Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
GNC Details Launch of the Newly Revamped myGNC Rewards Program
Jenna O’Connor, Director of Loyalty Marketing, has 14 years of tenure at GNC, with a focus on the member marketing strategy and management and direction of the loyalty program. She has been an industry leader in loyalty management and has developed a successful deployment of GNC’s multi-tier loyalty program to give shoppers more ways to save and boost customer engagement. Loyalty360 interviewed O’Connor to talk about the journey of developing GNC’s new loyalty program, managing long-term projects and brand consistency while finding the best strategy to innovate in a growing, evolving loyalty industry.
Good afternoon and good morning. This is Mark Johnson from Loyalty 360. Hope everyone's happy, safe and well. I'm going to welcome you back to another edition of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty series. In this series, we have the privilege of speaking with leading brands about what they are seeing in here and on the front lines of Customer Channel and Brand Loyalty, and today we have the pleasure of speaking with Jenna O'Connor. She's the Senior Director of Loyalty Marketing at GNC. How are you today, Jen?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me, Mark.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. When we start these, we'd like to start on a more personal level, get to know the individual we're speaking with. So I would love to know a little bit more about you yourself, kind of your background, all that you do at GNC, and maybe a passion or a fun fact that you have as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure. So exciting month for me. I just had my 14th year anniversary here at GNC this month, so been here with the brand for a very long time, a long history, both here as well as previously, and the direct to customer marketing space, crm, even List Brokerage and Management, and certainly Loyalty Program Management and Design. My current role is focused on really the strategic vision and growth and development of our multi-tier loyalty program and creating really innovative and distinctive ways to continue to recognize and reward incentivized behaviors that we need to see and we obviously want to reward. So that's what I do now. And fun fact, I guess, is I think we all have moments where we get down on ourselves professionally or our job, and I look back to my very, very first job in high school where I was the Easter Bunny at the mall, and when I feel down on myself, I remember sitting in that sweaty Lysol scented suit every day and remind myself of how far I've come.
Speaker 1:Well, that's good Easter Bunny, and they're not real, and I'm not sure malls are actually real now. Anyway, but that's good, though it's the first time we've had that one.
Speaker 2:I'm sure.
Speaker 1:So the my GNC Rewards Program we've talked in the past a great program doing a lot of great things. You give us a brief history overview of the my GNC Rewards Program, how it was developed, how the program works, how members can engage in it and what are the benefits to the consumer for being a member.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. We're in our seventh year with my GNC Rewards, at launch on 12.29.2016, after we made a decision of leaving our legacy gold card program, which was essentially a paid membership program that offered a discount card, essentially every day kind of discount. But there was a need. Then, prior to launching the program, the way identified that we just needed to move away from obviously heavy discounts and there really weren't any aspects to the program that were truly driving the behaviors and rewarding behaviors that we had wanted to see. So that led to obviously embarking on a ton of research and design to evaluate and essentially launch my GNC Rewards, which, accompanied by that, was the paid tier aspect of our program.
Speaker 2:Arrow Access, which also launched at that time that initially was the pro side of it was initially developed not only to have a recurring revenue to replace the gold card sales but essentially to solve for rewarding and really encouraging behaviors of our more frequent, higher value shoppers. So that's kind of how it came to be. And then, most recently, we actually several years ago we identified a need to really refresh the program due to pandemic, due to technology changes at our company, bankruptcy and being repurchased. Things got put on hold or delayed, I should say, but ultimately allowed for a ton of research over that time to really get to what customers wanted most. What was missing from our program, what were the aspects of our program that, if we took them away, would be detrimental? And really what was missing that we could be doing better to reward and recognize, and that ultimately resulted in the new my GNC Rewards and pro access program that launched on July 13, which has a number of new benefits and perks and a much stronger value proposition.
Speaker 1:Okay, excellent. So when you looked at redoing the program, how'd you go about doing that? Listening to the customers, understanding what they actually wanted with the program? How do you put some of that play, because obviously, being a health and nutrition company, they could be pretty vast? How did you decide on the new benefits that you thought were important for the program?
Speaker 2:I mean we started with a running list of probably 50 different things that we thought, based on prior feedback that we had from customers, of things that would be appealing.
Speaker 2:We knew that we were going to depart from an aspect of our pro program that was a pretty high perceived value perk, which was our pro box, which was a subscription style box was not subscription, it was part of the pro program but essentially they were kind of curated based on goal, customers, goals filled with samples and things like that and again, a high perceived value.
Speaker 2:But we wanted to make sure that we had something that was comparable to that, knowing we were going to take that away. So we did rank a list of a number of different benefits and again went through three different rounds of different types of research with our customers, one of which was one that basically took all of those benefits, took all of our current benefits and basically optimized the different concepts and design of the program and what had the most appeal and highest ranking of utilization, and then went into obviously forecasting right and what's the cost of all this? What are KPIs that obviously are required in order to break even and obviously gain incrementality. And then did more research with kind of the final kind of concepts that we laid out and went out of the gate with the one that had the strongest value proposition, that was most meaningful to our customers.
Speaker 1:Okay with the new program. How does a new structure entice and keep customers engaged in the program?
Speaker 2:So the new program, my GNC rewards, has a number of different aspects that go beyond just obviously the normal loyalty kind of lever that the loyalty programs offer in regards to the bounce back nature of points and driving frequency and shopping consideration. And those new aspects truly do incentivize and encourage behaviors better than before, because we introduced a three tier model with our my GNC rewards program. So we have now a member, which is the base value proposition, and a silver and gold tier. And we did this because we identified again through research that we could be rewarding and recognizing better behavior and loyalty better than we were, and we also knew that we had on the business side lagging shopping and retail kind of traditional statistics that these tiers could obviously help to encourage. So by having this new aspirational design, essentially we're able to again better personalize the experience for our customers by welcoming and guiding those newer customers at the member level, encouraging frequency and enticing frequency by having that silver tier and then unlocking of more perks when you get there and same with the gold again being in the silver tier and trying to obviously reward and recognize as their loyalty grows with more perks there as well. So that does by nature, by design, encourage and entice incremental behavior in that gamification and that FOMO that it has by design. But it kind of makes sense. So we're hopeful that that will result in what we believe it will be will. But we are seeing some really positive trends in regards to shopping behavior and frequency and spend not driven by retail cost increases but rather specifically tied to our July 13th changes.
Speaker 2:And then we strengthen the strengthened value proposition to deliver against what our customers said they wanted, which is they wanted to be rewarded for more healthy behaviors. They also wanted to have more services and offerings and resources to help them through whole health. Beyond nutritional supplementation, which opened up the opportunity for us to, we have a member exclusive feature of our app that we launched. That help allows customers to help their daily health and wellness goals and sync with their fitness data and and and get rewarded with cashback rewards for achieving those healthy achievements. So giving them a resource to obviously encourage and help and and inspire healthy behavior in their their journey to live well, but also introducing engagement based rewards as opposed to just having our transactional model. So that's on the my G&C rewards side.
Speaker 2:On the pro side, how we will encourage and inspire the behaviors is we've introduced 10% cashback rewards every day for pro members, which is great, always on, obviously more convenient, more savings, easier way to overcome the 3999 annual fee that we have. Against that, we give them a free G&C bar or drink every month with any in-store purchase. So again, you know the value of that annually. As well as getting free stuff and encouraging trial, or you know, just giving them one of their favorites is also hopefully driving foot traffic as well as doing a better job of recognizing and rewarding loyalty. And then the G&C health offering, which is a pro, is right now underneath our pro program as free to all pro members. That truly free telehealth and virtual health as well as free prescription medications. That is no strings attached, no out of pocket, no copays, no insurance, no hidden fees. So it is a no brainer in regards to value and allows us again to answer. Our customers want that of having G&C be a destination for more holistic health and wellness support. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:There's definitely a big trend we see within our member community at the grocery level to promote healthy living, health and wellness, right? Yes, it's a challenge to measure that, but at least from a product perspective you can see that they are buying more healthy products, right, looking at kind of that more holistic health opportunity that you discussed and it gets very interesting. And I think when doing their redoing your tiers in the program is also very positive because brands right now are redoing their CBPs, making sure they're aligned, making sure the rewards, incentives are tied to the behavior, that incremental behavior, not just the transactional behavior, right? So looking for additional incremental behavior that can be sustainable for the program and for the customer. So it's great to hear that you did that, thanks. You talked a little bit about the pro access 10% cashback, the one G&C bar on the drink, free expedited shipping. When you look at these rewards and incentives for that elite tier and I have these rewards and instead of increased engagement for G&C.
Speaker 2:You know again, I think the three bar and drink, you know, is foot traffic is incremental, obviously, frequency, hopefully, driver, the 10% cashback rewards, you know, every day, that always on is, you know, a distinguishing factor, because before we had pro days, which we still do, which were just periodic events throughout the year with 15% cashback rewards, that were obviously a very, you know, distinct period of time.
Speaker 2:That wasn't necessarily convenient. So, having that every day, always on cashback rewards model, we hope that we will be the choice when there is a, you know, a consideration of a competitor or someone else that by knowing that they're going to be getting that incremental high value cashback reward and sent of every time they shop, we will be, you know, the answer to any, you know alternative consideration set when it comes to where they will purchase their nutritional supplements. So that is, you know, our hope, with that always on model. And the free expedited shipping, you know it's a high value right and lots and lots and lots of e-commerce offer their members free shipping. This is free expedited shipping. So within two days one to two days usually within prior to two days, in most cases pro members can receive that and that's, you know, $20, $20 value each and every time they shop in our digital channels. So again, another distinguishing factor of making us stand out over a competitor.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. When you look at the strength of the program, you know still have a little bit of economic uncertainty right now. Some brands are doing exceptionally well, some are kind of a retrench mode. But when you look at customer loyalty, the loyalty program, what you're seeing from your new CBP, your customer value proposition, you know how can a loyalty program be a hedge against some of this economic uncertainty and how do you think your program is meeting the challenge?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I definitely think that you know, if you have a cashback reward model or a points-based model where customers are able to be rewarded with savings, you know that overcomes some of the economic challenges that consumers face today.
Speaker 2:And knowing that, you know, while you might not realize that value on your initial purchase, that having that currency, that reserve essentially of money to use to save, you know helps to, you know, overcome some of that.
Speaker 2:And you know, and even with the 3% cashback rewards, with the free side, same thing and the free expedited shipping, again, if you're saving on shipping costs, it may be, you know that may be a barrier, shipping costs or expenses when customers are looking to purchase, and so, again, we're helping with that strain, hopefully. And then the free healthcare, you know, for pro members, I mean $39.99 fee for the pro program, all of its parts, but even just for GNC Health alone, and access to free healthcare, virtual healthcare and prescriptions or the transferring of existing prescriptions and saving on that money. You know healthcare is not cheap, you know, and we are creating a very affordable, you know, access to help our customers overcome Again that strain and that barrier that you know sometimes is, you know, unfortunately, the reason that some folks won't even take care of themselves because of that, and we're hopeful that this service will help our customers live well in a better way, and we're hoping to see a more affordable way.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's awesome, and when you look at your role, you know what's the biggest challenge you have in your role, what keeps you up at night and maybe, how do you see that going forward.
Speaker 2:You know, really, it's just, there's so, so much innovation on our roadmap, both from a company perspective as well as a programmatic perspective, a digital evolution project, projects that we have, and there's, you know, there's a constant desire to continue to optimize and iterate, and I'm all in favor of that. But what keeps me up at night is is that the number of ideas and the urgency and, you know, equivalence of priorities, of overlapping priorities. Essentially, while trying to be the voice of reason, to express the fact that we just launched this July 13th, we need to have a baseline of data, we need to understand what's working before we iterate too soon. And it's really that it's. It's mostly just trying to pump the brakes on a very, you know, anxious and excited leadership team and, again, trying to base our changes off of actual data and customer feedback before we invest that time, the resources, you know, too soon.
Speaker 1:That makes perfect sense, and also limited resources to run. It's being tasked to more or less especially, you know, organizations that have kind of that aggressive roadmap, so that's good to hear. Though, you know, when you look at your program, what are two or three things that you are proud of with your program? Considering just relaunched, are there a couple of things that you're proud of that you're seeing?
Speaker 2:I mean I'm proud that I finally got to launch the program itself.
Speaker 2:As I mentioned, this was four years in the making and had so many delays and impediments along the way, turning around GNC health as a, you know, integrating it into the pro program and into our our you know our ecosystem, essentially within six weeks, and just actually doing it is probably probably one of my biggest achievements.
Speaker 2:And then I'm very, very proud of, I'm very proud of the fact that there have been many times over my 14 years here that you know, with different leadership teams, different culture, essentially that I've had to respond to to directives that were business first, and everything that we have done, you know, with this go, has truly been customer first and driven and built by and for our customer. And so I'm very proud that we were able to do that and not let some of the you know business, you know financial challenges, et cetera, some of these perks that were over, overcome that because we knew it was the right thing to do and we knew that, you know, in the long game, this is going to make good sense. So having a very supportive, you know executive team to you know, come along with me on this journey and buy into all of this stuff and believe. Believe in my business case, believe in what this can do. I'm very proud of.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. When you look at customer loyalty in general, being someone from the industry very successful program that you run, you know. Are there other programs that you are loyal to from a customer loyalty perspective, you know? And if so, what do you like about their offerings?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I mean I, like many of us, I belong to a ton of loyalty programs. I don't necessarily shop as probably as much as some folks do, but who I admire is probably what I'll respond with. As opposed to, who am I most loyal to? Just because I don't shop that much other than my local grocery store, that I do like their program, but it's, it's. There's not really anything super exciting about it. It just gives me some some better savings and that's about it. But I will say Alta, I do shop there Quite a bit and I do love the. The their ultimate rewards, I think are great. I think almost every time I shop there I always have something waiting for me from a savings perspective, which I love. They have lots of member exclusive bonus events and and free gifts in your birthday month, as well as samples with certain purchases, and I love that. I feel like I'm always getting Rewarded as a member there and I love that.
Speaker 2:Sephora I think Sephora just both from a customer engagement perspective but also their you know, very thoughtful tier design of their program, as well as their community aspect that they have the community aspect of their program is Wonderful. It's, it's phenomenal in my opinion. And you know Starbucks totally admire them. They were, I think, probably the leader in gamification and, you know, having that digital first, mobile first, I should say, experience that drives all that great FOMO and and has the fun and mechanics of the program that that you know really, really make it fun and simple For customers. But again, I think all those that I mentioned have always been the ones that I've looked to for you know, tips or Things like that, because if they just seem like they are so thoughtfully Designed and, again, very customer first, that's awesome and great to hear.
Speaker 1:Sure, all sense of horror love to hear that as well. They're still members of what 360, so it's good to hear that you like their program Absolutely excellent. And the last question I have you know what can loyalty 360 to help you and your team with your customer loyalty program?
Speaker 2:I Think loyalty 360 does a great job and should continue doing what you all do Bringing together, you know, peer networks to miss or eight ID eight bring forward you know latest innovations, trends and you know in loyalty, you know are extremely valuable to all of us. You know in the industry and you know you're typically a go-to for resources or references when I you know I'm looking for something or you know you guys seem to have it. So and I certainly enjoyed my time with All of the networking that I've had the pleasure of having With loyalty 360. So thank you.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, absolutely. Thank you for being kind of a stalwart in the industry. I definitely respect and appreciate everything you do in GNC and looking forward to hearing more from you and your team in the upcoming year.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, mark, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and thank you everyone for listening today. Make sure you join us back for another edition of our leaders in customer loyalty series soon and have a wonderful day.