dunnhumby’s Global Partner Summit: five things we learned about personalisation and loyalty

In the last of our posts recapping some of the highlights from dunnhumby’s recent Global Partner Summit, we check in on what dunnhumby’s Personalisation Director—Debora Franchim—had to say about personalisation and loyalty.

1. Personalisation is being delivered at (super) scale
2. Personalisation is about more than products and offers
3. Continuous measurement for improvements
4. Mechanics are secondary to relevance
5. Ease is the key to a good loyalty programme

#1 Personalisation is being delivered at (super) scale

Debora began by explaining how large the numbers around personalisation actually are. “One client delivers individual set of offers for 37 million different customers every week through their app.” she said. “These are huge numbers. It’s all about scaling up personalisation.”

She told us how personalisation delivers value to almost 100 million customers around the globe, and how some clients achieve as much as 6% sales uplift through personalisation. It’s staggering to think that 12 billion weekly recommendations are sent out to 93 million customers overall.

#2 Personalisation is about more than products and offers

“When we talk about personalisation, we have always talked about products and offers—but it goes beyond that,” said Debora. “We can personalise the content, the message, the channel, the loyalty perks, and more. Everything can be more relevant for different customers.”

The key to that relevance, of course? Better insights from analysing customer behaviour—and the ability to apply them rapidly at scale.

#3 Continuous measurement for improvements

Debora went on to talk about how important measurement is in improving mass individualisation. “Everything is measured,” she noted. “We can have real-time dashboards and long-term measurement so we can understand behaviour changes. We can understand the uplift and the feedback loop. We’re able to ask ourselves ‘How can we use what we’ve learned to improve this strategy?’”

Being able to measure in this granular way has a direct influence on the effectiveness and relevance of the strategies being used. Personalised marketing relies on understanding each customer’s preferences, behaviours, and needs. So an efficient feedback loop lets us gather insights from customer interactions, and adjust and refine the approach using that information.

#4 Mechanics are secondary to relevance

“The mechanics of personalisation—points, perks, tiered—are actually a secondary consideration,” Debora stressed. “What’s important is relevancy. We need to deliver relevance and consistency for the customer.”

Relevancy ensures that customers receive tailored experiences that speak directly to their individual needs. Consistency, on the other hand, builds trust, fosters brand loyalty, and ensures a smooth customer journey across all touchpoints.

#5 Ease is the key to a good loyalty programme

“A frictionless experience is imperative,” said Debora. “It needs to be easy to sign up; easy to use; easy to redeem,” she added. “If you’re the last one in a market to launch a loyalty programme, then it needs to be an absolutely spotless experience.”

The smoother and simpler the process, the more likely customers are to stay loyal to your brand. Things like a simple sign-up process, easy tracking of points, and clear benefits all encourage more people to sign up and take part.