Author: Anthony Stevenson
The Plenti program announced in April it would no longer accept new members and that the program would cease operations on July 10th. Though the sheer size of Plenti makes its collapse newsworthy—as does its association with American Express—at Eagle Eye, we weren’t necessarily surprised by its failure. In fact, we find that many large organizations no longer feel that they are getting a fair exchange from programs like Plenti, and are seeking to take back ownership of their loyalty data to build better relationships with their customers.
Gaining a more thorough understanding of your customers, what motivates them and what influences their purchasing behaviors is only possible if a brand can connect their customer data across all touchpoints, including their loyalty program. A program like Plenti adds an opaque layer between this crucial data and a retailer, preventing a complete view of their customers. As businesses begin to see the value of owning their customer data outweigh the reach and exposure benefits of big-name coalitions like Plenti, it’s only natural that these third-party loyalty programs will struggle.
The original attraction of the Plenti program was based on the immediacy with which you could tap into and engage an active, built-in consumer base. But as brands found they could achieve the same customer activation and marketing reach by effectively managing their own social media, digital content and native app channels, the need to rely solely on the Plenti program disappeared. Under the Plenti model, brands were vying for the same customer’s loyalty, whereas now retailers can more effectively leverage their marketing spend across multiple “owned” platforms to connect with and engage a larger, more targeted audience.
This new approach can be seen in other sectors of the North American economy as well: the same rationale informed Air Canada’s decision to build an in-house loyalty program rather than continue its partnership with Aeroplan. Loblaw’s recent merger of its PC Plus and Shopper’s Optimum programs into the PC Optimum program illustrates a different, more consolidated approach but with the same goal: creating a single customer view based on data collected across all brands and channels.
This trend of merging, consolidating and bringing loyalty programs in-house—instead of relying on a third-party coalition program—will benefit Canadian consumers as well. The earning and redemption process becomes much more streamlined and easy to understand, whereas the most-cited member complaint of the Plenti program was the difficulty of redeeming points. But it is when a retailer unlocks the potential of connected data that customers reap real benefits. More relevant offers and promotions are delivered at the right time, in the channels each customer prefers. And when brands can finally understand their customers’ needs and preferences clearly, they can create more meaningful engagements that drive deeper brand loyalty and revenue to their business.
While the demise of Plenti has certainly sent out some shockwaves, we expect this trend to continue across all industries in Canada. Businesses want to drive their own destiny, and to do that they need to own their own customer data. That wasn’t possible with Plenti, but partnering with Eagle Eye it is.
Contact us today to learn how.