Intelligent One-to-One Marketing – The Key to Prepaid Program Differentiation
By i2c inc.
Read Time : 05 Min
A few weeks ago, we blogged about the various sources of revenue that can bring a prepaid program to profitability. One of those sources – cardholder fees – is unfortunately still the most relied upon, and we have long argued that reliance on fees is not sustainable. In an effort to get you thinking beyond fees, I wanted to explore the concept of one-to-one marketing (or 1:1 marketing) in the context of prepaid.
At its core, one-to-one marketing is about personalization and knowing your consumers. And I believe it is a strategy that will ultimately separate the successes from the failures in prepaid.
Some Background on One-to-One Marketing
I was fortunate to experience marketing in the early days of CRM software back almost 20 years ago when Vantive, Clarify, and Siebel were the kings of that software market. We evangelized the need to integrate call centers, customer service, and sales to create a seamless customer experience. While some were predicting that online would kill bricks and mortar stores, we marketed to the vision of consistent customer touchpoints and customer value. And it was around this time that marketers started using the term “one-to-one marketing” to describe more targeted and personalized consumer interactions.
It’s been a strategy that has been proven successful but has been difficult for many companies to implement due to lack of focus on the fundamentals. Plus, rapidly evolving mobile & social technology has added even more data points to the mix. The challenge is to be more intelligent in your one-to-one marketing approach by analyzing a number of data points and distilling them down into actionable insights that support your overall consumer marketing strategy.
One-to-One With Your Prepaid Consumer
I always stress to clients that they should definitely avail themselves of the i2c platform‘s analytic capabilities to better understand consumer habits and increase personalization. Yet, the truth is, today it is no longer enough to know a customer’s habits in the use of your card. Prepaid marketers will need to combine and analyze data from various sources in real-time – not 24 or 48 hours later. By combining mobile devices, location triggers, and point of sale data, you will be able to present your customers with better, more relevant (more “intelligent”) value on a one-to-one basis.
While processes are still evolving, we now have significant enabling technologies. On the consumer side, there are mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. There are things like QR codes and location-based services along with new data warehouse technologies (marketing analytics, predictive modeling, business intelligence, etc.) and integrated marketing management solutions. These tools allow prepaid marketers to practice one-to-one marketing to drive revenue in new ways beyond just card fees.
Ultimately, you have a choice when it comes to driving revenue in your programs. You can create a completely unique prepaid customer experience through a one-to-one marketing strategy and build sustained consumer value. Or you can base the success of your business model on fees alone – and enter a red ocean of competition and decreased margins. I know where I’d place my bet!
