Susan
More to marketing. Welcome to modern marketing, our podcast on marketing, product and everything in between. I’m your host, Susan and today I have a very special guest Stacy’s joining us and she is an absolute expert on all things loyalty, any kind of loyalty programme you can think of. More than likely, Stacey. It’s actually either designed it in the back end, provide consultancy advice, or it’s part of the programme herself because. She’s part of it. So welcome, Stacy.
Stacey
Thank you, Susan for the lovely intro. It’s so nice to be here speaking to your listeners and talking on my favourite topic of all time loyalty programmes. So just to kind of expand on that great intro that you gave me, my background is in E Commerce digital marketing and loyalty and I worked at roles at Model Co, My house and boost juice before coming across to loyalty and reward Co in 28. Teen so for the past five years I’ve been working as a consultant at Lowton Reward Co, and I’ve had a hand in over 40 major projects now across the world, including working on multi programmes for McDonald’s, Penfolds Wine, Klana Entertainment book. And Lend Lease so there’s lots more and if anyone wants to talk to me about loyalty programmes or any of the work I’ve done, I can’t shut up about it. So yeah, it’s great to be talking about.
Susan
No, definitely. I know you’re very, very passionate about loyalty programmes as well and you’ve literally helped write the book on multi programmes too. Can you tell us a little bit about the book?
Stacey
Yes. So I was Co author of the book multi Programmes, The Complete Guide and it’s the most comprehensive resource on multi programme theory and practise available. So there’s 20 chapters, each going into a different area of low key from low key psychology to low key biases and heuristics to commercials to legal to operations, to technology, whatever it might be. And then it’s all the content throughout is supported by. Academic research articles as well as real world case studies to give that comprehensive view of multi programmes. Around the world.
Susan
And I love. That it’s got real case studies in there as well because. It you can actually. Relate to it just being an everyday person as well, not necessarily a marketing expert or a loyalty expert. You can actually see how it operates or how that part is impacted in that chapter.
Stacey
Exactly. It just brings the theory to life more.
Susan
And and this probably brings us on to why you’re here today. So as you’re very passionate about loyalty, we had a chat beforehand and I’d love for you to share with our listeners the eight essential principles of a loyalty programme, because that’s part of the heart and soul of what you do and also about how successful multi programme could.
Stacey
Definitely so. Over the years of engaging with now, thousands of different loyalty programmes around the world, writing about them. Joining them ourselves, studying them really closely, joining their marketing, reading their terms and conditions and just being well versed in the loyalty industry itself, we have distilled over that time these eight essential principles that we have seen as commonalities. Across all of the best practise loyalty programmes around the world. Build and we actually use these eight essential principles to guide best practise loyalty programme design and execution at log T and reward code for our clients to give them the best result. So the eight essential principles essentially are. Being simple valuable. Stimulating, emotional, complementary, differentiating and cost effective. So would you like me to just go through each of those and explain what I mean for each of the principles and kind of give some case studies throughout?
Susan
100%.
Susan
Be really valuable to actually picture it as well. And with that added case study, I think would be a would be absolutely perfect. So if you don’t mind jumping into. Simple. That would be brilliant.
Stacey
Sure. So a best practise loyalty programme must be simple. So that’s simple to join, simple to understand and simple to engage with. And the best example that I can think of for this one is the humble coffee cart. And it is actually the most widely used loyalty programme in the entire world because of its simplicity. So all the listeners would know how it works. You join in one simple step by picking up the card at the counter. You can see that when you buy 9 coffees, your 10 coffee is free, so you immediately understand. How it works? You immediately understand what the reward is because you can see that you know you get a coffee at the end of completing your journey and the reward of free coffee is perfectly suited to coffee lovers. So that’s why I love the coffee card model. It’s beautiful in its simplicity, and there are no barriers to joining or engaging with it. And they really do work to drive repeat purchase behaviour and build loyalty.
Susan
I’m actually. I’ve still got a coffee card that’s used downstairs at my local coffee shop that they still stamp it. So I’m almost there. I’ve got three to go.
Stacey
Yep. Yeah. So it’s it’s amazing how motivating it is, tracking your visual progress towards a reward. And actually, studies have shown that coffee purchases have been seen to purchase coffee more frequently the closer that they get to a reward. So yeah, the the visual progress tracker and the physical stamp card acts as a stimulator to drive repeat purchase behaviour and increased frequency and recency of buying coffee.
Susan
I suppose probably that emotional connection that you finally got that free coffee as well probably makes that person happier on that day as well.
Stacey
100% so a reward unlocking a reward actually triggers fires. Dopamine in the pleasure centre of the brain. So you actually feel that sense of pleasure and. And excitement when you unlock a reward and that’s what gets you thinking about. Where else can I start?
Stacey
To get a reward from or or, it motivates you to start your coffee journey again, or it might motivate you to see where else from that business or other businesses you. You can access rewards. Because you like that feeling and you want to chase that feeling to get it again.
Susan
Yeah, yeah. No. Makes complete sense. I love the example of the the coffee cart as well. So what’s our second Prince? Ohh, sorry.
Stacey
No, that’s OK. I was just gonna say, though, that yes, the coffee card is beautifully simple. But that doesn’t mean for your listeners that they can’t have a loyalty programme that’s more complex in design. So yes, you can create a complex design, but what you should be thinking about is how can I make? Make engaging with this programme as simple as engaging with the coffee card programme and leveraging technology, for example, might be a way to do that. So I just wanted to give one more example and that’s of a a card link cash back programme called Pocket. Paul and while it’s quite complex in its design, there’s multiple different retailers submitting multiple different offers for members to be able to access when they spend with their card. So they log into the pocket PAL app, they see where they can get a discount and. Then they go. To get that discount around Sydney or around wherever they’re located and it’s actually card linking technology that’s made this beautifully simple to engage with. So Members just have to let. The regular credit card within the Pocket PAL app and from there on out, whenever they spend with the Pocket PAL affiliate partner with that credit card, they don’t have to do anything extra outside of what they would already be doing there. Just tap their card to purchase and they get cash back immediately into their linked bank account. So I also think that that’s a pretty cool way to make quite a complex multi programme design. Simple for members to engage with and understand. So yeah, just be thinking about simplicity for members. Not so much simplicity in design in the back end, because there’s things like technology that can really help streamline that.
Susan
Exactly. No, that that’s a fantastic example of that pocket pal and it. It removes that barrier as well. Of do I need to log in and boost it or activate it or whatever it is before I can then get my reward? So that’s just you’re 100% that it makes it just so simple.
Stacey
Exactly.
Susan
The second one you have is valuable.
Stacey
Yes. So multi programmes also need to deliver tangible perceived value to members and of the eight essential principles, I would say that valuable is arguably the most important. And this is because Members will only join a programme if they perceive that they’re going to access. Meaningful value from the programme, and they’ll only continue to engage with the programme if they perceive that they are accessing meaningful, tangible value from the programme. It’s important to note though, that value can mean different things to different people. Yeah. So sometimes to some people, value means monetary benefits like discounts and bonuses, while others might value experiential benefits like lounge access and priority service. Some might value. Convenient. As their highest value driver, and sometimes it will be a combination. So understanding what value means to your customers is really important and also communicating value is really important. So it’s not just about building value into the programme, it’s about, you know, making it clear to Members that they’re progressing. Towards unlocking value and celebrating the achievement when they do unlock value so that they’re continued and motivated to continue to engage and find out where else they can unlock value from the pros.
Susan
Yeah, it’s very important to keep them on that value journey. Otherwise they just get disengaged.
Stacey
That’s exactly right. And to give you an example of kind of an industry that I believe are doing it well is the supermarket programme. So you’ve got Tesco club card, you’ve got Woolworths rewards and flybys in Australia. They do a really good job of communicating value within their loyalty programmes, even though they offer a very low return on spend. At a base level, so really you only get about half a percent of everything you spend returned back to you in point. But they run lots and lots of frequent bonus points. Campaigns like double and triple or even 20 times points promotions, so members feel like they’re being consistently and continuously well rewarded. And by participating in these regular bonus points. Campaigns members progress faster towards their goal of unlocking value. So I think the supermarkets do quite a good job of developing that stickiness within their. Programmes by yeah, running those, those campaigns that make Members feel like they’re getting extra value quite often.
Susan
Yeah, it’s also a tool to use to maybe change behaviour. So try a new brand and you get that 20 times more points so that new brands get experience out there and. The actual shopping centre or shop or whatever it is, can actually go off and maybe sell the points or sell whatever it is in for all these new brands to try and get part of this audience.
Stacey
Yeah, definitely. There’s multiple benefits built built into that model for sure, yeah.
Susan
Alright. Would you like to go on to the #3 or do you have another example?
Stacey
I know we’ll we’ll move on to stimulating. So stimulating is the third one and we say that a loyalty programme needs to continuously stimulate the Member to engage in different ways. And I mean, there’s lots and lots of different stimulation techniques which you can build into a loyalty strategy, and that might be anything from using progress trackers to track member spend towards the goal of unlocking a reward. It might be running bonus campaigns. As we mentioned before, as a way to gamify the programme, it might be having special members offers different surprise and delight initiatives, or even as far as having digital games to to drive that stimulation, to stimulate behaviour from Members. And I think an example of an industry which adopts a really good variety of stimulation techniques is the QSR industry. So that’s quick service restaurants. So think about, you know, Subway, Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, McDonald’s, KFC, boost juice they. Have so many things you’ll see beautiful progress trackers within their apps. You’ll see lots of different bonus offers, and you’ll always see gains within this industry. So you you know you’ve got hungry, Jack, shake. Win. There’s a great little game that you play in order to unlock an offer every day. You’ve got Macy’s mini games that they launch periodically as a promotional piece to drive that habitual engagement with the app and with the game and with McDonald’s offers through that promotional period. And then you’ve got more complex games like. KFC League of Legends or boost juice find the fruit which allow longer terms of gameplay and then more sophisticated games that issue prizes from either boost juice or KFC to winners of the game, so driving that repeat purchase through the issuance of an offer as a reward. Is something that, yeah, the QSR’s are doing really well and they’re really leading the loyalty industry in terms of stimulation and through digital games.
Susan
One of the ones I loved seeing was an overseas Rep. Restaurant that if you’re in the restaurant, you could hand your phone to your child and they could go searching for using AR. They could actually go searching through the restaurant in safe places for safer Easter Easter eggs. So it kept their children entertained as well in a positive way while they were at the restaurant.
Stacey
Yes. Yeah, exactly. So that that’s a treasure hunt that the treasure hunt. Technique is employed by lots of different multi programmes in order to yeah stimulate those desired behaviours and get get members to explore different areas of the restaurant or the app or the shopping centre or or explore different menu items or shop cross category products in order to find. New things and unlock treasure.
Susan
You would you also. Classify under stimulating when say country Rd sends out their quarterly email where you find out your status and also that’s now got you access to whatever promotional discounts are happening at that moment.
Stacey
Yeah, I mean, I mean anything related to driving engagement with the loyalty programme could be classified as a stimulation technique, sending out a monthly email wouldn’t be a fundamental design element, but it would be a a complementary stimulating. Communication element that is driving engagement with the programme, yeah.
Susan
Awesome. All right, what is #4?
Stacey
So that is emotional. So emotional is also a really important principle because creating emotional commitment to a brand is essentially the ultimate manifestation of loyalty. And this can be created by fostering feelings of exclusivity and belonging, which are known precursors to establishing genuine loyalty with a member.
Susan
Yes.
Stacey
Sorry.
Susan
It’s very important to. You you wanna create this emotion so that they don’t want to go to a competitor, they wanna stay. They feel guilty. You you want them to to build that love with you and like you’re part. Of the family. Almost.
Stacey
Yeah, exactly. And and those customers that have emotional commitment and an emotional connection. To a brand. Have been shown and proven to be less likely to switch to a competitor, less likely to be as price sensitive and and therefore are more profitable to as long term customers. So yeah, that’s why I see it as one of the most important principles. Also, and I’d say the frequent flyer programmes are probably the best at building. Nice. So they’re high tier benefits like lounge access, priority boarding and VIP service across every single touch point consistently make members feel like they belong to something bigger and something more exclusive. And those types of rewards also have this thing that we call. Trophy value because non members or lower tier members see the higher tier members enjoying these benefits like skipping the queue or sitting on a plane 1st and drinking champagne while everybody else has to walk past them to economy class. And this trophy value gives them an ego boost and and does help foster that feeling of exclusivity, making them feel like they belong to part of this exclusive group and you know, belong to something bigger and more meaningful. And that’s that’s quite valuable to them and. Helps to establish that emotional connection between the brand and the member. Yeah.
Susan
Definitely. I I still remember a point in my career when I was working on Virgin Mobile and we did a big research piece with our fabulous researcher in House and we were trying to find out why people were staying with virgin and not moving out because we wanted to keep building that trust and we had our own. Type of loyalty programme where we provided special benefits and perks in and it came down to the emotional connection to Sir Richard Branson. They you we actually found out that they weren’t just with Virgin Mobile though with any virgin company they could be with because they felt that connection to what Sir Richard was actually promoting out there, which was I’m for the little people, not for the big guns. I’ll give you great value. You can trust me. Come with me on this journey and it was just amazing to see that emotional connection where they just didn’t want to move. There was this giant cohort. They just. Were in love. And it was because of his brand that he created and the person behind it.
Stacey
Yeah, you’re exactly right. And I think creating meaning for members beyond the transaction, whatever it might be and whatever techniques you use to build that or whether it’s the brand or the person that’s doing it, they help to foster those feelings of exclusivity and belonging and build emotional connections. Between between with members to help create those lock in effects and stickiness that brands are after.
Susan
Exactly. Alright, #5.
Stacey
So #5 is complementary, though for a loyalty programme to be meaningful to Members, it needs to be contextually relevant, and this can be achieved by designing A loyalty programme to be complementary to the brand positioning complementary to the brand values you know. Including complementary rewards and complementary communications to members so that they understand that the programme and the brand and its products and its rewards are being delivered as one prop.
Susan
And it’s about it making sense because if you bring in something that is completely left or right field, you’re just going to confuse and muddle your messaging.
Stacey
Yeah, exactly right. And sometimes we find that when we do market research with Members, we say, you know, would you like to unlock these types of rewards? And if they can’t understand or see the link between the reward and the company and why they would be getting it, the loyalty programme, like you said, just doesn’t make sense to them. That’s going to affect the level of engagement with the programme and effect. The level of success that the loyalty programme has in driving that, you know, emotional connection between the brand and Members.
Susan
No, definitely extremely important. And they’ll even go down to what your solution is for bringing in your loyalty programme for going back to the point of simplicity as well.
Stacey
Yeah, yeah, definitely. So if you’re are you, are you meaning you want? It’s contextually relevant to care that your loyalty programme is simple.
Susan
Well, it’s about you want them to feel that it is so simple to do and it complements it and doesn’t overcomplicate, understand. So that that going back to your previous examples of order may or may card winking. Yeah, it it complements it because you’re using a a card every day. So therefore it’s simple and the process and complementing how they expect the experience to be.
Stacey
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So the Member experience needs to be complementary to the values of the brand. And yes, ensuring that it’s simple to engage with and simple to understand is the core of what we’re trying to do with implementing A loyalty programme for a company.
Susan
Ohh definitely.
Stacey
Number six, number six is differentiating the multi programme can be a great way to help a brand differentiate from competitors and create those lock in effects. But we do see that loyalty programmes within the same industry tend to mimic each other’s. Design approaches. Yeah. So if you think about it, most of the loyalty programmes in the airline industry, the hotel industry, the car rental industry, the banking, the supermarkets or even pet care products, often all have a similarly designed loyalty programme. And that can lead to negating the competitive competitive advantage that a multi programme can deliver. So This is why we say that it’s important to look at the competitors within your industry when you are designing A loyalty programme, but also looking outside the industry is important too, for inspiration and drawing upon your unique selling proposition of the brand is another important thing to. Twitter. So one of the best examples, and it’s actually a programme that we helped to to deliver, it’s called Rip Curl unique edge. Programme. Yep, and. And what they have is they’ve just got a a points based framework that rewards members when they spend. So look nothing original about that. They’ve got a points based framework, lots of law to programmes, have a points based framework, but Members can also connect their GPS watch to their membership. And earn points for every wave that they catch when they’re surfing. So this element capitalises on rip Curl’s unique selling proposition and creates and rewards members for those memorable moments that competitors would struggle to replicate. And that’s something that should be incorporated within the overarching framework and another added benefit of that as well. Sorry. And I’m getting excited is the IT drives sales of the GPS watch so that members buy the GPS watch so that they can surf with it so that they can track how many waves they’ve caught and track how many points they’ve earned for catching them. Waves. So it’s a it’s a beautiful complementary contextually relevant design that helps them differentiate from their competitors.
Susan
And it’s probably a really cool, unique niche industry as well, where my assumption would be they all talk, they all want to talk about their latest wave and now they can actually go into their app, look at their rewards and go. That’s where I hear it. And they can actually show each other and. Have those conversations, too.
Stacey
That’s exactly right. I I I don’t know if if you remember, but we sat. In a a boardroom meeting and we have our, you know, weekly wins where everybody shares a win of the week and one of our team members said my win of the week was I caught the best wave of my life and you know, we we all laughed. But that is such a memorable moment for somebody.
Susan
Exactly.
Stacey
But but rip curl have found a way to insert the brand into that memorable moment using their loyalty programme, which is just so intelligent.
Susan
Exactly. I I love it. And I I remember that meaning well and I know. Exactly who you’re talking about? Oh, I love that example. What about #7?
Stacey

7 is cost effective, so the main objective of a loyalty programme obviously is to deliver a positive return on investment and that’s why it’s really important to do detailed commercial modelling and predictive. Benchmarking as part of the project across all of the stages to ensure that the concepts that are being delivered are commercially viable and are going to actually stimulate those objectives that we’re looking to drive. For as part of the loyalty programme, so ensuring that the loyalty programme is going to drive an uplift in Members or Dr retention or reduce churn or do what we are, are hoping that the loyalty programme is going to do, so that it delivers a positive return on investment. The bottom line of the programme?

Susan
Exactly. And I I think one of the things a lot of companies forget to do is ensure that when they’re doing their predictability piece of it, that they put in all those promos or bonuses that they want to do to see how how it will appear when they’re actually got 10% taking up 80% take up always. Make sure you cover so you understand how it will impact the bottom. Time.
Stacey
Yeah, and just structuring the commercials so that there is true clarity over the costs and the benefits that the programme delivers. So doing it in a way like you said, where we understand exactly how much this promotion is costing in terms of, say you’re issuing points or credit or whatever other type of value. You’re giving surprise and delight initiatives. And then understanding the uplift that that is directly linked to those initiatives, so that you can analyse its return on investment and see what needs to be tweaked, what what we might do more of, what we might do less of in the future to to to continuously make the programme more cost effective.
Susan
Exactly, extremely important.
Stacey

8 #8. So this is the last one and the last one is evolving. So a loyalty programme needs to continuously develop and evolve. So a do it once, do it well or a set and forget type approach is not the way to generate ongoing engagement with the. Programme instead, there really should be a a clear road map for the continued evolution of the programme from its MVP all the way to, you know, high level sophistication. And it it really should be optimised along the way based on learnings from Members and the way that Members are engaging with the programme. Along the way.

Susan
Exactly, and and for me, watching him, being a member of, say, Woolworths everyday rewards I’ve seen over the years, it’s transitioned into digital first, I’m hoping that their next evolution is going to be more on the 1:00 to 1:00 relationship, where I understand as my life stages, a number of people. Know that this is the example I give but. My babies are two now. I used to buy all my formula when they were taking formula at Woolworths, so I’d buy stage one then after a certain amount of time they moved to stage two stage 3, stage 4, etc. They’re still serving me up stage 1 formula. I moved on to the other ones a long time ago, so I think that’s gonna be I’m. I’m predicting this is going to be their their evolution and their programme is they’re gonna start to understand life stages individuals and start changing or doing better recommendations based on behaviour.
Stacey
Yeah, definitely. And I think that they could take some inspiration from either. For example, Dan Murphy’s do quite a good job of. Of asking me if I need a top up of of certain wines or if they want to, or if I just want to reorder a past order after a certain amount of time as well as the beauty industry. For example, when I run out of my 30 days after I purchased my foundation or 60 days or however many. Is. What’s set up as a trigger within their communication system? They’re recognising the life stage of how long it takes me to use my foundation and then they prompt me right before it ends to repurchase and make it very easy for me. To do so. So I think yeah, Woolworths and the the supermarket programmes could. Take a look at what the beauty programmes are doing in terms of best practise and managing consumer purchase cycles and across their life stage because yeah, I think they’re doing. A really great job of it.
Susan
Well, that’s how brands like Proactive first came onto the market. It was subscription based, but the product was made to last for that period of time. So you would have 30 day or I think it was 90 days and then you’d do a reorder because you knew that that’s how long the product lasted for you, so that you’ve continually got this subscription. Then you got rewarded with surprise and delights or some other offerings that you might get along the way too.
Stacey
Yeah, exactly.
Susan
100% agree. Now I know you love loyalty programmes.
Stacey
And you’ve done.
Susan
Absolutely fantastic job describing a whole pile of other naughty programmes out there, but what’s your favourite and why?
Stacey
So asking me to pick my favourite loyalty programme is like asking me to pick my favourite child and you would know that that is particularly hard because you’ve got 2 twin boys that you truly can’t distinguish between. But I would have to say that.
Susan
It depends on what day.
Stacey
But. My all time favourite is Mecca beauty loop programme and I’m not alone when I say that Mecca is such a has taken the loyalty programme world and and by storm because of the way that they deliver the Mecca beauty loop programme. And so I’ll explain the programme and then I’ll kind of explain to you how it delivers across the 8 ascential principle. And I mean, it’s really rare that we see a loyalty programme delivering to all of the eight essential principles, but Mecca just do it so beautifully. So for those who don’t know what beauty lip is, it’s a programme which provides members with sample filled beauty boxes 4 to 7 * a year, depending on what tier you’re in, which they collect in store, and the higher the status tier you’re in, the better quality samples you get in your box. It’s a simple. Was that and higher tier members also get access to additional benefits like complementary makeup applications when they have a social event, they get birthday gifts and periodic surprise bonus gifts that are all cosmetics related and all quite generous. Though this is kind of why I. Love the programme? It’s super simple, they it’s very easy to join, you give them minimal details and you have multiple options available to be able to join so you can join when you’re in store, you can join on their app. You can join on the website and when you are joining there’s clarity. Around the data that they’re collecting and how they’re going to use it, for example, they tell you that they’re collecting your birth date because they want to send your birthday voucher or birthday gift, which makes me feel comfortable about handing over my data because I know that I’m going to be appropriately rewarded. For it.
Stacey
So then there’s valuable. So this programme is so valuable. That’s why it’s been so successful. So it gives Members access to samples to try different products without obviously committing to the full purchase. And if you’re in higher tiers, you also get full size samples. So a lot of the member base find that really, really valuable considering the member base is full of cosmetics and makeup lovers.
Susan
That makes.
Stacey
And that kind of brings me to contextually relevant. So it it’s complementary to the brand. So the rewards are free cosmetics products and free cosmetics services, which as I mentioned, are perfectly suited to an audience of cosmetics lovers and are complementary to the proposition of the Mecca.
Stacey
Brand Yep. And so the next one is cost effective and this is my favourite one for the Mecca programme. So it’s the beauty brands that are stocked in Mecca that actually pay for the samples that are included within the beauty loop boxes as a way of reaching the highly engaged member. Nice as a sampling campaign, so it’s highly efficient and we say an efficient reward is inexpensive to supply for the company versus the perceived value from the customer. So unbelievable that Mecca have designed this full loyalty programme and they don’t even have to pay for the rewards that the customers value so much. And in addition to that, Members have to go into store at least 4 * a year to collect their beauty boxes. And that provides a really valuable. Upsell opportunity for for the Mecca staff to be able to get customers to add something else to their trolley, to drive that upsell as well.
Susan
Yeah, that’s what I’ve missed out on. I. Missed my box I miss.
Stacey
Ohh no for the next one to drop so I can go in and see it. Yeah, exactly. See, they’re huge loyal enthusiasts for the Mecca beauty loop boxes. And there’s Mecca Facebook groups that are all set up to comparing beauty locks, beauty loop boxes trading.
Susan
My.
Stacey
Different samples that they get asking for advice on how to get to the next tier quicker. It’s absolutely wild. It’s taken the world by storm.
Susan
And that’s probably also a differentiator for them as well.
Stacey
Definitely so differentiating. Obviously as we know is a principle and. This one is really great for macro as well, because a major majority of the beauty products that are stocked in Mecca can be bought directly through the individual brands or from large department stores or boutique boutique beauty stores. But it’s the beauty loop programme that acts as the differentiating factor for Mecca and keeps customers purchasing these brands that they can get elsewhere from Mecca, even though Mecca are known not to offer discounts.
Susan
Yeah. No, I love that. And what about I’ve talked a bit about this one as well. The 7th principle, the cost effectiveness.
Stacey
Yeah, so cost effective. I mean one liner here Mecca don’t pay for the rewards within their boxes, making it the most cost effective programme you could ever deliver.
Susan
Ohh definitely and to be able to get full size samples as well. So probably the volume that you’re looking at. Is a substantial savings for that business.
Stacey
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that value again also feeds into the emotional. Connection factor which is one of the principles that I haven’t spoken about. So because I feel like Mecca are really investing in giving me good quality samples like full full size sample products as well as the ability to try all these other different products before. Committing to buying them, I feel like I belong to something meaningful to me. Me and I am more likely to go back and purchase from Mecca because of the ability to access these sample boxes. So if a competitor offers a discount, I’m probably less receptive to going and purchasing the product with the discount because. I place higher value on the beauty boxes that I get multiple times a year through the Mecca programme.
Susan
And probably also stimulates you to go to Mecca as well when you see it, you’re like, oh, actually I need. A refill of that and.
Stacey
Uh-huh.
Susan
Off you go to Mecca instead.
Stacey
Exactly.
Susan
And what about evolving? How have you seen it evolve?
Stacey
So there’s probably two ways. So the first is during lockdown, so Mecca really adapted quickly throughout lockdown to provide its Mecca beauty loop members with free shipping on all orders, recognising that members couldn’t get into store and and finding a way to deliver an appropriate. Service and appropriate value to them. And so beauty loop boxes could also be accessed via making a purchase online and then they would just include it in your cart which is really awesome as well and drove that incremental online. Purchase.
Stacey
And then secondly, Mecca have just recently introduced a new tier. So they’ve recognised that Members in the third level, which was the old highest tier. Needed a motivator to to be able to continue to engage and strive for something higher, so they released a fourth tier and it’s really gained a lot of traction and gotten members very excited about reaching that that 4th tier. So yeah, that got a lot of positive press including. And may I write some articles about? It as well.
Susan
Ohh. Fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing about your favourite loyalty programme. Can I ask though? My my final question? I ask everyone. My and it could be you could still answer Mecca here, but feel free to answer a different brand.
Stacey
Yeah.
Susan
If you were a brand, any brand at all, what brand best represents you and why?
Stacey
OK. So you’re right. I have mentioned Mecca. I love the Mecca beauty loop programme, but I feel like I’ve raved about that enough and I want to shine a light on one of my other favourite brands and programmes, which is go to skin care and I think it it represents me as a brand. And the programme, because it’s fun and lighthearted and funny, it’s got a really easygoing, playful. Tone of voice. It has really fun rewards as part of the programme and even the the programme names and the tiers are are, you know, done in a really fun and easy going and and relaxed casual way which I feel represents me as. Well. Ah, I would say that go to is also are quite intelligent with its programme smarts, so the way that the programmes designed all of the member life cycle triggers the whole communications approach is quite intelligent. And then I’d also say it’s quite. Personal so I I would call myself, you know, a a quite a relatable, personable person. And I think that go to do a really good job of of staying true to themselves, being a bit quirky, being relevant, being relatable, but always staying true to the brand. So I will end with that.
Susan
I love that I’m gonna have to look them up. Actually, not familiar with them. Thank you so much.
Stacey
Not a problem at all. Thank you for having me. It’s been lovely talking multi programmes with you and your audience today.
Susan
Fantastic. And we’ve learned so much. We’ve learned all about the 8 principles of designing a really first class loyalty programme and the guides all around the eight, the 8 processes which are simple, valuable, simulating connecting with the emotion complementary, differentiating cost effective. And also always considering about evolving. As well over time. So really appreciate you sharing all those fantastic insights. The case study is to go behind it and going into the details, Stacey, it’s been fantastic having you.
Stacey
No, it’s been awesome. Hopefully I can come and join you again.
Susan
That would be amazing for anyone that would love to hear Stacy again. Please make sure to follow more to marketing. Thank you.
Stacey
Thank you so much.
Susan
More to marketing.