Voices: the CMB Blog

I’m on record as saying that loyalty programs should focus on rewarding behaviors that have a direct financial benefit to the business (i.e., purchase, bookings, and sales).  Because of this belief, I was staunchly opposed to the concept of giving loyalty members “points for tweets.” But my thinking, like the role of social media in general, has evolved. 

One reason for my change of heart is that ‘social media’ no longer just means Facebook or Twitter…it now includes location-based tools (like FourSquare) and connecting to people ‘on the go’ through mobile apps. This new revolution (according to those who name new revolutions!) is called SoLoMo (social, location, mobile) media. 

Last month I led a panel discussion at the Loyalty Expo in Orlando on the role of social media in loyalty programs and it was clear from the start that we couldn’t talk about social media without talking about mobile and location-based services (SoLoMo!). The loyalty lifecycle shown below provides a basis for understanding how SoLoMo tactics can support member engagement:

 

Acquire:  To reach members that ‘look like’ your currently valuable members, Loyalty Marketers can use SoLoMo tools.  Two recent examples of programs developed to get members/customers to talk about a company/program are offered by Tasti D-Lite and Caesars.  TastiRewards incentivizes customers to associate their Twitter and Foursquare accounts with their Tasti D-Lite membership cards, posting a tweet or comment every time they order a delicious treat. Caesars recently relaunched Total Rewards, giving loyalty members points for tweets.  These SoLoMo initiatives can drive program awareness and member acquisition.

On-boarding:  Facebook, Twitter and other online communities (gated or not) are ideal platforms to introduce customers to the ‘loyalty club’ to let these newbies learn from like-minded members—and, importantly, encouraging them to use their rewards, rather than just letting them languish in their wallets.

Engage:  SoLoMo tools can be employed in a variety of ways to engage and strengthen relationships with current members.  Here are some examples:   

• Making rewards more obtainable:   Citi’s rewards app lets cardholders ‘pool’ rewards so they can plan a joint purchase, trip, or even make a charitable donation to an organization they support

• Surprise and delight your customers: Best Buy surprised (and no doubt delighted!) a few of its reward members with tickets to the Twilight movie premiere. Members were selected and invited based on past purchase history and spending potential.  

• Make rewards/currency more relevant:  Companies like ifeelgoods are offering loyalty programs as an option to provide a social currency to reward member’s behavior.  With 240 million active monthly users on Zynga, there’s a good chance at least some of your members would enjoy the opportunity to buy digital goods. 

Retain and win back:  While we don’t suggest giving up traditional channels for monitoring and responding to customer service failures, social media can let you discover failures (and wins!) quickly and begin the customer recovery process.

The bottom line is, your customers are social, they use Facebook and other sites, and they expect businesses to not only have a presence but to engage.  Sites like Facebook and Twitter are ideal platforms to engage and reward customers – particularly through SoLoMo tools.  So I’d like to report that I’ve “come around,” to see the value of social media for loyalty programs because of the opportunities they present to engage, and “surprise and delight” your most valuable customers.

Want to learn more about our approach to building Customer Loyalty? See how CMB helped GE CareCredit redesign their online customer advocacy panel, creating a community with high engagement and even higher returns. Watch the webinar.

Posted by Judy Melanson. Judy leads the Travel & Entertainment practice and loves collaborating with clients on driving customer loyalty.  She's the mom of two teens and the wife of an oyster farmer. Follow Judy on Twitter at @Judy_LC

Seems like everywhere I turn I see a QR code. From product packaging to billboards in the airport, those funny little black and white designs are popping up all over—even on T shirts.  So we set out to ask consumers what they think about the 2D bar codes known as Quick Response or QR codes in our latest Consumer Pulse: Scan Me-9 Things To Know about Consumer Behavior and QR codes.

There is no doubt it’s a very cool tool brands and companies can use to engage and share information with consumers, but even the coolest  tools and applications need to provide meaningful information to be successful.  Just like Twitter, Facebook and other social media marketing tools it always comes back to insightful content that consumers will value. The success of QR codes will depend on the content behind the scan.

What do consumers think?  CMB partnered with iModerate Research Technologies to see why consumers scan QR codes and what they expect from the little black and white squares.

As a marketer here are a few facts that stood out to me. Watch This:

Nearly 1 in 5 who scanned a QR code made a purchase after scanning (Tweet this)

81% say they’ve seen a QR code, but only 21% knew what they were called (Tweet this)

Half of smartphone users have scanned a QR code (Tweet this)

70% of those who scanned QR codes, said it was very easy (Tweet this)

Results are mixed on QR codes' usefulness, 41% say the information they got was useful (Tweet this)

Magazines and newspapers are the most common QR source for those who’ve scanned a code (Tweet this)

46% of those who’ve scanned a QR code did so because they were curious (Tweet this)

We found smartphone owners and non-smartphone owners alike are curious about QR codes for information and for discounts, free gifts and exclusive deals, and they find the process of scanning to be really easy. But as more and more consumers get smartphones and the ability to scan, marketers must go beyond the novelty of the application if they expect customers to scan again and make it a regular part of the purchase process.

I’d love to know, are QR codes part of your 2012 marketing plan? Will QR codes gain steam in 2012 or fizzle out?

Download the full report here.

 

 

Posted by Kristen Garvey. Kristen is CMB's VP of Marketing, a mom of two, and thinks QR codes  can be as useful as the content behind them, and that they will have their place in the marketing toolbox for 2012.

 

 

This summer, New Corp’s alleged hacking of celebrity and crime victims’ mobile phones ignited a fire storm around mobile security. Closer to home, the dark side of online convenience wasn’t news to the millions of customers who’ve had their passwords, email, social media accounts, and credit card information hacked. What has received less attention in the U.S. are the privacy issues and risks that stem from burgeoning mobile usage, particularly mobile banking. This spring CMB along with iModerate asked 1,461 Americans over the age of 18 to share their mobile banking habits; the findings reveal consumers’ concerns about mobile privacy.

Data breaches are uncomfortably common, with over 13 million customers falling victim in 2011 as of September. While having an email account compromised may be frustrating, time-consuming, and embarrassing, the thought of financial information in the hands of hackers is the stuff of nightmares.  The vast majority of major banks offer the convenience of online banking, and the growth of smartphone ownership has made mobile banking increasingly popular. According to CMB, over half (52%) of smartphone owners use their device for banking activities including checking account balances, transferring funds, or purchasing stock. Nearly 68% of those under 35 use mobile banking compared with 41% between the ages of 35 and 49, and only a quarter of those over 65. The difference in mobile phone usage by age is consistent with lower use overall by older smartphone owners, who are less likely to take advantage of the array of mobile capabilities than younger users. 

Mobile bankers and non-mobile bankers alike indicate feeling more concern (54%) over personal privacy when using smartphone “apps” for banking than when using a personal computer.  The feeling is unsurprisingly more pronounced among non-mobile banking smartphone owners. A look at motivations behind the lack of use reveals real concerns about mobile privacy and security from smartphone users across the board. As one respondent noted:  “I do not want to do any banking on my phone, at all. Too many security risks…Lose my phone and all my info is cached…phones are easy to access and mine data out of,” Female, 30-34.

Forty-seven percent of smartphone users, who did not use their phone for mobile banking, expressed concerns about privacy (having location tracked by mobile devices, or wireless carriers). Nearly the same percentage (49%) noted security concerns (identity theft, malware, viruses) as reasons not to bank with their phone. Privacy and security concerns aside, half of non-mobile bankers said they preferred to do their banking in person or online. Said one respondent, “I am comfortable with my desktop, my firewall and security system, etc. Plus, in general, I am more productive and faster on the desktop,” Female, 55-59.

The fear of security and privacy breaches is powerful, 71% of smartphone users who don’t use mobile banking say they are highly unlikely to start within the next six months, 86% say they’re unlikely to begin investing on their device. But there is a bright spot for mobile app designers: of non-smartphone owners who plan to buy a device in the next 6 months, nearly 40% said they’d be “highly likely” to use their phone for banking.

So what is the takeaway for the banking and mobile industries?  For some, concerns over security and privacy may always trump the ease and convenience of new platforms and devices; banks and mobile providers must still actively address the reasonable privacy and security concerns of their customers to establish trust among those who may be wary. Banks who can deliver new product and service bundles that satisfy these very real concerns about mobile security will gain the trust, and ensure the growth, of their mobile banking customer base.

Posted by Jim Garrity. Jim Garrity is VP of CMB's Financial Services practice, never wears blue jeans to work, and loves the convenience of banking.

 

Download our recent Consumer Pulse report: A Consumer Perspective on Mobile Banking. It looks at how smartphone and tablet owners are conducting mobile banking and transactions on their mobile device.

Ten years ago this Labor Day weekend, I moved to Boston from Upstate New York. I had dreams, a ’94 Chevy Cavalier that looked like a sneaker, and MapQuest directions carefully taped to my dashboard. For those familiar with Boston, its pre-colonial lay out and slightly aggressive drivers, it’s still a wonder I made it to my apartment. As I recently let the soothing voice of Roger (my GPS) guide me to a meeting outside the city, I reflected on how far we’ve come since the days of the road atlas and printed directions.

Although I’m fond of Roger, it’s already clear the iPhone has made him obsolete, I don’t need both.  This Labor Day weekend I’m traveling to the Adirondacks and Roger is staying home. And according to Richard Read at All Car Tech’s Taps for TomTom: The Standalone GPS Unit is Dead, I’m not alone. Read looks at research from our most recent Consumer Pulse and finds the GPS device may be going the way of the road atlas. Findings from our survey of 1,461 people, found 38% of mobile device users are using their GPS less, since getting a smartphone or tablet.  

And those aren’t the only findings to ponder as we head into one of the busiest driving weekends of the year: nearly all (89%) mobile device owners are using their devices for mapping and directions. Mobile devices are “go-to” devices in every sense, with 67% of mobile device owners eschewing printed directions, and 60% stopping less at gas stations, due to GPS and mapping capabilities on their device

For more on how Smartphones and Tablets are changing everyday behaviors, download our latest Consumer Pulse The “Go-to” Device: Smartphones and Tablets Change Consumers’ Entertainment Behavior

How are you finding your way to your Labor Day destination— GPS, map, Smartphone, Tablet, compass?

This post was written by Megan McManaman, who has a perfect driving record.

Be honest. How many times, in the past few years, have you been completely “unplugged” on vacation? No email (work or personal), no cell phone, no internet, no TV. If you’re like me, it seems hard to even imagine!

A recent Wall Street Journal article, When Hotel Guests Check In, Their iPhones Check Out, describes the “digital detox” programs that some hotels and resorts are beginning to offer their guests. Upon check-in, guests hand over their digital devices to hotel staff for the duration of their trip. In some cases TVs will also be removed from rooms and the hotel will offer a discounted stay.  In return, guests are provided with “old school” entertainment options such as books and board games. Hotels in Washington D.C., New York City, and Wyoming are offering this low-tech option.

 Totally unplugging, however, can be very difficult on vacation. It’s especially tough for busy professionals tied to their email, and with family commitments back home. A recent American Express study found that 79% of travelers expect to remain connected on all or part of their next vacation; 72% will read personal email and one-in-five will check work email. With technology devices increasingly at your fingertips, it can be hard to escape but the benefits of being unplugged are numerous – time to rejuvenate, relax, escape and ‘digitally detox’ after months or years since your last vacation.

 Perhaps it is impractical or even impossible for you to surrender all computer and cell phone access while on vacation, but here are a few tips for how to do a “digital detox light” on your next trip:

• Set a time limit for use of social media and the internet each day, and stick to it.

• Leave your phone in your room, and then of course, get out of your room.

• Get colleagues to provide coverage for you while out and promise to pay back the favor on their next trip.

• Use cell phones only for emergencies or quick check-ins with friends and family back home.

Each traveler needs to tailor use of digital devices to their own needs. But if a digital detox sounds good to you, make sure to search for these types of offers before booking your next trip!

This post was written by Amy Leathe. Amy has been with CMB for three years and is a Project Manager on the Travel and Hospitality team. She is happy to report that she was successful digitally detoxing on a trip to Germany and France in August - she only logged in to work email once!