“ICLP’s understanding of a global loyalty approach and their expert knowledge of the local China market was instrumental in successfully implementing a localised loyalty strategy which delivered membership growth and franchisee satisfaction.”
Vice President of Loyalty Marketing
Challenge
A major hotel company based in the United States wanted to localise their global loyalty programme strategy to specifically cater for Chinese travellers, increase member acquisition and engagement throughout the region.
Insights
- Localising is more than translating. An in-depth understanding of the culture and mentality were just as vital as understanding the languages to developing a relevant proposition.
- The existing centralised global loyalty platform was a barrier to member acquisition as it did not support the capture of double byte characters typical in the Chinese language.
- A localised benefit structure and the delivery of relevant communications improved member engagement.
- Merchandise redemption analysis provided insight for the sourcing of new and relevant partners.
- Social media channels were key in understanding programme perceptions as well as identifying and proactively managing any potential issues.
Deliverables
- ICLP provided a strategic consultancy and programme plan to successfully localise their frequent guest programme to better meet the needs of the Chinese traveller and achieve the business objectives of the hotel group.
- Implemented a localised earning and redemption benefits approach through a more comprehensive partnership strategy which included the operational management of sourcing, processing, fulfilling and delivery of redeemed items.
- Developed and managed a loyalty system with dual language capabilities that integrated with a centralised global database allowing localised segmentation and database marketing activities.
- Implemented a multi-channel marketing plan that included the localisation in design, production and execution of global member communications whilst delivering local promotions and marketing campaigns.
- Provided a member support centre that managed inbound and outbound customer service responsibilities.
- Created a multi-lingual online member registration website to facilitate and increase member acquisition.
- The creation of digital acquisition campaigns leveraging social media to incentivise participation, increased member registration and initiated the development of a more interactive community.
Results
- 100% year on year increase in member growth since 2007.
- The programme evolved to be more relevant to the Chinese traveller and now enables fully localised, relevant and tailored promotions and communications to its members.
- Members in China have the highest activity rates amongst all the hotel group's markets.
- The three tier redemption strategy has increased demand for low and medium value local non-hotel rewards.