Managing Customer Expectations via Email with John Lewis

my John Lewis Card Registration Email

Recently John Lewis opened a new store near me. Having made a couple of purchases there, it was obvious that there was a general push on the my John Lewis card.

For those of you who haven't come across the card, it is , in their words ' a membership card that helps us get to know more about you every time you shop, so that we can give you the rewards that are just right for you.'

Of course it's very similar in its approach to the my Waitrose card where the unique proposition is the free coffee and daily paper. my John Lewis offers free coffee and cake. ( Of course I now drive to Waitrose for my free coffee and paper en route to claiming my coffee and cake at John Lewis.)

Anyway, setting aside the arguments about the whole point of  membership/loyalty cards or whether or not they end up attracting the wrong sort of customers ( interesting piece from the Telegraph where Waitrose shoppers are complaining about Tesco customers just coming in for the free coffee), they handled it all rather well.

At the point of purchase I was offered a card. I was given a temporary card and was asked only for my email address as they scanned the bardcode. By the time I had left the store ( admittedly that did involve some coffee and cake time) I had an email in my inbox thanking me for starting the registration

Of course at this point they didn't have my name so Dear Customer is excused. What I really liked was the way in which they very simply explained what I needed to do to complete my registration. Simple as 1 2 3 really.

They covered all bases in terms of having a John Lewis account or not as well. And I checked, the membership number on the email matched my temporary one!

The experience reminded me of when I signed up top the SpaceNK membership programme and highlights the ever increasing multi-channel approach being taken by retailers especially where they have both a digital and physical presence

Full registration was confirmed with an email from John Lewis. Great looking email with lots of opportunities to drive me back to the John Lewis. Although I'm not quite sure how they managed to make the footer look so ugly and out of kilter!

My Favourite Email Of The Year So Far

It's never too late to wish me a Happy Birthday

Loyalty

Let me start with the question ' Do Loyalty schemes bring in customers?'

Want the simple answer?. Well, the simple answer is yes, but probably not on their own. In markets where there is little to choose from in terms of product differentiation and where there are no dominant brands whose name on their own makes things taste better, loyalty schemes can sometimes influence the customer's choice. And when we remember the conventional wisdom that it is far cheaper to keep an existing customer than to secure new ones, loyalty is even more important.

Driving loyalty is seen as the main way of retaining an organisation's valuable customers. This does not mean treating them well to the detriment of the remaining customers but actually means - treating all customers better - but treating the most valuable customers even better!!

But in the loyalty crazy environment of today, the ease with which customers switch from scheme to scheme is highlighted by the number of loyalty cards available and the variety held by individuals. Research shows that the big supermarkets have a loyalty card swipe attached to over 80% of sales. So despite some of the cynicism that revolves around what really can be redeemed from a consumers point of view, we do make use of these schemes. But a 1% discount can easily be matched or beaten by a competitor. I do not use my local Tesco because of my Clubcard, but because its the closest supermarket. Loyalty doesn't register when the petrol light on my dashboard lights up. 

So how do we really keep customers loyal?

Well, what does being loyal customer  mean? Is it being a regular customer? Or is that just as a result of habit? Is it one who gives us a large part of their weekly spend? In the latter, what happens if they become aware of the competition, or more importantly if the competition become aware of them?! Surely a loyal customer is one who stays with us despite the attentions of the competition or at least tells us that they are considering moving. Now we are talking of a scenario where we have relationship with that customer.

So what is a relationship?

One thing that it is not, is a one way bombardment of direct mail, telephone calls, emails, special offers on unrelated products or services. How we define the relationship and subsequently manage it can be based on how we establish and nurture relationships in our own personal lives. Relationships have a set of ground rules:

- There would seem to be the need for some empathy between the parties. An appreciation and understanding of each others needs.

- An understanding that what you show each other is what is inside, there are no secret agendas or requirements. To aid this, a certain amount of transparency is required. You want to speak to them, they need to be able to speak to you

- An acceptance of how the relationship may evolve. People change their minds, or their needs change. Real choices are made in relationships every day

- Relationships are made all the better if there are pleasant surprises or unexpected rewards every now and again.

 - Some old fashioned good manners are required.

Remember always that in relationship marketing it should be what you can do FOR the customer as opposed to the shorter term view of what you can do TO the customer!

Many organisations rely on the fact that they have a Relationship Marketing Manager or similarly described individual to ensure that all this happens. This does seem like a strange title as most people in an organisation have more contact with the customer than this individual! What we have recognised is that from the customer's perspective every contact they have with the organisation forms part of the relationship they have with it. This implies that customers and staff need to be involved in defining what the relationship means to them. Relationship marketing is not an add on, therefore, but is core to the communication strategy of an organisation.

This relationship does not have to rely on giveaways. The next credit card will give away more freebies......but will it match your interest rate offer? The loyalty bit of a relationship has a number of key factors influencing it. They are a distillation of the good old marketing mix ( Product, Price, People, Processes, Place, Promotion and Service) given to us at 'Marketing School'.

We define them simply as the quality of the

- service provided
- product offered
- dialogue shared

This is simply a recognition that quality, customer service and marketing activities need to be brought together. Relationship marketing and customer loyalty cannot be treated as separate entities. They form part of of the same ladder which gets individuals from Prospect to Advocate.

Sending me vouchers though email is good. Recognising me when I make my dinner reservation is better. Remembering my favourite drink when I sit down is brilliant!

So remember, although Bruce Forsyth was right in saying that ''Points make Prizes'' - it's more important to remember the philosophy of Bananarama, ''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''

Driving Customer Loyalty - 25 Key considerations

An ICLP study lists 25 key factors in driving customer loyalty

The report includes key learnings from some well know brands including

Ritz-Carlton who are ahead of the pack in achieving customer-centricity.

The hotel company turned a traditional message into a more customer focused concept – “Let us stay with you”. With a solid focus on more unique and personalised guest experiences at its hotels, Ritz-Carlton is benefiting from a deeper level of engagement with guests, and more loyal customer

Nuffield Health and their use of data

A leading health & fitness organisation with 55 gyms throughout the UK, they used data analytics and predictive modelling to identify potential lapsers and instigate sales and marketing campaigns that would help them retain these members. The model was found to have an accuracy of at least 70% and
helped to identify behaviour that indicated when a member might lapse.

Dell Computers understand loyalty is built on listening and responding.

Establishing trust and building credibility are two key elements of any social interaction – and they are especially vital in the social space where every interaction can be public. Loyalty in Dell’s case stems from fully understanding their customers and their needs and wants – not from market research but from direct communication with a large and very active customer segment. After a number of high profile service disasters, Dell established a social space where faults and problems were acknowledged openly and promptly. Customers could request new features and suggest improvements – and receive feedback. Within a year, Dell’s brand was perceived as both innovative and credible.

The Global Hotel Alliance understanding the importance of local. 

They launched access to over 1000 “local experiences” as part of their GHA Discovery programme. Groupon Rewards and the growing success of Bloomspot show that deals and incentives work best in
a local environment giving greater control to the individual merchant and targeting
interactions by matching individual behaviours.


The full report and a list of the 25 factors can be downloaded here

Experience Matters

Set the scene in a laboratory

A human has 2 buttons to push
Every time they push the small red button food is dispensed
Every time they push the square blue button nothing happens

Result

Every time the human gets hungry they push the red button and will pay little attention if any to the blue
(Ok so maybe this was done somewhere with chimps but I didn't want to hurt any animals in making this blog post)
So, experience matters. As humans we are are obviously wired to go to where we have a rewarding experience.

Now let's get the Brand team involved.

When we ask these subjects, I mean consumers, how they felt about the red button they will probably translate the dispensing of food into statements such as

..an enjoyable experience,

.. A button that matched my lifestyle, for people like me

...something I'd recommend to my friends.

You get the picture
The consumer's experience is defining the brand rather than the actual colour or shape of the button

Loyalty

What if every now and again , the pressing of the red button results in no food? Previous experience results in us giving them a second or third chance because it has served us so well in the past.
But if it continues to fail to meet our expectations, then I can imagine the blue button beginning to seem more attractive...especially as we get hungry

Consistently meeting our expectations to a certain extent buys loyalty - for a while

Multi-Channel Expectations

Customers more likely to become loyal where the multi-channel shopping experience is integrated.

A recent whitepaper  (registration required) from Hybris highlighted how this was particularly relevant for the in-store experience where 19% of customers said they browsed on their mobile device. this was mainly to compare prices, 66% but also to compare products, 27%. Only 7% did as I did today when shopping for tile cleaning solutions, and read online reviews

It was interesting to note how the online purchase mirrored the experience in-store, with customer highlighting Easy Navigation and being able to see product (images) being key.

Buying online didn't mean they all wanted to return items via the post or by courier. Almost half wanted the option to return items to the store - a service which more and more of the UK retailers are already providing, M&S, House of Fraser, Reiss, Ted Baker all do this.

The report highlights the fact that customers who use more than one channel show greater brand loyalty and spend 30% more where they are offered an integrated multi-channel experience. None more so than me who will even get items delivered to a store in a city i'm visiting for the day on business. So I'm more likely to stick with retailers such as John Lewis and House of Fraser where I can order today at home but pick up after a meeting in London tomorrow.

Of course what tops the experience off is the level of communication I get from all these brands via email and SMS letting me know at what stage the order is. None get much better than ASOS at this who even let you cancel the order if it is yet to be processed ( especially useful if you've forgotten to use your 15% off code first time round!)

The need to integrate the experience through web and offline has never been greater!

Funnily enough, shipping costs (48%) was more likely to prevent a sales than the item being out of stock (Interesting!)

It's Not Rocket Science - 1

This will be a new series of posts highlighting elements of eCRM where brands kind of get it right..but then waste an opportunity to..well, sell me something. And as my first degree is in Astrophysics, the Rocket Science label works for me

I'm a frequent traveller on EastCoast Trains, usually between York and London. so, it makes sense for me to join their Loyalty Scheme. There isn't actually a real alternative ( sorry Grand Central but not enough departures) so I'm getting points for something I'm doing anyway although I do now book other rail operators through them as well.

Anyway, I like the idea that as I'm on the site they show me how many points I have...but look at the Ad beneath my points

Surely that was an opportunity to recognise me further and perhaps get me to redeem my points, encourage an upgrade, buy a refreshment voucher?

It's Not Rocket Science .

Shopkick - Digital Rewards for Physical Shopping

Shopkick is a mobile app ( on both iPhone and Android so they get my vote!) that aims to reward customers for shopping and browsing. 

It hands out virtual points to consumers even for entering a store like Macys, Toys R Us and Best Buy in the US.

It even links to the customers Visa Card to ensure that points are awarded for using that card and promises to reward customers with free coffees etc as you are recognised when you enter the store. It also has the ability to share other customers product reviews.

I think this is a great example of using digital technology to reward and enhance the customer experience with the clever use of data, content and context as I highlighted in yesterday's post on being customer centric

The video below gives you a flavour of the offering

It's Official - I Love Space NK apothecary

I didn't dislike Space NK to start with, but over the last 48 hours they have gone above and beyond my expectations after my gripe on Tuesday.

After that post was spotted by their CRM team I received an email apologising for me not getting my Birthday Gift as part of the their N.dulge Rewards Scheme. They then rang me to check my contact details and to explain what had possibly gone wrong and promised that my gift would be with me today, Thursday.

At that point I was happy. Not only was the issue going to be rectified, but someone had read my blog!

So imagine how much more happier I was when this morning rather than a Gift Voucher arriving for me to redeem in store, the ensemble pictured below arrived Special Delivery.

You sent it Special Delivery..Nice..The Handwritten Note...Great... The Goodies.. Fantastic!

Thank you Space NK

The result? A very happy customer, who

- has already been back to the site to look at some treats for the family birthdays coming up
- will show off to his wife about how her favourite store in Harrogate is looking after me
- is blogging about it
- has followed them on both Twitter  ( @iamgfc) and Facebook

The original post talked about how 40% of consumers give their loyalty because their issue is resolved in a way that exceeds expectations.

Count me in that segment ( as well as the segment that smells nice today)

First Impressions Gain Loyalty and Trust

I've argued in previous posts that Trust is a key factor when trying to convince an audience to read your content or buy your products and services - See the A-Z of eCRM A is for Ancient Greeks . No real surprise there.
I've also suggested that first impressions do count. Whether that be the content of your subject line or the landing page you direct people to - See the A-Z of eCRM G is for Gladwell.

And now a new report from ClickFox has suggested that indeed lasting first impressions are key to gaining loyalty and trust. 48% of customers indicated that the most critical time for a company to gain their loyalty is when they make their first purchase or begin service.

As you can see from the chart, 40% become loyal when problems are resolved in a way that exceeds expectations.

Only 1% of the customers indicated that a good time would be at the point where they are considering switching to a competitor. I would argue that also applies to win-back campaigns that target customers when they have not shopped with you a while. I regularly make use of those 'missing you' communications that include a tasty 20% off. Its not making me loyal. It's just buying my attention for a while.

But lets not assume that once you've made a good impression a Brand can take a foot off the pedal. I mentioned a while back about a great first impression that Space NK made with me when I signed up for their NDulge Rewards Program. Sign up was easy and I received my welcome email as I walked out of the store. I have to say however that since then I've been very disappointed. I didn't get my promised Birthday treat, and the email content has been geared towards my initial purchase - a gift for my fiancee - and not based on me - a man!

So although I do agree that first impressions do count, I would argue that every touch-point impression is an opportunity to to exceed expectations. But also an opportunity to slowly erode the trust and good will you originally gained.

ClickFox 2012 Brand Loyalty Survey available here (registration required)

An A to Z of eCRM - L

L is for Loyalty

I think I would be happier if it wasn’t called Loyalty .I am much happier with Rewards schemes.

In my opinion most ‘’Loyalty’’ Programs are actually cross-sell up-sell schemes based around often very clever data insights – and there’s nothing wrong with that. But some are just based on really really simple infrastructures...a credit card size piece of paper!

There are two elements to Loyalty – Behavioural and Attitudinal. Loyalty Programmes really focus on the former, although they may have an impact on the latter. And the use of data is the clever bit that marketers need to focus on to make these Behaviour Loyalty Programmes work.

And of course, part of the insight gained from the data is also an understanding of where and how the customer wants to hear from you. In today’s world of the savvy customer, brands need to engage on the customer’s terms, whether that is via email, social or face to face.

If you want real loyalty, which I think is built on Attitudinal Loyalty, then you have to win the hearts and minds of customers at every single (e)CRM touch-point and beyond.

It's About the Conversation....

But the computer says no.....