
The
6th Annual 1to1 Impact Award Winners
1to1 Magazine
January/February
2007
by John
Gaffney
What Does It
Take to Win?
Whether it's transforming an entire organization or implementing a new
sales technology, the 2007 1to1 Impact Award Winners inspire ideas for
building or breathing new life into any customer-focused organization.
Read on for insight into initiatives and processes that may help you
create your own winning strategy.
Ring Bros.
Marketplace -- Tech Optimization: Marketing
Mobile
Technology Captures Customers on the Move
It's a New England stereotype as old as the Puritans. People north of
New York are cold. Parochial. Set in their ways. "Can't get theyah from
heyah," goes the old saying.
But for all the iconic New England penchant for simplicity, Ring Bros.
Marketplace, a one-store gourmet food market in Cape Cod, has broken
the mold. They got "heyah from theyah" in a customer-centric sense by
reaching beyond the regional myth of being old-fashioned. Ring Bros.
earned this year's Impact Award for technology optimization in the
marketing category by using a high-tech loyalty marketing solution to
reach an audience that might have been stereotyped as luddites.
"I was shocked," says Ring Bros. co-owner Rich Pimentel. "I did take
into consideration the reputation of our clientele as being a little
old-fashioned. But this worked big time. Maybe our customers are a
little younger, a bit better educated. This connected."
The connection was formed in April 2006 via mobile marketing. Many
grocery stores struggle with moving loyalty initiatives beyond the
point of sophisticated discounting schemes. But Ring Bros. uses mobile
marketing to build loyalty by connecting with its local customers, as
well as the weekenders and vacationers who live part-time on the Cape,
which is largely a summer-autumn destination.
The upscale grocery store wanted to offer its customers a loyalty
program that would both reward their patronage and enable Ring Bros. to
communicate with customers in real time, with measurable impact. Facing
the out-of-reach cost of advertising in major metropolitan newspapers,
the ineffectiveness of traditional circulars, and limited budgets, it
selected a solution from MobileLime to offer a customized mobile
rewards program via cell phone to directly influence buying behaviors
before and at the point of sale.
Customers can opt in to receive weekly emails, text messages,
event-oriented alerts, specials, and savings on hundreds of items.
Customers' cell phone numbers are their member numbers. Ring Bros.
split its customer groups into residencies (e.g., local, Boston area,
and New York), and sends mobile messages to each with different offers
and event notifications based on such information as whether a customer
is traveling to the Cape or is already there.
In four months 1,800 customers signed up; that number has grown at a
steady 5 percent per week. Since April mobile marketing campaigns have
spiked daily transactions by an average of 75 percent. Average spending
per transaction among Ring Bros. non-loyalty customers is $20. That
number doubles to $40 among Mobile Rewards Members. Although accounting
for only 6 percent of all transactions, loyalty transactions account
for 10 percent of sales revenue. "Customers like being a part of this
program," says Michelle Deziel, MobileLime's senior vice president,
marketing and operations. "From the retailer point of view it makes a
loyalty program a one-to-one marketing vehicle."
|
|