Digital CPG Blog

Loved this idea from Rishi Shah:

You know those loyalty gift cards you get from coffee or sandwich places? You know… if you drink 10 cups of coffee you get 1 free.  What would be really cool is if after you turn in your loyalty card and get your free drink they hand you another loyalty card.  Except this one is special.  This one is even better.. where you only have to drink 9 cups of coffee to get one free.  Oh yeah and this one looks nicer printed on higher grade stock paper and a cool design.

I can see people bragging about what loyalty card they have.

CPG using e-commerce can utilize create a similar loyalty incentive online using the data about their customer to create an even more direct and meaningful realtionship.

Photo Credit: Nick J Webb.

If the numbers have anything to say about it, yes.

Colloquy reports that U.S. companies that use social media primarily to deepen customer loyalty spend almost twice as much as competitors who use it for brand awareness, customer acquisition and other core marketing purposes. Specifically, their survey results show the average social media spend for marketers whose primary objective is to obtain customer loyalty was $88,000 last year, compared to $53,000 for brand awareness and $30,000 for customer acquisition, the objectives that attracted the next highest spending levels…and the spend is increasing…by nearly 300% over the last year.

So companies must be seeing some strong return from these dollars and initiatives. What are some social media loyalty programs that you’ve seen?

Photo Credit: Chaztoo.

There are three things that matter most to Gen Y in the CPG foods market:

1) Cost – Hardest hit by the recession, unemployment is rising rampantly in this demographic. Gen Y is after convenience products as well as shopping at discount retailers.

2) Convenience – This isn’t a group that is planning out weekly meals to eat leftovers. Instead, pre-packaged and portable choices are just right.

3) Cravings – As the, “I want it now” generation, they don’t take to waiting lightly. That means no preparation time and spontaneous decision making.

How will your brand respond?

E-Consultancy recently reported on their favorite 25 brilliant examples of Facebook pages, probably all the more relevant because Facebook is increasingly trumping your brand’s website. Here are my Top 6 from the list. I tended to like simple calls to action and user generated content… no surprise there!

1. Best Buy

Best Buy engages in a simple F-commerce set up, where users can directly browse categories of products and make online purchases. The page also encourages the user to share content and products with those they know.

2. BMW

The automotive industry usually has an active creative presence. Here, BMW has a large call-to-action that’s hard for the user to miss…

3. Honda

Due to its wide range of cars, Honda has opted for its official corporate page to redirect users to model-specific fan pages. There’s also a large piece of creative which is focused around an ongoing advertising campaign.

4. Red Bull

The creative speaks for itself…

5. Toyota (USA)

Toyota is taking the product-personal story stance on its Facebook page, similarly to Samsung.

6. Windows

Microsoft encourages users to “Like” them by offering specific content and discounts, which is emphasised by the blurred-out creative.

And if you’re interested, here are the Top 20 social networking brands by the numbers (via Consumer Goods):