Data month continues at IAB Canada and as we prepare for our Report on Data event on November 30th, we have been connecting with some of our valued members to explore topics that range from privacy and brand safety to the implications of AI and yes, even the metaverse. This week we caught up with IAB Canada member Chris Ovsenny Group Director, Partner and Growth Marketing of Points – a trusted partner to the world’s leading loyalty programs. From engagement to growth, retention to redemption, Points’ solutions nurture customers throughout all stages of the loyalty journey to deepen their relationships and maximize their lifetime value and allow members to get and use their favourite loyalty currency.
IAB Canada (IABC): How does Points work with data?
Points: We work with close to 60 of the world’s leading loyalty programs, helping them to implement new ways to increase member engagement and drive ancillary revenue. At Points, our data comes from across our partner, product and member network. We are creating a world of advanced analytics that is always on, and always learning. This collective intelligence is our unique offering – it enables us to drive exceptional member engagement with our marketing, and unrivalled program economics for our loyalty partners.
We apply these data sets when creating predictive modelling to better inform our promotional marketing for each of our partners. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have also adapted our modelling to include more third-party data sources. Many of the loyalty programs we partner with are in the travel industry so being able to track external factors likely to influence consumer travelers’ behaviour such as vaccination rates and travel advisories became paramount.
IABC: What does data mean to you?
Points: Over the years we have learned that data is truly a marketer’s secret superpower. As a marketing leader, we believe it’s important to spend a significant amount of time exploring opportunities to test new marketing channels and data-targeting strategies — and that investment proves itself out time-and-time again in terms of driving revenue growth and increased engagement with our members.
In the case of the partners we work with, those that are able to share data with us consistently see uplifts in their promotional campaigns. When we can use data to define our segmentation and then keep refining it in-campaign and adjust spend and our segmentation strategies accordingly — we’ve found that we can drive as much as 50% lift versus a “stay the course” media plan.
IABC: What are you excited about for 2022?
Points: The adoption of true dynamic personalized marketing will only continue to grow in 2022. Consumers have indicated for some time that they are willing to consent to share data in order to receive more relevant communications and offers — but not all brands have been swift to act upon this. Rapidly changing market conditions have accelerated the need for marketers to harness more data sources than ever before as we’ve sought to understand evolving consumer behaviour.
Data is the engine behind this — refining how we can collate multiple data points and increase automation within data modeling to better understand customer behaviour and respond to new market conditions when putting together offer constructs and campaign timing campaigns will continue to remain an area of focus next year.
In addition, being able to ‘test and learn’ more with creatives when we’re presenting these personalized offers will also increase in importance. Marketing and advertising technology is becoming more and more mature every year. In 2022, We are excited about dynamic creative optimization and the opportunity to test the intersection between the “art” and “science” of marketing communication. We would love to crack the code on the marketing holy grail — testing different messaging and creatives against different personas and segments, but doing it dynamically and efficiently, at scale.
IABC: How should advertisers go about leveraging data to make informed decisions?
Points: During the volatile travel climate we found ourselves in last year, data-led insights have been even more important than ever to drive strong performance for our partners. For example, early on into the pandemic in 2020, we leveraged data and insights for one of our travel loyalty program partners to identify and target a uniquely active member segment with an exclusive purchase offer. This smaller audience generated more revenue than any other promotion the partner had ever run (even pre-pandemic), as well as over-performing across other metrics.
For another loyalty program partner, we designed and implemented a data-led marketing strategy to identify their best customers, apply predictive models, and then construct a cadence of personalized promotional offers. So far in 2021 (a reduced period of travel), by adopting this new strategy and applying it to our product solutions, this program delivered a 62% increase in miles purchased for our partner, and has tripled revenue when compared to revenue in the pre-pandemic period.
Next week we will be touching base with another IAB Canada community member to get their perspective on the role of data in today’s complex ecosystem. In the meantime, we have a stellar lineup secured for our upcoming Report on Data event taking place on November 30th. Register here.