Aimia identifies 10 inflection points key to driving brand loyalty

MONTREAL, Oct. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Aimia, a global leader in loyalty management, today released a report – Inflection Points: Seizing the Moments in Customer Loyalty www.aimia.com/knowledgecentre – that found the most effective loyalty programs consider each interaction a customer has with their brand, extending beyond a single purchase or discrete program.   

Amid weak U.S. August retail sales, some retailers are increasing their investment in traditional transaction-based loyalty efforts, premised on rewarding customers after their purchases. Aimia believes that some brands are missing the opportunity to use the insights from pre-and-post purchase interactions to build customer loyalty.

"Aimia works with the world's leading brands in more than 20 countries. Through these privileged relationships we discovered that the retailers and brands with the most successful loyalty efforts are those who engage and capture their customers' preferences before, during, and after the transaction," said Michael Zea, President and CEO of Aimia's U.S. operations. "The big opportunity is for brands to build loyalty when consumers search online, check in in-store, share their purchases on social media, and even when they upload post-purchase usage data via an interactive app."

Drawing on its global knowledge and portfolio of partners, Aimia found that despite variances in verticals and geographies, the most successful loyalty marketers do three things in common:

1. Link customer data to search to predict and provide both customers and potential customers with relevant, timely and personalized offers
2. Capture customer data and information throughout the purchase process – from the initial browsing to purchase and post-transaction
3. Recognize and reward customers who provide their data and preferences through the entire purchase cycle

"Aimia's data shows that the best loyalty programs can increase a brand's market share by 20% and improve customer acquisition by up to 10%," said Stephanie Swain, Vice President, Retail for Aimia. "In Inflection Points, we provide marketers with a clear overview of the best practices that will transform their customers' experiences and build loyalty."

Aimia's 10 key inflection points are:

1. Before They Walk in the Door
   Learn as much as you can about your customers and their interactions with your brand before they even make a purchase decision
   
2. At the First Sign of Trouble
   Things can go wrong in a new relationship – but leveraging data can help retailers employ tactics to save the relationship
   
3. During a Life Change
   Use what you know about your customers' lives to tailor rewards programs to personal milestones
   
4. When They Join Your Loyalty Program
   The moment a customer decides to join a program, the experience must be executed flawlessly
   
5. At the First Sign of Life
   Act on insight from early loyalty program interactions
   
6. During Program Redemptions
   Deliver a flawless redemption process to keep customers coming back for more
   
7. During Make-Good Opportunities
   Failures are inevitable, so your response to a negative experience is critical to keeping the customer loyal
   
8. When You Exceed Expectations
   Customers often anticipate the bare minimum in service, and appreciate even modest efforts to exceed expectations
   
9. When You Anticipate Their Needs
   Connect the dots through data and analytics to identify future needs
   
10. When They Sing Your Praises
    Reward and recognize best customers and turn them into vocal advocates

About Aimia

Aimia Inc. ("Aimia" or the "Corporation") is a global leader in loyalty management. Employing more than 4,000 people in over 20 countries worldwide, Aimia offers clients, partners and members proven expertise in launching and managing coalition loyalty programs, delivering proprietary loyalty services, creating value through loyalty analytics and driving innovation in the emerging digital, mobile and social communications spaces.

Aimia owns and operates Aeroplan, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program, Nectar, the United Kingdom's largest coalition loyalty program and Nectar Italia. In addition, Aimia owns stakes in Air Miles Middle East, Mexico's leading coalition loyalty program Club Premier, Brazil's Prismah Fidelidade, and i2c, a joint venture with Sainsbury's offering insight and data analytics services in the UK to retailers and suppliers. Aimia also holds a minority position in Cardlytics, a US-based private company operating in transaction-driven marketing for electronic banking. Aimia is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: AIM). For more information, visit us at www.aimia.com.

SOURCE Aimia