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Why customer insights and effective offers go hand in hand

American Express

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April 21, 2016 | 4 min read

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Today’s customer journey is more flexible than ever before. Brands can no longer rely on customers faithfully making repeat purchases; instead consumers will jump between websites, social media networks, physical stores and traditional media to seek out the best offers or to follow their current brand of choice.

Dan Edelman, VP Marketing, American Express

In today’s competitive landscape, American Express research* on the views of 200 senior in-house marketing decision-makers reveals that offers and promotions remain an important tool in driving customer engagement. However, competitive pressure means that marketers are ever mindful of the need to ensure offers are highly tailored and relevant in order to secure engagement.

Importance of effective customer insights

According to the research, almost a third of respondents said they plan to run more offers in 2016 than they did in 2015, whilst just 3% said they would be running fewer offers. Marketers indicated that in order to be effective, promotions and offer programmes must be targeted and suited to individual needs. Almost half of the marketers surveyed said that clearer insights on their customers would help them run promotional campaigns in a more effective way. In addition, 54% said that their promotions would be improved if they could reach a more targeted group of customers. It is evident that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is not enough when it comes to securing customer engagement.

Barriers to offers programmes

The barriers to implementing offers programmes go beyond accessing clear customer insights. Our research shows that marketers are often hesitant about the complexity of implementing offers programmes. Amongst the marketers we spoke to, the key barriers to implementing programmes were cost pressures (26%), lack of ability to target consumers effectively (11%) and lack of time to produce collateral (7%). Marketers are clearly keen for ways to appeal to a wider pool of consumers, but feel restricted by concerns internally around financial cost and lack of resources.

The findings show marketers want hard working offers which are supported by rich insights, without having to deal with prohibitively high costs or hassle. American Express’ ‘Amex Offers’ programme is designed to provide merchants with the answer to this dilemma; an offers platform that is driven by simplicity. Amex Offers makes life easy for American Express Cardmembers through a simple digital offers process – our Cardmembers receive targeted emails containing offers or they can find offers via their online account – in both cases their offers are ranked according to their spend history. And when they use their Card to pay they see the savings through an automatic statement credit. Our unique ‘closed loop’ model means we have a direct relationship with both the Cardmember and the business. This gives us sight of the whole customer journey and enables us to not only carefully target Cardmembers with offers based on their preferences, but also tailor the offers according to the specific objectives of participating brands.

In summary

Accurate and detailed customer insights are essential in delivering engaging offers. With Amex Offers, we can strip back the barriers faced by merchants to help them focus more on what matters: reaching engaged customers with products and services that are relevant to them. Merchants which partner with Amex Offers could save time and resources whilst gaining access to American Express’ engaged Cardmembers.

For more information on Amex Offers please visit: www.createamexoffers.co.uk

Dan Edelman, VP Marketing, American Express

Email: ukmarketing@aexp.com

Web: www.createamexoffers.co.uk

Twitter: @AmexUK

*Populus survey of 200 in-house marketing decision makers, commissioned by American Express. UK fieldwork completed between 2 and 4 February 2016.

American Express Services Europe Limited has its registered office at Belgrave House, 76 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9AX, United Kingdom. It is registered in England and Wales with Company Number 1833139 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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American Express

The American Express Company, also known as Amex, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center in New...

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