Not many brands have a rewards or loyalty program that operates on the same innovative levels as Harlequin My Rewards. Like many brands across the publishing industry, Harlequin faced the same threats of digital disruption than can erode customer loyalty.
But Harlequin, one of the world's leading publishers of books for women, understood that customers still love books and they still loved to read. The only thing that is changing today is the ways in which customers are starting to consume these stories. A lot of people still buy books, but, increasingly, they are also supplementing their reading material with ebooks, digital downloads, and text from various online sources.
Today, customers simply have more choice, and Harlequin realized that it could still cater to the needs of its customers and continue to build the meaningful relationships that kept customer loyalty strong. To this end, the brand launched the Harlequin My Rewards loyalty program, which is not only an innovative program in its own right, it is actually the first such program to be offered by a publisher.
The idea, while simple, also embraced digital customer engagement. Through email or via the brand’s mobile-optimized website, customers needed only to sent pictures of Harlequin novel receipts to start earning points.
This multi-platform program not only gave customs a wide range of redemption options, it also allowed the brand to nurture more personal relationships with Harlequin customers.
“We are able to see what types of genres they are most interested in,” Lucy Scinocca, Harlequin’s Director of Loyalty and Customer Insight for North America, told Loyalty360. “As their interests change, members can update their profile. This helps us keep pace with what they like to read most. Our loyalty program is omni-channel and we can connect with all of our readers no matter where they shop, either online or offline. Consequently, we can develop and cultivate that 1:1 relationship no matter where they shop.”
Harlequin My Rewards is a perfect example of a loyalty program that uses leading technology to gain valuable and actionable consumer insight to make personalized recommendations and incentivize behaviors.
And in-depth case study concerning this program’s structure and strategy will be featured at this year’s Loyalty Expo.
During a session titled, “Harlequin My Rewards Delivers Tangible Business Results with Receipt-Scanning and Personalized Recommendations,” Scinocca will be joined by Kevin Nix, President and CEO of Stellar Loyalty, to discuss the program’s design and strategy including the identification of consumer segments and respective targets, the key performance indicators used to measure program effectiveness, the program’s results so far, plans for the future and more.
Brands and marketers wanting to leverage new technology to develop a metrics-driven ROI loyalty program should not miss this session.