Loyalty maintains the lifeblood of your organization and the window into your customer's future decisions.
We believe that customer loyalty needs to be elevated to a core business strategy, and can show you how to maximize impact.
Our 1to1 Loyalty Services range from short term assessments with recommendations, to compete program design, roll-out and implementation. We've built pilots for organizations, established forecasts and shown incredible results against them.
Our Services Include:
Loyalty Program Strategy Development & Design
Loyalty Program Design, Testing & Development
Net Promoter Score Assessments & Strategies
Voice of Customer Feedback Management Planning
Loyalty Program Implementation
Loyalty Revenue and Profit Forecasting
Loyalty Customer Targeting - Where to Maximize Impact
Pilot Program Management & Metrics Tracking
Loyalty Research
Loyalty Driver Best Practice Research
Benchmark Program Analysis
Net Promoter Score
Voice of Customer Research
Loyalty Management & Fulfillment Sourcing
Vendor Benchmarking & Assessments
RFI/RFP and Selection Management
Partner & Pricing Negotiations
Loyalty initiatives must be continually measured and managed against a scorecard that includes annual revenue and profit targets.
Which customers are most important to keep loyal? What needs do they have that you can fulfill to retain and grow them? How can you know more about them, their needs and wants?
Focusing on your best customers protects a unique and valuable asset of your organization. Understanding how to make them loyal, implementing pilots and finding those that "look like" your best customers are services that Shimko1to1 has provided to major organizations worldwide.
1to1 Loyalty Program Development Case Studies
Industry: Financial Services & Insurance:
This is an example how developing a loyalty program can identify unmet needs of best customers creating higher retention rates and new revenue opportunities.
Summary Overview
A Fortune 5 financial services firm wanted to leverage the breadth of services offered by separate business units and divisions to increase the overall corporate value to the customer. Key goals were to increase cross selling and customer loyalty.
Establishing the framework:
Several research projects were implemented to develop the program. Much of this pre-work was to define club elements with a high-perceived customer value, which would also fit within the current operating structure. This included an internal assessment of customer value and needs and possible offers, field visits, field focus groups, discussions across AIG businesses and external partner organizations to identify possible club offers, a competitive assessment, focus groups with the target audience, and an 800 customer telephone survey on potential club benefits, value perceptions, names and probable impact to buying behavior.
Among the key research findings was that customers viewed the collection of benefits from the proposed club offering as coming from “a large financial service provider” and named our client as a possible source. The measurement of "Brand Permission" to enter into proposed new services was a key finding in the program's initial development. Customers perception was that only a “progressive market leader” and “forward thinking company” could introduce a program of this kind.
Generally, customers were interested in benefits that could positively impact their wealth, health, ability to maintain their lifestyle over time, and ways to subsidize future travel expenses. Based on needs research, approximately 25% of customers could be defined as “coupon cutters” (a common price sensitive group across businesses), and retail, travel and restaurant discounts were included to appeal to this segment.
Positioning Strategies
The goals of the initial pilot were to establish a membership club that would resonate with their highest value customers, have a measurable short term positive impact on cross selling, and a longer term impact on asset retention and loyalty. The design was to offer club benefits at no charge for the first year to a select group of customers and to test distribution and pricing strategies over time. The benefits offered by the program fell into four categories which are; financial services, insurance, lifestyle and information and education.
1. Financial Service Benefits
a. Free Financial Plan.. The outcome of completing a plan typically results in approximately $800 in incremental cross sales. The offer therefore becomes a catalyst for additional cross selling.
b. 25% discount on a Managed Investment Plan. The MIP requires that customers invest additional assets with an average value of $50,000.
c. Mortgage Discount. This benefit allows for a $200 rebate at closing or a $500 payment if lowest available rates cannot be matched. The offer is made through a sister organization, a federal bank.
2. Insurance Benefits
a. Up to $25,000 Identify Theft Protection Coverage. This benefit was administered (and purchased) through a third party provider.
b. $250,000 Common Carrier AD&D.
3. Lifestyle Benefits
a. Best Doctor’s Program. Begun by a group of Harvard Medical School Faculty, this third party program provides referrals of best doctor’s and facilities for treating critical illnesses within the U.S. It also provides concierge services for patient travel, admissions, and related questions.
b. Retail, Travel, Healthcare and Restaurant Discounts. Administered and purchased through a third party, participants may centrally purchase gift cards at a 10% - 20% discount from a variety of suppliers. Mainstream providers include Macy’s, Lands End, Linens and Things, and others.
4. Information and Education Benefits
a. Members only 800 Number. A separate toll free line for program participants.
b. A special members only website. An interactive web site that allows for the participant to activate their membership, purchase discount cards, and access other member benefits and information was implemented.
Program participants were flagged so that if they went to their information page within the standard website that they could link directly to the program's page. Quarterly Newsletter and Ongoing Communications. A quarterly newsletter was developed to educate customers on relevant issues, new benefits, and other products and services.
Identifying Highest Potential Prospects
A third party data services firm was partnered with to add personal demographic and psychographic data to the participant list so that high potential prospects could be further identified. A total of 70 data elements were added, including total household income, buying habits, mortgage situation, and total investable assets. They profiled these customers and matched them to the participant list to create a hierarchy of high potential cross sell prospects. Regional outbound telemarketing was then initiated to generate financial planning and cross selling appointments.
Pilot Program Results
A financial forecast was developed and approved based upon forecasted profits from a cross selling combined with a 1% overall increase in annual customer retention. Retention would be measured over time. Through the first 90 days of the program, approximately 6.4% of the targeted population activated their memberships. Cross selling within the activated group was 103% higher than that experienced within the control group. Six months after the pilot was initiated, activated members had grown their account balance by 8% versus approximately 1.5% for non-activated customers and the control group. The account values of customers that activated their membership was higher throughout the test and after six months activated member balances were 21% higher than non activated members. In addition we have seen customer retention changes between the two groups, with an annualized 1.2% improvement in the percentage of surrenders in the activated group, and a corresponding 1.44% reduction in surrender dollars. The profit opportunities associated with reducing attrition by almost 1.5% per year are significant.
Industry: Ecommerce Multichannel Retailer:
In this example, we've created a loyalty growth program that targets lesser value customers with the result being an average increase in revenue of nearly 300%.
Summary Overview
A multi-channel Internet retailer hired us to create and implement their customer relationship management strategy. After analyzing customer sales it was clear that the vast majority of customers purchased one or two times per year, while a small percentage of customers made up high value multiple return purchasers. An analysis of the market and internal customer information showed that a primary reason for dissatisfaction was shipping and service charges.
Positioning Strategies
A financial forecast was created to pilot a fee based annual membership club. The price point was targeted at $29.95 per year, although other price points were tested as part of the project. For this annual membership fee, customers would receive free standard shipping and no service charges on all orders placed throughout the year. The standard shipping/service charge was approximately $15 per order.
Pilot program creative and was developed utilizing the client's internal resources. A name was selected and legal reviews were completed on the membership offer and terms and conditions, We developed financial forecasts at the gross profit level with break-even and projected acceptance rates and impact.
The program was tested via email for e-commerce sales. A separate web server was dedicated to pilot program customers. New creative included the email campaign and changes to the website offered on the dedicated server to position the offer strategically through the purchase process and shopping cart experience.
A variety of targeted email campaigns were tested. Initial testing proved a successful program and audience sizes were eventually expanded to the entire customer universe.
Pilot Program Results
To track the impact of the program, each customer's total revenue and profit were compared against their prior year activity. For example, a member signing up would be tracked for new sales against their revenue and profit for the prior year. Financial summaries were created monthly on current membership activation-to-date revenue and profit versus the same period of the prior year. At the $29.95 price point, an average revenue increase across the program of approximately 55% was required to break-even.
After a six month pilot average revenue across all members averaged an increase of 286%. The loyalty program has been expanded nationally across all brands and continues to show remarkable results!
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Industry: Healthcare:
Summary Overview
Many health care organizations use conventional satisfaction measures such as Press Gainey to identify and track customer/patient satisfaction. By implementing a Net Promoter Score, first with outpatient consumers, we were able to dramatically reduce costs and increase the impact of patient loyalty follow-up across the organization
Positioning Strategies
A $400 million healthcare provider was paying over $1 million per year to produce static patient satisfaction surveys. The problem was not only costs, but that the information was not actionable. We implemented changes that involved the entire organization and resulted in actionable findings.
Pilot Program Results
We initiated a pilot program to have a ten questions loyalty questionnaire provided to all outpatient consumers upon their exit. Surveys were collected and tabulated. Patients were encouraged to either fill in the survey on the spot, to mail it in, or to complete it online.
In addition, nurses outreached to recent outpatient consumers to discuss their overall loyalty index based upon their experience. The ultimate question of "would you recommend us to a friend or family member" was recorded on a 5 point scale. Five represented a fully satisfied and loyal patient.
Nurses telephone patients to record their experience. The fact that the provider was reaching out to them on its own resulted in significantly higher patient loyalty and satisfaction.
When a score of "5" was recorded, the follow-up question was: "What was the one thing that we did that made you give us that rating"? . This information was used in future marketing promotions
When a score of "4" was recorded, the follow-up question was: "What was the one thing that we could have done that would have changed your score to a "5"?. These specific issues were individually reviewed and addressed
For any score other than "4" we used to call to identify key issues, reinforce the health care organization's commitment to excellence, and to capture any specific areas for improvement.
With the use of a questionnaire, overall net promoter score was calculated.
Regression analysis revealed how other questions and answers correlated to the overall NPS loyalty score.
By involving the professional staff, we were able to identify very specific opportunities to improve patient loyalty. This made our loyalty goals very clear to the professional staff and the entire organization. The program was later rolled out to all patients.
The interest in consumer loyalty soon spread to understanding and managing Physician Loyalty. Eighty percent of consumers select a hospital on the advice of their physician. The result of this expansion in loyalty strategy was the development of a Physician Liaison Program. The elements of this program included designing and implementing:
A business development/physician liaison structure with position objectives and descriptions
Establishment of physician liaison territories
Tracking of current and ongoing physician referrals by service area
Development of collateral on service areas and physician leadership for distribution
Implementation of a field CRM system to identify referring/ non referring physicians by service line at the point of contact
Implementation of bi-weekly leadership reviews of physician satisfaction issues, complaints and courses for resolution
Physician referrals showed immediate increases once the program was implemented.