A better loyalty program begins with better database analysis

With a series of service innovations, Aerial Communications had made inroads against bigger, better-known competition in wireless communications. Aerial sought to enhance its position and turned to Kobie Marketing for help.

The assignment:

Create a customer loyalty program to recognize, reward and retain the best Aerial customers. Not in one market, but in three: Houston, Columbus and Tampa.

The Kobie factor:

Careful data analysis revealed that the best Aerial customers were predominantly young professionals with upscale tastes and aspirations. The program would need to be tailored to their very specific interests in each market.

Facing a very ambitious timeline, Kobie created Aerial Above & Beyond, a loyalty and retention program built on upscale rewards from more than 200 sources in the three markets: theater and performing arts tickets, hot clubs and events, fine cigars, trendy restaurants, and other rewards the young professional segment found attractive.

In addition, Kobie worked with local vendors to add a series of personalized "high-points" events to the reward roster: an ultra-chic catered Super Bowl party, a round of golf for four at an exclusive area golf club, a private cigar sampling and dinner at a top restaurant, to name just a few.

Remarkably, Kobie was able to achieve significant economies by creating member materials that shared common elements, yet were customized to each of the three markets. It would have been simpler, of course, to create just one program, but that isn't the Kobie way. We know that member involvement drives member retention, and involvement comes only when offers are truly tailored to member needs and interests.

Aerial Direct Marketing

Kobie insight and experience in database analysis paid big dividends to Aerial beyond the customer loyalty program. In a customer relationship campaign designed to increase lifetime value, customers were chosen to receive direct mail offers based on multiple variables, including their specific spending level and their length of association with Aerial. In another direct marketing effort designed to generate customer reactivation, offers were tailored to the customer's calling plan, market and contract terms. And Kobie developed and tested multiple programs to generate incremental revenue, working from customer demographics and other segmentation data.

All of which shows that when compelling creative meets shrewd data analysis, the results can be impressive indeed.