1. Collecting a consumer’s contact information for text messaging, e-blasts, data collection and communication over social media networks and location-based services via a loyalty marketing program can aid businesses in keeping in contact with customers beyond Small Business Saturday. Obviously, we suggest our mobile loyalty solution, but any connection to new customers is essential.

I recently left a comment on American Express’ recent blog post “How Small And Local Businesses Can Play To Win” stating, “Local, independent businesses have one huge advantage over the large chains: personal service. Knowing your customers by name and having a personal relationship with them will beat the corporate CRM system every time, especially when staff and management at the corporate locations changes from time to time. The local merchant is “all-in” and cares about their business and customers in a way that large organizations cannot. Being small also means the small business is nimble — able to adjust to changes in customer needs much more quickly than larger competitors.

Occupy Wall Street? The best way you can is by patronizing a small, local merchant…”

So what IS Small Business Saturday?

Last year’s Small Business Saturday event was a huge hit. According to this article, Small Business Saturday (SBS) was created in 2010 by American Express in response to small business owners’ most pressing need: creating more demand for their products and services.

The Numbers:

• A total of 1.5 million Facebook users, 130 public and private organizations, and 41 elected officials declared their support for SBS last year.
• More than 100,000 small businesses downloaded SBS marketing materials, 10,000 businesses signed up for free Facebook advertising that ran on SBS, and 200,000 consumers registered their American Express cards to receive $25 statement credits when they shopped at a small business on SBS.
• Small retailers who accept the American Express Card saw a 28% increase in sales on SBS when compared to the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2009.

This year, FedEx Corp. has decided to put $1 million into the small business economy with its support of Small Business Saturday 2011. On November 26, thousands of customers will be spurred to shop at local business in order to drive holiday sales.  FedEx will be invoking a gift card giveaway in addition to serving as the official print sponsor of SBS which should help local businesses grab the attention of potential customers.  Small business owners can now visit http://facebook.com/shopsmall to gain access to SBS posters that can be printed via FedEx’s Office Print Online application at a discount price.

T. Michael Glenn, executive vice president of Market Development at FedEx: “A vibrant small business community is critical to the health of the US economy and the cornerstone of the thousands of cities and towns FedEx serves every day.”

Do you plan to participate in Small Business Saturday on November 26?

Stay tuned for a follow-up post on how text marketing like our Mobile Loyalty program can aid your business on Black Friday AND Small Business Saturday.

Though customers from all generations are important to reach out to, Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are turning out to be the most aggressively sought after.

According to a recent study found via Aimia, “Born This Way: The US Millennial Loyalty Survey,” over 75 percent of Millennial consumers claim participation in loyalty programs.  Perhaps even more game-changing for small businesses, over 75 percent of Millennials say they are more likely to choose a brand that offers a loyalty or reward program over a brand that doesn’t offer one. Additionally, using a mobile device (smart phones especially) as a substitute for carrying a plastic loyalty card is the top requested mobile payment application for Millennials (over 25% expressed interest).  Roughly half of the Millennials surveyed were willing to share their personal information with brands that offer loyalty programs.

So while Millennials are now the most interested and accepting generation towards mobile loyalty marketing, it’s important to remember that every customer is important when implementing your Sundrop Mobile Loyalty program by asking for customers’ phone numbers.

Here are some ways to get the ball rolling:

1. Collect customer mobile numbers at the point of sale: When ringing up a customer, inform him or her of your loyalty program, its ease, and the benefits it offers. Thank your customer for his/her business and emphasize your interest in wanting to keep them connected/rewarded for being loyal. Describe how your program is card-less making each store visit/check out easier by not having to worry about remembering a plastic or paper card to scan or punch. List a few examples of special deals loyalty program members receive (discounts, buy one/get one free, etc.).
2. Assure your customers about your privacy policy: Clarify that their private information will remain confidential and that they don’t have to give you all of their personal information. Name and phone number are essential. Email address, social network information, etc. are secondary but still requested/preferred.
3. Make opting into your loyalty program worth each customer’s while: Consider offering an incentive for signing up for your mobile loyalty program. This could be 25% off a purchase, buy one/get one free, a free sample of a new product, etc.
4. Moving forward, connect with your customers via SMS text, email, and social media/analyze your messaging: Upon a customer opting in and giving you access to their information, reach out to them to market special offers, news, etc. Your Sundrop Mobile Loyalty program will fully measure the ROI of every campaign and message you send.  Extensive analytics will show your ROI at a glance aiding you in marketing to your customers in a smarter manner. Learn what kind of offers, wording, platforms and more work for your business.

How do you plan to reach out to your customers? What offers do you think are most effective?

If you have any questions regarding this post or past portions of our 3-part series, leave us a comment, tweet us (@sundropmobile), post on our wall (http://www.facebook.com/SundropMobile), or contact us privately here: /index.php/about/contact/

We’d love to hear from you!

Being personal in your greetings and conversations with customers, both new and the old faithfuls, is essential. It’s important to remember that you should not only be friendly with your customers when they are happy with your product. Engagement is vital when you have an unhappy customer; you must be genuine, listening, and acknowledging.

Mike McDonnel, Vice President of Product Management and Client Solutions with Affinion Loyalty Group, said, “There can be a significant increase in a company’s bottom line, as customers are regularly willing to pay a premium for a superior customer experience.”  When you are cordial and accommodating as a business owner along with your staff, long-lasting, loyal relationships are yours for the taking.

The combination of building a relationship with your customers while enacting the Sundrop Mobile Loyalty program will help your business grow and prosper.  In part three of our blog series, we’ll be chatting about how you can call your new customers to action by asking for their mobile numbers.

Here are our three take-away tips:

1. Be personal when greeting and chatting with customers both new and loyal. There’s a reason why when you walk into a Moe’s location the staff shouts, “Welcome to Moe’s!”
2. Be engaging and accommodating when you have an unhappy customer. How you treat the situation can help a customer forget about his/her unpleasant experience and keep him/her coming back. In 2009, one man’s complaint to Starbucks corporate resulted in a happy ending for both Starbucks and the upset patron. Read more here: http://consumerist.com/2009/04/unexpected-starbucks-apology-overflows-your-rewards-card-with-delicious-credits.html
3. Stay proactive. A genuine relationship that includes anticipating needs between yourself/a staff member with a customer can create a lasting loyal relationship for your business when combined with our loyalty program. The kind folks at Smackers Yogurt were able to gather 10,000 new customers in less than 90 days at a single Smackers location due to their friendships with customers and Sundrop Mobile Loyalty program.

What methods do you use to build rapport with your customers?

This situation is true for data networking and personal networking. A handshake, a greeting, or even a good-bye can harm or help a fruitful relationship. Here at Sundrop Mobile, we tell clients constantly that a loyalty program is only as strong as the last mile. Ultimately, your employees can make or break your loyalty program.

A future post will talk about what makes a powerful connection with a customer, but we believe success starts at the hiring process. Chances are your small business relies on part-time, entry-level employees (often teenagers) to help service customers. Here are a few tips to look for to help you get the right employee that can make a connection with your customers:

1. A good handshake. This typically means someone has taken the time to talk to your potential employee about the importance of a good, strong first impression. One can assume someone also passed along additional business-related wisdom that will be of use to you.

2. Eye contact in the interview. If he/she cannot look you in the eye to get money (their paycheck), you cannot expect them to look a customer in the eye to ask for a phone number.

3. A good conversationalist. If he/she is chatty and engaging, then he/she can be trained to converse with customers in a professional and friendly manner inspiring a lasting impression that could potentially lead to brand loyalty.

4. Respect. “Yes ma’ams” and “no sirs” go a long way with many adults who will be handing over their phone number to your business. If these phrases are used in an interview, they will probably be said to the customer as well.

Of course there are many more characteristics of an employee to look for, but we feel those listed above are essential building blocks.

Do you have any traits you look for?

Starbucks just released its fiscal Q3 financial results. The following is a direct quote from their CEO (archived on Seeking Alpha) about their mobile loyalty and payment application (emphasis mine):

Our Starbucks Card and loyalty program had a record quarter in Q3, activating nearly 150,000 cards per day during the quarter and generating a 38% increase in dollars loaded onto cards over this period. Starbucks continues to offer one of the largest mobile payment retailer networks in the U.S., and our network is growing. We currently have a presence in nearly 8,000 stores, including approximately 6,800 Starbucks company-operated stores, 1,000 Target stores, and we expect to complete the rollout of over 1,000 Safeway stores by the end of 2011.

In Q3, we responded to customer demand for increasingly faster ways to pay for Starbucks purchases by introducing a Starbucks app for Android devices, enabling Android users to load money on their devices’ speed transactions and manage their Starbucks Cards more effectively. We also introduced mobile gifting on our new Starbucks for iPhone app, enabling iPhone customers to send a Starbucks Card eGift to anyone for the purchase of their favorite Starbucks product. There are now 1 million mobile devices with more than $50 million loaded for use specifically at Starbucks, and reloads are tracking well ahead of plan. Our research shows that mobile payment drives store traffic and also increases speed of service. I’m pleased to report that our innovation pipeline is robust, and we are seeing significant benefits from the investments we’re making in mobile payment technology.

Those numbers are staggering: an average of $50 is loaded onto every mobile loyalty / stored value iPhone/Android application installed by consumers. Digging into Starbucks’ 2010 annual report, you also find the following:

For the fiscal years ended October 3, 2010, September 27, 2009 and September 28, 2008, income recognized on unredeemed stored value card balances was $31.2 million, $26.0 million and $13.6 million, respectively.

In the last three years, Starbucks made $70.8M just from unredeemed cards: money consumers loaded onto cards but never used.

This makes me think that mobile gift and loyalty cards actually benefit consumers economically more than businesses. Businesses, like Starbucks, benefit from breakage on these cards: cards purchased that are never used. But consider a mobile (electronic) version will likely have far lower breakage numbers, since it’s really far less likely that consumers will lose their stored value card being that it’s stored right inside their phone.

What do you think? Will the increased consumer convenience of mobile stored value solutions yield more revenue to businesses through more frequent, larger purchases and higher participation levels, or will the reduced breakage outweigh these benefits?

Keywords: mobile, marketing, loyalty, stored value, gift cards

An article in Business Solutions Magazine titled The Implications of Google Wallet caught my attention today. The author (an informed source, being the SVP of Advanced Solutions and Innovations of First data) states “…[w]e expect high growth rates for mobile payments in the coming years, with wide-spread adoption in the United States in the next year or so.”

He goes on to state that it’s the end of the leather wallet. Think about this for a moment: I visit my favorite restaurant or grocery store, take out my phone and wave it in front of the credit card swipe terminal (now just a payment terminal), confirm my purchase with an on-screen pop-up and I’m out the door.

What does that do for the traditional plastic card-based loyalty program? You would find it odd if the grocery store or restaurant where you just used your mobile phone for payment asks you to carry a plastic loyalty card — consumers paying via a mobile NFC chip or other similar mechanism are going to flatly refuse carrying that plastic.

To encourage loyalty program participation, loyalty programs themselves are going to have to go mobile as well. You will not likely want to share your personally identifiable information with every merchant with which you conduct business; however, you will want to participate in programs with certain merchants you frequent.

This will happen in one of two ways: the merchant will give you an automatic “loyalty punch” on your NFC-enabled payment device for each visit (think Google’s recent purchase of Punch’d) or you will share a single bit of identifiable personal data with the merchant at the time of purchase: your mobile number.

In the Punch’d model, your participation with the merchant is anonymous. You’ll receive rewards for actions you’d normally take — visiting the store and buying their product. In the second model, you have shared the one bit of data with the merchant that can be the jumping off point for a rich on-going conversation and recurring engagement.

By giving the merchant your mobile number, the merchant can send you special offers (“it’s a slow night for us – 25% off for the next 4 hours”), event notices (“we’re raising money for the XYZ charity – come by this week and we’ll donate 15% of your purchase”), and other relevant messages you want from the merchant.

Mobile payments and loyalty offer increased convenience for consumers and more marketing power for merchants — while leaving consumers in complete control of the engagement.

I, for one, am looking forward to the day that I don’t have to sit on a wallet full of plastic. What do you think?

At my first start-up, someone came up with the phrase “Focus and Excel.” We found we had the capabilities to do so many different things that we needed to remind ourselves to stay focused on doing just one. Confucius said it more eloquently: “man who chases two rabbits, catches none.” Today’s comment is not strictly loyalty-related, but it came up in a conversation the other day while I was speaking with an e-commerce company about their loyalty plans.

Most sales processes have multiple steps. Obviously, the fewer and easier the steps, the more people that make it to the end. About a year ago we helped another e-commerce company solve a simple problem. Part of their sales process, after the customer completed online check-out, required the customer to make or respond to a phone call to schedule installation. While ideally this part of the process should have been done online, it was impossible to do so. By simply sending a single text message to the consumer at the end of the order with the proper phone number to call as a reminder, customers could “click to call” from their phone and complete the process. Sounds so simple – and it worked. Order completion rates jumped by almost 20%.

I’m constantly re-evaluating our processes and trying to distill them to their core, both for how we handle our customers internally and how we help our customers register their customers into our loyalty program. Questions I repeatedly ask myself include:

Is this part of the process necessary?

What is the absolute minimum amount of information I can take to get the job done correctly? Have I added too many hurdles to the process? There can be a big difference between “like to have” and “must have.”

Can I get the information elsewhere?

With a little extra effort on my part, can I figure out what I need or let the customer link me to the information instead? If they’ve already done this once, is there a simple way to take advantage of that prior work? It may be as simple as designing your online form to take advantage of web browser’s native auto-fill capabilities.

Am I scaring the customer off with information requests?

You may legitimately need a lot of information from your customer; however, presenting everything you need at once might be overwhelming. If possible, set up your process to take small bits of information at a time, continually “walking the plank” with your customer. This is a great sales technique, too: give enough information to pique interest, then ask for a few more minutes to provide more. Continue to ask for permission for more time from the prospect during the selling process, and suddenly a 30 second elevator pitch turns into a 30 minute conversation.

Who does it better?

Emulation is the sincerest form of flattery. Learn from others and implement the best of their ideas into your own processes.

When you think about streamlining your processes, what approach do you take?