Given the historic nature of the banking industry, many organizations within the vertical are locked into a brand tradition that is decades, often even centuries old. This is part of what makes Ally bank unique; built from the ground up in 2008, Ally (then GMAC) was able to examine the pain points created by these antiquated processes and form an identity that sought to navigate them in a way that put the customer first. 

Join Ally Bank CMO Andrea Riley as she shares with attendees the story, strategy, and CX initiatives behind the bank that continues to disrupt the banking industry in the interest of creating a better experience for its members.

Key Takeaways:

- How Ally has used its smaller size to its advantage, providing customers with a different, more personal communication tone when compared to larger banks

- The importance of authenticity when building internal CX alignment from the ground up

- The challenge of data analytics, especially personalization, when faced with the “problem” of a rapidly growing customer base  

An evolution in customer loyalty has been taking place for the last several years, spurred by the explosion of customer data and new technologies now available to help make sense of it. Gone are the days when a traditional rewards program on its own can effectively build true customer loyalty. Today’s marketers are taking a more holistic approach to building customer loyalty, using customer data and voice of the customer to offer more intelligent programs, deliver customer experiences that align with customer’s expectations and engage customers in ways that are relevant, feel authentic and expected. Given the ongoing and relatively rapid changes that continue to take place in the marketing and customer landscape it’s helpful to look at where we’ve come from, because looking back can be an important part of understanding where we are going.

This panel discussion will be a retrospective on how customer loyalty programs have evolved over the last one, two and three years. You’ll hear from past Loyalty Expo speakers who will discuss how their programs and overall customer loyalty strategies have changed since they’ve last presented to the Loyalty Expo audience. Panelists will discuss the journey of their customer loyalty programs, what’s worked – and hasn’t worked – along the way. As brands put increasing focus on building customer relationships and long-term loyalty, panelist will share their perspective on the changing role of loyalty within the overall customer strategy for their organizations and how it has impacted overall business objectives.

Organizations are increasingly focused on building true customer loyalty, and for many loyalty leaders that means thinking about the traditional marketing mix in new and different ways. Join this panel of loyalty marketing executives as they sit down with Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, for a riveting discussion about how the role of marketers is changing in light of the customer loyalty evolution.

Key takeaways:

- How high-level marketers must adapt their role in the face of a constantly shifting loyalty marketing arena
- How innovation can spring from viewing traditional problems through the lens of “new-school” marketing principles
- How, as customer expectations evolve, leadership can drive the organizational transformation needed to appease growing loyalty marketing demands

The HumanaVitality program is a great success story and is one of the earliest wellness programs to reward its members for improving their health. While the program has been in place for several years, it is still seeing strong growth in participation, engagement and reward redemptions. This session will share the elements needed to change lifestyle behaviors, motivate behavior change, improve customer retention, and increase engagement.  

Attendee Takeaways:

- The incentive program elements needed to change lifestyle behaviors

- HumanaVitality’s incentive structure and how it’s designed to motivate behavior change

- The impact that an incentive-based wellness program can have on engagement and healthcare costs

- How variety and quantity in reward redemption options help keep customers engaged and active

While the idea of rewarding consumers for engaging with brands beyond purchase isn't new today, it hasn't been universally adopted, leaving an important part of a customer's relationship with a brand unaddressed. Rewarding engagement brings exciting opportunities to connect with customers and push the relationship to something more than transactional. However, it has some "watch outs" that can easily be missed. After 3 years in this space, AARP has learned a lot about what makes engagement-based loyalty structures viable, as well as the challenges. SVP, Digital Marketing Strategy Nataki Edwards will share with attendees some of those pitfalls, surprising wins, and lessons learned about playing in the field of engagement loyalty.

Key takeaways:

- Customers don't view engagement-based programs as "free" - they place a value on their time and attention and want rewards that deliver equally.

- There are unintended consequences of passive rewarding that impact the customer and the brand.

- Approaches that drive engagement with content can still feel transactional.

- In order to stay relevant, programs must evolve to address changing customer needs and optimize the customer experience.

When it comes to building a foundation of customer loyalty, brands must think outside the walls of their location. If a company’s CX efforts stop as soon as the customer walks out of the building, it can expect a lackluster enthusiasm from consumers in return. Caesars Entertainment took this strategy to heart, placing a focus on staying top of mind not only while guests were inside the property, but also long after they had ended their stay. Part of this engagement comes as a result of a highly successful mobile app, adding another option through which guests can engage with the company.

Through tactics value-added partnerships and a highly successful mobile app, Caesars has been able to create entanglement through a large and diverse set of outside customer interactions. Join Michael Marino, senior vice president, loyalty & digital, for a look at how Caesars extended its CX far beyond its properties, and substantially improved its position as a part of its customers’ lives.

Key Takeaways: 

1. Engaging customers, even when they aren’t directly interacting with your brand

2. Offering multiple options for channels in which to engage, allowing customers to choose the one that best suits their needs and preferences 

3.  “Entangling” with the lives of consumers, becoming part of their everyday life

Marketers know that building customer loyalty is more complex and difficult than simply offering discounts or rewards. For some industries – like entertainment – customer loyalty is predicated on the ability to offer differentiated and personalized customer experiences that spark emotion with customers. With an explosion of customer data and technologies to make sense of it, personalization at mass scale is a reality for brands, yet many struggle to do it effectively.

When Regal Cinemas set out to update its Crown Club program, the brand knew that the program needed to be the catalyst for creating emotional bonds with customers. The program, started 15 years prior, was a “passive” program that rewarded dollars spent with free soda and popcorn, regardless of if a customer had an affinity for purchasing drinks and snacks at the movies. The brand knew there was an opportunity to integrate new technology that could improve the way customer data and customer insights were being leveraged and yield a better understanding of customers. The result was a program refresh that ultimately connects customers to what they really want.

Join Regal Cinemas as they walk through the journey of updating their Crown Club loyalty program, the largest program in the industry. You’ll hear how the brand made a commitment to creating emotional bonds with customers and has focused on personalization of rewards, communications and promotions to engage with customers both inside and outside of theatres. For example, rather than offering the same rewards to all customers, Regal saw an opportunity to offer personalized rewards based on movie ticket purchases. For Regal, the Crown Club program is one of many important tactics in play to build customer loyalty. The presentation will discuss the approach for integrating the program with customer experience – also a very important component of the customer relationship for theaters – and other marketing initiatives.  

- How loyalty program data should be utilized for effective personalization

- Best practices for revising or updating a program without alienating valuable customers

- Why promotion isn’t dead and how new technology can create unique promotions to spark customer emotions

- How a loyalty program should be integrated with marketing, customer experience and customer engagement to make the biggest impact

What does it mean for a brand to be part of a community? Community-centric companies have shown to have a more loyal customer base and stronger sales patterns, even during challenging economic times. But how does a brand adopt a true community mindset across its organization? How can community become part of a company’s culture to build meaningful relationships with its customers?

Al Perkinson, VP of Marketing for Costa Sunglasses and Diana Helfinstine, Vice President of Customer Experience for Essilor will share their insights on how they have developed superior customer experience strategies within their organizations.

Costa Sunglasses, one of the fastest growing sport performance sunglasses brands in the world, will share how they have successfully implemented an integrated community program as part of the company’s growth strategy. Targeting anglers and outdoors enthusiasts, Costa has kept a laser-beam focus on its community strategy, and has seen sales increase more than 20 percent each year for the past 10 years.

By using Costa’s success story and learning lessons, Al Perkinson will give specific examples of how brands can too implement their own community-based growth strategy.

Additionally, Diana Helfinstine will share her experience with beginning Essilor’s CX Journey in developing and implementing a customer experience strategy, with answers to these key questions:

Why do we need a Customer Experience Program?

• How can I gain C-Suite buy-in?

• What are the steps to a successful Customer Experience Program?

• What does success look like?

This business case study provides a blueprint for launching a CX program, as well as lessons learned along the way, that can make a big difference in your journey.

According to a recent Accenture survey, 78 percent of U.S. consumers are retracting from loyalty programs. Hibbett’s program started off strong, quickly enrolling more than 6 million members on file. But soon after the program began, they started seeing engagement suffer and core KPI’s drop. 

This presentation will focus on the evolution of Hibbett’s loyalty program from traditional loyalty to a program fueled by customer insights and financial analysis. 

The speakers will walk the audience through their journey from a robust analysis of the old program to the insights that catalyzed a redesign and relaunch of the transformed Hibbett loyalty program. 

Key Takeaways:

-Analyzing your current program
-Transforming your program if KPI’s decline
-Understanding success and how to measure for it

• - The history and culture of Vans and how that brand DNA is reflected in experience design
• - The customer-centric design process Vans took to develop a program with emotional resonance as an explicit objective
• - The successful program launch process that led to immediate demand and program enrollments of more than half a million members in the first few months
• - How the brand’s commitment to self-expression empowers their biggest fans, from store employees to brand loyalists
• - How Vans commitment of only asking for data they are going to use has built brand trust and enhanced customer-brand relationships through two-way conversations