How To Engage Customers with a Scratch & Win Campaign
Whether it’s a real card that leaves a mess of glittering residue all over the place or a digital scratch card, people adore them both. For the possibility of winning a reward, consumers all around the world spend billions on lotteries and games. Ingenious marketing strategies and promotional tools may also be employed with scratch-and-win cards to engage customers.
Loyalty scratch cards are a terrific place to start if you want to improve your customers’ overall experience, something that about 72% of businesses consider their priority. Customer enjoyment, excitement, and value are all superbly cultivated through scratch card marketing.
If they can access their rewards information on their smartphone, 97 per cent of millennials say they are more inclined to participate in a loyalty program. A Forrester study discovered that customer loyalty is significantly influenced by emotional connection rather than the convenience of use or efficiency.
How Do Scratch Cards Work?
Online as a digital scratch card or in loyalty reward smartphone applications like the Stamp Me Loyalty App, scratch and win can be played on paper and plastic cards.
Simple is the idea. Each card includes a panel that conceals information; to expose the reward, the user (scratcher) merely rubs or scratches the panel or sequence of panels.
The entire card may need to be scratched off in rare circumstances. Only a portion of the panels should be scratched off to disclose a prize in other circumstances, such as a quiz. The card is invalidated if the scratcher unintentionally scratches the wrong areas. No pressure!
Scratch and win campaigns have been a popular consumer engagement strategy for brands across the world. The following points are the key takeaways from some of the most successful campaigns:
1. Keep the Campaign Simple
Strong calls to action are a feature of successful marketing. Make it apparent to your participants what they may win “on the spot” because today’s shoppers are all about quick satisfaction.
The most effective advertisements have a compelling, entertaining concept.
In this case, Sushi Sushi, a restaurant offering Japanese cuisine, rewards participants by giving them the chance to win prizes including free items, certificates for reduced products, and even a trip for two to Tokyo.
2. Provide Enticing Rewards and Prizes
The best campaigns include a variety of incentives to pique the interest of as many people as possible. More individuals will be interested in your Scratch & Win the further you spread your net. They may range from the possibility of winning small prizes, all the way up to a variety of token awards.
To maximize user engagement, effective promotions will provide each participant with an equal opportunity to win the grand prize.
As a master of rapid rewards, McDonald’s restaurants frequently engage their patrons with “peel and win” promotions and Global Monopoly campaigns.
3. Market Your Program
Your Scratch and Win campaign needs promotion like any other marketing campaign. Inform your customers before and at the time of purchase. This entails generating marketing materials for both off and in-store displays (both printed and digital).
Customers are more likely to participate in “scratch and win” if it is easy for them to get started. It should be simple and quick to start playing your “Scratch & Win” contest. So, be sure to include this on your advertising displays.
4. Make Redemption Quick and Simple
Making the redemption process of the reward benefits quick and easy will improve the trust in the brand and help you achieve higher traffic for your campaign. This advice also applies to winning prizes.
The winner might immediately claim their reward. As an alternative, for greater prize values, provide a simple redemption mechanism for winners.
5. Follow the Rules and Regulations
Some scratch-and-win promotions can need licenses and clearance from the government, depending on state rules. The permits will specify the conditions of the promotion, win percentages, scheduling, and other elements.
6. Continue to Engage Your Customers
To interact with your consumer in new ways, use your “Scratch & Win” offer as a launching pad. Why not design the campaign, if it is a component of your customer loyalty app so that it gathers useful information about the client’s preferences and spending patterns, for instance?
The need that customers to enter the draw for a broader, ongoing competition may be one of the requirements for their participation in the Scratch & Win prizes.
All the strategies have the potential to maintain consumer interest in your business after the “Scratch & Win” campaign has ended.
7. Keep it Safe & Secure
The last thing you want is an excessive number of rewards being claimed since this would quickly reduce your profit margins.
To combat fraud and verify that everyone taking part is doing so voluntarily. Including special codes and verification procedures in your “Scratch & Win” promotion will help make it safe for genuine customers.
‘Scratch and win’ is one of the best strategies to start a hype around your product, service or brand. You can back your campaign with other long-term engagement strategies like rewards points to keep the customers you have acquired already.
Top Engagement trends in 2018
Businesses try to learn from their past in order to bypass the mistakes made, they look to the future for adapting possibilities that would make the customer happier and improve the overall experience of dealing with the brand.
Customer awareness is ever increasing; make-believe things are quickly Googled to check for its legitimacy. Easy access to information has made the customer search for experiences that are out of the ordinary.
As we look to customer engagement trends coming up in 2018, we need to remember that the customer is a brand in and of themselves. For success, we need to ensure our brands are complimentary to theirs.
1. Personalisation is key
The need for personalised brand interactions is on the rise. Customers feel more valued if the brand has personally had an interaction with them. This value will be measured in terms of brand success and loyalty over the next year. Customers already expect to be treated as individuals with specific preferences and that trend will become more evident over the next year. The need for the brand to understand and anticipate customer’s needs is going to be ever-increasing. All this seems like a big task for the brands to deal with, however the answer to this question is BIG DATA.
2. Multichannel is to become Omnichannel
Companies have to respond to the ever changing market demands. The current market is dominated by the Millennials, with the future in the hands of Gen-Z.
Both of these generations have grown up on the basis of the internet. Hence, instant gratification is a necessity.
Having an Omnichannel presence will improve the company’s customer engagement as the audience they cater to more ways of accessibility.
“Did you know? According to Marketing Week, 15 years ago the average consumer typically used two touch-points when buying an item and only 7% regularly used more than four. Today consumers use an average of almost six touch points, with 50% regularly using more than four.”“According to PWC, the demand for an omnichannel customer experience will be amplified by the need for nearly perfect execution by 2020”
3. Pro-active Customer Engagement
Debenhams, a large retailer applies a proactive customer engagement approach:
Delivery of in-depth content to inform customers before they decide to make a purchase.
How? They display a vast variety of information on their website that answers frequent questions — from guides on beauty and size guides, as well as home furniture & more.
This doesn’t just help the brand in its SEO strategy, it also helps to trim the overhead costs of returns and support while helping the customer maximizing delight in terms of experience.
4. Internet of Things (IoT) is going to be an integral part of Customer Engagement
“70% of retail decision makers globally are ready to adopt IoT to improve customer experiences”
5. Machine Learning
Machine learning allows computers and devices to learn from experience without any specific programming. Think of it as a seasoned psychology professional that knows your traits. This is done through buying behaviour and browser history.
One example of machine learning is by Netflix. The popular streaming service dishes out movie/show recommendations based on a few titles that you select while signing up. Surprisingly enough these titles are very much what the audience is looking for! How? Machine Learning’s Predictive Functionality. Based on customer feedback, ratings and browsing habits, the algorithm makes a predictive decision. The customer experience is vastly improved by such pro-active efforts which result in the customer being engaged with the brand.
Machine Learning in 2018 is expected to rise on all accounts. An ever-increasing number of companies are adapting this technology to improve customer experience and make machine learning a friend in need in the virtual world.
To Conclude:
Customer experience is to be vastly improved in 2018. Through personalisation and implementation of various advances in technology, companies are trying to win over the customer. It is to be seen how the customers react to these trends and if brand loyalty will gain a stronghold due to improvements in customer experience.