Earlier today at a loyalty conference, there was discussion about how to best communicate with members. I suggested that emailing your members doesn’t mean they understand what you’ve sent. Open rates don’t mean they’ve even read it. And click throughs aren’t the same as internalizing your message.
There are different layers of important when a program communicates. And for the messages they really want to get through, they need engagement. I reminded the audience of some past strategies that programs have employed, like Northwest’s Worldperks University. You’d read something about the program, answer a quiz, and earn 100 miles. That’s one strategy to get members to interact with specific information.
Continental Onepass used to frequently offer 100 miles for going to a website dedicated to a specific offer. You’d learn about what they wanted you to know, enter your mileage number, and… usually the points wouldn’t post.
The managing director of Delta SkyMiles, on the panel, chimed in that they weren’t going to bring back Worldperks University. And of course there’s no reason that’s the exact right answer. But it was sure interesting to see American’s AAdvantage University pop up this afternoon! (HT: Free Stuff Times)
Here you can earn up to 1000 American miles by picking a destination and clicking the ‘learn and earn now’ button.
There are 6 courses for which you can watch videos and take a quiz, earning you points.
It’s not a single question, but it’s not just 100 miles either, and it’s an interesting way to generate program engagement beyond sending out one-directional emails to education you about the program.
And you don’t even have to watch the videos. Just fast forward to the last second or two, then get the quiz… the questions are really easy for people who read these kinds of blogs regularly.
This is a great idea and I want to acknowledge AA for making this “pro-consumer, pro-loyalty” move. I just attended my daughter’s thesis examination today, and she is now planning on doing extensive travel for her post-grad work. Naturally our conversation turned to airlines and loyalty programs. She has 24,000+ miles with Delta and 24,000+ with AA. It’s not hard to figure out which program she will be utilizing for her first award tix–especially thanks to this promo. Great advertising move, AA!
It’s important to note that the miles aren’t supposed to post until several weeks after the promotion has ended.
I went through the courses twice, just because they let me. It says on one of the screens that you can only get a max of 1000 points, so the second set probably won’t post. But why not try – it’s easy?
I also “invited” my spouse to attend the same thing and then ran through the quiz on his behalf. It’s a little unclear how the points get tied to your specific loyalty account. I use the same email for both of our memberships, so I hope it’s not through the email. The only place you actually enter your membership ID is when you sign up for the sweepstakes, which appears to be optional. So maybe I should have used a different email for spouse. Oh well, too late now.