Capillary’s Winning Streak at The Loyalty and Engagement Awards 2022 – 1 Gold and 2 Silver

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Aprajeeta Singh

Taking the winsome legacy of Loyalty & Engagement Awards (L&E), we are thrilled to share that Capillary Technologies bagged 1 Gold and 2 Silver this year at the L&E Awards 2022. Helmed by Marketing Interactive, the award entries were opened in late December 2021 for as many as 43 categories giving a diverse scope to reward world-class customer-centric loyalty and engagement practices. Capillary Technologies submitted its winning entries for 5 categories and eventually made it as the finalist for 4 out of the 5 entries.

On 12th August 2022, the Loyalty & Engagement Awards, 2022, was held at Shangri-La Singapore. Capillary was adjudicated the winner for its work with prestigious clients – Domino’s Indonesia & Erajaya Swasembada.

Domino’s Indonesia – A Winning Customer Strategy

Domino’s Indonesia is riding the biggest customer growth story with an increase of 10% active customer base success. After winning International Loyalty Awards 2022, Domino’s Indonesia also won a Silver & Gold at the L&E Awards 2022. Joyous at this double win, Harneet Singh – CEO of Domino’s Pizza Indonesia, shares his excitement, “It is a very proud moment for us at Domino’s Indonesia to win these two prestigious awards. Gold for Best CRM strategy (Best Customer Relationship Management Strategy) and Silver for Use of Consumer Insights / Data Analytics, again highlighting the world-class data-driven business capabilities we have built with our partner Capillary. Domino’s Indonesia is investing heavily behind Data Analytics, Machine Learning and Digitization so that we can better understand and engage our customers to increase their Lifetime Value (total purchase value from a single customer). These efforts in partnering with Capillary yield unrivaled competencies that help us perform exceptionally in the F&B category.”

Erajaya Swasembada – Power-packed Membership Programme, Eraclub

Capillary’s Eraclub Membership Program did wonders to Erajaya by bringing more than 75% of sales contribution in 2022. It won Silver at the Loyalty & Engagement Awards 2022 in the category of Best Membership Programme for engaging 1.3 million new customers even during a global crisis. Elated with success, Senda Parentino, COO of Eraspace (Erajaya Swasembada) said “I’m happy to see the Eraclub Loyalty program win the Silver Award at the Loyalty & Engagement Awards! This is a testament to the passion, strategy and hard work put in by the Eraclub and Capillary teams to help us engage with members and ensure they get the best lifestyle loyalty program in Indonesia. With our focus this year on integrated shopping experiences and creating highly personalized campaigns, we are on track to create the largest lifestyle loyalty program in Indonesia. We are honored for the continued support and trust our members have in Eraclub this year.”

Proud and humbled by the sheer recognition and applause that Capillary Technologies has received at the L&E Awards 2022, Aneesh Reddy, CEO and Executive Director of Capillary Technologies said, “We are delighted to be selected as the gold and silver award winner in this prestigious award program category. This is further evidence of Capillary’s leadership position in customer loyalty and engagement. We are delighted to be partnering with Domino’s Pizza Indonesia and Erajaya Swasembada again to win the recognition of this valuable award.”

Our heartiest congratulations to all the winners and finalists at the event. We would also like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the esteemed panel of judges. The award night was followed by a Gala dinner evening where the best of leaders met and networked with each other. As we celebrate this success with all the teams across the globe, we vouch for bringing more accolades in the future.

To know the winning strategies that took these brands to sheer heights, get in touch with our experts, and know how to emerge as a customer-centric brand in the market.

Capillary Technologies scoops Gold and Silver Awards at the Loyalty and Engagement Awards 2022

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Capillary Marcomm

Luxuriously Dubai: Shoppers’ Paradise, Marketers’ Delight.

Posted on August 10, 2022 by Capillary Marcom

Whether emotional, social, structural, or financial, the world of luxury branding has opened up many new aspirations over the decades. But there is perhaps no country in the world more profoundly driven to luxuriously delight its shoppers than Dubai. The shopping capital of the world is a modern oasis that rewards its customers handsomely. It was, then, a veritable step in the right direction for leading luxury brands across industries to envision new-age customer engagement strategies. This meant reinventing the wheel in terms of digital transformation that was accompanied by the introduction of innovative loyalty programs unseen before.

Luxury loyalty is heralded by the upward swing towards ultra-luxury services across key industries like hospitality and retail in the MENA region at large. Dubai is at the very epicenter of the marketing activities that thrive in the wake of sales over USD 15 Bn in 2022 so far. At the intersection of new age customer retention through multi-tier reward programs that catapult sales and the digital communications that govern them, lies the creative rethinking of personalization through advanced customer analytics. Let’s look at some of the highlights of how luxury marketing scores in Dubai:

Across the largest retail franchises in Dubai, there’s been a new vision of experiential delight which includes shopping festivals and brand collaborations for maximum engagement.
All different age groups of luxury customers are being targeted by the design and USP of shopping events in Dubai, whether digital influencers coming in to attract GenZ and millennial followers into a community-oriented gathering or even mega sales that extend to an older, wealthier age group as well.
Jimmy Choo x Mugler, Balmain X Barbie, and MAX&Co X Margherita Maccapani Missoni are some of the latest collaborations to hit local Dubai stores. Fashion trends that are largely in focus for these luxury brands are being juxtaposed with beauty and skincare that also inform some of the most innovative luxury marketing campaigns.
This is where the loyalty program completes the purchase loop by adding just the right incentive at the right time, improving customer loyalty for Dubai shoppers over the long haul.
Marketers are leveraging POS and E-commerce data to segment the premium or luxury cohorts that are targeted with exclusive offers on a timely basis and during festive times like Ramadan.

4 luxury loyalty programs worth indulging in Dubai

With the impact of driving higher profitability through greater customer retention, these are some of best known luxury loyalty programs in Dubai that are redefining the meaning of both personalized incentivization as well as customer satisfaction in the here and now.

1. MUSE BY CHALHOUB GROUP

With customer-centricity taking precedence over all else, the Middle Eastern luxury retailer, Chalhoub Group, recently launched Muse. A wide-ranging multi-brand loyalty program that invites the participation of leading lifestyle, fashion and beauty luxury brands within the group. From Michael Kors, Swarovski and Level Shoes to luxury homeware destination Tanagra, and cult beauty brands like L’Occitane and NARS – Muse is growing in popularity across Dubai and Saudi Arabia due to its personalized experiential rewards over all else. The brands came together to go beyond mere point-for-price reduction strategies to give customers what they truly desire from luxury brands – the elevated feeling of exclusivity. With an approach that’s app-first, MUSE is a three-tiered loyalty program, with the base tier called Emerald followed by Sapphire and then Ruby. Points are calculated based on eligible spending at participating stores and the earning rate increases as members move up the tiers. These points can be redeemed either for shopping at any of the 35+ brands across MUSE operating countries with no minimum balance, or, towards experiences. Each tier unlocks exclusive benefits and offers loyalty rewards for luxurious shoppers.

2. MYMILLENNIUM

A celebrated coalition loyalty program for Millennium, Copthorne and Kingsgate hotels, Millennium’s recently redesigned loyalty program reduced complexity for better engagement through a single-tiered loyalty program. Catering to a revenue-driven approach alone, for every $1 spent on a hotel room, customers earn 10 points. These points double automatically after 10 nights spent across Millennium locations, providing a significant reward to frequent travelers who stay at a Millenium hotel. Earned points can then be redeemed for a variety of rewards, including free rooms, upgrades and partner offers, all of which are based on a sliding revenue scale. Millennium freezes point values at a half-cent per point, so a $500 hotel night would cost 100,000 points to book.

3. EMIRATES SKYWARDS

Merged effectively with flydubai’s Open Rewards program to invite over a million customers to benefit from shared benefits, Emirates Skywards luxury rewards are truly a class apart. Both Emirates and flydubai flights facilitate earning Skywards and Tier Miles. This plan also lets you earn miles by shopping, gifting or multiplying the miles with their partners around the world. The best part about Skywards Miles is choosing how to spend them because it’s super easy to earn them. After just one long-distance flight, you could potentially accumulate enough miles to qualify for an upgrade.

What’s more is that Emirates Skywards also allows for mile redemption across flydubai and other worldwide partners. Customers have the freedom and flexibility to choose flights with one of Emirates’ partner airlines, luxurious hotel stays, and even tickets to various athletic and cultural events across the world. There are four levels of exclusive benefits to ensure that trips are more rewarding. By traveling with Emirates and flydubai, one can progressively increase Tier Miles balance and access more benefits, according to Blue, Silver, Gold and Platinum tier status. Lastly, the long-term of validity and lack of miles expiration for 3 years ensures that they can be availed for something truly special.

4. AMBER BY AI TAYER

With customized rewards across the world’s leading luxury brands, the Amber rewards program, which began in 2008, is available across all Al Tayer Group’s department stores, luxury retailers, beauty and hospitality services, as well as their luxury automotive brands. It has long been considered one of the best conglomerate rewards programs in Dubai. When members shop at any store that has the facility of the Amber Card, they will earn Amber Points, which can be redeemed in-store or online for their choice of products. Being one of the best loyalty cards in Dubai, Amber has collaborated with over 80 high-end companies, including Gucci and Armani. Thanks to its strong customization options, it has an unrivaled capacity to modify customer experience and empowers customers with the ability to shape their own benefits. This loyalty program includes three levels of membership: Amber Classic, Amber Select and Amber Plus, with benefits varying depending on membership level.

Luxury Loyalty Scape in Dubai…

It is, thus, evident that Dubai businesses are truly going the extra mile to provide their customers with membership-based rewards that build loyalty over the long term. With the market currently booming after the pandemic’s decline, there is an influx of innovative solutions designed to target all different age groups of customers within the larger luxury segment (Also read Luxury Loyalty: A Comprehensive Guide). New marketing communication methods involve collaborative efforts between multiple luxury brands to offer the right set of rewards. The trends in focus are being carried across Dubai’s leading retailers who stand out for higher customer value over time. With new engagement strategies defining the way forward, get in touch with our experts at Capillary Technologies to learn more about engaging your customers too.

Chek out Capillary’s Loyalty+

Reinventing Loyalty with Indonesia’s Leading Retailer – Erajaya’s Eraclub

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Mayang Ramadhani

A market leader in omnichannel smart retail, PT Erajaya Swasembada Tbk. (Erajaya), the conglomerate operates across 1100+ outlets in the country with 87 distribution centers and 65K+ third-party billed outlets specializing in all different types of mobile telecommunication devices. These include mobile phones and tablets, SIM Card(s), accessories, etc. In addition, the company also offers value-added services, such as mobile phones protection services and handset leasing services in Indonesia. Very few lifestyle retailers in Indonesia have been able to rise to the level of Erajaya’s e-commerce success and popularity today. The credit goes to the company’s consistent strides in digital transformation with a keen focus on building customer loyalty.

However, COVID-19 had altered the game for many brands and Erajaya was no exception. For its wide network of stores that make over billions in revenue, Erajaya needed one umbrella loyalty program that would address changing needs after COVID-19 pandemic. This is where they designed the Eraclub membership program that offered varied tiers of exclusive rewards and benefits to existing valued customers. The brand consistently innovated to communicate better with returning buyers to ensure higher retention and purchase over the long term, even during COVID-19 pandemic times.

Building online traction with Omnichannel Communication in challenging times

One key challenge that Erajaya wished to overcome with the introduction of Eraclub was essentially the massive reduction in store footfall after the onset of the pandemic. They needed to also differentiate themselves as a key lifestyle retailer that cares about connecting with consumers even better during a time of crisis. Thus, Erajaya entirely reinvented the wheel with the introduction of a club-based program that offered several price point benefits (let’s say Erajaya loyalty benefits!) along with a host of personalized discounts, gift cards, introductory offers and vouchers to consumers belonging to varied income groups.

On the basis of the search and purchase history data collected at a single source of truth, the brand orchestrated a deep customer experience strategy that meant partnering with a leading technology provider. This is where Capillary Technologies stepped in. Together, they lay down the foundation of Eraclub’s advanced communication that relies heavily on nurturing a long-term relationship with consumers over short-term profits. Eraclub (Erajaya’s loyalty programs for Indonesian customers) was established as the Erajaya Group loyalty coalition between all the different business verticals of the group. It is a program for omnichannel messaging across online and offline touchpoints that ensure that points are earned and redeemed across.

Deploying an Analytics-Driven Partnership with Capillary Technologies

Capillary Technologies helped set up the AI-powered customer engagement platform that was the very basis of Eraclub, and further implemented varied features to ensure that the customer journey was optimized. Erajaya utilized Capillary’s analytics platform to thoroughly evaluate customer behavior, using the rich insights to segment and target their customers more effectively. A deep segmentation and persona mapping helped in identifying commonly used social media platforms and interest groups that were key to allocating budgets for the right cohorts to be reached with personalized targeted offers and marketing messaging that was consistently engaging.

1. Introducing Experimental Features

The key marketing attribute that marked the design of Eraclub was diversified experimentation. Erajaya decided to introduce many different benefits across services through integrated rewards. They offered price discounts at hotels and restaurants, for instance, that elevated the customer experience. They also brought in lifestyle influencers to advocate the brand and give out customized coupon codes that increased trials. Moreover, the value or premium membership-based point-redemption was activated across services to ensure a seamless buying experience wherein the customer is not limited to any particular product category while selecting as per his own needs. While the basic membership activates – through free registration – cashbacks for every purchase along with a birthday gift, the premium model goes all out.

2. Building Multi-brand Loyalty

Next, attention was given to building multi-brand loyalty. Through this lever, customers were grouped based on their inclination towards the various brands offered at Erajaya. Whether the customer is loyal to a particular brand, switches often or regularly upgrades their products, the deep level of understanding of customers’ preferences helps Erajaya design unique campaigns and offers on the go. During public occasions of relevance or events, mass discounts were also activated. Erajaya’s contextual engagement campaigns – incorporating unique customer segments – were segregated under the following categories:

Wider campaigns: Sent to a large population with the intention of building brand awareness
Brand Preference campaigns: Sent to a selected population who prefer a specific brand over others
Segmented campaigns: Targeting a very selected group of members with better-personalized messaging
Behavior Preference campaigns: Sent to customers based on their needs and unique traits

3. Delivering High-Value, Real-Time Rewards

Simplicity and accessibility were the two central themes of the brand’s loyalty program. The complete customer journey to register and earn the rewards had to be simple, quick, and yet remarkable enough to entice customers with an easy registration process. Erajaya and Capillary wanted to create a loyalty program that can be effortlessly implemented by the store staff for a better in-store experience. For this, they made sure to have an easy-to-use website layout, simple points accumulation and redemption, with comprehensible terms and conditions as well as the right point-earning structure based on the frequency of a customer’s store visit – motivating customers to use their points regularly. And their point activation strategy, as explained below, works beautifully.

Catching up with the speed of the digital era, the features of the loyalty program had to be real-time. Instant gratification is an important component of a rewarding experience. Erajaya wanted customers to be able to instantaneously track their rewards as they thrive on speed and convenience. The brand has designed the program in a way that the benefits offered were relevant to customers and ensured the reward matched the effort required to achieve it. Eraclub has two membership plans – a basic membership which is free of cost and a premium membership with an annual fee which can be paid at the retail stores or online. Key additional steps deployed to offer value to the customers included:

Flexibility to redeem points as flat discounts during transactions
Reward catalog that includes offers from multiple partners providing extra benefits and deals to the customers
Effective customer lifecycle management for the best customer journey

Growing at a monumental pace: The Eraclub Business Impact

Erajaya collaboration with Capillary Technologies outshined other players with Eraclub as a result. 75% of the sales contributed came from Eraclub members in 2021. A staggering 1.3 million new customers were engaged even during a global crisis. Total sales contributed by members is now consistently on the rise and the revenue growth is exponential as mentioned at the very start. If you too are looking for a lifestyle loyalty program to change the game for your retail business, get in touch with the experts at Capillary today.

Food and Beverage Loyalty: A Comprehensive Guide

Posted on August 3, 2022 by Capillary Marcom

The delightful world of food and beverage – a market estimated at USD 500 Bn – calls for an eclectic customer experience ecosystem today. Beyond driving repeat purchases through incentivized free meals and drinks, the F&B industry is witnessing consistent innovation through growth-driving loyalty programs. In the wake of COVID-19, while some major shifts were underscored by smart food-technology applications, ghost kitchens and delivery apps driving last mile fulfillment for several retailers, personalized loyalty offerings genuinely pushed the envelope across new interventions. They helped companies overcome some major challenges that stood in the way before.

3 Key Challenges Faced by F&B Marketers:

1. Behavioral Changes: Key business growth drivers were stalled due to new behavioral changes after the pandemic. An increase in demand for sustainable packaging and organic ingredients meant rethinking brand engagement strategies altogether.

2. Reliable Messaging: Consumers became health conscious to the point of making sure that they only opted for those F&B brands with the right messaging and consistent transparency.

3. Real-Time Rewards: This is where loyalty programs needed to be tailor-made as per emerging preferences to drive higher returns in the long term. New practices were set into motion to ensure that consumer needs were met with adequate data-backed campaign management and the implementation of sophisticated tech stacks.

4 F&B Most-Popular Loyalty Programs

Now that we have looked at the top trends that are being incorporated into F&B loyalty, let’s also look at the leading examples of brands that are winning over customers.

Starbucks Rewards

The global mega cafe brand has undoubtedly altered F&B loyalty programs forever. They offer the most sophisticated and well-managed digital as well as physical card-based reward systems. Starbucks works on the simple premise of point collection and redemption but goes many steps further to ensure that customers enjoy VIP status on the go.

Whether enjoying a free drink on your birthday or getting a bonus meal after a repeated coffee purchase, Starbucks has left no stone unturned when it comes to customer satisfaction.

Chipotle Rewards

In the Mexican cuisine domain, there’s high competition globally. Driving their Eat, Earn, Enjoy philosophy within the realm of loyalty marketing, Chipotle’s winning strategy is to encourage free Chipotle for all. They have a simple system of point-based redemption.

For every $1 spent, 10 points are instantly earned. Purchase is enabled at an omnichannel level across multiple touchpoints. Customers can either buy Chipotle in-store, on the app or online. They can then start collecting points. Once 1250 points are achieved, they can then also get a free Chipotle entree of their choice.

Maggie Louise Confections Club Cocoa

Premium reward-levels enabled by Maggie Louise’s Club Cocoa program ensures that customers keep coming back for more. Experiential rewards are activated upon reaching a VIP level. Customers then enjoy free access to exclusive events and new product tasting sessions. They also get gift hampers of these products and are motivated further by special discounts upon the first or second buys. Three levels are available for the rewards to be enabled. The first is the Insider level (0-1999 points) that provides a welcome gift alongside the point collection system. The next is the Enthusiast level (2000-4499 points) that also provides a birthday gift and higher points on every purchase. Lastly there is the Connoisseur level that enables maximum rewards such as the exclusive sneak-peaks into new collections as well as event invitations. This level is the most desirable for true lovers of Maggie Louise chocolates.

Dunkin Donuts’ DD Perks

In the world of donuts and loyalty, DD Perks is a large-scale program. The simple process of membership and pre-order services allows for maximum customer satisfaction in-store. Members can pay digitally through a loyalty-integrated payment system that allows for a seamless point-to-cash redemption. What’s more is that once a new member signs up on the app, they immediately avail of a free drink right away. The loyalty experience is further personalized with free drinks on birthdays as well as free drinks every 200 points earned. DD Perks also include special surprise gifts and gamified rewards that delight repeat customers and drive higher loyalty in the long term as well.

5 F&B Loyalty Trends That Will Stay For 2022 & Beyond

1. Hyper personalization

The superior customization of rewards and recognition was enabled by a more sophisticated process of customer-data collection. Large F&B conglomerates with multiple brands orchestrated data centralization practices to ensure that campaign management systems were able to successfully resolve personalization issues encountered when they worked in siloes. Digital transformation through the implementation of strong tech stacks, moreover, brought into focus the need for multi-tier loyalty programs that offer unique rewards as per changing customer needs.

2. Value-Added Services

Rewarding customers who demonstrated higher levels of loyalty meant enabling a host of additional offers that brought in creativity into the realm of loyalty marketing. Starbucks Rewards for all different types of customers is perhaps the next-in-class example of this practice. We will look at the winning strategy behind Starbucks’ sustained dominance in the industry in the later section.

3. Percentage-Based Rewards

Discounts that facilitate percentage-based rewards encourage repeat purchases like nothing else. The leading food-delivery service, Zomato, ensured a win-win strategy for itself and its loyal customers by activating percentage-based rewards at a level that was only slightly lower than their average profit margin.

4. Physical Loyalty Cards

Customer footprints are still best identified and retained by physical cards that encourage repeat purchases. POS device scans are a seamless and contactless way of enabling point addition as well as redemption.

5. Social Media Marketing

Now that loyalty programs have made a strong mark in the F&B industry, there is a growing need to market them through social media. Hence, platforms like Instagram are being optimized to ensure that customers derive maximum benefits at the right time. Influencer marketing is further being leveraged to ensure that customers benefit from coupon codes and discounts that are activated in the short term to build brand awareness and consideration.

It is, thus, evident that creating the right F&B loyalty program includes strategizing effectively to meet specific customer needs for each segment. This further entails getting the right digital transformation partner onboard to ensure that customer data is transformed into the most profitable programs. Whether club or tier-based, there is immense scope in this industry in particular due to the love for one’s favorite food and drink. Get in touch with our F&B loyalty experts at Capillary Technologies to understand how best to activate the aforementioned best practices.