BWS Appy Deals:
The Next Phase
Delivered recommendations and actionable insights to support BWS’ App Loyalty Program Growth Strategy.
Business Impact
Business modelling estimates implementing recommendations could generate
~85k
Additional Customers
~$13m
Annual Incremental Revenue
1.2x
More Shops
(Member vs Guest Average Order Value)
Background
BWS introduced Appy Deals to encourage the download and use of the BWS App. Customers could redeem discounts and Everyday Rewards (EDR) exclusively through the app. The program would also help tailor BWS’ offers based on customer’s purchases.
Users Types
Guest: No Account
Member: Account | No EDR Linked
Power User: Account | Link EDR card
Ideal!
Data revealed customers who signed up and linked 🔗 their Everyday Rewards accounts had:
🛒🛒🛒 Higher Average Order Value
🛍️🛍️🛍️ Shopped more often
How might we convert more Guests into Power Users?
Problem
The Appy Deals program was performing well with sales and users growing 📈 steadily.
Membership sign-ups however were comparatively low 📉.
Why was this happening?
Challenges
New product team
–
New research restrictions
–
Tight timelines
Approach
Hitting two birds (quickly)
I facilitated a series document analysis session with core team members that: (1) condensed a 4 week exercise into 3 days and (2) Ensured collective understanding of the product.
The product team hit the ground running with a clear, evidence-based focus on the onboarding experience and I conducted activities to fill knowledge gaps.
–
Staff interviews were completed in-store allowing contextual customer observations sessions to be run simultaneously
–
Competitor analysis and best practices research highlighting key opportunity areas with actionable recommendations that informed the growth strategy roadmap
Numbers
Of users who start the sign-up process on the app, data revealed:
do not successfully complete the process
15%
drop off before linking their EDR account
55%
Key Themes
A confluence of issues across customer understanding, technical and in-store challenges contributed to the slow growth of Appy Deals membership.
Unclear and Underwhelming Value Proposition
The program had led with the “what”
‘Download this app for discounts’
Without a compelling “why”
‘We can recommend the wines you love, remind you when your favourite whisky is on special, reward your loyalty’
“People just whip out the barcode to get the deal... it’s just like a piece of paper to them. It’s not giving them anything. ‘I’ll get this unnecessary thing (app) so that I can get this money off.”
Technical and Operational Realities
The program had been designed around an ideal experience for a particular customer – digitally confident, smartphone in hand
–
Phone reception and wi-fi issues in-store were widely reported
Staff Pressures
Staff prioritised maintaining customer satisfaction over program compliance
–
Resentment at managing initial program launch backlash from customers and poor head office support
–
Some staff believed that the inter-store competition rewarding staff for improving program adoption was biased by store demographics
Framework
Honeycomb Strategy’s Loyalty Framework* explains that active engagement with a loyalty program requires all 3 elements.
Analysing the Appy Deals experience through this framework identifies key area of focus to set the program up for success.
❌
Unclear Value Proposition
Want to do it
Able to do it
❌
Technical & Operational Realities
Reminder/ trigger
❌
Staff Pressures
* Based on BJ Fogg’s Model for behaviour change to understand why people take actionKey Opportunities
The Loyalty Framework guided product workstreams and contributed to defining opportunity areas for the strategy roadmap.
Fix the Fundamentals
Start with the app sign up and linking user experience
Converting users who start but don’t complete account creation could see millions in potential in annual incremental revenue
Broaden Inclusion
Start with the customers reality, not our ideal state
Areas to explore included sign up at checkout, physical cards and digital wallet. Enabling two way linking take advantage of the customer’s existing EDR relationship
Empower the Frontline
Store teams are our direct bridge to the customer
They build relationships with regulars in turn driving loyalty and need support is enabling, not punitive targets
Data revealed that registered members shopped more often and had a higher average order value.
Getting more customers to become members is not just about refining or adding new features.
Successful growth is an ecosystem requiring constant attention.
The first steps for improvement focused on removing friction, clarifying value and reinforcing new habits that re-establish customers trust to ensure accessing Appy Deals is easy and rewarding.
Business modelling estimates implenting recommendations could bring in up to 85k additional customers generating up to $13m in incremental revenue annually.