The amount of customer data available to brands is astounding. Smart brands are using this data to strategically build stronger relationships with their customers through providing rewards in exchange for desired customer behavior. Sarah Butterfass, VP Loyalty at Orbitz will walk you though how Orbitz developed their loyalty program, key components of the program’s success and what they learned along the way.
I can’t believe that it took us over 2 years for us to go from research to launch
Our process, from research to program design, running our pilot and finally launching the program took over 2 years
This may sound like a long time, but we were committed to getting a differentiated program out in the market
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Before we began creating a program, it was very important to us that we really listened and got feedback from consumers about what they thought was great about other loyalty programs and more importantly, where they saw shortfalls.
We used qualitative and quantitative measures for both ORB customers and non-customers in target groups
We also made sure we weren’t too hung up on being “new” – we tested our ideas against conventional loyalty programs
SMILE
The common themes we heard from customers were:
Points are complicated
Customers want a program that was
Free
easy to enroll in
simple to understand;
So knowing that, we started to define what Orbitz Rewards meant.
Our product development teams started work on the technical side of the program.
While the dev teams were working on the back-end, we kicked off intensive usability testing – putting together prototypes of how we would communicate our value prop to customers throughout the site
Probably the most difficult part of the design phase was trying to satisfy our Finance and Accounting teams that the program we were building was sustainable, profitable, and incremental.
SMILE
Here’s the program in a nutshell
$1 = 1 Orbuk
Remember, we wanted a program that would keep people coming back and get them to refer other people
The financial results from the test were amazing as well, so we decided to move ahead with launch in October 2013
SMILE
We were also so excited about Orbitz Rewards that we decided to “Loyaltize” the entire site (yes, we made up that word)
We added a header where you could access information about the program
A bar that let you sign in or join that followed you on every page in the site
And we talked to you about bonuses in new promotional assets in the search results
The good news is that despite Members love Orbitz Rewards:
More transactions from members
Both compared to look alike
And pre-post
More 4/5 star hotels booked
More room nights,
Extremely positive customer feedback, CSAT is up, Net Promoter continues to be high