Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media. On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show, we explore TikTok’s upcoming ads platform with Rachel Pedersen. We also talk about Twitter’s new desktop redesign with Dan […]
In 2019, smart home systems and devices are more impressive and all-encompassing than ever.
Using a smart system is no longer just about asking Alexa to tell you the weather or play that new Drake song -- now, you can use smart devices to grill chicken at your next family barbecue, turn the lights off in the living room while you’re watching a movie, or vacuum your floors.
Your home devices provide a sense of convenience, particularly when they’re ordering pizza or calling your sister, but in 2018, they can also tackle more serious tasks, like acting as your home security system when you’re out of town. In other words, they aren’t just for fun anymore -- they also fulfill some substantial needs.Before we get into our list, let’s define what we mean by smart devices versus smart systems. A smart system is the overarching command center that controls your individual products -- think, Alexa or Google Assistant. Essentially, a smart system is what you speak to when you want something to happen. A device, on the other hand, is an individual product that reports back to that system -- think, Amazon Echo or Philips Hue lightbulbs.
Now, let’s delve into our list of the 13 best smart home devices and systems of 2019, so you can decide for yourself which systems and products will best enhance your life.
Best Smart Home Systems
When looking to purchase a smart-home system, you want to look into reviews and its integrations.
While the reviews will show you how good or bad the technology is, the integration information will show you how many products you can actually connect your system to.
As you're researching integrations, you should also consider any smart devices you already have that might be compatible or incompatible with the system. Today, most good smart home systems are powered by state-of-the art technology and offer a long list of third-party integration possibilities. For example, Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant connect to smart thermostats like Nest of Ecobee4 -- not just thermostats made by their own companies.
If your devices all connect well together, work well, and are easy to use, your smart home experiences will run much more smoothly.
Here are four major smart home systems that we recommend.
With more than 20,000 third-party integrations, Alexa is undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive smart home ecosystems available today. While you have likely heard of using Alexa in Eco-speaker form (“Alexa, what’s the weather today?”), you might not know that Alexa is now built into plenty of other smart products, including thermostats (i.e. Ecobee4) and TVs (i.e. Fire TV).
Alexa makes every aspect of your smart home easy to access and control. You can use Alexa to speak to apps like Spotify just as easily as you can ask her to turn off the lights. Since Amazon’s ecosystem is one of the most prevalent in the industry, most smart products integrate seamlessly with Alexa, including products made by Philips, Samsung, Nest, and Schlage -- meaning, Alexa can now close your garage, lock your doors, and adjust your home’s temperature. To know if Alexa will work with a certain device, just look for the ‘Works with Amazon Alexa’ tag.
Ultimately, Alexa’s ability to integrate and speak to most other smart devices and apps (Alexa has the most third-party integrations of any smart system) makes her one of the best choices for your smart home.
If there’s any true runner-up to Alexa, it’s Google Assistant. Even though Google Assistant has less third-party integrations, it can often answer questions and complete commands Alexa can’t, thanks to Google’s major ownership of the search engine space. Research from Dentsu digital agency 360i found Google Assistant was five times more likely to give a correct answer than Alexa. Ultimately, Assistant wins when it comes to understanding how people naturally speak.
For instance, if you tell Assistance “I don’t like this song” on Spotify, it will skip to the next one, while Alexa will simply tell you, “Thumbs up and down are not supported on Spotify.” Small differences like this could sway you towards Assistance, since it’s often more helpful (and less literal) than Alexa.
Assistant can also integrate with products from most major brands, including Philips, Belkin, August, Nest, and popular apps such as Spotify and Uber.
Wink Hub 2 is touted as the “first smart home hub designed for the mainstream consumer.” Unlike Alexa or Assistant, Wink doesn’t have any brand loyalty, allowing you to pick and choose different smart product brands and merge them seamlessly with one another.
Wink Hub 2 supports smart home protocols including Bluetooth LE, Kidde, Lutron ClearConnect, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and more. If you’re looking to create a fully integrated smart home with kitchen and wall appliances in-sync, this might be your best option. You can also download the Wink Hub app and control commands, like light switches or garage door, from your phone on-the-go.
This Samsung system unites a wide variety of smart devices from different brands including smart thermostats, Wi-Fi router, lightbulbs, and security devices. Users with the smart system get a SmartThings Hub wall mount and can get full access to the smart devices connected to the hub through the SmartThings IOS or Android app.
Samsung's SmartThings Hub has been growing its own smart-device offerings for the past few years. In fact, the Hub's product lineup recently grew with the addition of the SmartThing Wi-Fi plug, SmartThings Lightbulb, and a SmartThings Cam.
Through the SmartThings Hub, you can also set compatible smart devices to do various actions like turning on or off when you walk in or out of a room. While you can give voice commands to the SmartThings wall hub or app, you can also integrate and Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to the system.
If you’re looking for a relatively affordable device to cater to your everyday needs, you probably don’t need to look further than Amazon Echo. The speaker connects to Alexa to play your favorite music, make phone calls or send messages, answer questions, and set alarms for you, i.e. “It’s 6 p.m., time to head to your tennis lesson”. It also connects to other smart products in your home, so you can use it as your liaison between you and your sprinklers.
The speaker fills your room with 360° audio, and uses noise cancellation technology to ensure you can be heard from any direction. With the Echo, you can turn the TV on, order a pizza, and create a shopping to-do list -- without ever leaving your couch.
The Philips Hue bulbs enable you to control both intensity of light -- dimming or brightening on-command -- and the color of your lights. You can create special color-coordinated moods (i.e. choose the “energize” theme on your app for a specific room you’re in, or sync it with your music). You can also set color-coordinated alarms, ensuring you wake up every morning to a bright pink bedroom.
These bulbs work with most smart home systems, making them arguably the most flexible option. If you don’t want color, you can also purchase Philips Hue White.
Philips Hue bulbs and similar smart lights are fantastic and effortless -- until someone flips a light switch, in which case, your bulbs won’t work until you flip it back.
For true ease-of-use, consider buying smart light switches, which you can control from your phone or smart home whether or not your physical light switch is up or down. Using the app Kasa, you can create scenes and smart actions -- for instance, you might tell the app you’re “watching TV downstairs,” and the switches will automatically turn off all upstairs lights.
TP-Link HS200 works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, but you might need to consider other options if you primarily use Apple HomeKit, Wink, or another smart system.
The Ecobee4 allows you to control air temperature with voice commands, but unlike other smart thermostats, it also works as its own Amazon speaker (rather than simply working with an Amazon speaker), so it can do everything your Alexa or Assistant can do, including play music, shop, and control other devices. Of course, if you already own a smart speaker, you might want to consider a cheaper thermostat option.
Ecobee4 integrates seamlessly with apps and other home ecosystems like Alexa or Apple HomeKit. Plus, it’s able to control the room you’re in, rather than the room it’s installed.
While some of these smart devices are more for convenience and entertainment, the NetGear Arlo Q is a truly useful tool for home security. The NetGear Arlo Q records high-quality video and audio, and even produces exceptional quality images of people in pitch-blackness.
You can customize whether your camera automatically records when you’re not home, or set it to a time-based schedule for when you’re at work. While it’s on the pricier side, it offers seven days of video and audio backup for free, making it a worthwhile investment compared to some of the other smart security systems.
Anyone who grills regularly knows the inconvenience of it -- walking in and out of the house to check the meat, hoping the temperature is hot enough but won’t burn your steak, and adding coals or lighter fluid when necessary. This tool handles all that, alerting you on your smart device when your grill is preheated, what the internal meat temperature is, and when your meat or fish is fully cooked. The 725 square-inch cooking space and four internal chrome racks allow you to grill for both large and small occasions.
If you struggle to figure out what you can make with the half a cup of flour, three eggs, and handful of blueberries you have in your fridge, you might be in luck -- this smart device allows you to input what food you have, and then generates recipes you can use with those items.
You can autoscale the recipe for the amount of people or even amount of ingredients you have (i.e. “only have ¼ cup of chocolate chips”), or generate a shopping list from recipes you want to make. Best of all, you can use the bowl to measure your ingredients as you pour them in -- the smart bowl tells you when you can stop pouring.
I’m personally willing to pay triple this price for any device that can vacuum my floor for me, but at $229, the Ecovacs Deebot N79S is a pretty impressive deal. It integrates with smart home systems and other apps, offers a manual steering option, and cleans surfaces surprisingly well. It also has a long battery life.
LG was the company to offer Alexa and Google Assistant connectivity in its smart TVs.
With a smart TV, you can connect your streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, your cable box, and other video devices all in one place. Many smart TVs, like LG's products, also offer voice control capabilities that allow you to ask the TV to search for a movie or show.
If you're just starting to develop your smart home and only want a basic smart TV with integrations to major streaming services, you can purchase an LG TV with 4K, Google Assistant, and Alexa capabilities for between $499 and $900.
One of the most affordable models we found was the LG Class 4K Smart UHD TV with AI ThinQ®. This model runs between $499.99 and $699.99 depending on screen size. For those who don't have Alexa or Google Assistant, the TV comes with LG's voice control software called AI ThinQ.
Everyone has loyalties to their favorite brands, but there's a good chance your favorite products are the result of two separate brands working together.
One of my own beloved childhood memories was a product of co-branding: Betty Crocker partnered with Hershey's to include chocolate syrup in its signature brownie recipe.
There's something brilliant about that co-branded product: It's a fun way to marry two classic brands into one delicious experience for fans of baking and chocolate alike. In fact, these brands still create new co-branded products to this day.
Co-branding is a strategic marketing and advertising partnership between two brands wherein the success of one brand brings success to its partner brand, too. Co-branding can be an effective way to build business, boost awareness, and break into new markets, and for a partnership to truly work, it has to be a win-win for all players in the game. Both audiences need to find value -- like chocolate-loving fans of Betty Crocker and Hershey's.
There are a ton of great examples of co-branding partnerships out there. To show you what makes them so successful, we've curated a list of 13 examples of great co-branding partnerships to inspire you.
Co-Branding Partnership Business Examples
GoPro & Red Bull
Pottery Barn & Sherwin-Williams
Casper & West Elm
Taco Bell & Doritos
Kanye and Adidas
BMW & Louis Vuitton
Starbucks & Spotify
Apple & MasterCard
Airbnb & Flipboard
Uber & Spotify
Levi's & Pinterest
BuzzFeed & Best Friends Animal Society
Alexander Wang & H&M
CoverGirl & Lucasfilm
Amazon & American Express
UNICEF & Target
Nike & Apple
Bonne Belle & Dr. Pepper
1. GoPro & Red Bull
Co-branding Campaign: Stratos
GoPro doesn't just sell portable cameras, and Red Bull doesn't just sell energy drinks. Instead, both have established themselves as lifestyle brands -- in particular, a lifestyle that's action-packed, adventurous, fearless, and usually pretty extreme. These shared values make them a perfect pairing for co-branding campaigns, especially those surrounding action sports.
To make the partnership work, GoPro equips athletes and adventurers from around the world with the tools and funding to capture things like races, stunts, and action sport events on video -- from the athlete's perspective. At the same time, Red Bull uses its experience and reputation to run and sponsor these events.
"GoPro camera technology is allowing us to complement the programming by delivering new athlete perspectives that have never been seen before," said Sean Eggert, Red Bull's director of sports marketing. The collaboration allows exclusive GoPro content to enhance both companies' growth.
While GoPro and Red Bull have collaborated on many events and projects together, perhaps the biggest collaboration stunt they've done was "Stratos," in which Felix Baumgartner jumped from a space pod more than 24 miles above Earth's surface with a GoPro strapped to his person. Not only did Baumgartner set three world records that day, but he also embodied the value of reimagining human potential that define both GoPro and Red Bull.
2. Pottery Barn & Sherwin-Williams
Co-branding Campaign: Color Your Room
One of the biggest benefits of co-branding campaigns is the opportunity to expose your product or service to a brand new audience. That's exactly what home furnishing store Pottery Barn and paint company Sherwin-Williams did when they partnered together back in 2013.
Together, the two brands created an exclusive product line of paints, and then added a new section of Pottery Barn's website that helped customers easily select paint colors to complement their furniture choices.
Customers could coordinate paint colors with picture-perfect Pottery Barn furniture for a mutually beneficial partnership -- and style assistance for both brands' customers to boot. "Paint Landing," Pottery Barn's landing page for the partnership, contains helpful blog posts and how-to ideas for do-it-yourself painting and decorating.
3. Casper & West Elm
Co-branding Campaign: Test a Casper Mattress
You may have already heard of Casper -- it's an online mattress and bedding brand that sells mattresses in a box.
Casper mattress unboxing videos like this one have become a hit on YouTube, but despite the brand's 100-day return policy, some shoppers might still be hesitant to buy a mattress without getting the chance to roll around in it first.
Enter West Elm, a high-end furniture company. Casper and West Elm partnered so shoppers could try out the comfy mattress before purchasing -- and so West Elm could advertise its chic bedroom furniture.
This is another example of a mutually beneficial co-branding partnership. It helps both brands appeal to a broader group of shoppers -- after all, Casper doesn't sell furniture, and West Elm doesn't sell mattresses. It also provides shoppers with options -- to try a mattress before buying, or to feel what it would be like sleeping in a bed frame.
4. Taco Bell & Doritos
Co-branding Campaign: Doritos Locos Tacos
When the Doritos Locos Taco was first introduced, it quickly became one of the most popular and widely recognized items in the fast food industry. Frito-Lay took Taco Bell's crunchy taco recipe and gave the Locos Taco its special, signature twist: a Doritos shell. The two companies wanted to keep the shell as close to the original cheesy chips as possible, using the original corn masa recipe and coating it in that distinctive nacho cheese dust.
Taco Bell and Frito Lay advertised the Doritos Locos Taco by wrapping the taco in a classic Doritos bag, reflecting the co-branding partnership and appealing to both brands' audiences. The Doritos Locos Taco's extraordinary success is yet another example of why co-branding can boost reach and sales for both brands.
Kanye West, best known for his Grammy-winning rap albums, partnered with Adidas to develop a high-end footwear line called Yeezy. The combination of Kanye's personal brand and Adidas' growing streetwear segment has made for robust company earnings and brand growth since it was introduced.
Kanye's celebrity appeal benefits Adidas by creating buzz around its apparel, and the athletic-wear brand gives Kanye a well-established platform to build his high-end clothing line. One of the strongest draws of Yeezy -- and most notably its shoes -- is its exclusivity: Kanye's celebrity status, extremely scarce roll-outs, and the high price tag make the lucky few to own Yeezy sneakers feel a little famous by association.
Adidas' co-branding relationship with Kanye and the resulting cult-like Yeezy following led to a stellar year for the company: in 2019, Adidas' net income climbed 19.5% to $1.9 billion.
Car manufacturer BMW and designer Louis Vuitton may not be the most obvious of pairings. But if you think about it, they have a few important things in common. If you focus on Louis Vuitton's signature luggage lines, they're both in the business of travel. They both value luxury. And finally, they're both well-known, traditional brands that are known for high-quality craftsmanship.
These shared values are exactly why this co-branding campaign makes so much sense. In their partnership, BMW created a sports car model called the BMW i8, while Louis Vuitton designed an exclusive, four-piece set of suitcases and bags that fit perfectly into the car's rear parcel shelf.
Although the four-piece luggage set goes for a whopping $20,000, the price is right for the target customer, as the BMW i8 starts at $135,700. A price like that kind of makes that luggage set seem like a drop in the bucket.
Not only does the luggage fit perfectly size-wise, but its design and appearance fit perfectly with BMW's image: sleek, masculine, and high-quality. Turns out both the luggage and some parts of the car's interior use carbon fiber, strong-yet-light composite material.
"This collaboration with BMW i epitomises our shared values of creativity, technological innovation and style," said Patrick-Louis Vuitton, head of special orders at Louis Vuitton. "Our craftsmen have enjoyed the challenge of this very special project, using their ingenuity and attention to detail to create a truly made to measure set of luxury luggage. This is a pure expression of the art of travel."
7. Starbucks & Spotify
Co-branding Campaign: First-of-Its-Kind Music Ecosystem
Starbucks scaled up a premium coffee shop experience into a massive global brand, using music to create an ambience around its coffee. Spotify, a music streaming platform, has powered almost 25 billion hours of listening around the world. Starbucks and Spotify forged an innovative co-branding partnership to build a "music ecosystem", offering artists greater access to Starbucks consumers and giving Starbuck access to Spotify's expansive discography.
Through the initiative, Starbucks employees get a Spotify premium subscription, with which they can curate playlists (that patrons can access through the Starbucks Mobile App) to play throughout the day in the shop. This music ecosystem is designed to expand the coffeehouse environment that Starbucks is known for while giving artists greater exposure to Starbucks customers.
The "musical-ecosystem" partnership is mutually beneficial, an opportunity for the companies to reach the other's audience without sacrificing their brand.
Sometimes, co-branding partnerships aren't just cool projects between two companies -- they actually have practical value when the companies work together.
When Apple released the Apple Pay app, the brand effectively changed how people perform transactions. This app allows people to store their credit or debit card data on their phone, so they can use them without physically having the card with them. But in order for this app to succeed, it needs credit card companies to integrate with this technology. By the same token, credit card companies also face more competition themselves if they aren't compatible with the latest consumer purchasing tool.
To get out ahead of its competition, MasterCard became the first credit card company to allow its users to store their credit and debit cards on Apple Pay. MasterCard not only showed support of a major consumer tech developer in this partnership -- it evolved along with its own customers in how they choose to make purchases at the counter.
You've probably heard of Airbnb, the room-sharing application that allows you to find convenient lodging hosted by real people. But its newest partner, Flipboard, might not have been on your radar until now.
Flipboard is a news aggregator that collects news and topical content that users are sharing on social media, and allows you to "flip" through the material much like a social media feed. Well, Airbnb recently teamed up with Flipboard to create Experiences, which serve Airbnb users with lifestyle content tailored to their interests and shared by people with similar interests as the reader.
The ongoing campaign recently led to another co-created product called Trips, which allows Airbnb users to connect with hosts on common interests and actually book these experiences when traveling. This partnership is an impressive example of how businesses can connect their customers with information that caters to their individual interests and drive usage of the product as a result.
Music-streaming app Spotify partnered with ride-hailing app Uber to create "a soundtrack for your ride." This is a great example of a co-branding partnership between two very different products with very similar goals -- to earn more users.
Here's how it works: When riders are waiting for an Uber ride, they're prompted to connect with Spotify and become the DJ of their trip. Users can choose from their own playlists to determine what they'll listen to.
This smart co-branding partnership helps fans of Uber and Spotify alike enjoy better experiences thanks to the app. And they might be more interested in picking Uber and Spotify over competitors knowing they can enjoy their next ride listening to their favorite tunes.
11. Levi's & Pinterest
Co-branding Campaign: Styled by Levi’s
Levi Strauss & Co. -- one of the oldest and most recognized jean brands in the world -- recently joined forces with Pinterest, a social platform where users pin posts they like to their user profiles. People often turn to Pinterest for fashion inspiration, making a co-branding partnership with Levi's a natural partnership. Styled by Levi's is a new initiative between Pinterest and Levi's offers a "personalized styling experience," or style insights tailored to each user's tastes and preferences.
The partnership offers an authentic and individualized brand relationship, which is difficult to come by in an increasingly digital environment. Pinterest offers Levi's a leading social platform with millions of users interested in visual offerings, and Levi's meets these needs with digital personalization and visual-focused boards.
Some co-branding campaigns are more complicated than others. This example from BuzzFeed and Best Friends Animal Society is one of the simplest ones out there -- and it goes to show a great co-branding effort doesn't have to take months of planning or millions of dollars.
For this campaign, the folks at Best Friends Animal Society wanted to leverage BuzzFeed's readership of over 200 million people. To do this, they partnered with the folks at BuzzFeed to set up and publish an article called, "We Interviewed Emma Watson While She Played With Kittens And It Was Absolutely Adorable," which you can read here. The article is exactly what it sounds like: Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast star Emma Watson answered fans' questions while she played with cute kittens.
The article ends with a CTA advertising that the kittens featured in the video are, in fact, adoptable -- a win-win for both partners.
13. Alexander Wang & H&M
Co-branding Campaign: High-End Fashion
Anyone who's designer-conscious knows Alexander Wang and H&M aren't exactly the same caliber when it comes to quality. Shoes by Alexander Wang tend to go for around $350 a pair, whereas shoes sold by H&M tend to go for more like $35 a pair. See what I mean?
But that discrepancy in pricing is exactly why the two brands decided to partner with one another. To support their brand positioning as trendy and fashionable, H&M has traditionally paired with high-end fashion brands to offer exclusive branded items for a limited time.
In exchange, those high-end brands -- like Alexander Wang -- can expose their brand name to "a new generation of potential consumers, who will increasingly aspire to owning more pieces from his high end collection," writes Michelle Greenwald for Forbes.
Co-branding Campaign: Light Side and Dark Side Makeup
Whenever a new installment of the beloved "Star Wars" series is released in theaters, it causes global pandemonium, and the release of "Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens" in 2015 was no exception. The series' parent company, Lucasfilm, partnered with CoverGirl to capture a broader audience to get fans new and old excited about the movie's release.
You might be wondering, "What do "Star Wars" and makeup have in common?" And the cleverness of this partnership is evident in the answer.
In the past, the space-age action movies were almost exclusively advertised and targeted toward men and boys. But in this day and age, that's nonsense -- because people of all genders can be interested in space exploration and makeup contouring alike.
The line was designed by famed makeup artistPat McGrath, and it features two styles: the Light Side and the Dark Side, which loyal "Star Wars" fans will recognize as the sides of good and evil in the movies.
This co-branding partnership was a win for both brand. Lucasfilm captured more attention and got CoverGirl shoppers (many of whom are young women) excited about the film's release. And CoverGirl hopped on the "Star Wars" advertising bandwagon that took over the internet, stores, and TV leading up to the film's release.
15. Amazon & American Express
Co-branding Campaign: Amazon Business American Express Card
The card will help users buy goods and services, but also provide enhanced data insights on their purchasing activity. American Express and Amazon share a commitment to help small businesses grow in the U.S., and by combining their efforts, the two companies can enhance their performance while building brand trust.
If you have the chance to partner for a not-for-profit cause, it can pay off in multiple ways.
In 2015, Target partnered with UNICEF on a campaign called Kid Power, which committed Target to one of UNICEF's sustainable development goals (SDGs). The retailer sold kid-friendly fitness trackers encouraging the wearer to complete various fitness activities, which ultimately helped deliver food packets to underprivileged children around the world.
By selling this fun, inexpensive fitness product, Target encourages children to embrace a healthy lifestyle and uses kids' successes to supply underserved communities with the resources they need. It's an ongoing partnership that generates awareness of global malnutrition, helps UNICEF meet its demanding SDGs, and opens up Target to a demographic of giving families they might otherwise have had access to.
By the way, you can get your child a Kid Power band here.
17. Nike & Apple
Co-branding Campaign: Nike+
Athletic brand Nike and technology giant Apple have been working together since the early 2000s, when the first line of iPods was released.
The co-branding partnership started as a way to bring music from Apple to Nike customers' workouts using the power of technology: Nike+iPod created fitness trackers and sneakers and clothing that tracked activity while connecting people to their tunes.
The partnership has since evolved to become Nike+ -- which uses activity tracking technology built into athletic clothing and gear to sync with Apple iPhone apps to track and record workout data. Tracking transmitters can be built into shoes, armbands, and even basketballs to measure time, distance, heart rate, and calories burned.
It's a genius co-branding move that helps both parties provide a better experience to customers -- and with the popularity of fitness tracking technology, Nike+ is ahead of the curve by making it easy for athletes to track while they play.
18. Bonne Belle & Dr. Pepper
Co-branding Campaign: Flavored Lip Balm
Dr. Pepper-flavored lip balm. I mean, it's genius.
Bonne Belle first debuted Lip Smacker, the world’s first flavored lip balm, in 1973, starting with flavors like strawberry, lemon, and green apple. Just two years laterin 1975, they'd forged their first flavor partnership with the timeless Dr. Pepper brand. The result? A lip balm flavor that's been famous for decades among teenage girls.
If you're thinking the connection between lip balm and Dr. Pepper is a little thin, consider the copy on one of their vintage ads: "It’s the super shiny lip gloss with lip-smacking flavor… just like the world’s most original soft drink." And later, "From Bonne Belle of course: the cosmetics company that understands your taste."
As your business grows and evolves, you'll inevitably find yourself adding more applications to your growth stack. If those applications run on different platforms and can't communicate effectively, you're going to run into issues with data loss, duplication of efforts, and bottlenecks that slow your team down.
iPaaS -- which stands for Integration Platform as a Service -- helps you connect the tools and systems that power your business in one place, so information can be shared without high-maintenance, one-off integrations or manual data entry.
We wrote a deep dive on iPaaS here if you'd like to learn more about the basics, view a complete glossary of iPaaS terms, and better understand what iPaaS can potentially offer your business.
If you've decided you want to invest in iPaaS but aren't sure where to start, you're in the right place. In this article, we'll go over some of the best iPaaS vendors, so you can discover one that fits your company's unique needs and budget. Let's dive in.
Acquired by Dell in 2010, Boomi offers a cloud-based integration and API management solution with all the bells and whistles you could ask for: workflows, API design, application deployment, B2B/EDI management, and much more. Within Boomi, you can design end-to-end workflows and process data across multiple applications. Suitable for enterprise and small businesses from many different industries, Boomi has been considered a leader in the iPaaS space for the last six years by Gartner.
If you're looking for a straightforward iPaaS solutions with industry best practices and premade integration flows baked into the product, Oracle Integration Cloud might be an option to take a deeper look at. Oracle serves up an extensive library of out-of-the-box adapters to different SaaS and on-premises applications, making the initial set-up less time consuming for your team.
Price: Choose from several different pricing structures, including a pay-as-you-go plan starting at $1.2097/message, and a monthly flex plan starting at $0.8065/message.
This iPaaS solution was designed to enable better connection between business users and IT, allowing both groups to plan, create, and easily maintain integrations between different systems. Workato provides pre-built integration flows between 75 of the most popular SaaS products, and the ability to design custom integrations in a simple, drag-and-drop interface.
Price:Choose from a Business Plan ($1499/month) Business Plus Plan ($2999/month) and Enterprise Plan (Custom pricing based on your specific needs)
TIBCO Cloud prides itself on providing an easy-to-use iPaaS solution that simplifies the creation and management of integration flows in your business. They consider themselves to be an "application neutral" technology partner for their clients -- meaning, they won't try to push you towards using a particular application or ecosystem, they'll work with you to build a solution that connects your on-premises and cloud-based applications your business already prefers to use.
Price: Starting at $400/month for a Basic Plan, $1500/month for a Standard Plan, and custom pricing for Hybrid plans based on your unique needs.
Elastic.io promises to remove the laborious product management component of custom integrations and reduce the amount of time spent on integrations at your company by up to 80%. This iPaaS vendor also takes an as-a-service mentality to how they work with customers, helping you support feature roll-outs and upgrades, bug fixes, and connector updates.
This iPaaS vendor specializes in integrations for the Human Resources industry, offering a comprehensive library of pre-built connectors aimed at helping your HR department align their applications and tools in one seamless, secure hub. Modulus Data has out-of-the-box connectors with most popular HR applications and softwares, including Workday, Greenhouse, Monster, and Oracle HCM.
Informatica has been around since 1993, and still continues to be an industry leader in helping businesses manage their data effectively and securely. Specializing in enterprise level iPaaS solutions, Informatica lists big companies like GE, Unilever, and L'Oreal among their clients. If you're a large company looking for hands-on support on your custom iPaaS journey, Informatica might be a good fit for your needs.
Price: Prices for an integration base begin at $2,000/month
IBM's iPaaS solution markets itself as an easy way to connect apps, build APIs, integrate data, and act on events. AppConnect comes equipped with a series of templates made up of common patterns you can use to quickly set-up integration flows for your business, and start getting value immediately. SMBs looking to get started with iPaaS and explore the possibilities of new applications might benefit from using AppConnect.
Price: AppConnect offers a free lite package. Professional packages start at $500/month, and customizable Enterprise packages begin at $2,370/month.
For companies seeking at enterprise-level iPaaS solution that can handle a lot of data quickly, SnapLogic offers up a way to automate integrations across on-premises and cloud-based applications on a large scale. But don't let the hefty capabilities of SnapLogic mislead you into thinking the product itself is for the extremely tech-savvy only -- this iPaaS solution is designed with user accessibility in mind, so even teams with less technology experience can build, manage, and scale custom integrations and workflows.
One of the more user and wallet-friendly options in the iPaaS space, Zapier gives businesses of any size the ability to design and manage custom integration solutions that fit their exact needs. Zapier adds new integrations (called "zaps") to their massive integrations library each week, so chances are, there's already an out-of-the-box solution available for you to start using today.
Price: Zapier offers a free basic package. Starter packages start at $20/month, and Professional packages begin at $50/month.
According to G2 ratings, Jitterbit is one of the more user-friendly and cost-effective iPaaS options out there. This iPaaS vendor offers support for a wide breadth of connectors, advanced workflow capabilities, real-time integrations, and a range of data security features. Additionally, Jitterbit has an easy-to-use visual designer to help make the setup and monitoring processes run smoothly -- even for teams without a dedicated developer on staff.
Price: Pricing varies based on your needs, so you'll need to contact Jitterbit to get a quote.
Built with developers in mind, Amazon's iPaaS solution enables teams to create and manage APIs that act as a "front door" for applications to access data and share information. Amazon API Gateway is unique because you only pay for the API calls you use, rather than most other iPaaS vendors which rely on monthly or annual pricing models. This iPaaS vendor is one to consider if you have a developer on staff and want more direct control over the API calls your company uses.
Pricing: No upfront costs. Pricing is determined by the quantity and type of API calls used.
If you aren't sure how an iPaaS solution will work for your company and are wary of hefty fees, Celigo offers a free version of their iPaaS product. Their Integration Marketplace is stocked with plenty of prebuilt, supported integrations with common applications, and their "flow" subscription model means you can start off with the free version and only start paying if you increase your usage and add new integrations into the mix.
Pricing: The basic package is free, and they offer additional packages starting at $600/month.
This iPaaS vendor was designed with the intention to better connect the tools and workflows used by your marketing, sales, product, and services teams. They offer out-of-the-box integration solutions developed with these specific teams in mind, and aim to empower your teams to manage and create the integrations they need without the need for developer assistance every step of the way.
Price: Standard packages start at $595/month, Professional starts at $2,450/month, and Enterprise packages are available with custom pricing based on your needs.
If you're seeking a straightforward way to visualize your workflows, integrations, and data flows, Xplenty might be a good option to consider. Their simplified dashboard enables you to manage how your tools and data are working together in one central place, and your developers will love that they can connect Xplenty with their existing monitoring systems using service hooks.
Used by tech giants like Netflix and Airbnb, Mulesoft offers a wide range of customized iPaaS solutions for different industries and tech setups. Their selection of out-of-the-box connectivity options means your team will spend less time initially building out new integrations, since prebuilt integrations are easier to get up and running fast.
PieSync wants to make it easier for your team to provide excellent service for your customers, and that starts with ensuring customer data doesn't get lost in the spaces between your team's tools and databases. This iPaaS vendor advertises a "no coding" approach that's ideal for teams who want to get started with iPaaS but might not have the tech resources on staff. They offer prebuilt integrations between many popular applications, like HubSpot, MailChimp, and Office 365. PieSync is also one of the more affordable options on the list -- so it could be a good choice for startups and teams on the smaller side.
Price: Starter is $9/month, Pro is $19/month, and Enterprise is $99/month.
Developed by Moskitos, The Crosscut® is an iPaaS solution for hybrid information systems -- it can connect both cloud-to-cloud applications and cloud-to-on-premise applications, which makes it a great pick if your team isn't looking to go full cloud just yet. You can develop and launch integrations in a central Control Center, and set up role-based monitoring using their Corporate Portal.
Last but certainly not least, we have Blendo, a self-service iPaaS solution that can connect applications from your sales, marketing, and financial teams and flow directly into a number of popular data warehousing options. Blendo was designed to make reporting across multiple applications more straightforward, so they ensure you can access your data in your preferred reporting platform.
Wondering how to use Facebook ads to find new customers? Do you want to know whom to target with cold ads on Facebook? To explore targeting cold audiences with Facebook ads, I interview Amanda Bond. Amanda is a Facebook ads expert and founder of The Ad Strategist. Her course is called The StrADegy System. Amanda […]
Have you ever heard a cool product idea from a friend, a coworker, an aunt, and thought -- Why isn't that on the market already?
Undoubtedly, we've all had those experiences. And yet, by and large, it's typically major corporations like Amazon, or retail giants like Target, that get their products more quickly and easily in front of consumers -- even when their ideas aren't necessarily best.
Fortunately, there is an opportunity for your neighbor's friend's product to get in front of the masses -- and its called The Grommet, an online discovery platform and marketplace. Started by Jules Pieri and Joanne Domeniconi, The Grommet's purpose is to help entrepreneurs and small businesses get their innovative, exciting ideas in front of millions of people.
For the past ten years, The Grommet has evaluated 300 submissions a week, and chosen the top three percent -- including incredibly successful products like FitBit, OtterBox, and SodaStream.
However, The Grommet isn't the only thing remarkable about Jules Pieri -- she's also been named one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, and in April, she published a #1 Best Seller at Amazon for Business Entrepreneurship called How We Make Stuff Now: Turn Ideas into Products That Build Successful Businesses, which shows entrepreneurs how to successfully create and launch new products.
If you're a small company or an entrepreneur looking to launch an interesting product and successfully compete in the marketplace, you're in luck -- here, we sat down with Jules Pieri to talk about challenges she's seen product inventors face, which distribution channels are most successful for entrepreneurs, and why you shouldn't sell on Amazon.
1. Someone comes to you with a brand new product idea. What’s the very first thing you'd tell them to do?
I would tell them to read the chapters 3 to 5 of my book, which explains where the best ideas come from, and how to assess the potential market size of an opportunity. That, above all, is the critical first step in deciding whether to throw over your life or career to pursue a startup. I do have a bias for large opportunities.
Unless you are just looking for a side hustle, I believe you should go big or go home.
My advice is borne not of some generic startup hoo-ha, but rather the observation (formed by launching 3,000 products for emerging companies) that it is just as much work to build a small business as a large one.
I also know that having a large target market gives you more chances to build a full product line, which is essential to success at retail. Retailers can't get behind single product companies -- the on-boarding (legal, operational, financial) is not worth the trouble when they imagine a product sitting alone on a shelf without enough physical presence or market awareness to justify the effort. That's the harsh reality of retail.
The good news is that market opportunities are often quite quantifiable. Public data sources are your friend. Good places to start are:
Google Trends. See how many people are searching for a solution to a specific problem
Amazon. You can see what existing product solutions are on the market, how they are performing, and what are the market gaps. In addition, there is a whole eco-system built around quantifying sales performance on Amazon. The nefarious players use it to figure out what products to copy or counterfeit. Start with Jungle Scout.
Your local Small Business Administration Office. There are rich sources of public data around many populations and markets. Their excellent network of counselors can help you mine that gold—which your tax dollars fund.
Industry data. You will likely have to pay for this information.
Trade shows. Attending one is the most efficient way to figure out all the players in an industry, as well as scope the wholesale buyers, existing products, and potential partners, trade associations, and vendors.
2. What would you say is one of the biggest initial challenges for makers/entrepreneurs as they try to enter the market with a new product? How would you recommend overcoming these challenges?
By far and away the toughest challenge is getting the word out about a product. Digital and traditional marketing are expensive and sophisticated endeavors. At first, it can seem easy because 25% of our Makers run a successful crowdfunding campaign.
But, when the attention and excitement of that intense effort end, it's usually crickets. Which is terrifying -- that's when the real work begins. That's why I started The Grommet and we assembled such a massive community. Someone has to help these companies build an actual business beyond the crowdfunding "science project" phase.
Our community of three million curious and supportive people can make a market for an emerging, innovative product. I think of us as "Kickstarter without the risk", for people who want to support small business and gain early access to unique products.
The second hardest thing is protecting your intellectual property. That got so much harder since 2015, which is when Amazon removed the requirement for having a domestic representative manage marketplace listings. Now, 25% of what is sold in the US and the EU comes straight from a Chinese factory. The vast majority of these products are cheap copycats and counterfeits.
The genie is fully out of the bottle and can't be stopped. Even Amazon executives can't tell the difference between these fakers and the original product listing. So a shocking portion of Amazon's customers are duped when they buy a shoddy product, thinking they got the original.
The best way for a Maker to avoid this is to control your distribution and make sure you don't sell or let anyone else sell your product on Amazon.
This keeps your data and sales trajectory out of sight of the nefarious players. If you have deep pockets and decide you can fund the continual legal battles and whack-a-mole game of fighting fakers on Amazon, only sell your product through a middle-man agent who represents other sellers. Never sell directly to Amazon or build your own storefront.
I list a couple agents in my book, but talk to their customers to make sure you understand what they can and can't do for you. Amazon won't be responsive to a startup or small business, but they will answer the phone for these sales channel aggregators who know how to navigate the Byzantine world of Amazon.
The best way for a customer to avoid getting ripped off is to buy from a legitimate retailer, a local store, or from the Maker's own site.
3. Which distribution channel(s) do you think are typically most effective for makers/entrepreneurs?
I would pursue two channels:
Your own website. This is table-stakes for a small business. At the very least, the site needs to be full of information about your product. HubSpot has invaluable guidance on how to create rich content and win at the SEO game. Whether your site takes orders directly is optional, but be sure to include prominent links to your best retail partners if you don't sell the product directly (and even if you do). To maximize your chances of retail distribution, always keep your price the same or slightly higher than the sites and stores that sell your product.
Specialty retail. Small shops are really the best at taking chances on new products. This is their lifeblood. They have well-trained staff and they will take the time to learn about your product. Don't be impatient to get to the big guys. Specialty retail is where you will actually get the sales data and market proof to convince the large national chains to pick you up. You can go directly after these sales, or hire a rep organization.
4. What quality do you think makes an entrepreneur most likely to succeed?
I recently produced a March Madness of Entrepreneurship video, built on my own bracket of 32 entrepreneurial qualities. In the end, tenacity won over every other trait. You need to be good at so many things -- including salesmanship, resourcefulness, and having a vision.
But being tenacious is the essential quality that gives you the juice to actually act on everything else.
5. What sets The Grommet apart from sites like Etsy or Uncommon Goods? Do you really try every product?
We really do test every product. We look at 300 products a week and launch six. We test 20-30 a week.
What we share with Etsy is our direct connection to the Makers of products. I adore that about Etsy, and I'm a customer there myself. Where we are different is we launch manufactured products from innovative small businesses. Etsy is all about craft.
Plus, since Etsy has two million suppliers (versus our 3,000) they are more of a free-for-all marketplace. This means a certain level of "buyer beware" awareness is needed, and the product quality is hugely variable from seller to seller. Etsy is not standing behind any individual products -- that is not their brand promise. (But they will back you up if you are disappointed, so it is a trustworthy site when it comes to refunds and exchanges.)
6. What qualities do you typically look for when deciding whether a product will be successful on your platform? What impresses you the most in regards to a pitch?
We focus first and foremost on the product itself. We have seen everything in each of our existing categories -- ranging from outdoor gear to pet products, toys, and kitchen gadgets. So we are looking for true distinction and innovation in considering whether a product could be a Grommet.
Secondly, we are looking to introduce our avid supporters to new discoveries, so we are looking for relatively undiscovered products.
In terms of pitches, the more a Maker's company and product values align with those of our community, the deeper a look we will take. These values could encompass a product that supports a sustainable lifestyle, a product made in the USA, a company founded by a vet or a POC, or an innovative social enterprise business model.
7. In your book you mention numerous case studies of successful startups … can you tell us one in particular that surprised you by beating odds stacked against them?
We launched Back to the Roots, a home mushroom growing kit created by two fresh graduates out of Berkeley. They had no business succeeding with this idea of using discarded coffee grounds as a base for the kits. But because of their idealistic vision and tremendous tenacity, they did survive, and do continue to thrive.
Ultimately, there's no doubt it can be exceptionally difficult to launch a new product into the marketplace, even when you know there's demand for it.
If you're feeling unsure of where to begin, try focusing on cultivating relationships with small, local stores that might be willing to put your product on their shelves, or create a compelling website and increase your social media presence so word-of-mouth can do the hard work for you.
And, like Pieri said -- tenacity is key.
This interview was conducted by Caroline Forsey and Allie Decker.
Asking "How is everyone?" at the beginning of every meeting isn't always the best way to encourage connection and team bonding. Sometimes, you need to take it a step further with an ice breaker.
The best ice breakers have the power to strengthen coworker bonds, stimulate better brainstorming sessions, and create an atmosphere of inclusivity. But it's easier said than done, and the wrong ice breaker questions can lead to awkwardness or even increased tension.
To get the most value out of your team bonding moments, we've compiled a list of the best ice breaker games for the workplace. Next time you get together with your team, use one of these games instead of asking "How is everyone", and you're sure to hear some better, more insightful responses than "I'm good."
Ice Breaker Games for Work
One Word Game
Pop Quiz
Birth Map
Would You Rather
18 & Under
Two Truths and a Lie
Fun Questions
Personality Quiz
Who is it?
Marshmallow Challenge
Scavenger Hunt
No Smiling
This is Better Than That
Ice Breakers for Meetings
1. One Word Game
The One Word ice breaker allows you to provide initial context into a meeting's topic, and get everyone in the right mindset for discussion.
To play, you'll want to divide meeting participants into smaller groups. Then, tell them to think for a minute or two, and then share with their group one word that describes X.
For instance, let's say you're leading a meeting on culture. Tell the groups to describe work culture, or your office culture in particular, in one word. Once they've shared with their groups, you can invite them to share their word with the entire room.
This game encourages everyone to think about a certain topic in smaller groups ahead of time, which could increase participation during the meeting.
2. Pop Quiz
To successfully loosen everyone up and get them in the right mindset for a meeting, you might consider putting a short Pop Quiz on the board.
If your goal is simply to encourage team bonding, your quiz can be more fun -- like, "Match the lyrics with this 80's song". However, you might also use the Pop Quiz as an opportunity to introduce participants' to the meeting's theme.
If you're discussing company changes, for instance, maybe you'll start by quizzing team members on company history facts (i.e. "What year was this company founded?").
As the map fills up with pins, people will learn about how diverse their teammates might be. Allow some time at the end of the meeting for your colleagues to walk up and look more closely at the map.
Quick Ice Breakers
4. Would You Rather
A classic game played at summer camps everywhere, "Would You Rather" is actually an excellent, quick ice breaker for the workplace. Next time you're settling into a meeting or team bonding outing, take turns going around the table and asking each person a "Would You Rather" question.
Here are a few "Would You Rather" questions to get you started:
Would you rather only have summer or winter for the rest of your life?
Would you rather go on a hike or see a movie?
Would you rather never use social media sites and apps again, or never watch another movie or TV show?
Would you rather have a horrible short term memory or a horrible long term memory?
5. 18 & Under
18 & Under is an engaging and unique way to encourage team members to share fun or interesting stories with one another. Before a meeting, simply go around the room, and ask each person to share one accomplishment they had before they turned 18.
Undoubtedly you'll get some of lesser importance, like "I bought a skateboard," but you never know what hidden skills you might discover in your colleagues.
6. Two Truths and a Lie
One of the more classic ice breakers in the list, Two Truths and a Lie can be used anywhere from family parties to company events. To play, you simply ask each person to brainstorm three "facts" about themselves -- two of the facts will be true, and one will be a lie.
For instance, I might say, "I once auditioned for the TV show Zoom. I have three brothers. I ziplined in Switzerland once." Coworkers can take turns guessing which is the lie. (FYI, I have two brothers, not three, so that's the lie. Unfortunately, I did audition for Zoom.)
Two Truths and a Lie is a fun and engaging game, and more importantly, it can help your team learn facts about one another, so they can begin forming deeper bonds.
Ice Breaker Games for Small Groups
7. Fun Questions
Asking fun questions is an easy and effective ice breaker game. To play, simply go around the room and have each person provide an answer to a fun question. The questions are up to you, but if you're stuck, here are a few ideas:
If you're stranded on a desert island and have the option of bringing three items with you, what three items would they be?
If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
What was the first concert you ever went to?
If you could have any celebrity over for dinner, who would it be and why?
These questions serve two purposes -- first, they allow your coworkers to get into a sillier, more creative mindset. Second, they encourage conversation on topics typically reserved for outside the office, which enables members of your team to get to know one another on a deeper level.
8. Personality Quiz
This ice breaker can promote team bonding, and it's one of the easier options in the list. Simply choose a brief personality quiz on your phone or computer (if you're stuck, here's a list), and pull it up on a projector or send the link to everyone.
Once everyone has completed the personality assessment, have each colleague mention one thing they agree or disagree with in their results. This game allows your team members to gain a new perspective on their peers, and it's also a fun and easy way to get an interesting conversation started.
9. Who is it?
Have everyone write a unique, strange, or unexpected fact about them on a piece of paper. Then, put the pieces of paper into a hat and mix them around. Pull from the hat and read each fact.
Allow the team to try and guess who wrote it. After they guess, ask the employee who wrote the fact to identify themselves and give any further context if necessary. This could be a great way to get to know surprising new things about your teammates.
10. Marshmallow Challenge
Tom Wujec, a business visualization expert, initially presented his Marshmallow Challenge at TED. To play, you simply divide your team into groups of four and give each group 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and a marshmallow. Whichever team can build the tallest structure, wins -- the trick is, the marshmallow must be on top.
There are a few reasons this game works as both a great ice breaker and a team-building exercise. First, the most successful teams are the groups of people who don't spend time competing for power.
The game forces your colleagues to work collaboratively when brainstorming potential solutions. Second, the Marshmallow Challenge encourages people to think quickly and offer alternative solutions when their initial idea fails.
With the Marshmallow Challenge, you can strengthen your team's brainstorming and problem-solving skills, and your team can also have some fun. A win, win.
11. Scavenger Hunt
At HubSpot, we conduct a scavenger hunt for new hires on the first day of their training. It's fun and encourages collaboration, but additionally, it can help employees learn their way around the office.
Fortunately, you can conduct a scavenger hunt for your team even if they've worked at your office for years.
Simply split up your team into groups, and give each group a short list of items to find -- if you work in a smaller space, maybe you can hide some funny items around the office ahead of time. You might even provide incentive for the winning team, like a $50 Amazon gift card.
A scavenger hunt is also an exceptional opportunity for cross-department interaction. Consider reaching out to managers' from other departments, and creating groups of employees who don't often get to work together.
12. No Smiling
This game is simple and meant to energize your team. Get your colleagues in a circle and ask one volunteer to sit or stand in the middle. Tell the volunteer that they can not laugh or smile, regardless of what happens. Then have each other colleague take turns telling the volunteer a work-appropriate joke.
The goal of the volunteer is to hear a joke from every colleague around the circle, while the goal of the other team members is to make the volunteer laugh.
This icebreaker can be helpful in new-employee or management training to lighten the pressure of starting a new job. It can also be helpful as a way of lightening the mood on teams that regularly deal with stressful projects or situations.
13. This is Better Than That
Aside from being a fun team activity, this might be great energizer for sales employees or others that regularly pitch, market, and sell products.
Ask your team to find four to seven items around the office and bring them to one room. These items could be something they use daily, like a pen or a chair. However, you should encourage them to find items that are more odd or unique. This will make the game more challenging.
Line the items up and split the group into sub-teams. Task each team with picking an item they would use to survive if stranded on a dessert island.
Tell team members that they cannot pick more than one and must assume it is the only item they will have on that island. Allow the teams time to deliberate and then ask them to present the item they chose and why.
Did you know it costs a business about 5-10X more to acquire a new customer than it does to sell to an existing one? Not only that, but on average, current customers spend 67% more than new customers.
In light of statistics like these, businesses must think about what they are doing to keep their customers coming back to their business. And if you’re like 65% of marketers, your company has implemented a loyalty program.
But is your loyalty program working?
According to the 2015 Colloquy Customer Loyalty Census, American households hold memberships in an average of 29 loyalty programs, but are active (meaning earn or redeem at least one per year) in only 12 of them. Companies lose money on time and effort, and customers get no more value from the businesses to which they are "loyal."
So how do you keep your business out of that one-third segment? How do you convey enough additional value in your programs to keep your customers coming back?
It’s time for marketers to look beyond convoluted rewards systems and offer actual value to customers using their loyalty program. To get you started, here are some ideas for customer loyalty programs that might work for your business.
7 Customer Loyalty Program Ideas for Your Business
1) Use a simple point system.
This is the most common loyalty program methodology. Frequent customers earn points, which translate into some type of reward. Whether it’s a discount, a freebie, or special customer treatment, customers work toward a certain amount of points to redeem their reward.
Where many companies falter in this method, however, is making the relationship between points and tangible rewards complex and confusing.
"Fourteen points equals one dollar, and twenty dollars earns 50% off your next purchase in April!"
... that’s not rewarding, that’s a headache.
If you opt for a points-based loyalty program, keep the conversions simple and intuitive.
Although a points system is perhaps the most common form of loyalty programs, it isn't necessarily applicable to every business type. It works best for businesses that encourage frequent, short-term purchases, like Boloco.
Case Study: Boloco's Boloco Card
Boloco, an American restaurant chain known for its burritos, is an example of a company who does the points-based loyalty program well. Customers swipe their stylish Boloco Card at every purchase, and the card tracks the amount of money spent. Every $50 spent earns the customer a free item. It doesn't matter if that free item is a super jumbo burrito or an extra small smoothie: It's free once the customer records $50 on their card. Boloco speaks the language of its audience by measuring points in dollars, and rewards in food and drink items.
2) Use a tier system to reward initial loyalty and encourage more purchases.
Finding a balance between attainable and desirable rewards is a challenge for most companies designing loyalty programs. One way to combat this is to implement a tiered system which rewards initial loyalty and encourages more purchases.
Present small rewards as a base offering for being a part of the program, and then encourage repeat customers by increasing the value of the rewards as the customer moves up the loyalty ladder. This helps solve the problem of members forgetting about their points and never redeeming them because the time between purchase and gratification is too long.
The biggest difference between the points system and the tiered system is that customers extract short-term versus long-term value from the loyalty program. You may find tiered programs work better for high commitment, higher price-point businesses like airlines, hospitality businesses, or insurance companies.
Case Study: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
In addition to earning miles, Virgin Atlantics' Flying Club allows members to earn tier points. The club inducts members at the Club Red tier, then bumps them up to Club Silver and then Club Gold.
Club Red members earn miles on flights and get discounts on rental cars, airport parking, hotels, and holiday flights.
Club Silver members earn 50% more points on flights and have access to expedited check-in and priority stand-by seating.
Club Gold members get double miles, priority boarding, and access to exclusive clubhouses where they can grab a drink or get a massage before their flight.
Seem complicated? They created a comprehensive benefits table so customers can easily understand the extra benefits they'll receive as they move from Red to Silver to Gold. The key is to offer benefits in the early stages to hook the customer into coming back. Once they do, they’ll realize that "gold" status isn’t unattainable, and offers really cool benefits.
Loyalty programs are meant to break down barriers between customers and your business ... so are we seriously telling you to charge them a fee? In some circumstances, a one-time (or annual) fee that lets customers bypass common purchase barriers is actually quite beneficial for both business and customer. By identifying the factors that may cause customers to leave, you can customize a fee-based loyalty program to address those specific obstacles.
According to a 2015 study of 500 leading global brands, cart abandonment rates reached 75.6% across retail, travel, and fashion. This abandonment is often caused by "sticker shock" after tax and shipping prices have been applied. Below, we'll take a look at Amazon, the ecommerce giant that's found a way to combat this issue using a loyalty program with an upfront fee.
This system is most applicable to businesses that thrive on frequent, repeat purchases. For an upfront fee, your customers are relieved of inconveniences that could impede future purchases. Amazon's mastered this for ecommerce, but this model also has potential to work forB2B businesses that deliver products to businesses on a regular basis.
Case Study: Amazon Prime
For $99 a year, Amazon Prime users get free, two-day shipping on millions of products with no minimum purchase, among other benefits.
Why is this a great example? Because it provides enough value to frequent shoppers for them to feel like it's really benefitting them. Actually, analysts estimate Amazon loses $1-2 billion per year on Prime. But the company makes up for it in increased transaction frequency: According to a 2015 report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Prime members spend an average of $1,500 per year on Amazon.com, compared with $625 per year spent by Amazon customers who aren't Prime members.
4) Structure non-monetary programs around your customers' values.
Truly understanding your customer means understanding their values and sense of worth. Depending on your industry, your customers may find more value in non-monetary or discounted rewards. While any company can offer promotional coupons and discount codes if they want to, businesses that can provide value to the customer in ways other than dollars and cents have a unique opportunity to connect with their audience.
Case Study: Patagonia's Common Threads Initiative
Patagonia, an eco-friendly outdoor apparel company, realized that its customer needed more than just points and discounts from a loyalty program. In conjunction with eBay, it implemented the Common Threads Initiative in late 2011 to help customers resell their highly durable Patagonia clothing online via Patagonia's website.
The Common Threads program builds on Patagonia's brand of sustainability and creating a high-quality product. Plus, it matches perfectly with the company’s target audience by providing a value they know customers really care about.
5) Partner with another company to provide all-inclusive offers.
Strategic partnerships for customer loyalty (also known as coalition programs) can be super effective for retaining customers and growing your company. Which company would a good fit for a partnership? Again, it boils down to fully understanding your customers' everyday lives and their purchase processes.
For example, if you’re a dog food company, you might partner with a veterinary office or pet grooming facility to offer co-branded deals that are mutually beneficial for your company and your customer. When you provide your customers with value that's relevant to them but goes beyond what your company alone can offer them, you're showing them you understand and care about their needs. Plus, it'll help you grow your network to reach your partners' customers, too.
Case Study: American Express Plenti Program
American Express has a huge partner base with companies across the country. The company's Plenti program, launched in May 2015, lets consumers pool their rewards from various retailers like Macy's, AT&T, Rite Aid, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hulu, and more. Plenti members earn points for shopping at these stores and redeem points at these stores by linking their existing store loyalty card to their Plenti account. For example, customers can use Plenti points they've earned from something like renting a car from Enterprise in order to pay their AT&T phone bill.
Flexibility is the biggest appeal here for customers, since points can be earned and redeemed at a variety of retailers. According to Fortune Magazine, "For the companies, even ones like Macy's that already have huge loyalty programs, Plenti is a way to tap into the broader customer base of its partners, save on program costs, and lift sales by offering a more appealing program to customers."
Who doesn’t love a good game? Turn your loyalty program into a game to encourage repeat customers and -- depending on the type of game you choose -- help solidify your brand's image.
With any contest or sweepstakes, though, you run the risk of having customers feel like your company is jerking them around to win business. To mitigate this risk, it's important to make customers feel like you’re not duping them out of rewards. The odds should be no lower than 25%, and the purchase requirements to play should be attainable. Also, be sure your company's legal department is fully informed and on-board before you make your contest public.
When executed properly, this type of program could work for almost any type of company -- even an off-the-beaten-path B2B company. If your audience enjoys having a little fun and purchases frequently, this type of program can make the buying process both fun and engaging.
Case Study: GrubHub's Yummy Rummy Sweepstakes
GrubHub, an online food ordering and delivery website, has run its successful Yummy Rummy sweepstakes since 2011. Once customers place three unique orders through GrubHub, regardless of price, they get to play a game for a chance of winning free stuff. Players choose one of four cards and have a 25% chance of winning a free dessert, drink, GrubHub credit, or other cool stuff.
Casey Winters, who was part of the GrubHub team that launched the sweepstakes in 2011, advises in a LinkedIn post, "You should strive to think of your program as constantly evolving to stay interesting to your users. This will make your program stay effective for longer as well as give you the flexibility to tweak elements to make it more interesting to you as the business. I have seen many companies stuck with a program they no longer think is effective, but too afraid to shelve it because of potential user backlash."
(Want to learn more about how to run a contest on social media? Read this blog post.)
7) Scratch the "program" completely.
Considering how many marketers offer loyalty programs, one innovative idea is to nix the idea of employing a program altogether. Instead, build loyalty by providing first-time users with awesome benefits, hooking them in, and offering those benefits with every purchase.
This minimalist approach works best for companies that sell unique products or services. That doesn't necessarily mean that you offer the lowest price, or the best quality, or the most convenience; instead, I’m talking about redefining a category. If your company is pioneering a new product or service, a loyalty program may not be necessary. Customers will be loyal because there are few other options as spectacular as you, and you've communicated that value from your first interaction.
For example, one of the most innovative companies on the planet implements this strategy: Apple.
Case Study: Apple
Even the most loyal Apple customers don’t get special rewards or discounts ... because it doesn't offer them to anybody. Apple "enchants" customers by delighting them with a product or service the very first time.
Apple has plenty of supporters, both online and offline, ready and willing to rave about its product. For them, loyalty happens organically.
How to Measure the Effectiveness of Your Loyalty Program
As with any initiative you implement, there needs to be a way to measure your marketing success. Customer loyalty programs should increase customer happiness and retention, and there are ways to measure these things (other than in rainbows and sunshine).
Different companies and programs call for different analytics, but here are a few of the most common metrics companies watch when rolling out loyalty programs.
Customer Retention Rate
This metric is an indication of how long customers stay with you. With a successful loyalty program, this number should increase over time as the number of loyalty program members grows. Run an A/B test against program members and non-program customers to determine the overall effectiveness of the loyalty initiative. According to Fred Reichheld, author of the Loyalty Effect, a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25-100% increase in profit for your company.
Negative Churn
Churn is the rate at which customers leave your company. Negative churn, therefore, is a measurement of customers who do the opposite: either they upgrade, or they purchase additional services. These help to offset the natural churn that goes on in most businesses. Depending on the nature of your business and loyalty program, especially if you opt for a tiered loyalty program, this is an important metric to track.
Net Promoter Score
NPS is a customer satisfaction metric that measures, on a scale of 1-10, the degree to which people would recommend your company to others.
NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors (customers who would not recommend your product) from percentage of promoters (customers who would recommend you).
The fewer detractors, the better. Improving your net promoter score is one way to establish benchmarks, measure customer loyalty over time, and calculate the effects of your loyalty program. A great NPS score is over 70%, and your loyalty program can help get you there. (Read this blog post to learn how to use NPS surveys for more powerful marketing automation.)
Customer Effort Score
Customer Effort Score (CES) asks customers, "How much effort did you personally have to put forth to solve a problem with the company?"
Some companies prefer this metric over NPS score because it measures actual experience rather than the emotional delight of the customer. A Harvard Business Review study found that 48% of customers who had negative experiences with a company told 10 or more people. In this way, customer service impacts both customer acquisition and customer retention. If your loyalty program addresses customer service issues, like expedited requests, personal contacts, or free shipping, this may be one way to measure its success.
Have you implemented a customer loyalty program? Share what tactics worked (and what didn't) in the comment section.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2012 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
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