March

We’re officially through Q1 of 2024. The seasons are changing, many of us are about to have a 4-day weekend , and for this weekend at least, chocolate for breakfast is encouraged. Life is good.

March has felt a bit ‘meh’. We’ve not had many big brand moments or exciting pop-culture news, although the Jedward vs. Louis Walsh feud was an unexpected evening of entertainment on social media. Reports show that consumer confidence overall is flat to last month, but consumers are feeling more optimistic about their personal finances. It’s a small change, but we’ll take it.?

In social media news, LinkedIn announced it’s thinking of adding games to the platform - because we don’t have enough different content boxes to tick - and TikTok’s biggest ban threat to date came through.?

Let’s catch up.?

Can you force customer loyalty?

This month at Dotdigital we’re going all in on loyalty. Loyal customers generate more than your non-loyal customers, they make the best brand advocates, and they’re reliable revenue that can get you through times of economic downturn. They’re the MVPs, yet we often undervalue them.?

Your brand-to-customer relationship isn’t too dissimilar to a real-life one, hear me out. We’re all humans at the end of the day, and if we feel neglected, ignored, overlooked, or taken for granted, we’re going to check out. Add in staleness, a lack of excitement, and a mismatch in values, and it’s an overnight stay at Heartbreak Hotel. Where am I going with this? I guess I’m saying look after your day ones and stop playing hard to get. Lean into your existing customers rather than focusing too much on the ones you don’t have yet.?

Earlier this month I wrote about how UK grocery giants Tesco and Sainsbury’s reportedly made ￡300m from selling customer data obtained by a new style of loyalty scheme. This style of scheme works by allowing members of the scheme to get access to cheaper prices (although they’re largely considered to be the ‘normal’ price), in exchange for their customer data of course.

Customer loyalty is super valuable to brands, but you can’t shortcut your way to it. In our o wn poll , we found that over 70% of consumers don’t like the data for discounts trade, and a huge 40% admitted they weren’t a fan, but did it anyway to access the savings. Forced loyalty doesn’t count as customer attitudes will cost you much more in the long run. In fact, 22% of respondents said they choose to shop elsewhere because of these schemes.?

When they’re done well, loyalty schemes are great. Drinks brand MTN Dew just launched two new loyalty programs which break the mould of traditional programs, but in a good way. Keeping it fresh and incentivizing customers, the brand recognizes different customers respond to different tactics and has spent time crafting this new scheme to entice and reward customers. ?

I think for many of us, the thought of generating loyal customers feels like a long-term goal. Loyalty is generally linked to tenure, so it’s going to take time. However, that’s not the case. Next Tuesday (April 2) we have a brand new guide coming out, sharing how you can generate customer loyalty from the first click without forcing customers into it.

If you’re eager to learn more, please join me next Friday, April 5, for a webinar discussing how you can capture Gen Z’s loyalty (and their spending power). Spoiler alert: it’s not all TikTok.?

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There’s a new data kid on the block?

There’s currently a Bill going through Parliament that is going to impact marketers. Whenever new rules come into play, it can feel a bit intimidating, but we truly think this rule will improve things. It’s a post-Brexit reform to existing UK data laws and aims to take the best parts of GDPR and improve flexibility and clarity.?

The DPDI Bill , standing for Data Protection and Digital Information, is a comprehensive piece of legislation designed to modernize the UK's data protection regulations. It aims to strike a balance between protecting individual privacy and enabling businesses to leverage data responsibly for legitimate purposes, including marketing.?

Ultimately, the bill comes down to two main changes. Firstly, clarifying legitimate interest. At the moment, using customer data for marketing purposes under legitimate interest requires a complex balancing test. The DPDI Bill simplifies this by making it easier to demonstrate that direct marketing is "necessary" for your business. With these guidelines, you can use customer data more confidently for targeted campaigns, as long as they prioritize user privacy.

Secondly, the bill focuses on transparency over consent. While consent remains an important element of data collection, the DPDI Bill recognizes that transparency is equally important. This means providing users with clear and easily accessible information about how their data is collected, stored, and used. By building trust through transparency, you can still achieve successful marketing outcomes even if a user doesn't explicitly opt-in for every communication.

You can read more about it and the benefits to marketers in our blog.?

It’s all about reputation

Consumer confidence is really important when it comes to our industry. On more than a brand level, it’s super important that marketing doesn’t go too far and customers see through it. With the rise of influencers and social media in general, it can sometimes feel like the Wild West out there.?

This month the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) released the findings from its recent campaign into consumer trust in advertising. The ASA is the UK’s independent advertising regulator, tasked with making sure ads across UK media stick to the advertising rules.

The campaign focused on educating the general public on the work the ASA does to increase brand awareness and build trust with advertising in general. The ASA has shared that the campaign was successful.?

Those who had seen or heard an ASA ad are now twice as likely to say they tend to trust most ads, more than twice as likely to say they feel positively towards advertising, and have greater trust in ads across all media.?

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery…

Not accepting the ruling, Tesco chose to appeal, and just this week the appeal was officially dismissed by the high court. Tesco now has the right to take it to the Supreme Court, but it’s widely understood that the brand will instead be accepting the decision and redesigning the logo.

Ultimately, it’s a yellow circle, but it’s also potentially misleading consumers. It’s a tricky one, but copyright claims and brand similarity issues have always, and will always be a thing.?

The new Specsavers ad is a car crash

Well, a van crash. This month Specsavers launched yet another campaign in the brand’s ‘should’ve gone to Specsavers’ style. This time, a branded van is mounted upon an automatic barrier after the driver failed to note the ‘no parking’ sign nearby.?

I wanted to shout out the brand as its marketing is really clever. The campaigns are instantly recognizable and always raise a smile. Specsavers has a lot of fun with what is essentially a rather serious topic.?

Not limited to eyesight, just last month the brand launched some radio ads to highlight its hearing test service. I applaud the brand for keeping things light and humorous whilst also maintaining an overall image of authority and expertise. (P.S. Did that count as a Rickroll?)?