GLO Video Interview: Ramya Murali, Principal, Monitor Deloitte & Co-Lead, Global Consumer Loyalty Offering on Deloitte’s approach, emerging trends

GLO Video Interview with Ramya Murali,?Principal, Monitor Deloitte and Co-Lead, Global Consumer Loyalty Offering?on?Deloitte’s approach, emerging trends & innovation in loyalty.

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0:00 What sets Deloitte's approach to customer loyalty consulting apart from other consulting firms in the market?

1:50 What are key milestones & most significant developments in loyalty and loyalty technologies & solutions in the past couple of years?

3:00 What are the emerging most significant trends and innovations in loyalty program design and management? What emerging trends do you anticipate will shape the future of loyalty programs?

4:03 Can you share examples of innovative loyalty program designs that have yielded significant results?

5:13 How do you approach measuring customer loyalty beyond traditional metrics like retention and satisfaction?

6:12 How do you address the challenge of maintaining customer engagement and interest in long-term loyalty programs?

7:23 How do you approach the loyalty for the multi-brand companies – “house of brands” - with a single loyalty program?

8:15 What strategies can businesses employ to effectively communicate the value proposition of their loyalty programs?

9:01 How can loyalty programs practically support companies’ sustainability and social responsibility efforts?

10:22 What new forms of partnerships and coalitions do you see in the loyalty space?

11:58 What are the key challenges the loyalty programs are facing right now?

13:25 What would be your advice to companies who are looking to launch a new loyalty program?

14:32 What impact of inflation and economic slowdown do you see on loyalty budgets and programs?

15:50 What industries and geographies do you see as leaders of innovation in the loyalty space?

16:50 If you had 1’000’000 loyalty points, how would you spend them?

17:16 If you could you had a magic wand what loyalty feature would you invent??

17:55 If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be??

GLO: What sets Deloitte's approach to customer loyalty consulting apart from other consulting firms in the market??

Ramya Murali:?My name is Ramya Murali and I am a Principal at Deloitte Consulting and I am one of the leaders of our Consumer Loyalty Offering. We had this team in place for 4-5 years and we bring all capabilities of Deloitte together and think about any number of opportunities that client might be thinking with regards to loyalty programs. How do you set up loyalty program from scratch? How do you modernise an existing loyalty program??And when we think about modernising an existing program that includes how do you improve the experience that you are delivering to the customers, or how do you improve the operations that support a program, may be the technology that underpins it, or it can be the financial implications of your loyalty program. I think one of the things that set Deloitte apart and make our loyalty capabilities so unique is the fact that we are a multidisciplinary firm, we have an audit business, a tax business, and our consulting business – we're able to leverage all of those capabilities which all do come together when you think about loyalty. Loyalty is a multidisciplinary business and it touches every facet of any company. We can meet our clients wherever they are in their loyalty journey and help provide them with the capabilities and resources that they need. This also includes our global firms and we are frequently working alongside our colleagues, who work outside the US, as they think about the clients that they interact with, or even as we think about global solutions around loyalty.

GLO: What were in your opinion the key milestones & most significant developments in loyalty technologies & solutions in the past couple of years?

Ramya Murali:?I think there are two big evolutions that we've seen in the loyalty space over the last few years. First, there's been a total proliferation of loyalty programs in the market across travel, hospitality, retail, and other consumer businesses. As that has happened, and unfortunately, as the pandemic affected us all, most programs have had to take a sharp look at how they think about the value that they're delivering for customers, how they think about the enterprise value that their program delivers, and how are they making constant enhancements to the program with that in mind.

I do think, secondly, that there are vast improvements in the technology that can underpin loyalty programs, which is why we're seeing so much modernization happening. But all that technology is connecting loyalty with the other systems that exist in companies tech stack, and making it easier for the customer to actively engage with the loyalty program.

GLO: What emerging trends do you anticipate will shape the future of loyalty programs? How do you see the landscape of customer loyalty evolving In the coming years?

Ramya Murali:?The hot topic when we talk to most companies about their loyalty programs is personalization. But if I think about the trend that is underpinning our loyalty programs – it is this massive unlock around data. We know that every company is grappling with the quality of their first-party data, how they get access to third-party data, and how are they thinking about monetizing it or not. All that data is what's required for a company to truly think about how they personalize the experience that they deliver for their customers. So I think that is going to continue to be the hot topic that many companies are grappling with. How do they work through all the vast data regulations? How do they think about the way that they're providing security and matching all the privacy standards? And then how do they actually make the data work for them so that it is delivering the experience they want for their customers?

GLO: Can you share examples of innovative loyalty program designs that yield significant results and impressed you the most?

Ramya Murali:?To me, one of the most innovative trends that we see around loyalty programs, is actually a very simple one, which is how is the program embedded in the mobile experience that you deliver for your customer. Getting a consumer to download an app today is not an easy task. So a consumer has to believe that the app is delivering value and making the experience faster, more efficient, creating better value. When you're able to seamlessly tie the loyalty program to the digital experience that you create for the consumer, I actually think it removes a tonne of friction for the consumer, it gives you a lot more data, it also allows you to enhance that personalization. Think about the apps that motivate you to have a repeat visit because they're offering you a surprise and delightful opportunity. Or you know that if you achieve a certain milestone, it unlocks some benefits. Those things are all seamlessly enabled through the digital experience. When that happens, it really unlocks a lot of value both for the customer and for the company.

GLO: How do you approach measuring customer loyalty beyond traditional metrics like retention and satisfaction?

Ramya Murali:?Increasingly, the conversation that we're having with clients is to not simply think of loyalty as a marketing tool, but to really think about it as a lever to drive enterprise value. And when you think about that, it then starts to open the aperture of what metrics can demonstrate the success of a loyalty program far more than just retention and satisfaction. Does your program serve as a vehicle to bring more customers into the funnel? Does the program help drive increased basket size, more visits, and greater share of wallet, are you able to use things like a co-brand card, which brings in real financial value in addition to what your customers generate? We spend a lot of time talking to our clients about making sure that you're thinking about that mix, and that you lay the foundation so that you're able to track the value in a real way so that you can report on it.

GLO: How do you address the challenge of maintaining customer engagement and interest in long-term loyalty programs??

Ramya Murali:?I think it's an incredibly difficult challenge to think about how you stay connected to a customer over their lifetime, depending on what industry you are in or what services you provide. There are really two different things that you can think about within the loyalty program.?

One is, we want to make sure that loyalty programs are not a “set it and forget it” exercise anymore. You're constantly having to think about the features, the experience, and the value that you're delivering. to a customer and how are you continuing to introduce new ways of that being realized.?

The other part is that you have to think about how you're going to continue to stay connected to that customer over their lifetime. They're going to go through different moments in their life where they might engage with your product or your service more or less. And your product must evolve to meet them where they are. And so again, both of those things come back to the same underlying premise, which is good customer segmentation. So, you understand the profile of your customers, what are the things that drive their behaviors, and then importantly, how they change over time, and how do you build a program that evolves with them??

GLO: How do you approach companies with multiple brands under a single loyalty program??

Ramya Murali:?One of the challenges of having a “house of brands” is that it can be very difficult for the consumer to understand that all of those brands live in the same ecosystem. This is a very, very commonly seen problem in the hospitality space, for example. In this instance, a loyalty program actually can be a secret sauce that can serve as the connective tissue to turn a “house of brands” into a “branded house”. When done correctly the loyalty program can serve as the unifying link that helps a customer understand what's inside that portfolio and helps to connect what might be very distinct different experiences underneath a common vision, identity, and value for the customer.

GLO: What strategies can businesses employ to effectively communicate the value proposition of the loyalty program?

Ramya Murali:?We, at Deloitte, run an annual “State of Loyalty” survey and every year what stands out is the number one attribute that consumers are looking for in loyalty programs is that they can simply and easily understand the value proposition. To me that says, is it something that your employees can easily articulate to the consumer? Can it be on a billboard in Times Square? Is it something that can be explained in an elevator ride? All those things are just metaphors for the same idea, which is that a consumer needs to understand why the program is valuable, why they should download the app why they should frequent your store, and it comes down to as simple as that.?

GLO: How can loyalty programs practically support a company's sustainability and social responsibility efforts??

Ramya Murali:?Many companies are still in the early stages of thinking about how they tackle what are very ambitious sustainability and social responsibility agendas. We are still in the early stages of figuring out how loyalty really fits into that. There are some very well-known and well-talked-about examples - using your points to donate to causes or charities, being able to translate transfer miles or points into offset credits. I think the practical reality is how you fit your sustainability and social responsibility agenda into your loyalty program, very so much by the industry that you must be in and how it fits into the customer experience of your product and then the loyalty program. To me, the key here is doing it in a way that is authentic and will resonate with customers. I think a lot of the things that have happened thus far have been valuable at the surface level. But what needs to be done is really digging in and saying, “How can you make your loyalty program members the stewards and believers of your sustainability agenda?” I think we're still early on and there's more work for everyone to realize and do.

GLO: What new forms of partnerships and collaborations do you see in the loyalty space???

Ramya Murali:?Partnerships have always been a really important component of loyalty programs. For decades we’ve seen a really valuable partnerships between airlines and hotels and rental cars that linked a travel journey for customers together. But I think in the last 5 to 10 years, you've seen a different era of partnerships, really serving two purposes in my mind. One is if you are a low frequency or low occurrence business, partnerships are a way that you stay connected to your customer more days out of the year, stay top of mind, increase your wallet share and increase connection to your brand.?

The other is, and this is more of an internally focused ambition, partnerships are a tremendous way for companies to unlock more access to data and more information. We're seeing that there are a lot of new examples of partnerships that are entering the market. I think the key to partnerships is to ask 3 questions. Firstly, “Is the partnership connected to what your brand identity is, does it make sense that these two brands could exist together?” The second is, “Is the partnership valuable for both brands?” And third, not all partnerships need to be forever. I think we can think about partnerships that are for a season, that are more temporal or situational, and we can think about others that really persist. Those are the conversations that we're having with clients as we help them think through their partnership agenda.

GLO: What are the key challenges that loyalty programs are facing?now??

Ramya Murali:?When we think about next 18 to 24 months I think there are a couple of things that are probably top of mind to any head of loyalty, CFO, or CEO. We've seen in the last year or so there, there have been some very public revaluations of programs in the retail space, in the travel space and they've come under tremendous scrutiny from consumers and from the market. I think it's because there's this expectation that programs are not living organisms that are changing evolve over time. I think that changing the consumer perception and helping consumers understand that this type of revaluation of a program is going to happen and it is both to make the program valuable for the organisation and ultimately more valuable for the consumer - is a necessary reality that we have to adjust to. I think that's going to be even more important as we think about how there might be market changes over the next 18-24 months, and consumers’ willingness to spend and what they spend on is going to continue to change. So I think top of mind for any company, as they think about their loyalty program is what is required so that that program stays top of mind top of wallet, top of heart for the consumers in the year to come.

GLO: What will be your advice for the companies who don't have a loyalty program or haven't before and looking to launch?

Ramya Murali:?This might be peculiar from a person who runs our loyalty practice but when we meet with clients who don't have loyalty programs and are considering starting one, the first question I ask is “Why?” I realize that loyalty can seem like a very effective lever for driving customer acquisition, retention, and churn and it certainly does all of those things. But it also comes with a tremendous programmatic expense, and it requires constant maintenance. Sometimes there are other levers in the customer experience toolkit if you will, that can address the same underlying problems or challenges that a company might be facing. So I really encourage our clients to think deeply about whether programmatic loyalty is the thing that they need to solve their problem or if driving loyalty through any number of other levers is a realistic or practical way for them to realize their goals.

GLO:?What impact of?inflation?and economic slowdown do you see on loyalty budgets and programs??

Ramya Murali:?I think the honest answer is it kind of depends on the industry that you live in. Industries vary so widely in terms of who is very recession-proof, and what industries are severely impacted by slowing growth or economic downturns.?

I think that loyalty can serve two purposes in that channel and the closest thing in the past that I can use as a point of reference is how companies thought about loyalty in the context of the pandemic. We saw most loyalty programs think about what are new ways that they can stay connected to their customers. Think about all the travel credit cards out there. If you weren't going to spend your money on travel, all of a sudden, they were giving you 2x - 3x - 4x rewards on things like gas and groceries, the things that they knew you were doing during the pandemic. I think that one of the levers that we can expect to see from loyalty programs as market conditions change is one of the ways that they encourage you to stay engaged with them. What are the ways that they extend their impact and reach beyond what is known to other ways that they can stay connected with the customer.

GLO: What industries or geographies do you think are pushing boundaries and are really innovating in the loyalty programs?

Ramya Murali:?When we think about loyalty programs, we typically start by thinking about retail travel, and hospitality. What's interesting is that we are having loyalty conversations with a lot of companies outside of those sectors, you might not even think about financial services, health care, streaming, and media. And I think it's because they are ultimately trying to solve the same problem that any company is solving in the B2C space, which is how do I stay connected to my customer? How do I make sure that I'm delivering the best experience that I can? How do I capture the share of wallet, share mind, share of heart. So some of the same levers that those traditional loyalty players have used are increasingly proving to be very viable and exciting, desirable opportunities for companies in other spaces.

GLO:?If you had 1 million points, which you could spend any way you would want to, how would you spend it?

Ramya Murali:?My 1 million points would easily go to travel. It would go to see the world it would be to stay in beautiful, luxurious, authentic hotels in the world, and just do that with friends.?

GLO: If you had a magic wand, what loyalty feature would you invent?

Ramya Murali:?It's not the most glamorous answer, but I would be actually being able to deliver on one-to-one personalization. It is what we all aspire to, as we think about loyalty programs, but in reality, today's loyalty personalization is in micro-segments, and it’s not in many. I think that truly being able to deliver on what I, Ramya, want or what you as an individual, want in your loyalty program experience. I think that would be awesome. I think it's going to happen someday, but it would be cool if it could happen today.

GLO: Now with all your experience in the industry, with dozens of companies that you know, in-depth, if you could give one piece of advice about loyalty and consumer experience to the young Ramya, who's just starting in the field, what that advice would be?

Ramya Murali:?I think that it's very difficult to know where you want to end up. I didn't know that I wanted to be as specialized in loyalty and customer experience as I am. I got there by happenstance, through lots of experiences, serving lots of clients and helping them think about their problems. I was less intentional about what I wanted to solve, but I was super intentional about wanting to solve the real gnarly questions that keep our clients up at night. So, I would just remind my younger self for new consultants out there, that the experience that we have that allows us to do the best work that we can for our clients, helping lots of clients in lots of different spaces, solve their problems, and building all that knowledge over time, helps you be a better adviser to your clients.

Source: GLO.?