Loyalty and CRM - DMA

Loyalty and CRM in a New World 2020

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Contents

Introduction � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �03

Understanding Customer Loyalty � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �04

The New Rules of Customer Loyalty � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �05

Emotion as a Powerful Asset � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 06

How to Tap into Emotion � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 07

Personalisation and Online Shopping � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �08

Personalisation and New Customers � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 09

The Onboarding Process � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 10

Winning Back Customers � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �11

Social Media and Loyalty � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 12

Don’t Promote Too Early � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 13

Q&A � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 14-15

Changes in Consumer Behaviour � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 16

The Charity Sector � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 17-18

The Travel Sector � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �19-20

The Financial Services Sector � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 21-22

The Retail Sector � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �23

How Brands Can Support Staff � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 24-25

Final Thoughts � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �26

About the Customer Engagement Campaign � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 27

About the DMA � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 28

Copyright and Disclaimer � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �29



The DMA Customer Engagement Committee participated in a roundtable discussion to explore the common challenges arising from the pandemic across charity, travel, financial services, and retail sectors.

A special thank you to our participants for bringing forth these important issues and offering their expert guidance:

Alex Hyde-Smith, Alzheimer’s Society; Nick Fletcher, Collinson; Zoe Senior, Collinson; Frank Brooks, dotdigital; Jaspria Roda, DMA; Rosie Atherfold, DMA; Tanya Mitchell, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity; Danny Crowe, Just Go Holidays; Meredith Niles, Marie Curie; Natalie Tarrant, Mind; Nick Barbeary, Paragon; Scott Logie, REaD Group; Eilidh Laverty, Standard Life; Ed Child, Studio Retail Limited; Ian Cooper, SunLife; Pete Howroyd, The Loyalty People; Antonio U Silano, Travelopia; Simon Baines, TUI.

Scott Logie, Chair of the DMA Customer Engagement Committee, opened the session and introduced customer loyalty and CRM expert Pete Howroyd, who delivered a presentation on the new rules of customer loyalty in our changed world.

Introduction

https://dma.org.uk/communities/customer-engagement-committee



Understanding Customer Loyalty

Howroyd began his presentation by saying that before customer loyalty can be discussed or measured, it’s crucial for organisations to understand what this means for them: each one is very different. To do this, businesses need to set a benchmark of looking at data and treating a customer from a loyalty point of view within their own organisation. It could be as simple as website visits or basket value.

It’s not a silver bullet

A loyalty and CRM programme can be extremely powerful and beneficial during this time, Howroyd said. However, if a brand doesn’t have the correct fundamentals to begin with, there’s no point in investing: it won’t save a business. Organisations that have foundational problems, are in decline, or don’t have the right product or price, need to address these issues before looking at additional software or technology.

Howroyd used House of Fraser, who he said many people know and love, as an example. The department store had foundational problems and before going into administration, they built a loyalty programme, which added unnecessary, enormous costs to their business. Having spoken to them recently, Howroyd said he thinks it’s possibly one of the worst decisions they’ve made in the short term.

Foundation Product Loyalty



The New Rules of Customer Loyalty

It’s not good enough to operate loyalty and CRM programmes like before the pandemic was introduced, Howroyd said. These tools have and will continue to change: capturing consumer data, communicating effectively with customers, giving bonuses for things such as different behaviours, building incentive over the years, and so on.

To engage customers on a different level, we need to use these tools more tactically now. A new focus is required for customer strategy, ensuring it’s still aligned to people’s needs.



Emotion as a Powerful Asset

Emotion isn’t new: shopping has always had some emotional connection, Howroyd said. The pandemic, though, has brought forward different feelings, such as individuals stepping out of their comfort zones to help others. Every Thursday, a whole nation of people stand on their doorsteps and clap for frontline workers.

Having this emotional tool is a powerful asset. The key for businesses and brands is to figure out how to tap into it, so that customers stay with them.



How to Tap into Emotion

Loyalty and CRM programmes let you communicate with customers in a non-intrusive way, Howroyd said. Usually, businesses that collect data through these programmes do so to send relevant communications, and customers who sign up want to receive them.

Organisations now have the opportunity to step back and think what is the correct communication to create and retain loyalty. Since the start of the pandemic, brands have capitalised on the term ‘emotion’: HATS (a car hire service) give 40% off to key workers and Vodafone offers unlimited data to key workers.

Though it’s just this group getting the benefit, Howroyd said, it creates an emotional ‘halo effect’ across the market. Everyone can see these offerings, so other customers experience feelings of warmth as well. Brands that have taken this step, Howroyd said, will have a much easier time as we move forwards.



Personalisation and Online Shopping

At the moment, everyone is an online shopper. The key now is how to take personalisation from online and bring it back in store.

This is where some brands will struggle, because many of them have a strong eCommerce digital platform, but they can’t link it to their face-to-face operations. Howroyd encouraged brands to see if there’s an immediate fixed income in place, allowing data to be swapped between these two channels.

shoes

These days, customers know why they’ve given their data and expect a level of service in return, Howroyd explained. Simple actions make a noticeable difference: mentioning in store someone’s name, birthday, or previous purchases if they’ve shopped online.

There are many competitors trying to fish for these customers in the same way, so it’s really important to get this right. We’ve talked about personalisation for years, but it still creates a powerful, emotional response.



Personalisation and New Customers

During the pandemic, there’s been a huge influx of new customers. The rise in online shopping has caused some customers to shop in brands they wouldn’t have before.

Pets at Home, for example, have increased their database by 1.5 million customers – an enormous opportunity for data. Howroyd, who’s been to the store about five times and scanned the app each time, said he hasn’t yet received one communication. Hopefully the company doesn’t miss the opportunity to use the data, he said.

New shoppers means new engagement

It’s important to tread carefully in regard to personalisation as well, Howroyd said. New customers aren’t the same as previous ones. There are potentially new demographics, different profiles, and so on.

Howroyd encouraged brands to take a step back, analyse customer data, and create a separate stream of communication for new customers to keep them engaged. Perhaps they get different types of communication or rewards.

Otherwise, as soon as the other shop they used to go to reopens, they’re heading straight back. There’s a short window that brands have to win new customers.



The Onboarding Process

The onboarding process is one of the most important pieces for brands in terms of creating customer loyalty, Howroyd said. It’s difficult to join a brand, whether online, in store, or through an app. Negative emotion can be created quickly.

There are many technologies that tidy up the onboarding process. Howroyd asked brands to focus on data when customers join. Is it easy and intuitive to join different programmes? Does it cause positive emotion?



Winning Back Customers

A lot of businesses have lost many customers if they weren’t able to trade or if their customers started shopping elsewhere due to the pandemic. There’s opportunity now to win those customers back.

Remember the Pareto 80/20 rule (80% of profits come from 20% of customers), Howroyd said. It can be very expensive to try winning back every single customer. The top-level customers or VIPs and high-value customers should come first, then work down from there.

OPEN

A lot of businesses have lost many customers if they weren’t able to trade or if their customers started shopping elsewhere due to the pandemic There’s opportunity now to win those customers back.

Remember the Pareto 80/20 rule (80% of profits come from 20% of customers), Howroyd said. It can be very expensive to try winning back every single customer. The top-level customers or VIPs and high-value customers should come first, then work down from there.

Give that sense of emotion to customers who’re going to stay with the brand longer. If you have VIPs, there’s a huge opportunity to engage with them: a simple phone call, text, or social media message asking how they’re doing can create an enormous level of emotion.

Starting off with the top customers first, rather than sending a blank email, means you’re limiting costs as well. So much money is wasted by using huge promotions and incentives to target that massive customer base. Some people just aren’t coming back, and a lot of business will need to cut their losses.



Social Media and Loyalty

It’s now possible for businesses to engage customers on an emotional level and reward them through social media. Brands can encourage people to interact and shop without them stepping foot into their stores or making a purchase online.

The same thing is true for reviews: many organisations are giving reviewers points or rewards, and this can also be done for likes and follows.



Don’t Promote Too Early

The last point Howroyd focussed on is the danger of trying to win back customers using discounts and promotions. Once you put yourself in that situation, it’s very difficult to get out of, he said. This erodes brand perceptions in the long term if you can bring back full prices.

Pizza Express, for example, is struggling enormously. Why would you pay full price for two pizzas if everywhere else you can get ‘buy one, get one free’? Holland and Barrett are in the same position with their ‘buy one, get one for a penny’ offer.

Harrods, when Howroyd worked with them back in the day, fell into a similar situation, never selling furniture at full price. Afterwards, they found it incredibly difficult to sell anything full price, because they taught the customer that discount was the only way to buy furniture at their store.

Howroyd wrapped up his presentation with one final message: hold back sending out this discount message. It causes short-term emotional gain for customers, but it’s not a long-term benefit for businesses.

To:

Pizza Express

Cc:

Subject:

SEND

Buy One, Get One Free



The group then moved on to ask Howroyd questions:

Alzheimer’s Society: How can brands resolve the issue of discount expectation?

You just have to put a hard stop to it, Howroyd said. Business need to analyse the impact of losing discount shoppers during a certain time period. A discount shopper is a different kind of customer.

Harrods, for example, had discount shoppers who weren’t right for them. We completely reset the department to target the correct profile of people. There were some losses, but they recovered fairly quickly.

REaD Group: How can brands measure the emotional response from consumers to their brand?

To gain a better understanding of brand perception and if the emotional messaging is effective, combine surveys and data around engagement, Howroyd said.

Standard Life: How can brands develop more personalised interactions with VIP customers? How can they find the right balance and not overstate the rules that their company places in the customer’s life?

Use a light touch to check in with customers: see how they’re doing and take it from there, Howroyd said. If they’re receptive and want more information, go for it. If they’re happy with the communication but don’t engage further, leave it for the time being.

Several retail brands that haven’t been able to trade have contacted customers to ask how they are, if they could put anything on hold for them, or what services they could offer not related to trading. This strategy depends how many VIPs you have: a business that has hundreds of thousands will have a different strategy to one that has 100.

It’s about making that one-to one-connection. Many people aren’t used to it, so it creates a quick emotional response.

Q&A



Travelopia: What’s your advice for businesses that have adjusted their pricing strategy, so that the discount is priced into the product?

It comes down to communication, Howroyd said. How the business lets the customer know the kind of deal they’re getting. Sometimes, to support the promotion, brands will add a loyalty or CRM benefit that isn’t price driven, which balances the price-driven message.

Just Go Holidays: the difficulty in retail environments is that there are many different departments and pricing levels. It’s the same for travel if you’re working across different groups: some people can purchase products up to £99, others £10,000 or £ 20,000. How do you differentiate communications when you have such varied offerings?

This depends on how advanced the communication technology is, and if you can break down communication to target different people by product or customer, Howroyd said. Ideally, you would go after different customers for cost-effective products versus the more expensive ones.



Changes in Consumer Behaviour

Logie steered the conversation towards research from the DMA Customer Engagement Committee: 35% of people feel either much worse off or slightly worse off than three months ago. If you cut that percentage across all of your customer or supporter bases, there’s a big difference in terms of spending power, he said.

People then make decisions on what products to buy and charities to support, and where to put their money in terms of their financial services. At the moment in the travel sector, it’s not even a choice, because most people can’t go on holiday.

The group was asked what changes in consumer behaviour they’ve noticed, what they’ve done as brands to try and mitigate that change, and what results they’ve seen over the last four months.

MAY / AUG

SEPTEMBER



The Charity Sector

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity has found people have changed their giving habits. They’re seeing higher levels of smaller value cash donations.

From a demographic perspective, more younger men are contributing, in addition to their typical audience of women who’re empty nesters or more aged. Great Ormond Street Hospital don’t know a lot about this male audience, many of whom aren’t able to communicate through their channels of preference.

The challenge in terms of maximising LTV from one-off ‘impulse’ donations is that many them are coming through digitally, and very few people are providing opt-in details, so Great Ormond Street Hospital can’t subsequently communicate with them. Do people want to have a relationship with them and, if so, how can the charity establish one?

Are these donations coming because of the charity’s association to the NHS?

The answer is twofold: there’s no doubt Great Ormond Street Hospital benefits from the overwhelmingly positive sentiment to the NHS, particularly their Charities Together campaign.

Additionally, as a brand, there’s six degrees of separation: people are likely to know of someone affected. Donations peaked, for instance, when there was a fear of the coronavirus infecting those with Kawasaki, a condition that creates toxicity in children’s organs. People really showed their support.



Alzheimer’s Society has seen an increase in loyalty from their existing customers and increased difficulty in recruiting new ones. The supporters of other charities are also staying loyal, making recruitment hard, especially in an industry that hasn’t grown in the last decade.

It’s really about market share within a charitable giving space and audience. They’re switching a lot of their focus and budgets from recruiting new, often flighty supporters to looking after and retaining existing ones.

Alongside other charities, Alzheimer’s Society has had to quickly ensure their organisation and the work they’re doing are relevant in a world that’s completely dominated by the coronavirus. Charities can’t talk about their services how they used to: they have an additional responsibility to show how their previous work and new services are supporting people throughout the crisis.

Since Marie Curie helps people at the end of life and people have been focused on death, the charity has become salient. They were also able to mobilise a visible emergency appeal quickly, because of creative time and media space donated by partners, making it free for them to have a strong emotional message. This has driven a significant uplift in online donations.

In the first month after lockdown, online donations were over 30 times the daily average. Though now beginning to taper off, contributions are still three times the daily average. The charity hasn’t yet had a chance to analyse who these new people are, or if it’s their core donors choosing to give more, but their existing direct marketing channels are performing incredibly well.



The Travel Sector

Travelopia have to retain their existing customers before trying to get new ones. Within the company, the yacht businesses are quite fortunate in that they’re dealing with ultra-high net worth individuals, who charter very expensive boats.

From a commercial perspective, there’s been the decision to conserve cash flow. The travel industry has received a lot of criticism for unnecessarily holding on to people’s money.

While Travelopia have issued cash refunds when required, they’ve managed to carefully navigate through law team mechanics, convincing a large portion of people to do exactly that: the company has £15 million in refund credits, effectively guaranteeing future bookings.



The impact for TUI will be more from the consequences of not processing cash refunds quickly. The real issue is how to rebuild customers’ trust, because loyalty is ultimately driven by trust, which is driven by a number of subcomponents: credibility, reliability, intimacy. Underneath this is if the consumer thinks the organisation is likely to act in the customer’s self-interest. Not giving refunds quickly undermines all of this.

TUI is working to rebuild trust by making clearer and more transparent promises that they know they can keep, and communicating those promises widely through multiple channels, particularly in the short term, as travel restrictions and FCO guidance change so that more people can travel.

They’re already seeing their brand consideration metrics bounce back to pre-covid levels. This still means they’ve lost some customers forever, but hopefully this is a small number that they can replace with new travellers.

Is there more forgiveness in the travel industry from consumers because of the general situation?

TUI said certainly. Financial and travel gurus like Martin Lewis have encouraged some forbearance. If there isn’t enough, in the future, travellers will have much less choice about what they can do, because the companies won’t be there. The prices will also be massively higher. Some people recognise that over time forbearance is mutually beneficial.



The Financial Services Sector

At the start of the lockdown, Standard Life needed to give customers immediate reassurance that their product is planned and protected against short-term volatility. They were encouraged that the majority of people didn’t withdraw money from their savings products.

Though it wasn’t appropriate to play up the message from savvy investors who’re saying it’s a good time to invest because the markets are loose, this has provided an interesting dynamic for the brand. The same is true for seeing many people updating their beneficiaries, particularly from people who work in the NHS, which has also been an emotional experience.

Moving forward, Standard Life is looking at what people can spend their money on. Typically, this would be holidays. Many people are worse off now, but a small amount of people are better off, because they’ve kept working and couldn’t spend their money on the usual things, so they could potentially save more. There’s an opportunity for the brand to educate and engage with people around this in a mindful way.



SunLife has benefited from people prioritising life insurance more during this recessionary period; when the future is uncertain or money is tight, individuals go for things that have greater certainty, they said.

Over the last months, the insurance company has tried to ensure customers are aware that this is a time when the policy pays out. SunLife has taken steps to reinforce their brand can be trusted to do the right thing and act quickly. If there are affordability issues, they’ve extended the time period the customer can pay back outstanding money.

They’ve also written off their one-year moratorium policy, in which if a customer goes through the first 12 months, they get their premiums back, but not the sum assured they’ve agreed to. Now, anyone that bought this before a date in March and was within the one-year moratorium period, would have got paid the full sum assured if they passed away.

The brand has focused on the rational benefits of the product as opposed to the emotional ones, which wouldn’t have been appropriate.

Has the insurance industry benefited from people being fearful?

Did SunLife recruit a different audience profile?

Though the company hasn’t yet reached a conclusion, they do know that, typically, their audience took out higher premiums. One way to look at this is they’ve lost the lower premium customers, largely and understandably due to affordability, but they’ve gained from people who’re prioritising life insurance during this time. The challenge for SunLife is how long these customers will stay on the books once the fear factor is over.



The Retail Sector

Studio Retail Limited, working in the eCommerce sector and operating as a value retailer, has had a largely positive experience throughout the pandemic. The brand has seen significant new customer acquisition, linking to customers changing their shopping habits and potentially shopping with brands that they hadn’t before, because they’re constrained by the marketplace.

The brand is working harder than ever to understand who these new and different customers are, and how they can cater to them in the long term. However, there’s nervousness around what will happen once the high street reopens. The same is true for their credit capability offer for customers, because of the impact of the recession and bad debt.

Significant investments in CRM and capability around Salesforce have been made, but the company is still in their infancy. They’re transitioning their business model from catalogue based and one-size-fits-all to be more consumer focussed. Since the business is used to measuring short-term sales – a catalogue is dropped, there’s instant uplift, the job is done – they’re now thinking about the longer term.

Over the year, they want to flatten out the demand. Rather than just measuring short-term sales, they need to gauge lifetime value profitability against margin, profitability against corporate credit, and actually figure out the customer.



How Brands Can Support Staff

One of the key things that cuts across different organisations and brands is how they ensure that people in the business get the support they need. Logie asked how the group is helping staff, particularly as there’s a lot of people in furlough and working at home.

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity is taking steps to help staff who’re making stewardship calls to supporters. There’s a lot of raw emotion attached, particularly if someone is a family member of a patient.

Marie Curie has been able to think differently about what they can offer in terms of value. The most valuable thing they used to offer a donor was time with their Chief Executive, which was difficult to schedule, because of people’s busy schedules and his limited time.

During lockdown, donors have been much more willing to do things online: more can participate and have greater availability. The charity has done a lot of donor engagement via Zoom, making people feel connected. This is a VIP type of experience that wouldn’t have been possible pre lockdown, because people likely wouldn’t have valued it in the same way, and Marie Curie wouldn’t have thought to do it.



Mind have removed ‘flexi time,’ which allowed staff to work between 8am and 7pm, and have extended lunchbreaks. Employees can now work whenever is best for them, so that parents, for example, have more time to take care and home school their children. There's no expectation for employees to respond to their emails if they’re working out of hours.

The charity said it’s important to have open and honest conversations about employees’ priorities and capabilities: staff can't continue doing everything they were doing before the pandemic. Some things will need to be paused.

Just Go Holidays have also been running regular Zoom meetings, keeping furloughed and current employees working together. When furloughed employees return to work, they've got to integrate straightaway and, if they’ve felt isolated for a period of time, the transition could be difficult.

On the flip side, there seems to be more focus on furloughed employees and their well-being than those stressed at work, who’re also important to focus on. Many of them are working for less money and doing the jobs of six other people. Encouraging staff to take time off is very valuable.

TUI are encouraging patience towards furloughed employees who’ve returned to work. You can’t expect them to hit the ground running, they said. If you take a week off, you might lose an hour or two on Monday morning. If you're off for 12 or 16 weeks, it’s really difficult to get back into things. Being aware of that helps to make it easier for people to reintegrate.



Final Thoughts

To wrap up the session, Logie asked the group if they had any questions for one another. It’s not often they get these many experts in different sectors together, he said. Antonio U Silano from Travelopia asked if anyone is using this time to invest and grow share for the future. Here were the groups’ responses:

Charity

Retail

Travel

Alzheimer’s Society had success in investing in laptops for team members to facilitate more people working remotely and moving away from the five-day week office culture. Additionally, instead of handing back any possible savings from activities affected by social distancing rules, the organisation has been quite successful in moving them to areas with sustained income and growth.

Studio Retail Limited had a rocky period when they had their budget taken away for data related initiatives, then later received a lot of funding for it when it was recognised that data insight is more important now than ever. The brand feels that companies either cut back completely or use this time as an opportunity to double down, particularly around data infrastructure and similar things not done previously.

Just Go Holidays talked about wanting to retain the business of people who’ve received refund credit notes, manage their loyalty, and the reputation the brand has with them. Equally, the organisation doesn’t want to spend valuable marketing dollars on encouraging those customers not to not give any more money. It’s a fine line of customer CRM strategy, they said.

The session came to a close as Logie thanked the group, Pete Howroyd for his presentation, and the sponsors for the DMA Customer Engagement campaign: Collinson, dotdigital, and Paragon.



About the CustomerEngagement Campaign

We put the customer at the heart of everything we do – especially when it comes to our Customer Engagement campaign.

This campaign uses research and insight to help you maximise your engagement for the benefit of marketers and consumers alike.

If you build a rapport with your customers, and you have something they want, then they will buy from you again and again.

We want to know what builds this rapport. We know creativity, data and technology are factors, but we don’t know how the interplay works.

This campaign aims to discover what makes brilliant engagement.

Check out our popular Marketer Email Tracker and Consumer Email Tracker, and explore our engaging infographics which are breaking down key ideas.

We also run events to encourage better Customer Engagement. Keep an eye on your emails, or visit our events page to book your spot.

Tap into DMA research, insights, thought leadership, and networking events on offer by visiting the DMA online and discover how you can get involved with and get the most out of our Customer Engagement campaign.

Better engagement means better business.

https://dma.org.uk/customer-engagement

https://dma.org.uk/events

https://dma.org.uk/customer-engagement



About the DMA

The Data & Marketing Association (DMA) comprises the DMA, Institute of Data & Marketing (IDM) and DMA Talent.

We seek to guide and inspire industry leaders; to advance careers; and to nurture the next generation of aspiring marketers.

We champion the way things should done, through a rich fusion of technology, diverse talent, creativity, insight – underpinned by our customer-focused principles.

We set the standards marketers must meet in order to thrive, representing over 1,000 members drawn from the UK’s data and marketing landscape.

By working responsibly, sustainably and creatively, together we will drive the data and marketing industry forward to meet the needs of people today and tomorrow.

www.dma.org.uk

http://www.dma.org.uk



Copyright and Disclaimer

‘Loyalty and CRM in a New World’ is published by the Data & Marketing Association (UK) Ltd Copyright © Data & Marketing Association (DMA). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the DMA (UK) Ltd except as permitted by the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and related legislation. Application for permission to reproduce all or part of the Copyright material shall be made to the DMA (UK) Ltd, DMA House, 70 Margaret Street, London, W1W 8SS.

Although the greatest care has been taken in the preparation and compilation of this report, no liability or responsibility of any kind (to extent permitted by law), including responsibility for negligence is accepted by the DMA, its servants, or agents. All information gathered is believed correct as of September 2020. All corrections should be sent to the DMA for future editions.

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