You’ve heard it before: the digital transformation is taking the world by storm. As we digitize everything, we’ve started to become familiar with things like Artificial Intelligence and Automated processes. You’re likely also familiar already with stats like these:
31% of enterprises are set to have adopted AI by the end of 2019
Al is reducing manufacturing costs by 20%
It’s almost old news as soon as it hits the press, but that doesn’t change the fact that digitizing everything and implementing automation has become the new norm.
Arguably more important than any of the AI or automation that the digital transformation is providing, though, is the heaps of data that’s being thrust upon us. Without this data, how would we know how to make the next move? How would we know which aspects of business need bolstering? Or which marketing campaigns performed the best?
Although we keep hearing how data is changing everything, the truth is that many companies are still struggling to let data drive their initiatives. In fact, in a survey conducted by the Harvard Business Review, it was found that 53% of Fortune 500 companies respondents are not yet treating data as a business asset.
That’s a pretty staggering number, and it has me wondering: where’s the disconnect? Why are so many companies still struggling to view this vital resource as the asset it truly is? Is it a lack of accessibility to data collection hardware/software? Is it an inability to read the data and gain digital insights from it? Or maybe it’s just a lack of a reliable and creative way of collecting the data.
Well, I’m here to make your transition into the future a little more seamless. I’ve collected a few creative ideas for better ways to gain access to and collect digital insights from data. Take a look, and hopefully they can jump start your own digital transformation.
Domino’s Piece of the Pie Rewards
Earlier in February, Domino’s Pizza released an addition to their Piece of the Pie Rewards program. Originally, a customer could log their Domino’s pizza consumption, building up 10 points per pie until they reached 60 points. After they reached 60 points, they could redeem their points for a free pizza from Domino’s. Sounds like a good reward program, right?
Well, with the new addition, Domino’s decided to reward their program participants for simply eating pizza. Any kind. Really. Even homemade bagel bites. Using the new data capture technology, participants can now take a picture of their pizzas, whatever kind they might be and earn that same 10 points. The only downside for us, the customers, is a limit of one non-Domino’s pizza per week, and the promotion only lasts through April 28th.
Still, it’s a pretty unique idea built around some rather innovative technology. And how exactly did Domino’s accomplish this? Well, they developed the AI in-house. The AI looks at a pizza and says, “Yup, that’s pizza.” And then it dishes out rewards to the user. It’s that simple!
The data capture technology is even smart enough to tell the difference between pizza and other non-pizza foods, as well as pizza imposters like a pizza shaped dog toy.
But still, you might be asking: what’s the business benefit of allowing people who download your app to get rewarded for (most likely) competitor pizzas? The truth is, it’s all about the data.
First off, the promotion gets more app downloads and more people enrolled in Piece of the Pie Rewards. Great. But on top of this, by creating a data capture technology that records every pizza submitted, Domino’s can create a database full of the pizza buying/making/eating habits of its app users.
Domino’s can then take this information and gleam digital insights from it. For example, maybe they can see from the data that there’s a significant group of people who make pizza at home every other week. Domino’s might want to then create a personalized marketing campaign to these people that says something like, “Skip the hassle of home-made . . . eat Domino’s!”
Creepy? Eh, maybe. Effective and personalized? Most definitely.
There’s another useful aspect of this competitor data. The digital insights that Domino’s can glean from this technology allows them to figure out how much and how often their app users buy pizza that’s not theirs. Again, this opens the door for some seriously targeted marketing strategies.
At the end of the day, it’s all about being able to build a better idea of who your buyers are, so that you can break the mold of general marketing and hit them instead with more personalized deals and messages.
As much as I’d love to write a blog all about pizza, let’s move onto my other crippling addiction: Target.
Target Circle
If you haven’t heard of Target’s new loyalty program, don’t fret. The company did a beta test launch of the program in Dallas, TX starting back in April of last year.
It was such a success, however, that they’ve decided to expand to a few other cities: Charlotte, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Phoenix. This program rewards participants with 1% cash back on all purchases. The program’s designed to tackle that pesky 76% of foot traffickers who won’t sign up for the REDcard, Target’s credit/debit loyalty card.
The main focus of this rewards program is very similar to Domino’s. By offering this program, Target will be able to generate data on their customers and glean (you guessed it) digital insights from that data to build a more robust database of buying behaviors.
From this, they can send out targeted (get it) marketing communications during opportune moments for buying, like birthday celebration emails, “haven’t seen you in a while” emails for people that haven’t come into the store recently, and so many more.
Conclusion
While Target’s reward program doesn’t have flashy data capture technology to bolster its performance, the contrast between the two programs says a lot. While Domino’s has a groundbreaking new technology to help it, Target’s reward program is beautiful in its simplicity.
Many people reading about the Domino’s program might do so with some anxiety. “I can’t program a pizza-recognizing robot. How am I ever going to collect enough data to make it an asset to my company?” – honestly, most of us.
So instead, you can be like Target. Start small with your data collection. Test it out on a few of your well-known customers and see if what you collect matches up with what you have so that you can ensure accuracy of your collection methods. You can even run an A/B test while you’re at it.
And how do you go about convincing your customers to hand over their valuable data? With incentives, of course. As the two stars of today’s article have demonstrated, a well-designed data collection campaign often produces more than just data. It can also produce one of the most sought-after buying behaviors: loyalty.
So, get out there and conquer the digital transformation like I know you can!
Want to be like Domino’s, with a super tricked out data-collection software? HMI has one of those. It’s called Snap2Claim, and if you’re interested in learning more, click here. Or, book a meeting with us.
Want to be like Target, with a simple but effective loyalty program? HMI does those, too. Click here to find out more about our B2B loyalty program options. Or, book a meeting with us.
Sources:
Photo by Eaters Collective on Unsplash
https://www.cbronline.com/analytics/how-is-big-data-changing-the-world-4508856/
