Supercharging Your Loyalty Efforts
First published in convenience.org. This article is brought to you by InStore.ai.
Many c-store operators invest heavily in their loyalty programs. The impact of a loyalty program can be dramatic from the standpoint of building data to unearth insights from, but a great loyalty program also boosts traffic and basket size.
It’s crucial for retailers who are “all in” on loyalty to not only sign customers up for their loyalty programs but continue to encourage them to use their membership when purchasing at the register and the pump—the success of which comes down to your frontline workers.
“Cashiers play a critical role in a chain’s loyalty program,” said Jay Blazensky, CEO and cofounder of InStore.ai, a company that provides voice analytics for retailers. “Cashiers are on the frontline; they are the face of the chain to the customer. In a few words, they can encourage a customer to sign up for a program by explaining the benefits to them and to use their cards if they are already enrolled.”
InStore.ai uses microphones placed strategically in the store to capture conversations between customers and employees. The interactions are automatically uploaded to the cloud so the firm’s proprietary artificial intelligence can analyze it and provide managers with insights and recommendations based on what’s being said in stores through InStore.ai’s industry leading platform.
“Training employees on how to promote the loyalty program and personalize the experience is great,” Blazensky said, “and verifying they are actually doing it and regularly monitoring the effectiveness is even better.”
This type of voice analytics—based on technology Blazensky helped pioneer with call centers to enhance effectiveness before focusing on retail—can identify how often phrases and words are being used (or not) and how customers react, and present findings to managers and business leaders through the software’s interactive dashboards.
In the case of loyalty programs, an operator can see which stores have the highest loyalty program sign-ups, for example, and which language resulted in the most customers joining the program. The most impactful language from the real world interactions can be used to train employees across the company.
Babir Sultan, owner of Fav Trip, said the technology has been a gamechanger in the Kansas City, Missouri-based chain’s attempts to enhance customer loyalty and engagement. “InStore.ai provided us with the tools and expertise needed to refine our brand script,” said Sultan. “This has been especially valuable when it comes to signing up new members to our 14,000-member-strong text club. The firm’s innovative approach and seamless integration into our strategy have truly made a difference.”
By analyzing what his employees were saying to customers, Sultan was able to see what needed to be refined to make promotion of the program more effective.
