Indigo Books & Music is delivering rewards with a personal touch through a new loyalty program called Plum Rewards.
The free nationwide program uses Indigo customers’ interests and past purchases to offer customized book and product recommendations, individual promotional offers and VIP shopping event invitations.
Plum Rewards members can retrieve their personalized recommendations and offers by logging into their Plum Rewards account through a portal available online and at in-store kiosks at Chapters and Indigo locations.
“We emailed our robust database of customers that are not members of the current iRewards program to introduce the new, free Plum Rewards program and encouraged sign-up with a welcome bonus of up to 500 points,” said Deirdre Horgan, executive vice-president of marketing at Indigo Books & Music. “This Plum Rewards launch email was distributed to Canadian booklovers on April 5th and since then we have also been promoting the program via Facebook and Twitter, with banners on our website, and with in-store signage too.”
“Customization is critical” with rewards programs, Heather Reisman, founder and CEO of Indigo Books & Music, told Marketing. “It’s essential to make a loyalty program meaningful to customers.”
Speaking about programs from a consumer’s point of view, she said “I don’t want spam; I want an e-mail saying ‘You love biographies, and not only do you love biographies, you love historical biographies.’” She believes a program should then provide the name of an author and their new book related to that specific genre. “[As a customer], you’ll be happy to get that kind of e-mail,” she said.
The ambition with Plum Rewards, said Reisman, “is only to communicate with a customer when we have something they’ll perceive as meaningful” to share.
“We’ve set the foundation, but we won’t be perfect instantly,” she said, adding that the program’s underlying belief is that people only have so much time and they’re inundated with information, so loyalty programs need to be customized. Soon Plum Rewards members will be able to help further shape the recommendations they receive by choosing “Not Interested” or “I Already Own It” options online.
As for the points element of the program, members earn points and discounts on goods purchased in-store as well as those purchased at Chapters.Indigo.ca. Members will earn 10 points for nearly every dollar they spend in-store. They will also get up to 5% off books purchased online.
Indigo developed Plum Rewards after getting feedback from customers that they wanted a free loyalty program that would enable them to earn and redeem points on both book and non-book purchases.
Indigo’s existing iRewards program will continue. For an annual fee of $35, it provides its members with a 10% discount on books and a 5% discount on most non-book items.
Indigo customers have to choose between the Plum Rewards or iRewards programs – they can’t be a member of both.
