Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
#380: Loyalty360 Loyalty Live | Daniel Wood, Engaged Nation
Engaged Nation provides a suite of services and solutions designed to captivate, motivate, and drive measurable results. The company’s offerings include interactive web-based incentive programs that align seamlessly with each client’s unique objectives, whether they aim to boost brand visibility, enhance customer lifetime value, or drive incremental revenue. Powered by the REACH™ Digital Ecosystem of technology, Engaged Nation offers a platform to create engaging and personalized experiences.
Engaged Nation works closely with brands across various industries—C-store, CPGs, financial services, restaurants/QSR, travel/hospitality, and many more—to help them drive engagement, boost revenue, and build lasting customer loyalty. Engaged Nation tailors solutions to meet the unique needs of clients based on their customers and industry, with the goal of helping them stand out in a crowded digital marketplace.
Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Daniel Wood, Chief Customer Success Officer at Engaged Nation, about the company’s REACHTM platform, keeping customers engaged, and leveraging technology to understand individual customer preferences or behaviors.
Good afternoon, good morning. This is Mark Johnson from Loyalty360. I hope everyone's happy, safe and well. I want to welcome you to another edition of Loyalty Live. In this series, we speak with the leading agencies, technology partners and consultants in customer channel and brand loyalty about the technology trends and best practices that impact a brand's ability to drive unique experiences, enhance engagement but, most importantly, drive customer loyalty. Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Daniel Wood. He's a Chief Customer Success Officer at Engage Nation. How are you, daniel? I'm doing great. How are you doing, mark? Doing well. Thank you very much. Thanks for taking the time to join us. We like to start these on a more personal level, so we'd love to know a little bit more about you, your current role with Engage Nation and maybe a little bit about your background as well. How did you get into this space?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. So. I've lived kind of all over the place. I graduated from Arizona State, go Sun Devils. I have five boys. That was five failed attempts at having a girl, but we've lived kind of all over the place Arizona, las Vegas and most recently in Utah. So I've been. You know, customer success has been a part of my career for the last 20 years Started in construction, migrated to operations when I lived in Vegas, and then the last eight years or so overseeing all of our customer initiatives for various organizations that I've worked with, from consulting and helping them understand what their needs were to helping them onboard successfully and making sure that they're successful at the companies that I've worked for. So digital marketing has been kind of a key role. Technology is constantly advancing and so it's been a big passion of mine over the last decade.
Speaker 1:Okay, for those who may not be familiar with Engage Nation, can you talk a little bit about how you work with customer loyalty programs, how you enhance the customer loyalty efforts of the brands that you work with?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. We work closely with brands across various industries to drive engagement, boost revenue and build lasting customer loyalty. So our platform offers interactive experiences that incentivize participation, fosters a sense of community, that incentivize participation, fosters a sense of community and provides valuable insights into how we affect consumer behavior so getting people to change some of their behaviors from weekends to maybe midweek trips to visit a retail location and so we really tailor our solutions to meet the unique needs of our clients, based on their customers and based on their industry. So we really want to help them kind of stand out in a crowded digital marketplace.
Speaker 1:Significant interest right now in gamification from our audience. We just did a state of customer loyalty report at the actually just wrapping that up and at the end of the year we did one around next generation customer loyalty. So gamification zero party data, driving that deeper understanding of the customer is very important. What do you see holistically right now with regard to brands and gamification? Is it something of a growing interest and how are brands approaching it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's a growing interest. You know, a lot of brands are doing sweepstakes. There's a lot of focus, it seems like, on new customer acquisition. So how do we capture new customers, gather their data, and really the trend I see is starting to create more personalization about how we react or re-engage those customers. Personalization about how we react or re-engage those customers. So we have them sign up, we have them participate, but how do we re-engage them and make that experience a little more fun and interactive? And so that's really the kind of the where we feel like the loyalty comes in long-term is, you know, retargeting them, re-engaging them once you've acquired them as a new customer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Excellent, and can you tell us a little more about the REACH platform, how your clients leveraging the end-to-end solution to drive deeper customer engagement and cultivate that brand affinity?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. Our proprietary platform is a revenue generator. It creates new customer acquisition, it helps to build loyalty as well as reactivate previous customers, and so we really collaborate with our clients in order to leverage this digital ecosystem that we have, whether it's sending emails, helping to create social exposure and just really create more of an immersive digital experience for their audience. You know, a lot of our clients are using interactive games to ensure promotions to more personalized rewards, to really connect with their customers on a deeper level. We're able to foster more meaningful interactions and really build more long-term loyalty long-term loyalty by just giving our clients the ability to use a platform that creates some of these experiences that ultimately achieve their business goals.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's a very interesting time right now in MarTech as well Lots of new technology claiming to be the secret sauce that can help brands drive unique emotional engagement and brand loyalty. But when you look at this rapidly evolving technology landscape, you know brands are facing a broad array of technology choices and challenges because they don't have the staff internally to truly understand the different platforms. You know how can brands leverage some of these new technologies or these enhanced capabilities within loyalty programs such as gamification to drive that deeper engagement?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you know gamification offers brands a powerful tool. You know that can really be integrated or added into their existing programs. You know it doesn't have to be, you know, a massive site with multiple activities. It can be just a simple scratch off card or creating an experience where the customer feels like there's a chance of getting something, there's a chance of winning something, maybe there's a chance of getting a deeper discount even. And so this creates, you know, that consumer engagement that's fun, it's interactive and really drives that deeper level of participation.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of our clients find that their customers look forward to receiving those emails, look forward to the chance to participate on a daily or weekly basis, and so I think being able to create those more memorable experiences really resonates with our audiences today. You know the consumers they love a lot of the games that they're playing on their phone. They love some of that. You know that engagement that just keeps them entertained, and so I think our attention spans are like three seconds nowadays, and so just making something that's a little more fun and interactive, I think goes a long way Excellent.
Speaker 1:Can you provide some examples how brands are successfully integrating these new technologies, these enhanced capabilities, into their customer loyalty efforts, their customer loyalty strategies?
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, I think most recently we have a variety of clients that leveraged. You know the men's NCAA March Mania you know it's a big hype, it's a big thing, and so we had Insured Million Dollar Bracket Challenge, where a you know it's a big hype, it's a big thing, and so we had insured million dollar bracket challenge, where a lot of our clients were using that in their marketing. It's a fun way to kind of create that awareness with your brand, generate some excitement, and so, again, it's just that, that daily, weekly interaction. So you're sending out that messaging, you're giving them an opportunity to fill out a bracket, to participate in a lot of the hype that's around. You know the March Mania brackets and tournaments, and so I think you know just making that. You know nobody's really going to win that million dollars, but you know people love to get leaderboard prizes and things like that that are branded. So, whether it's a T-shirt or a hat, there's a lot of different ways that brands can can, you know, reward customers for their participation in those types of events.
Speaker 1:When you look at next generation customer loyalty, it's a big area of interest. We talked about a little earlier we did a research paper last fall on next generation what it means and how brands are looking at next generation customer loyalty, and what does next generation customer loyalty mean to Engage Nation and to your clients?
Speaker 2:I'd say that the integration of a more continuous engagement approach that is personalized for all customers is really big next steps for us. Again, a lot of what I see out in the marketplace is again just a data grab, so we're just grabbing their information. But even when I sign up, the retargeting that they're doing really isn't personalized to me, it's not, you know, meaningful to me, and so I think looking at ways that we can involve inviting, engaging and retaining customers by harnessing some of that customer data to personalize their messages or their experiences. I think that's highly relevant and engaging for moving forward from a loyalty perspective.
Speaker 1:Okay, and when you look at some of your clients I know you've touched on this a little bit what works for them when it comes to building successful customer loyalty programs and strategies? Can you provide an example or two?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've done a few. We had some C-Store brands that leveraged some of their partnerships beverage companies and things like that to build excitement around, let's say, the NCAA tournament, so the battle bracket tournament, and so being able to diversify the exposure, find new audiences, maybe other demographics that you know, maybe historically they haven't been targeting, and so just looking at other ways to appeal to the younger demographic, younger generations, and giving them something that's fun and interactive and gets them engaged.
Speaker 1:Okay when you look towards the future. We've talked a little bit about the implication and what next generation customer loyalty looks like. What do you think the next big thing for brands? You know what can they expect in the way of technology opportunities or tools with regard to customer loyalty?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you know there's so much advanced technologies now. I mean, you look at AI or machine learning really being able to crunch the data and understand or even anticipate individual customer preferences or behaviors, and so I think we're going to see a shift, you know, similar to how you experience on social media, where you start getting more personalized feeds of content. Personalized feeds of content, I think brands being able to kind of make that shift to more personalized, interactive, data-driven experiences, I think is where we're going to see a lot of that shift. So people start to brands, start to anticipate what you want next, you know, and what that experience looks like.
Speaker 1:When you look at customer loyalty programs holistically, are there a program or two that you admire, that you were loyal to from a customer loyalty perspective, and so what do you like about their offerings?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I mean, you know, one of my wife and I's favorite is is Costco and Cafe Rio right? So we have a consistent quality in the product. Costco is a paid membership, but with Five Boys I think I probably get the better side of that just because we spend so much there. But we know what to expect, we know what to get. We know that if there's a good deal that they stand behind their product, they warranty it. I can bring something back a year or two later and typically Costco warranties that Cafe Rio from, just an ease of use. You know it's super easy to order in their app to schedule. You know, pick up at the store or dine in at the store. Their rewards seem to be competitive as far as you know dollars for every. You know every dollar you spend you get a dollar back or points back, and so I rack up those dollars and then, you know, use those for date nights or whatever. And so for me that's one that I kind of navigate towards.
Speaker 1:Okay, Real quick. What's next for Engage Nation as we move forward in 2024?
Speaker 2:I think we're just going to continue to push the boundaries of what's possible when it comes to customer engagement and loyalty. We're going to continue to enhance our platform, our service offerings. We'll continue to leverage some of those technologies and data insights that are out there to drive deeper customer engagement and ultimately help our brands create that loyalty that's lasting Okay excellent.
Speaker 1:Now it's time for our quickfire question segment. We prefer one word or short word answers, or I tend to get in trouble with Nick and the content team, so staying out of trouble here. So what is your favorite word?
Speaker 2:My favorite word is responsibility. What is is your favorite word? My favorite word is responsibility. What is your?
Speaker 1:least favorite word Can't what excites you?
Speaker 2:A happy family, employees and customers.
Speaker 1:What do you find tiresome?
Speaker 2:Raising five boys.
Speaker 1:Is there a book that you've read that you'd like to recommend to colleagues?
Speaker 2:I would say Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek.
Speaker 1:What profession, other than the one you currently are in, would you maybe like to attempt?
Speaker 2:Realtor, real estate agent.
Speaker 1:Okay, what do you enjoy doing that you don't often get a chance to do?
Speaker 2:I ride dirt bikes, ATVs with my boys.
Speaker 1:Who inspired you to become the person you are today? My wife, oh, wow, okay interesting. What do you typically think about the end of the day?
Speaker 2:Was I kind, helpful to someone? Did I do what was most important? Okay, and how do you want to be remembered by your friends and family? I would say kind, selfless, hardworking.
Speaker 1:Okay, good, Well, thank you very much. Very great answers, significant answers on the quickfire, and it was great getting to know you, daniel, and also getting to know more about what Engage Nation does. I'm looking forward to seeing you at the conference in a month.
Speaker 2:That was great Thanks.
Speaker 1:Mark. I really appreciate it Absolutely and thank you everyone for taking the time to listen. Make sure you join us back for another edition of Multilife soon, and until then, have a wonderful day.