Travel: the loyalty currency of the future?

Travel-as-a-service is quietly transforming how financial institutions, loyalty providers, and brands engage their most valuable customers.

According to McKinsey & Company’s State of the Consumer 2024, consumer brands who offer premium products in relevant categories can help improve brand loyalty, with experiential travel being called out as a category where “splurge activity” is common even across middle-income and aging consumers. So, It’s not just Gen Z and millennials who are prioritising experiences over products, and it speaks to a strategic shift in how value is perceived.

At the same time, we’re seeing loyalty programs under increasing pressure. Traditional earn-and-burn mechanics are losing relevance in an era where consumers want Immediacy, flexibility and meaning, particularly when it comes to redemption of rewards, and that's where embedded travel comes into it's own.

By integrating travel and experiences directly into retail ecosystems, banking apps, fintech, and loyalty, brands are unlocking:

• Increased engagement and app dwell time 

• Higher spend per customer through aspirational reward journeys that deliver true value 

• Deeper emotional connection through memorable moments, not just points 

Embedded travel isn't a future trend, it's already happening. Why?

Because travel activates something most loyalty programmes can’t: emotion

Adding travel as a service to your existing loyalty program give your brand:

• A high perceived value product without significant discounting

• Natural segmentation opportunities with the ability to curate experiences and products, and truly personalise the experience

• A path to aspirational engagement that deepens over time

• Commercial opportunity driving revenue and improved profitability of the program

The takeaway: Loyalty is no longer about transactions, it's about transformation, and nothing transforms like travel.

If you're a brand or financial institution looking to future-proof your loyalty strategy, start with one question:

Are you helping your customers unlock experience or just collect points?

Let’s talk if you’re exploring embedded travel models or want to understand how this could fit into your loyalty or digital engagement roadmap.

Why the mql is dead and you should focus on ‘mels’ instead

If you haven’t heard the news – the MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) is dead. Having recently attended the EMEA B2B Summit by Forrester in London, it’s clear that as B2B sellers, we have to think about doing things differently.

They say “what got you here won’t get you there, and in this new age of sales, that includes looking at qualification through a new lens. Arise, the Marketing Engaged Lead (MEL). Many will ask, what’s the difference, and why does this matter? I’ll try and explain that here, and why shifting your focus can transform your sales and marketing strategy.

The Problem with MQLs

For years, MQLs have been the cornerstone of identifying potential buyers. Someone downloads a white paper, attends a webinar, or opens your emails, and – just like that – they’re an MQL. However, in today’s environment, where single-threaded buyers are few and far between, and buying groups are the norm, MQLs no longer tell the full story.

A Forrester study revealed that 63% of B2B purchases involve at least four decision-makers. If your marketing and sales efforts are focused on just one lead per account, you’re likely missing key stakeholders that influence the decision.

Why MELs Matter

Marketing Engaged Leads (MELs) shift the focus from qualifying individual leads to tracking engagement across the buying group. Let me give you an example:

Imagine your content attracts someone from a mid-sized retail business. Traditionally, if this one person downloaded an eBook, they’d be flagged as an MQL. But what if their procurement manager, marketing director, and IT head have all engaged with your website in the past month? Those combined touchpoints are much more valuable than a single download, and that’s where an MEL steps in – it captures collective engagement from multiple stakeholders within an account.

By focusing on MELs, you can better map out the entire buyer journey and engage the buying group, rather than relying on one individual to drive the deal forward.

The Shift: From Individual Leads to Buying Groups

Buying decisions are no longer the remit of one person. This change demands a shift in both marketing and sales approaches. Instead of nurturing a single contact, the focus needs to be on nurturing the buying committee. Here are a few statistics to keep in mind:

• 90% of B2B buyers never make a purchase decision alone (CEB Global).

• Multi-threaded sales opportunities – involving multiple stakeholders – close at a 47% higher rate than those relying on a single contact (Gartner).

How Companies Can Make the Shift

So, how do you pivot from MQL to MEL, and what does this look like in practice?

Here’s a simple three-step framework to get you started:

Re-define Lead Scoring:

Move from scoring individual behaviours to group-based engagement. Track the collective actions of multiple individuals within a target account – not just one person’s interaction. For example, assign more value to an account where two or more stakeholders engage with your content in a specific timeframe rather than just one person showing interest.

Implement Account-Based Marketing (ABM):

• MELs thrive in an ABM environment. Start thinking in terms of accounts rather than individual leads. Your marketing efforts should be tailored to engage multiple stakeholders across a single account. Use your CRM tools to set up account-based tracking and create personas for each key stakeholder. Run personalised campaigns for different roles – perhaps a tailored email for the finance director, another for the marketing team.

  Align Marketing and Sales:

• Foster better collaboration between marketing and sales to share insights on buying groups. Train your sales teams to engage multiple stakeholders during outreach, ensuring they are taking a multi-threaded approach to deals. Leverage tools to monitor engagement across accounts and understand how many decision-makers are actively involved. Encourage your teams to ask questions like, “Who else in your team would benefit from learning about this?

The Outcomes You Can Expect

What happens when you successfully make the shift to MELs and a group-based engagement model? The benefits are clear:

Higher Conversion Rates:

• Deals involving multiple stakeholders are more likely to convert, as there’s a shared understanding and buy-in across the organisation.

Faster Deal Cycles:

• Engaging the buying committee early in the process leads to faster decision-making. In fact, multi-threaded opportunities close 2x faster than those relying on a single contact (according to Chorus.ai).

Increased Deal Sizes:

• When you engage multiple stakeholders, you can showcase the full value of your solution across different parts of the organisation. This often results in larger deal sizes, as each department sees the benefit for their area.

In short, focusing on MELs ensures that you’re aligning your marketing and sales efforts with the complex reality of modern B2B buying. Instead of relying on isolated leads, you’re building relationships with buying groups, nurturing deeper engagement, and ultimately driving more successful sales outcomes.

Now is the time to adapt – because in today’s market, engaging just one person isn’t enough to close the deal. Focus on the entire buying group, and you’ll see the difference.

Data is your brand's gold - leveraging your loyalty program to drive business growth and monetisation

Another key topic in retail right now, and one that I've been thinking about following the CX Network Exchange event last week, is what an invaluable asset zero and first-party data from loyalty programs is for a brand.

This data doesn't only help personalise customer experiences, but can also enable brands to drive incremental profit, through advertising and partnerships. Retail media networks, powered by this rich data, are transforming the industry, and are here to stay!

The Stats:

Retail media spend globally is poised to grow by 10% this year, after reaching $128.2bn in 2023, according to WARC Media’s latest Global Ad Trends report. In the UK, retail media’s value (excluding Amazon) totalled £283m in 2023, and is also growing, up 12% from the year before, according to IAB UK / PwC 😲

Grocers have always been at the forefront of using customer data to build huge media networks selling targeted ad space - Sainsbury's & Tesco have been leveraging their extensive loyalty data for years, with Tesco recently telling suppliers recently that it will be bigger than TV advertising by 2025. Even the travel industry is getting in on the action, with Expedia Group set to build the equivalent for that space (big up #MeSo!🙌🏻 )

Why are they doing it?

• Increased ROI: According to Gartner , companies using data-driven marketing experience five to eight times the ROI on campaign spend. This high return is due to the precision targeting made possible by loyalty data.

• Customer Engagement: A study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that personalised ads based on loyalty data can increase ad engagement by up to 30%. Retail media networks leverage these insights to create highly relevant ads, driving better engagement and conversion rates.

• Revenue Growth: European retail giants like Carrefour and METRO AG have also embraced retail media networks, using loyalty data to enhance their ad targeting capabilities. This has driven better engagement and higher ROI, contributing significantly to their revenue growth. A virtuous circle, where the brand always wins!

So, how can your brand leverage its loyalty program to unlock incremental profit through monetisation, and drive your own marketing efficiency?

• Centralised Data Collection: Loyalty programs collect comprehensive data on customer preferences, purchase history, and behaviour. Centralising this data into a single platform allows for a unified view, facilitating better analysis and targeting.

• Advanced Analytics and AI: Utilising advanced analytics and AI to interpret loyalty data helps predict customer trends and preferences. This enables more effective and personalised advertising campaigns that resonate with the target audience.

• Strategic Partnerships: Collaborating with brands and advertisers who align with your customer's interests enhances the relevance of ads. Loyalty data ensures that ads are tailored to specific customer segments, driving higher engagement and conversion rates.

By effectively leveraging loyalty data, brands can not only enhance their loyalty programs but also create powerful retail media networks that drive significant incremental profit.

#CustomerExperience #LoyaltyPrograms #DataDrivenMarketing #RetailInsights #RetailMedia #MarTech #Technology #Monetisation

Building Trust and Loyalty in the Age of Transparency: Strategies for Authentic Brand-Customer Relationships

Thanks to social media and review platforms, consumers have more power and influence than ever before. With information readily available at their fingertips, they can dissect brands with a single tap, and a bad experience can quickly go viral, damaging reputations. for years to come.

This rise in transparency has undeniably empowered consumers, and it means that brands can't get away with empty promises or misleading marketing tactics (‘pre-promotion inflation, anyone?) This shift in consumer behaviour presents a unique challenge for businesses: how to build trust and loyalty in an environment where everything is out in the open?

The need to build authentic brand-customer relationships based on trust to drive loyalty is key. It requires a commitment to communicate honestly and with integrity, acknowledging any shortcomings, and demonstrate an ongoing willingness to improve. As Warren Buffett famously said “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

Trust couldn’t be more important when we think about customer loyalty - you can’t have loyalty without trust, and loyalty can lead to advocacy and provide a buffer against crisis for when things go wrong. But why is transparency so important, and how can brands build authentic relationships?

Why Transparency Matters: The Data Speaks Volumes

• Erosion of Trust: A 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer report revealed a global decline in trust towards institutions, with only 36% of respondents trusting businesses to do what is right. While this stat comes as no surprise, it gives a clear indication that brands really need to start rebuilding trust through transparency.

• Transparency breeds Loyalty: Almost 94 percent of all consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand when it commits to full transparency, according to Label Insight

• The Power of Authenticity: According to a 2020 IBM study on trust, one-third of all consumers today will stop buying their preferred products if they lose trust in the brand.

Building Authentic Brand-Customer Relationships - my Top 5:

1. Open and Honest Communication:

• Clear and Consistent Messaging: Transparency and honesty are the cornerstone of authenticity,and being upfront about products and services, sourcing practices and ingredients gives customers a sense of true connection your brand.

• Proactive Communication: Don't shy away from difficult conversations or hide behind a chatbot, without giving customers a means by which to contact you. If there's a problem, address it head-on with a clear explanation and a plan for resolution.

• Embrace Two-Way Dialogue: Encourage customer feedback through surveys, social media engagement. Actively listening to your customers means you can incorporate their feedback and insights into your brand strategy, without the need for costly VOC research projects!

2. Owning Your Mistakes:

• Acknowledge Errors: Mistakes happen. The key is to acknowledge them swiftly and be sincere in your apology (if you need to apologise of course!). Take responsibility, be accountable, and outline the steps you're taking to rectify the situation.

• Focus on Solutions: Don't get bogged down in justifications. Shift the focus to providing solutions and demonstrating a commitment to improvement and prevention.

• Learn and Adapt: Use missteps as learning opportunities to improve your practices. Even the biggest brands make mistakes!

3. Humanising Your Brand:

• Go Beyond the Facade: Showcase the people behind the brand. Share employee stories, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and highlight the human element of your organisation.

• Engage on a Personal Level: Respond to customer comments and messages on social media in a personalised way. Avoid those generic, robotic responses that can put your customer off.

• Embrace User-Generated Content: Encourage customer testimonials, product reviews, and social media mentions. UGC is prevalent in today's world, and for brands can foster authenticity and strengthen the power of peer recommendation.

4. Building Trust Through Actions:

• Follow Through on Promises: Be sure your actions align with your words and the message you are putting out into the world. If you make a commitment to sustainability, demonstrate it through eco-friendly practices.

• Demonstrate Social Responsibility: Align your brand with causes your customers care about. Support social initiatives and showcase your efforts in a transparent manner. CSR & ESG are no longer just buzzwords you know!

• Prioritise Customer Experience: Focus on creating exceptional customer experiences at every touchpoint. Customer satisfaction should be a key priority, with any issues resolved effectively and efficiently.

5. Deliver on Promises & Be Consistent:

• Building trust requires consistency. You’ve got to talk the talk and walk the walk every single day, all day long.

• Follow through on your commitments, both big and small. Ensure your marketing messages align with your customer experience to avoid creating a sense of disconnect.

Authenticity is about building genuine relationships, and embracing transparency in turn builds trust and loyalty for your brand. Prioritising openness, communication and a commitment to continuous improvement you’ll create a foundation for long term brand loyalty and customer advocacy that can weather any storm.

Recognising the Power of Incentives and Rewards in Banking: A Paradigm Shift in Customer Engagement

In an era where the financial services landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace, the traditional roles of the bank is undergoing what, for the industry, would be considered a radical transformation. With Chase Bank’s recent foray into the realm of media platforms for advertisers, in addition to their existing successful CLO offering and their travel platform, the time for incentive and reward to take centre stage in the banking and financial services sector is now.

Chase's offering is understandable given the size of their audience (80m customers!), but their innovative approach and smart acquisitions also highlight the burgeoning significance of incentive and reward as a mechanism and driver of customer engagement & loyalty for the sector, and a strategic focus to go beyond the transaction, delivering much more than conventional banking services, to potentially become the next generation of super-app.

The recent article by PYMNTS got me thinking about the intrinsic value that incentives and rewards bring to banks, their customers, and merchants alike, and the opportunity for European banks to look more closely at what Chase are doing and start to develop their own robust programs.

Why is this important? With daily banking considered a loss leader for the majority (if not all) financial institutions, there are a multitude of reasons why building a compelling reward and incentive proposition should be a primary objective for the industry and here are my top 5 reasons why:

1. Enhanced Customer Engagement

Deloitte’s recent 2024 banking and capital markets outlook outlined that organic growth for the sector will be modest, forcing institutions to “pursue new sources of value in a capital-scarce environment” and that “fortifying customer relationships and owning the “sticky” share of wallet” should be a priority for strategic planning. Incentives and rewards serve as tools for fostering deeper engagement, and with retail banking customers spoiled for choice these days, making it easier for them to switch accounts and spread their deposits across multiple institutions, there has to be a compelling reason for a customer to stay loyal. A recent piece by Accenture, found that “ while the majority of banks claim to be customer-centric, less than 15% actually reward customers for their holistic relationship with a bank”. By leveraging incentives and rewards, banks can cultivate long-term relationships with customers, driving loyalty and advocacy. According to the same Accenture study, they could also boost revenue from primary customers by up to 20%,

2. Driving Financial Behaviour

Behavioural economics suggests that incentives play a pivotal role in shaping consumer behaviour. Whether it's incentivising savings, promoting responsible spending habits, or encouraging digital banking adoption, reward and incentive programs can serve as catalysts for positive financial behaviour change. Implementing subtle cues and incentives like nudging, and mental accounting, to offer rewards that are tied to certain financial activities helps build that emotional connection to the customer, and a level of trust and understanding that can further drive loyalty and engagement. It can also help drive revenue uplift and new product adoption, increase use of a bank’s digital assets, reducing contact centre ratios and improving operational efficiency by encouraging self-service.

3. Strengthening Merchant Partnerships for the benefit of all

The symbiotic relationship between banks and merchants is supported by incentive and reward programs. Merchants benefit from new customer acquisition, increased customer engagement and spending, driving more foot traffic into store or online and ultimately higher transaction volumes, as well as the enhanced brand visibility partnership can bring. For the banks, increased transaction volumes bring incremental revenue from the associated fees, while access to merchant data allows for a deeper understanding of their customer’s purchasing behaviour and preferences. There’s also the potential for generating revenue, with many merchant partnerships offering rich commercials for purchases made. For the customer, they enjoy discounts and offers on their purchases, and this mutual value exchange fosters a win-win scenario for everyone involved.

4. Personalised Experiences

In today's hyper-connected world, consumers want personalised experiences, and have the expectation that their bank will be able to provide the same level of engaging, relevant, experience and recommendation that they get from Amazon or Netflix, both when it comes to customer service, and product recommendations. Accenture found that of those banks that do have a program in place, over 60% of banks offer limited rewards, mostly for credit card transactions, having products from two or more categories, or paying a monthly for your account. As a customer, I’m all too aware of the handful of static offers I receive from my banks that clearly aren’t personalised (Kids & baby offers for the 40 something child-free professional anyone?), and this lack of personalisation can actually turn customers off, impacting NPS and making them less likely to engage as they feel there isn’t the level of understanding. I know that I often wonder why, when my banks have so much information on where and how I spend my money that they can't at least serve up something I'm likely to use!

Having access to depth and breadth of content, and multiple reward mechanisms means a bank can offer a truly personalised experience with offers that will resonate with their customer, whether they be interested in specific merchant discounts, events, cinema tickets, digital downloads, or a free coffee. It also means they can segment their customers and look at driving behavioural outcomes with higher value rewards made available to customers who are higher value to the bank, and deliver an ability to cross-sell and up-sell relevant products based on personalisation. Bank of America is a good example of this - using customer intelligence to provide personalised collections of deposit and credit products. Its integrated loyalty program has also boosted customer satisfaction—it achieved a 99% retention rate and doubled the number of products held by each customer participating in the scheme based on research analysis of ECB data by Accenture.

5. Data-driven Insights

Incentive and reward programs generate a treasure trove of data for banks, offering invaluable insights into consumer spending patterns, behaviours, preferences, and sentiment and helping to build a view of the customer that allows for a deeper understanding, and the ability to segment based on a variety of metrics, including their value. Having a clear picture of the customer as an individual enables true personalisation and the ability to effectively up-sell and cross-sell their product portfolio. Not only that, it’s a way for banks to identify trends, anticipate customer needs and gives banks the ability to make data-driven decisions relating to product development, marketing campaigns and other customer engagement initiatives, delivering cost savings and driving operational efficiency.

What Chase has built delivers value across the board, for their customers, the merchants and advertisers, and most importantly their customers, who will enjoy a wealth of personalised benefits and rewards designed with them in mind. How many other banks will follow suit? While they may not have the huge customer base of Chase, all signs point to a paradigm shift in the banking and financial industry—one that places a premium on customer-centricity, innovation, collaboration, and delivering real value.

Can those banks who don’t have incentive and reward as a primary strategic objective in their planning cycle win the hearts and minds of their customers in the long term? I don’t think so.

For everyone who took the time to make it to this end of this piece, thank you (it's my first foray into article writing)! I'm keen to hear your thoughts on this and how it's shaping the future of banking.

Building a compelling loyalty program that drives behaviour beyond transactions...

This week I was in London to attend The Big Handshake, organised by the team The Gift Club (TGC). One of the workshops, hosted by April Cox and the team at Catalina UK looked at how to drive profitable engagement through e-commerce, particularly at a time when everyone is so price conscious.

This got me thinking - how can brands and organisations build a loyalty program that engages their customers, and truly goes beyond mere transactions (“What are you going to give me?”) to drive specific behaviours (“what do you want me to do?”).

We all know that building lasting relationships with customers is the key to success – reducing dependency on discounts and offers that erode margin, and high acquisition costs that drive up marketing spend, impacting profitability.

What do brands need to consider when creating a program that captivates an audience and motivates them into a desired action?

1️⃣ Understand Your Customer

A no brainer! 🧠 To drive specific behaviours, you must first understand your customers deeply. Invest time and effort in market research, analyse your data, and ask them questions via surveys or feedback loops.

Identify what motivates them, where their pain points are, and what they’re looking for from your brand. Try and focus on the individual – understanding each customer personally lays the foundation for a successful program.

2️⃣ Define Clear Objectives

What is that you want your customers to do? What specific behaviour to you want to drive?  Whether it's sharing additional data to improve personalisation or customer experience, increasing engagement, fostering loyalty, or promoting advocacy, set clear objectives for your program.

Align them with your organisational goals and make them measurable!

3️⃣ Craft Meaningful Experiences

These days, customers are looking for meaningful experiences that resonate with their values. To go beyond the transaction and expectation of reward for just showing up, your program should create moments that inspire, educate, or entertain. Gamification, surprise rewards & exclusives can make every interaction memorable for your customers.

4️⃣ Leverage Social Proof

Humans are social creatures, and we're influenced by the actions of others. Incorporating social proof into your program by builds trust & credibility and encourages others to engage. Highlighting testimonials, case studies and success stories from satisfied customers is a sure-fire way to build advocacy and acquire new customers.

5️⃣ Foster Community Engagement

Building a community around your brand fosters a sense of belonging and encourages customer engagement. Incorporating elements like user forums, online groups, or social media communities where customers can connect, share their experiences, and support each other encourages active participation and recognises loyal customers and brand advocates.

6️⃣ Offer Personalisation and Customisation

Customers appreciate tailored experiences that cater to their individual preferences. One size does certainly NOT fit all!

Utilise your customer data to personalise each interaction, recommendation, and offer within your program. Making your customers feel seen and understood, will enable you to drive desired behaviours more effectively. When many are tightening their belts and bring more price sensitive, having a level of personalisation that really understands a customers needs and wants can be the difference between them choosing you .v. a (cheaper) competitor.

7️⃣ Provide Incentives and Rewards

There’s no doubt that incentives & rewards can be powerful motivators for customers, but don’t throw them around willy-nilly, especially if you want to build an emotional relationship.

Tying an incentive to a desired action helps shift the focus away from the monetary value and increases engagement. Offer mechanisms like exclusive discounts, personalised coupons and gifts, or VIP access incentivise desired behaviours and make each customer feel special.

Tiered reward systems that encourage customers to progress and unlock more benefits as they engage further are worth considering (as long as the tiers are achievable and your customer feels like their activity is valued!).

8️⃣ Continuously Measure and Optimise – ‘Test & Learn’

You should be regularly tracking and analysing the performance of your program. Monitoring customer engagement, behaviour metrics and incentive/reward redemption means you can can continuously improve.

Gather feedback from your customers and use all those insights to optimise your program, refine your strategy, and enhance the customer experience.

In Short...

By going beyond transactions and cultivating lasting relationships with your customers, your program can create a loyal customer base that champions your brand, reduces costs and improves profitability, and that's what it's all about! 🌟💰👍🏻

What strategies have you found effective in driving specific customer behaviour in your organisation?