The advent of digital transformation coupled with the widespread use of smartphones has prompted businesses to establish customer care ecosystems on digital platforms in order to create distinctive experience flows and redefine customer profiles.
Loyalty Program: from tradition to the 4.0 era
Many people believe that the "Loyal Customer" program started as a coupon program in 1890 in the US. However, the concept of customer loyalty programs dates back to the 18th century, when American retailers introduced reward systems to help customers redeem rewards after repeat purchases.
Today, more than 90% of brands implement at least one form of customer loyalty program to ensure customer retention and analyze their data to devise appropriate business strategies.
According to marketing experts, conventional customer loyalty programs that employ coupons, stickers, and physical cards can be cumbersome and inconvenient for customers to employ and manage, while only offering the most basic and straightforward benefit of accumulating points to redeem rewards.
However, the sheer bulk of loyalty cards and coupons from different brands, which can easily be lost, left at home, or challenging to track the points history, has resulted in the failure of many loyalty programs in sustaining communication and maintaining sustainable relationships with customers.
According to the report by Bond Brand Loyalty, the average customer participates in 15 loyalty programs but only remains active in 7 programs, indicating that less than half of the loyalty programs are effective. This creates a challenge for brands to simplify the customer experience and make it more convenient.
The advent of digital transformation has ushered in a new era for customer loyalty programs, making them more adaptable to the fast pace of modern lifestyle. By leveraging digital transformation, customer loyalty programs have gained numerous benefits and witnessed a significant improvement in their efficiency.
The automated process of accumulating points to redeem gifts is easy to use and manage on mobile devices. This helps businesses create more touch-points, easily interact, and take care of customers. Advanced data analysis also helps businesses build the most appropriate and effective loyalty programs.
Pioneering Vietnamese businesses keep up with the trend
Over the past two decades, customer loyalty programs have been introduced to consumers in Vietnam. However, with the ongoing digital revolution transforming the way people make purchases, businesses in Vietnam must also quickly adopt digital customer loyalty programs to enhance their competitiveness in the 4.0 era.
The concept of customer loyalty programs has undergone a significant transformation over the years, shifting from hard benefits that targeted financial factors to soft benefits that focused on enhancing customer experience, not mention the fact that loyalty programs have evolved from being limited to a single business to encompassing an entire ecosystem, and from being discrete and separate to being closely linked together.
Currently, large corporations and ecosystems in Vietnam are striving to keep up with this trend by developing comprehensive loyalty programs on digital platforms. One such example is TNG Holdings Vietnam, a multi-industry group that recently launched the Popplife app that enables customers within the ecosystem and affiliated partners to earn points and redeem gifts on a single platform.
Popplife successfully leverages the latest digital transformation trends to enhance the customer experience, making it more convenient and hassle-free than ever. With the app, customers no longer need to carry physical cards or keep track of accumulated points. As all the features are displayed on the app, customers can access, use, and manage all information from a single mobile device, anytime and anywhere.
Going beyond just accumulating points for end customers in the TNG Holdings Vietnam ecosystem, Popplife also strives to connect with other ecosystems outside the group, specializing in providing solutions for customer loyalty programs to maximize customer benefits.
Currently, Popplife has linked up with convenient hotel chains SOJO Hotels and Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) to deploy point accumulation for customers of these two brands. As expected, in 2024, Popplife will complete the cooperation with TNEX - Vietnam's digital banking platform, Family Mart convenience store system, and many other partners. This application also aims to upgrade user experience, building personalized programs to suit each customer group.
Besides, thanks to the partner network, Popplife confidently provides users with a regularly updated voucher inventory from 1,000+ brands in all fields such as Golden Gate, Phuc Long, Highlands, Elise, Kangaroo, CGV Cinema, Lotte Cinema, Vinmec, VinWonders, as well as mobile top-up providers like Viettel, Vinaphone, Mobifone.
As per industry experts, loyalty programs integrated with mobile phones will soon become a leading customer care approach, and forward-thinking companies will leverage this trend to offer unique and personalized experiences to customers while also recognizing who actually consumes their goods and services, thereby gaining valuable insights into customers' general profile.