Experiencing continued growth of the general member base but a plateauing take-up for rewards memberships, Woolworths partnered with global affiliate network, Optimise Media, to improve digital engagement and increase acquisitions of new reward programme customers.
With an aim to increase new reward members whilst reducing “cannibalisation” of the existing member base, the affiliate campaign encouraged rewards sign-ups with the incentive of bonus point offers for new members. This was achieved without causing dissonance among existing members who were ineligible for the bonus – but already benefiting from the rewards program.
Over the last 12 months, the campaign has gained over 35,000 new reward program customers. A Woolworths representative commented: “Optimise has delivered an innovative program for Woolworths Rewards through its lead gen network, driving new subscribers predictably and consistently to our business. The campaign has performed well against very aggressive ROI expectations and has become an important component of our digital acquisition strategy”.
Presented with the additional challenge of achieving cost-effective growth for the program, the network’s strategy eliminated wasted ad spend on reaching already existing customers or those not wanting to join. Instead, non-members interested in joining the rewards program were identified and offered the bonus point incentive to register. Through its network of publishers with post-transactional survey environments, Optimise Media was able to identify the target demographic with an intelligent lead generation campaign using a six-step user experience survey.
Developed to ensure that only the ‘exact’ customer profile was targeted, the survey was rolled out gradually with A/B testing small data sets. Optimising the creatives and user engagement process, the network closely monitored CPA outcomes, the successful campaign engaged with 1.5 million customers interested in joining the program and identified and excluded over 1.5 million users who were already members.
Consistent and predictable volumes of new member acquisition continue to be delivered each month for Woolworths Rewards. Proven valuable to customers based on client criteria including responsiveness to digital communications and the scan rate of their member card, the rewards programme and campaign have successfully identified and engaged new users whilst avoiding the alienation of existing customers.
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