As loyalty is at risk for most Brands, I see many papers proposing a ‘magic recipe’ for consumer retention and meeting changing consumer needs. If target is clear, journey to get there is quite unclear ! Here is a list of critical success factors for the brands willing to resolve the loyalty challenge in the 2020’s.
WORKLOAD SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED
Loyalty strategy adjustment definitely requires special efforts and on-going commitment to understand consumer values and needs, for Brand vision, revised goals and loyalty strategy.
Once strategy is clear, significant time and resources is also needed to reshuffle executional components of the program :
customised offers, relationship building activities, automated loyalty programs, engagement routines, adaptation to new technology trends, agility of the approach.
NEW DIGITAL DATA SOURCES & A.I. ESSENTIAL IN 2023
Staying ahead of consumer changes is the goal and a major challenge in 2023 because market trends are now closely related to fast moving technology. If customer feedback, panels, surveys and analytics still help understand the current market, it is not enough to understand the dynamics !
A new generation of digital information sources provides a very large portion of trends and insights. However using them is a challenge : it implies real time connection to massive social and digital data sources and also use of state of the art analytics / artificial intelligence.
Decrypting streams of digital data to understand consumer values has become a critical requirement for businesses willing to:
anticipate potential changes before they occur,
build quick pivoting capability,
be in a position take advantage of new opportunities or protect from emerging threats.
MORE TECH RESOURCES FOR A BETTER ANTICIPATION
Companies should now invest in teams of digital data experts, analysts, researchers and strategists, and in digital monitoring tools for consumer trends. Technology update training should be very frequent.
To stay ahead of competition and market trends, the team should understand customer needs and be able to identify changes before they happen, as well as strategy to actively plan and execute necessary changes.
Collaboration with outside experts or consultancies specialising in digital analytics, new tech and consumer behaviours should also be considered to build more reactivity and get an external perspective on trends & future opportunities.
Definitely be a major turnaround in the way Companies build consumer-driven culture and competitive advantage !