Share' highlights the plight of these challenger brands

Brands with over 10% market share achieved on average around two and a half times the level of share growth per point of Excess Share Of Voice (ESOV*) that brands with market share levels of under 10%. Smaller brands therefore face an uphill battle to grow their market share through share of voice alone.

Seems like the challenger brands need to come up with some pretty effective campaigns to get the cut through they need.



(*ESOV being defined as as share of voice (SOV) minus share of market (SOM))

Twitter?...Sounds more like Babble!!

A recent US study showed that about 41% of Twitter is meaningless babble, such as “I am eating a sandwich now”. Very little of the content is actually worth passing on.

Up there with the babble, however, is a large percentage of conversational content( 38%) , whether that be between individuals or the response to surveys and polls.

I'd hate to have been the person that needed to draw the line between conversation and babble!!

The Conversation Prism

Came across this interesting Conversation Prism visual today, mapping out the various online conversation delivery vehicles a Brand has to choose from as well as the way consumers can interact between themselves, forcing Brands to at the very least to listen in.

I know, I know, it doesn't exactly look like a prism

The Conversation Prism by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas

Twitter - All for One or One for All

A recent Harvard Business Review shows how Pareto applies to the number of Twitter users who are actually generating Tweets. It suggests that 90% of all Tweets are generated by only 10% of users.

This would seem to suggest that Twitter displays the failures of traditional 'broadcast' media where the there was a 'let's see how much of it sticks' approach to messaging.

Where are the examples of Twitter really making an impact as contributor to Social CRM? Surely being social is about having conversations with many people...not using a loudspeaker to convey a message into the ether ?

One Way Conversations

It beggars belief, but I still get charts like these from clients about one way conversations, ignoring the opportunities to have proper conversations, not monologues, going between them and their customers..let alone between the customers themselves!!

It's all about influencing the conversation

It's no real surprise that Nielsen's latest global research on trust in media highlights the importance of the personal recommendation.

What is surprising is how often brands ignore this fact when thinking about B2B audiences, in particular in the SME and Micro segments. Of all the B2B audiences, these are probably the ones that act more like normal consumers looking to peer recommendations and personal experiences for help in purchase decisions.

The Nielsen article can be seen here