Newsroom
Also see...
Blog
Social Media & Mobile Strategies for Travel
Friday, May 17th, 2013
Written by Paul Avery, Business Development Manager, San Francisco, ICLP
Having recently attending the Social Media & Mobile Strategies for Travel event in San Francisco, I noted many discussions based around the possibility of achieving lifelong loyalty in today’s increasingly promiscuous, price-sensitive and deal-driven digital world. It has never been more evident that mobile device proliferation and the social media phenomena of recent years will continue to have a strong influence on the ways in which brands engage with customers. Especially within the travel industry, understanding how these areas can transform marketing strategies or even business models is key in differentiating in a competitive environment and ultimately developing longer and more profitable relationships with both new and existing customers.
Some of my key takeaways from the event:
Understanding the mobile consumer
More than 50% of US travellers are now browsing for travel on mobile devices and 15% are actually booking via their mobile …
Read Article
Categories: Customer Insight, Mobile & Technology
A glimpse at India's loyalty landscape
Tuesday, March 26th, 2013
Written by Gunjan Kumar, Sales Director, ICLP Mumbai
ICLP recently attended and sponsored the Loyalty Summit, a 2-day conference in Mumbai, India. The strategic loyalty marketing event is now in its 6th year and brings together multi-sector B2C brands to focus on customer engagement and loyalty marketing strategy.
Following our attendance and speaking session at the event, Gunjan Kumar, Sales Director for ICLP Mumbai shares some key take-aways from the conference and offers some insights into loyalty in India.
The Loyalty Summit
As the only dedicated event for loyalty marketers in India, the Loyalty Summit was attended by loyalty practitioners, CRM, Social Media, eCommerce and technology specialists. It was really encouraging to see that brands from the public sector such as BPCL, HPCL and ACC were present together with private players like Jet Airways, Dish TV, Shoppers Stop etc. The conference also drew some new younger companies like Games 24X7 and Fun Cinemas who stand …
Read Article
Categories: Customer Insight, Loyalty Programme, Research
Playing around with the customer relationship
Tuesday, March 5th, 2013
Written by Stephen Hay, Regional Director - Asia Pacific, ICLP
Playing games is in our DNA; we cannot help but like it. As children, it’s how we learn and practice engagement with our peers and adults. And as grown-ups, the corporate world is full of game-play techniques as we war-game and role-play our way through work. Airline pilots spend much of their time playing multi-million dollar flight simulator games. A word we are seeing more and more is gamification. What does this mean for the customer relationship?
So what is it?
Gamification is the use and adoption of game techniques and mechanics in non-game applications to engage users and solve problems. While it has broad application in a number of fields, for example, education, brand building, and science, we are seeing some of the most rapid adoption and development in the management of the customer relationship, CRM, or customer loyalty.
There are elements of …
Read Article
Categories: Customer Engagement, Customer Journey, Gamification, Reward & Redemption, Social Media
Building loyalty in a socially-connected world
Wednesday, January 16th, 2013
Written by Stuart Evans, General Manager, ICLP UK
How do you build loyalty in a world where brands no longer own and control their own messaging? A world where — like it or not — consumers share information, insights and opinions on social media platforms 24/7.
Traditional approaches still have their place. However today’s loyalty strategy goes beyond the transaction. Social interactions are becoming the new currency. Many brands are playing catch-up, evaluating how they can mine valuable social data and use it to re-evaluate how they best engage with customers in these and all channels.
New expectations
Today, customers have a 360 degree view of your company. They expect to have an ‘always on’, consistent, value-added and interactive multi-channel customer experience. In today’s digitally-connected society, weekends and evenings are times when customers are looking for information, sales and service. Engaging with them during normal office hours is no longer good enough.
Many brands have …
Read Article
Categories: Customer Experience, Customer Insight, Loyalty Programme, Mobile & Technology
Going under the radar with sales promotion
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
Written by Stuart Evans, UK General Manager, ICLP
As the internet levels the marketing playing field, brands that lack real differentiators are finding it tougher to compete, and harder to capture the customer’s attention with compelling reasons to click, engage, decide, buy and recommend. This means brands now have to focus intently on their differentiated strategy. If they’re a discount or commodity brand then they have to lead with price. But, for all the others, that’s a quick way to devalue the brand; they need to protect their ability to command a price premium, push the aspirational value of the brand, and differentiate on the features of the product and the strength of the relationship benefits they offer.
Yield protection and maintenance is perhaps the most effective way to increase profitability, as no brand wants to ‘trash’ its retail price. In low margin businesses, a small gain in yield can have …
Read Article
Categories: Customer Experience, Customer Journey, Retail Loyalty, Reward & Redemption