The S.M.P anniversary issue was my highest-opened email of the past year. Apparently reading about how the newsletter comes together is more interesting than the newsletter 😆 . And the top-clicked link in the issue was for Notion, the organizing tool I use.
The light-hearted content continues, shifting to Birthdays. I had one last week, got a lot of brand outreach about it, and naturally have a few thoughts.
In this Issue:
👉🏻The Big Point: Let’s do birthday better
🗣 Pointed Quotes: David Feldman, Global Chair of Loyalty Summit
🔎 Points Worth Reading: WSJ and Fast Company articles
⚡Quick Points: News on Cava, McDonald’s, Regal, L.L.Bean and more
👉 THE BIG POINT
Happy Boring Birthday
My birthday was last week, and right on schedule, my inbox was flooded with loyalty program birthday wishes and rewards. It instantly reminded me of the statement I made back in issue #8, where I declared I wanted to “kill the birthday rewards” as one of my industry wishes. You (and my family) came at me in comments, on LinkedIn, and by email, strongly disagreeing with this. “Don’t you dare take my birthday freebie” was essentially the position.
So I stand partially corrected. Reader mail proved consumers love a birthday moment, so we shouldn’t kill it. But how we do this is begging for improvement, and it’s another example of the industry settling for boring and unoriginal. It’s a day the brand knows something personal about us, and what happens? Templated emails and super narrow, often cheap, use-it-or-lose-it discounts.
Just a sample of my inbox Birthday emails
Or, in the case of Delta, just an HB message with no reward, but at least it beats United and JetBlue, who both ignored me despite at one point being Global Services for the former, and currently flying a lot on the latter. Then I realized the brands that didn't do birthday outreach became noticeable in their absence, and I started researching which rewards never showed up in my inbox. And sure enough, Alo Yoga did forget my birthday despite my A-list status 😢.
My point is, there’s nothing personal about the delivery, and that’s what a loyalty program should be.
5 Ways to Celebrate Better
Expand the time frame for reward usage: If you give a reward, give more than one day to use it. No one wants to go to 30 stores to take advantage of deals on a day they should chill out. Examples: Chipotle gives 30 days to claim birthday freebies, and Sephora gives an extended time frame to choose a reward with no purchase necessary.
Be relevant: Brands should use the data they know about their members to give them something they’ll like. I only drink iced lattes—why not give me a free one? That moisturizer brand I have been auto-shipped every 4 weeks? Give me the next shipment at a discount. Birthday isn’t the time to drive product trial.
Give an IRL experience: Disney parks hand out birthday buttons that give unprompted recognition all day, and occasional surprises. Low cost but high emotional payoff. Barry’s Bootcamp leaves a birthday note on your station, a sign at the desk, and a shout-out during class. Also all free, but feels personal.
Make it shareable: Most consumers spend their birthdays with others, so give a gift that they AND their friends/family can enjoy. Yes, this is a lot more expensive, but you can capture new customers this way. Using a discount is a solo endeavor; a birthday celebration is something you share.
Keep it unpublished: Every brand is touting “birthday reward” in their list of program benefits, and there is nothing differentiated about that. And if you pull back or change the birthday reward (as Dunkin’ did years ago, going from a free drink to 3x points), backlash can ensue. Instead, do the recognition without screaming it from the rooftops, and consumers will be truly delighted versus keeping score.
Questions for Loyalty Leaders:
Ok, tell me what you think. Birthday Rewards: keep, kill, or fix?
💬 POINTED QUOTES
The moment loyalty data is used to work out how much a customer will tolerate paying, the program has stopped rewarding the relationship and started exploiting it.
🔎 POINTS WORTH READING
⚡ QUICK POINTS
✈️ TRAVEL & TRANSPORTATION
A private equity group has taken a minority stake in Aeroplan, further signaling that loyalty programs are wholly-owned entities of value and not just ways to reward customers.
💵 Caesars announced a new tier, Olympus, that requires $1.5 million (not a typo) in spend to hit.
🍴RESTAURANTS
Chipotle is testing the ability to earn points automatically as they pay in-restaurant without the extra step of scanning a QR code.
In an interview with Forbes, Cava’s CEO admitted a main goal of the loyalty program was to capture first-party data.
In its continued push to drive off-brand redemption, McDonald’s put a Shell offer in its app: 50 cents off/gal for 1,500 points. Smart.
Also in McDonald’s news, a reporter asked for his full loyalty data. It told him a lot.
🛒RETAIL
L.L.Bean launched L.L. Bean Rewards (is anyone even trying to come up with good naming?), a free program which allows members to vote on charitable investments.
Gap is killing it on the loyalty<>culture front. Their program, Encore, is doing a New York Fashion Week takeover where members can unlock experiences, access and more. If you have the Encore cobrand, you can unlock priority access.
Movie chain Regal launched Regal Rewards+, a $10.99/month membership tier that includes one monthly 2D movie ticket, more discounted tickets and concessions discounts.
🙃 RANDOM
Is it April Fool’s? A few banks in Europe are offering debit cards that light up (literally!) when you use it.
Verizon announced their Shine program will have a weeklong NFL takeover for free tickets, giveaways and more.