As you might know, if you really know me well, I am fund of Customer Relationship Management. I am also very attracted by all the new technology that can promote them, or even improve it thanks to new tools to mesure and understand customer needs and wishes. Thus, I have been very interrested lately by the new programs set up by Visa (a wordwide well known credit card company).
This company decided to launch some discounts policy with their program. Hence, one of the main purpose of a credit card such as a visa master card is to offer financial services attached to the use of the card. For example, they offer an insurance, recovering a 100% the purchases stolen for a one month period, or a non fee use in foreign countries of their card. But a couple of weeks ago, I have realised they were offering an extended offer : from now on, they will propose discounts on for example flights, or in some travel agencies. But in my opinion, that is just the beginning of what can be accomplished in this area.
Banks are the companies that have the biggest customer data base. They have some demographic information (your name, sex, location), but also the information of your purchases : as you can see in your monthly bank sum up, they can know about how much money is in your accountS (even the one you are not actually using), what you are buying, where (they can know the specific location of the Mac Donald's you are going to), and how often you go there. What a dream for every direct marketing or brand loyalty manager!
As the technology is improving more and more, we can imagine, with some high tech programs, to build up personalize multi brand loyalty programs, to adapt to the customers needs. As you might now, some companies in France have build up some multi-branded loyalty programs. For example, Mouvango, is a program developped by Accentiv', a sub division of the Accor group, on the concept of travel. Thus, they have made their program all around this concept, developping partnership with hotel company (Accor ones such as Novotel), gas company (Total), restaurant (Campanil)...
Those programs are based on a concept that have been build up for many different type of customer. But with the high technology that exist nowadays, we can dream about an intelligent card, that depending on what you buy and how often, will be able to determine the discounts you would have.
Hypermarket companies like Carrefour proposes some loyalty cards based on the declaration of the customers: the customer choose out of many different brands which one he would like to have discounts on it. That is a sort of the concept I am planning will be developped. But this time, the program will be dynamic, since depending of the season you are not puchasing the same products, and the program will be adapting itself to your customer experience.
Thus, we can think, thanks to those new concepts with technology, that banks and credit cards services will be able to develop some intelligent and dynamic multi-brand credit card. And when that will be the case, we would really be able to say "the company is adapting itself to the customer".
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