Marketing Strategies for your Campus Card Program 2016 Canadian Campus Card Conference Anthony Barbisan
Agenda Introduction Marketing Fundamentals Promoting Your Card Program Loyalty Programs Administering a Loyalty Program Supporting Other Institutional Services and Initiatives Measuring Results Q&A
The YU-card Program YU-card implemented in 2006 eaccounts online account management Retail/Dining (approximately 100 points of sale) Cash-to-card machines (11) Vending machines (65) Residence laundry (27) Sequoia ivalidate (3) Nebraska Bookstore interface PaperCut Print/Copy interface Launched DESFire EV1 cards in June 2014 Door access integration with ProWatch
Marketing Fundamentals It s about more than just advertising Product Physical Evidence Place Process Campus Card Program Price People Promotion
Marketing Fundamentals Can students use your card where/when they want? Add services that build use not just financial Potential exclusivity for the campus card Are your services easy to use and reliable? Convenient payment methods to add funds Devices are working properly Are your card office processes efficient and effective? Easy to obtain a card Capitalize on time spent with each cardholder
Promoting Your Card Program Develop your card program s brand identity The essence of what your program is about, including personality Align with institution s branding, policies, guidelines, but have fun Brand Leadership by David A. Aaker Consistent branding/messaging across communications Helps ensure your card program is recognizable Reinforces your central brand promise Define your objectives Increase card deposits Increase general adoption of the card
Integrated Marketing Communications Plan Think broadly and be creative
Direct Mail Postcard Mailed to first- and second-year students 34% increase in online deposits in the first year
Promotions
Digital Have clear objectives for your digital presence Pick your platform(s) Ensure that content is relevant and balanced Subject matter and frequency Proactively monitor activity and respond to questions/issues in a timely manner
Digital The YU-card has a presence on Facebook and Twitter All content drives back to the website and online deposit page Share engaging content relevant to the entire York U community Works collaboratively with @YorkUFood accounts (Instagram and Twitter)
Loyalty and Rewards Programs Do you need to do it? What s the objective? Capture spend for your card Promote a location Encourage participation in a program or activity Change behaviour e.g. sustainability initiative Develop better data for analytics Are you providing something students will value?
Considerations What type of rewards? Cash back or points? Social badges/achievements Who funds the rewards? Financial controls Who can post free items? Program terms and conditions Earn, redeem, expiration
Design and Administration Various methods are available depending on your campus card system, IT resources, etc. Stored value accounts for dollar, points or coupon based rewards Attendance/event functionality for points or coupon based rewards Choosing the right method depends on the type and design of your loyalty/rewards program Limited time only vs. ongoing? Dollar award vs. points? Complexity of rewards scheme consistent % vs. tiered benefits? Single merchant vs. multiple merchants participating? Automate when possible for consistency and efficiency
Examples Two cases where we had a desire to use the YU-card to administer a loyalty/reward program Bookstore Rewards Program National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Incentive Both programs were implemented with minimal effort Timeline for implementation in both cases was short
Scholar Dollars Bookstore Rewards York U Bookstore wanted to provide a rewards program Bookstore s objective: compete with other merchants and demonstrate competitive value for students Collaborative desire to also increase overall use of YU-card Wanted a process that was easy for students to use Also wanted minimal administrative work (sign-up process, redemptions, etc.) so as not to impact wait times at registers Wanted to provide students with rewards in a timely manner and enable students to monitor and save their rewards over time for additional bonuses
Scholar Dollars Bookstore Rewards Pay with your YU-card and earn 5% in Scholar Dollars Scholar Dollars can be redeemed toward any Bookstore merchandise Save up $100 Scholar Dollars, and your reward is doubled Scholar Dollars are funded by the Bookstore Advertising shared by both Bookstore and YU-card
Scholar Dollars Bookstore Rewards Automated processes calculate the rewards amount earned by the cardholder, and post the funds to a dedicated Bookstore Rewards account Students can view their rewards balances online Needed to address potential gaming of the program Redeeming rewards earned on items that are subsequently returned Rewards are earned 35 days after the purchase date Refunds are posted the next day Possible for student to be temporarily short on reward dollars if they return merchandise
Scholar Dollars Bookstore Rewards Steady but gradual increase in use of the YU-card at the Bookstore Awareness is an issue Over $200,000 in Scholar Dollars has been awarded $48,000 has been redeemed by students Year % of Boosktore Sales 2011-12 0.9% 2012-13 2.4% 2013-14 3.6% 2014-15 4.8% 2015-16 15.0%
Scholar Dollars Bookstore Rewards Lessons learned Not surprisingly, more time was spent resolving the business rules than developing the program concept the devil s in the details Need to have a good reconciliation process, even if the rewards are not funded Give careful thought to the expiration policy up-front
NSSE Incentive Program NSSE collects information about first-year and fourth-year students participation in programs and activities Senior administration highly values the data obtained from NSSE and wanted to improve York s 2011 participation rate of 16.9% to an ambitious target of 35% in 2014 In addition to a comprehensive communication campaign, the institution wanted to provide students with an incentive to complete the survey
NSSE Incentive Program Wanted to provide students with something that had the value of a latte but had limited funding Wanted a simple process with easy redemptions 18,500 eligible survey participants Target 35% response rate or 6,475 students Research suggested 1/3 of rewards would be redeemed Distribution of physical coupons was seen to be onerous and it was felt that this would be less enticing for students
NSSE Incentive Program Leveraged partnerships to have rewards donated On-campus mall: $5 gift certificates Dining provider: free beverage at Starbucks or Tim Hortons Used the YU-card to issue a virtual coupon to students that could be redeemed for one of the rewards Automated process loaded the coupon for students who had completed the survey Daily file received from NSSE Student received an email after the coupon was posted thanking them for participating and providing redemption instructions
NSSE Incentive Program Success! Participation increased significantly 2011 16.9% 2014 27.8%
NSSE Incentive Program York had Ontario s 2 nd highest participation rate increase University with highest increase (19%) attributes $5 card deposit Need to assess the cost/benefit of a given approach Final reward redemption rate was 30.6% 65% of redemptions were for Starbucks 31% for the campus mall Positioned YU-card as a service platform and an enabling technology for other departments Same process used in 2015 to promote participation in the National College Health Assessment survey Now using YU-card to post $5 rewards for other surveys
Measuring Results It can be difficult to correlate results to a specific marketing initiative Variety of qualitative and quantitative tools and data available to provide insights Transaction analysis overall, specific locations, etc. Social media monitoring followers, likes, retweets, etc. Surveys and focus groups
Measuring Results Beware of unanticipated consequences Competing initiatives (bursaries vs. online deposits) Customers getting hooked on a promotion Some things are beyond your control Enrolment, economy, other institutional priorities, labour disruptions, etc.
Q&A Questions?