Dunkin' Rewards: America Runs on Loyalty Programs With Correct Information

Dunkin' recently overhauled their Dunkin' Rewards loyalty program. Some regular customers are not pleased. Coffee rewards that used to be available after spending $40 on coffee now require at least $50 in spend. The program has also become more complex, with a different points earning formula, monthly boosters and a greater emphasis on food. With greater complexity comes greater risk of error.

I would describe myself as an occasional coffee achiever. I might stop for coffee early in the morning when walking the dog, but not that often. I currently have 257 points according to my app -- not enough for one free coffee.

Screenshot showing I have 257 points

So, imagine my surprise when I received this email. 

Points amount email
34,438 points = almost 69 free coffees!

The points value in the email is not only incorrect, it is outrageously wrong. Why would anyone hold on to 34,000 points?

In a prior role, I worked on a loyalty program mailing that included a mention of a customer's point balance. Here are some of the quality control steps I took:

1. Verified output data against source data
2. Verified lettershop proofs against both source data and output data
3. Requested manual review of customers with points balance more than two standard deviations above the mean against source data. 

Perhaps Dunkin' skipped step 3 above. What they could have done is ask themselves something along the lines of, "Who in the email communication appears to have enough points for more than 10 of the top points item? Should that really be the case?"

Lesson: 

When sending personalized information, verify the accuracy of all variable data including outliers.

Jockey: Late Recognition Of Getting In My Pants

After months of COVID lockdown and isolation, I was finally going to set foot outside of Queens. My wife and I arranged for a weekend getaway upstate at a bed-and-breakfast with plenty of ventilation, air filtration and outdoor seating. It was our anniversary and, pandemic or not, we wanted to make it special. 

We brought masks, gloves, sanitizer, and more sanitizer. I packed a rag and Lysol disinfectant just to give our room a once-over when we arrived. We brought packaged food in case the nearby restaurants were too busy. After confirming all the details and driving north for a few hours, I realized had I forgotten my mother's advice: Always pack clean underwear. Sorry, Mom!

I discovered a Jockey outlet store near our B&B. It had reopened from COVID lockdown the day before our trip. So, on our anniversary, we stopped at the store for a couple pairs of jockeys. The store manager, also wearing a mask and plastic gloves, understood that I wasn't familiar with the brand and helped me pick out something comfortable in my size. 

The manager apologized that not all price tags were up to date as the store was shorthanded and had just reopened. No worries, I said; just ring me up. She asked to put me on the email list with an offer of an instant discount on my in-store purchase. I agreed, providing my email address.

That was two years ago. I haven't purchased anything from Jockey since then. (The underwear is fine; I simply don't need any more.)

In May of this year, I received an email with a Subject Line of "Thank you for joining Jockey Rewards!" 

Jockey Rewards Introduction Email, May, 2022

The wording of that subject line makes it seem like I recently joined the Jockey Rewards program, which is not the case. Perhaps giving the manager my email address in that outlet store two years ago had enrolled me in an older version of the program and I had now been auto-enrolled in the current program. This supposition is based on the answer on the Jockey's reward program FAQ:

First FAQ at jockey.com/rewards mentioning "new and improved rewards program"

So, the program is "new and improved." OK. Perhaps. But since I hadn't just joined the program, better subject lines would include:

Welcome to the new Jockey Rewards!

We've improved Jockey Rewards!

Other than the confusing subject line, the email is nicely done: on brand, communicative, friendly and persuasive. Overall, the email doesn't deserve a Fail for Creative. Perhaps it merits a C+.

Lesson:
Your subject line should be relevant to your customer.

Hooters: Timing and Grammar Matter

This birthday email from Hooters merits a Fail for Timing and a Fail for Creative.  

The email informs the recipient that he has "10 Free Wings (Birthday)" and that his offer will expire in "1 days."

Hooters Birthday email
arrived well after the birthday

The recipient's birthday was in late August. He did not receive a communication about his free wings prior to his birthday or on his birthday. The first time he found out he had the opportunity to have free Hooters wings served to him (presumably by a "Hooters Girl") was on September 20 -- one day before the offer expired. 

The opening of the email reads:

Just a friendly reminder that your 10 Free Wings (Birthday) is about to expire. Come in and redeem your offer before it expires in 1 days.

This brief paragraph would read better as:

Just a friendly reminder that your 10 Free Wings offer for your birthday is about to expire. Come in and redeem your offer before it expires tomorrow.

One might joke about the sentences being written by a Hooters Girl, but that would be insulting to smart women who take the job. Regardless, it appears to me that the sentence was written by a someone using rudimentary mail merge software. The first sentence identifies the type of free offer in parenthesis. The programming of the second sentence did not take into account that the number of days may be a singular number. 

Let's hope the wings are better than the grammar. 

Lessons:

1. Recognizing a customer's birthday is a useful way to engage a customer, but only if properly executed.
   
2. When using numerical values in your communications, make sure to account for values that are not plural.

Affinity Federal Credit Union: Visa Email Not the Best Fit

When you join a credit union, you can remain a member regardless of what happens to your original qualifications. That is the case with me. My first job out of college was at AT&T. I used my first paycheck to become a member of the AT&T Employee Federal Credit Union at their on-site branch. A month later, I applied for and received their Visa credit card.

I left AT&T but remained a member of its credit union. A few years later, the credit union expanded its membership criteria and rebranded as Affinity Federal Credit Union (AFCU). I have watched over the decades as the credit union’s marketing communications evolved from simple and homely to complicated and flashy. Sometimes, their complex messaging leads to ambiguity and confusion.

For example, I recently received this email selling a change from my current Affinity Pure Rewards Visa Credit Card to an AffinityCash Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card. My current Visa card offers the equivalent of 1% cash back on all purchases, plus up to an additional 5% on purchases made through their online portal. The Signature Card earns – well, based on the email – something that matches my personal spending style. Huh?

The Subject Line reads, “Switch Your Card to the Best Fit.” The headline in the email reads “SWITCH YOUR CARD / Find Your Best Fit” – suggesting I might be able to compare cards. The first Fail for Creative is the contradiction between the Subject Line and email content. The Subject Line implies that the Visa Signature Card would be my best fit; the Headline implies that I need to find the card that is my fit; then, the Subhead suggests that the Visa Signature card is meant for me. The card should either be good for me or not – pick one.

It turns out that I have to find the card and work hard to find the link to make the switch.

The email’s links to “Log In & Switch” do not lead to a comparison page. They lead to the credit union’s general customer login page. From there, I have to log in; scroll past my account balances, my pre-approved auto loan offers, a solicitation to consolidate outside accounts, an offer to track all my purchases by category, and a review of my rewards points balances and rewards available; and find a link in 12-point font reading, “Switch My Credit Card.”

This is a Fail because the offer requires substantial customer effort to respond. Granted, the email explains part of this process, but that only partially mitigates the friction present in the transaction. Furthermore, there is not an easy way for me to compare my current card to this new one. Which benefits are the same? Which ones are different? What benefit might the customer lose by making the switch? 

If I haven’t given up and I manage to click on the “Switch My Credit Card” link, this confirmation screen appears:

This confirmation screen is the first point in the customer experience that mentions specific product benefits. The product description reads:

Unlimited cash back with no annual fee. Earn up to 5% cash back on all purchases, including bookstores like Amazon.com, access 24/7 Visa Signature Concierge, cell phone protection, travel benefits and more.

This sales message is another Fail for Creative. Overall, the sales message is fairly incoherent, with a confusing string of dependent clauses.

It is sparse and written poorly. Let’s break it down:

• “Earn up to 5% cash back on all purchases”: What does “up to” mean? Do I have to meet a purchase threshold to earn 5%? Does 5% apply only to purchases up to a threshold amount? Or is some other dynamic in play?
• “…including bookstores like Amazon.com”: Amazon is not a bookstore. It is a shopping site that sells just about everything you can have shipped to you, digital services, even house cleaning. Does this phrasing mean I would earn up to 5% cash back only on books? Or on anything purchased on Amazon.com? The Amazon app is not a dot-com. Are those purchases eligible? What are “bookstores like Amazon.com”? Does that include books on barnesandnoble.com? What about jigsaw puzzles on barnesandnoble.com? Does it include my local brick-and-mortarbookstore? What about books on target.com?
• “Cell phone protection”: What does that mean?

Another Fail for Creative is the lack of information in the customer email. With some active research, I was able to learn that the card offers 5% cash back at “all bookstores, including Amazon.com” (whatever that means); 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations, and supermarkets; and 1% on other purchases. These are substantial features that should be included in the email to help explain why the card fits my lifestyle. 

I was able to find more information on this product sales page. It appears to have some explanation of what “bookstores, including Amazon.com” means. If I understand the footnote…

2 Cardholders will earn 5% cash back (which is equivalent to 5 points for every $1 spent) for purchases made at Bookstores, which also include purchases made at Amazon.com on up to $3,500 per month in purchases, excluding gift cards. Please note that these bonus categories are categorized by specific Merchant Category Codes. Not all merchants may use the specific qualified transactions codes. The additional points may not be issued, if the merchant does not use a qualified Merchant Category Code.

…a customer earns 5% cash back at Amazon.com and at all bookstores. If so, why not state that outright? Or perhaps simplify the offering and make it applicable to only Amazon.com, as Discover Card does in its quarterly calendar?

The same page mentions the feature of cell phone protection as an exclusive “card-holder” benefit:

There are two Fails here. The first is grammatical: “card-holder” is not hyphenated. The second is that there is no explanation of features related to this benefit. What does "cell phone protection" mean? How is a cell phone protected? Are there incremental requirements to get this protection? My supposition is that AFCU’s protection is similar to Wells Fargo’s cellular telephone protection; however, this is merely a guess. I cannot find details anywhere on the ACFU website. While I’m not a fan of having numerous disclosures in a marketing communication, an explanation and details should be available to the customer.

Lessons:

1. The content of a marketing email should complement the Subject Line.
2. Marketing communications should explain at least some product features to support benefits messaging.
3. Marketing emails should have a simple call to action.
4. A customer's online sales journey should start with supporting the email sales message, then quickly and easily bring the customer through the sale.
5. Amazon is not a bookstore.
6. Proofread your content.
7. If you message a product feature, make available a clearly communicated explanation of what it means.

Affinity Federal Credit Union: Missing the Point — er … Points

This self-mailer from Affinity Federal Credit Union merits a Fail for Creative for failing to fully explain their offer.

Outside of self-mailer

Address Panel

During most of the year, purchases on the AffinityFederal Credit Union Pure Rewards Visa Card earn 1 point per dollar spent. Based on their redemption options, I estimate this equates to a rebate value of approximately 0.7%. Every year for the past several years, the credit card has proactively offered customers a simple points multiplier of double points or triple points for purchases in November and December to encourage purchase activity during the holiday shopping season. 

This year, the points multiplier appears to be vary based on the type of merchant. According to the self-mailer, purchases at “Bookstores, including Amazon.com” earn “5 Bonus Rewards Points,” while purchases at “Gas and Restaurants” earn “3 Bonus Rewards Points” and “Supermarket and Wholesale stores” earn “2 Bonus Rewards Points.”

Interior of self-mailer

The language suggests the customer might earn 5 Bonus Rewards Points per purchase at Bookstores. What I believe the credit union is attempting (but failing) to explain is that some purchases earn 5 Bonus Rewards Points per dollar. Even the Disclosure copy fails to explain this as such. It reads:

*Bonus points are earned as follows: in additional to the standard points you earn (1 point per $1 spent or 2 points per $1 spent if you quality for EvenMore perks), you will receive 5 bonus points on bookstores, 3 bonus points on gas and restaurants, and 2 bonus points on supermarket and wholesale store purchases less returns during the promotional period …

It appears to me that, if a customer makes a $100 purchase at a bookstore, the customer will receive 105 points. If the intention is that the customer should receive 600 points for that purchase (6 total points per dollar spent), then the offer copy should read “5 Bonus Rewards per Dollar” and the Disclosure should read:

*Bonus points are earned as follows: In addition to the standard points you earn (1 point per $1 spent or 2 points per $1 spent if you quality for EvenMore perks), you will receive 5 bonus points per $1 spent on bookstores, 3 bonus points per $1 spent on gas and restaurants, and 2 bonus points per $1 spent on supermarket and wholesale store purchases less returns during the promotional period …

The communication of the bonus points offer appears sloppy in a couple other ways. First, Amazon.com is not a bookstore. According to Wikipedia, Amazon.com started selling items other than books in 1998. Rather than “Bookstores, including Amazon.com,” the category headline should read “Amazon.com and Bookstores.” 

The second category reads, "Gas and Restaurants" when it should read "Gas Stations and Restaurants" for clarity.  Otherwise, a person who purchases gas at CostCo would expect to receive 3 bonus points per dollar.  The third category reads, “Supermarket and Wholesale stores” when it should read “Supermarkets and Wholesale Stores.” 

Lessons:

1. Explain your offer clearly and concisely in the body of your communication as well as in your supporting Disclosure.
2. Be sure to have your marketing communication proofread for clarity and accuracy.
3. Amazon.com is not a bookstore.