Turning Data into Customer Profits

An important element of customer loyalty programs is frequent analysis to compare ongoing results with the objectives of the program. The Ernex Professional Services team provides clients with semi-annual or annual program reviews to track the program's status, analyze spending trends and recommend tactics to undertake to make the client's program more successful.

Some of the types of key information that clients have found beneficial are listed below, followed by some probing questions to help improve the program.

Monthly sales, transactions and active customer counts are provided as standard reports to provide insight into customer retention and acquisition.

How do these numbers compare to the merchant's legacy (non loyalty) sales? How can the loyalty program help to lift spending per customer? In the instance of some of Ernex's retail clients, loyalty program customers spend 15% - 45% more annually than non-loyalty customers.

Understanding the level of points awarded and redeemed in a program helps a merchant:

• Determine if customers are finding rewards attainable;
• Understand which rewards are more popular; or
• Whether inactive customers can be removed from a database to reduce points liabilities.

Comparing the number of customers who have joined a loyalty program on a month-to-month basis helps a merchant determine whether the program is attracting enough members to be profitable; whether campaigns are driving the right types of response; or whether employees are doing a good enough job selling the benefits of the program. One Ernex client for example, recognized declining levels of customer acquisition, and quickly reenergized its rewards program by increasing store-level merchandising, adding employee incentives for customer sign-ups and improving employee training.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of data analysis that Ernex's Professional Services team can provide. With sound objectives and a strategic plan, business intelligence data can be effectively leveraged to help merchants build better customer intimacy and achieve profitable bottom line results.