Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360

#482: Executive Spotlight: How Petro-Canada’s Amanda Mitchell Is Redefining Loyalty in a Commodity-Driven

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In this Executive Spotlight, Loyalty360 CEO Mark Johnson speaks with Amanda Mitchell, Head of Loyalty at Petro-Canada, proudly owned by Suncor, Canada’s leading integrated energy company. With nearly 20 years of experience, Mitchell brings a seasoned perspective on how loyalty can transform a commodity-driven industry.  

Overseeing Petro-Points, a program with more than 4 million active members across 1,600 retail fuel locations, she shares insights on the unique dynamics of the Canadian loyalty market. Those include the role of digital innovation in creating seamless experiences, and why value and memorability are central to building stronger customer connections.  

SPEAKER_00:

Good afternoon. Good morning. Mark Johnson from Loyalty360. Welcome back to our Loyalty360 executive spotlight, which is part of the Leaders in Customer Loyalty Program. In this series, we feature conversations with some of the leading minds and influential personalities behind the most successful and respected customer loyalty programs in the market today. All of whom are proud members of Loyalty360. Stay tuned as we uncover the stories of individuals driving innovation and impact in the world of customer loyalty. Through these interviews, you'll gain insight into the people working behind the scenes to build and sustain award-winning customer loyalty programs. We'll explore their personal journeys, their passions, backgrounds, successes, and even a few challenges they've overcome along the way. Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Amanda Mitchell. She's the head of loyalty at Petro Canada. Welcome, Amanda.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice to see you, Mark.

SPEAKER_00:

First off, for those who may not know, can you share a little bit about Petro Canada, what you guys do, how you do it, and also it would be great to know a little bit more about your role at Petro Canada?

SPEAKER_01:

Sure. So Petro Canada is one of our country's largest fuel and convenience store chain. We have over 1,600 locations for gas and convenience stores. And we also have the country's largest network of car washes. We have over 250 locations also for fueling heavy haul trucks. And today I sit in the role of leading our loyalty program, Petro Points, where we have over 4 million active members in our program, and we have a million people that visit us every day in Canada to keep moving around our country.

SPEAKER_00:

Excellent. We love to know how people get involved with customer loyalty, right? It's not taught in school. Those who are involved in the industry kind of have various paths to get to where they are. But you know, as I feel, and I'm sure you do as well, it's one of the coolest industries to be in because you get to look at all different facets of marketing, right? And kind of the data, the insight, and truly understanding the customers. It's just a very cool role. But most people struggle with getting into it. It's not taught. So can you tell us a little bit about your journey into the customer loyalty industry? You know, were there roles that led you to the current position?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, this is a great question. I do think there are tons of people in the industry that have been in loyalty for a very long time, and you can build a career in that specific area. However, in our organization, um, I have come a very unconventional path. I'm a business leader that finds myself in loyalty. And to your point, Mark, that has served me really well. I think understanding the customer, I've been in marketing before, but I've also been in departments of strategy or logistics and looking at the data, as you mentioned, in terms of how are customers behaving? What are the offers that they want, and really thinking about how to drive that incrementality. Um, so I've been in lots of different roles. I've been with this company for almost 20 years and been in a bunch of different roles, but I totally agree with you. Working in loyalty is fascinating. Uh, I can't peel the onion enough to know enough about my customers. How are they uh transacting and how can we give them what they want and keep them coming back to our business?

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. When you look at the fuel and convenience uh retail industry, another uh unique industry, uh, you know, what drew you to working within the fuel convenience and even kind of the manufacturing industry?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's a good question. I had a lot, I have a lot of friends over the years be like, you work for a gas company. It's kind of an interesting choice. And what I would say is I started in the company as an intern. Um, they had a new graduate program where I got to move around to different areas in the company and learn about different parts of the business. And I would say what has kept me here is really the people. This company has fantastic people, uh, people that are willing to mentor you and support you and learn about the business. And this company really has inspired me to always be improving. We're always trying to help Canadians move and get where they want to go. And we're always trying to reinvent our business and make it more easy to transact with us or, you know, improve our app and our digital capabilities. And so the people and our interest to do better for Canadians is is why I'm I'm still here.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. When you look at customer loyalty in your space, in your vertical, you know, how do you think it may differ from maybe traditional retail or hospitality or B2B? I mean, how is it unique in that regard?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think there's two layers from my perspective. One is that in Canada, loyalty is is a big uh approach to retailer uh success, whether it's uh, and and Starbucks is obviously an international brand, but when you look at Starbucks or Sephora or all of the gas brands are partnered with credit cards, loyalty is a very big part of how we do business. And I think part of it is because we are a convenience play or we are a commodity. And so it really is about how do you differentiate yourself in a commodity business? And loyalty really allows you to know that customer, talk to that customer, and try to bring them back with things that are differentiated because your product really isn't.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, for those who may not be familiar with the retail landscape in Canada, it's very unique, right? Uh coalition is big or coalition for um, should I say partnerships that are framed is on a mini coalition? There's a number of big big players in that industry, right? They're kind of doing some cool things. So, how is customer loyalty unique? And you may not think it's unique because you obviously you live in Canada, but how maybe it be different than maybe traditional loyalty in the US?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think the big difference is that our population is so small, right? So we're a country of you know, less around 40 million people. And so because there is a smaller market population, brands are really fighting for that share of wallet, that share of mind, and really trying to drive that connection with the customer. Uh, and they have to work pretty hard for it compared to a larger population like the US. Uh, and then yeah, I think there's different brands that are specifically Canadian. And so, to your point, Mark, about how do you create those coalitions with brands that are maybe Canadian, you might get some halo and connection to people because of the partners that you choose to be with. Uh, and I think also the price of goods in Canada can be higher than America. Also, again, uh just giving the ability to transport them from the US uh or from other countries. And so loyalty really allows us as brands to give back value to people that are loyal to us. And so really creating uh some opportunity for savings for Canadians.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. When you look at the fuel convenience industry, uh very unique front court, backcourt. Do you control the front court, the backcourt, some of the unique challenges with regard to potentially building relationships with customers in the, you know, at Pump and in store, you know, how how do you view customer loyalty and maybe how is it viewed within your organization and you know, the opportunity that presents?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, loyalty is a key pillar of our strategy. And I think to your point, Mark, there are physical places where we believe we can leverage our site to communicate with folks. So whether they're gassing up or if they're in our store or if they're going and getting a car wash. And then the the kind of advancement is that digital place. Where can we communicate with them from a media perspective or also in our tools like our app, where our app today, you can start the car wash without rolling down your window. You have a code and you can turn it on, making it a better experience, particularly when it's a cold winter day, similarly to fueling. How do we advance our app so you can activate the pump within your car, the warmth of your car in your app, uh, and really trying to give them offers and a great experience digitally. So we always are trying to strategize about our physical presence, our digital presence to really try to make that experience great for customers.

SPEAKER_00:

When you look at in the 1600 locations, you also mentioned you had the largest uh kind of collection of car washes across Canada. You know, how do you see your role in in kind of the larger ecosphere, right? You have two different touch points that you have with potential customers that can create value within both of them, right? So when you look at uh, you know, the Canadian uh kind of loyalty landscape, how do you see your role in kind of shaping that with your unique brand and kind of your touch points?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think the car wash is a really important business to us. And I think as we think about the customer always at the center, you know, there are seasons in Canada where it really is advantageous and need you need to get a car wash, whether we think about the winter, slush, uh spring and fall. And so, really, as I think as a loyalty leader, it's how do we look at our loyalty program and our membership, look at the seasonality of what's happening in Canada? What do Canadians want and what do our members want? And how do we give them value back when that moment is right to wash your car? What can we give them to make it easier for them to choose Petro Canada? That's our job, is to your point, Mark. What are the things we're trying to sell? And how do we create an experience for customers at the right time that makes them go, this brand is different? This brand is really helping me and supporting me and giving me what we what they want.

SPEAKER_00:

You mentioned value. That's a pretty consistent uh topic we hear in the conversations we have with our members. We have uh lunch and learn sessions we do every week, and you've done uh a couple of them, which is appreciated. But you know, value is a front and center right now, but that can take many different forms and factors, right? It could be giving the customers who may be asking for more values or discounts or maybe even convenience. So when you look at value, is it fuel savings? Is it convenience? Uh, is it uh providing simplicity in the kind of the customer loyalty approach? How are you looking at value and especially in regard to keeping it top of mind for your customers?

SPEAKER_01:

It's a tough one, right? So if I asked you value, you might answer differently to me. And so I think that is the challenge is when you look at millions of people that buy from you, how do you get a common sense of what value means? And so how our business does it is looks at segmentation. And so there are different groups and classes of people that we look at them and say, what do we assume that they want? And we do research to validate those assumptions. And then we can tailor our offers to make sure that they're getting value from us and it's their definition of value. So people that drive a lot, their value might be over-indexed if they buy a lot of gas, if they're driving professionally, their value might be a cheaper price or a more discount back from being a loyalty member. Whereas, you know, maybe it's someone who's more of a road tripper, the value might be on discounts on in-store snackable items. And so it's really about us looking at these different groups of customers, looking at transactional behavior, doing research to understand those customer groups, and then accordingly giving them value. And so I have my perception of value, you have your perception of value, Mark, but I think it's about us organizing groups to give different value to different people so that they feel, hey, this brand gets me. This brand is giving me value. Uh, and so I'd really suggest that it's not anchoring your business to one value definition.

SPEAKER_00:

Now that that's a that's a very salient point, I think, uh, especially with because your segments are gonna be different psychographic, demographic, attitudes, opinions, interests. But being able to understand them, first off, listening to and understanding them is a big challenge, but being able to action on them is kind of a challenge. But with having, you know, kind of the organizational alignment you have around customer loyalty that we've seen, does that make it easier potentially? And using kind of the the loyalty program as a fulcrum to drive that uh that value uh to the customers in the in the in the way they would like it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think you need organizational alignment and a strong strategy to use that segmentation to be able to execute on it. So to your point, what we're able to give members comes from a strong financial um kind of plan and a strong strategy to be able to make sure that you're delivering on your promises to those customers. I think without that internal alignment and that plan, it's hard to make uh your behaviors in the marketplace, the customer actually feel like you're giving them value. And so I do think those pieces have to be true in order for you to be be able to deliver for your customers for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

Excellent. When you look at uh kind of great customer experience, what's the single biggest factor you feel that drives a you know memorable customer experience in the fuel and fuel retail industry?

SPEAKER_01:

I think what's tough about that question is memorable, right? Creating a memorable experience is hard in today's society. And I would say, I know you asked me for one thing, um, but I believe our business and me personally is passionate about two pieces of creating memorable. One is everyday value. And so really being consistent with members to say we treat you better because you're loyal to us. And so I think that's memorable if you can deliver that consistently. And then the fun part is where do you build in surprise and delights for those customers? And then that's even more memorable where they didn't see it coming, and you're going, hey, I want to give you something special because you're loyal to our program. And so we we think about memorable as the promise that our brand gives to customers and Canadians every day. And then when people are really loyal to us, we want to create joy and bring more than kind of an everyday promise with those surprise and delights. And that's how we believe we can break through and be memorable.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I think you mentioned uh in the previous question, we were talking about value and value being very personal, right? And everyone's focused on personalization and making sure you can actuate uh around personalization. So memorability uh could be very personal as well, right? What's personal to you uh could be different to me. And I think that's that's the key. If you have that focus on on value and listening to it and driving the innovation, memorable is is going to be disparate, but it sounds like you're doing a great job of you know responding in kind to what could be memorable.

SPEAKER_01:

There's always more you can do with being memorable, right? Um, I think that's the challenge is you know, a lot of brands are trying to break through and it's saturated communicating with customers. Uh, I'll share quickly with you. We did do a recent offer where we gave a VIP experience and uh a VIP shopping with one of our partners. And so what was cool is we sent out this communication to all our members, and it was like, you are VIP, but we didn't have the value or the exact discount in the note because when they went to the store of one of our partners, every brand in the store had offered discounts and they were all different prices. But I'll tell you, I took my family and we saved a ton of money and it was a great experience. And at the end of the day, you got this receipt and it said, you're a Petro Points VIP, and here's your savings. And it was like, that was a great, memorable experience. My daughter got a full soccer kit and a bunch of new stuff that she needed for her sports this fall. And so those are the examples where I think it's like, how do you do things that might cost more? You can't do them as frequently, but that's where that may stand out for a member to say, wow, that program isn't just every day. And you're constantly trying new things to see if it lands.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. So I know uh we know each other a little bit uh outside. I have a number of conversations. Health wellness is something that you're really you're very focused on, and also giving back to your community. When you look at health and wellness, how does that help you in in your career?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I to get started. I love this question. Uh, I think health and wellness, whether um for me it's really about a healthy body, a healthy mind can take on any challenge of the day. And so I would say I've I've been an active person my whole life, but in university, uh I really had a great uh relationship, and my aunt inspired me to start running. Just with my crazy university schedule, I started running. Uh, and in a few short years, she had helped me and I'd qualified for the Boston Marathon. And since then, I've run uh over 10 marathons, um, traveled all over to have those experiences and see different cities, which was amazing. Uh, I then had my daughter, and then after that, I started training um into cycling. So as my daughter was little and would be napping, I would jump on my bike trainer and switched my sport into cycling just because it kind of fit the family life better. Uh, and now I'm part of the Suncor cycling group. So the company we're part of, we have about 80 folks that ride and raise money for charity. Uh, and I would just say that what I love about athletics is it really helps my mind uh stay grounded and I can focus on um being clearing my mind and focusing and taking care of the things in proportion. And I can solve through challenges much more efficiently and effectively, um, just given it uh I have this priority of other things outside of the workplace that really do keep me balanced and you know focused on wellness.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. You know, how outside of health and wellness and obviously giving back to the community, are there other passions or hobbies that uh that you have as well?

SPEAKER_01:

I love to uh explore food. I love to explore cultures. Um, and you know, trying to find the balance of integrating some of this is a bit tough because time is scarce, right? So um right now my key passion is spending time with my daughter, um, spending time with my husband. We together, for example, will do a bike ride to brunch. Our new thing is looking at all the trails in Calgary where we live and taking a new trail on a weekend and going exploring a new restaurant. Uh so spending that family time together uh on the weekend is one of my most exciting things. I also love to read. Um, there was a period of time where I was reading a lot about business, a lot about leadership, and really focused on how to improve myself. I now am into some more kind of fun, uh unrelated books to work. It allows me to have a bit more of an escape. And so I just think it is amazing to balance yourself and focusing on other things so that you can bring your best to your workplace. In terms of giving back to community right now, my big focus is mentorship. Um, I've had the pleasure and been extremely privileged to have some amazing mentors in my career and in my life. And so I would say right now I spend a lot of time um supporting people who look for mentorship and uh support in our organization and outside to help them grow, whether it's personally or professionally as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Excellent. Um, when you look at uh your family life, you talked about obviously sharing times and moments with them, very important. Um your background growing up, uh, you know, where'd you grow up? Uh and where'd you go to school? Uh, you know, how'd that start?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I'm from a very small town in Alberta, uh, Canada. Um, I spent a lot of time in the outdoors. Um, I am of Ukrainian heritage, and I'm the oldest of uh all the grandkids in my family, and I'm very close with my grandfather. So a big influence on who I am today uh is from learning a lot from him. And he taught me a lot about work ethic, about also staying humble and using nature to ground yourself uh and to stay present and to stay appreciative of the things that that you have. Um so I grew up in in this kind of small uh small town Alberta University. I m I went over to Ontario. Um I went to the University of Western and I um also did my MBA in Ontario from the University of uh Queens. And um that was a great experience. And I currently now am back in Alberta. Um, our company's head office here is here in Calgary.

SPEAKER_00:

Excellent. When you look at your first job after school, what was your first job after school? Uh, and is there something that stands out that it was very impactful from an experienced perspective that may have, you know, also helped shape where you are and what you do today?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, my first job out of school, I worked in a photo lab, and and many people maybe you know, going forward, be like, what's a photo lab? And so I had to take film and process it through chemicals, change all of the colors to it, and then print it out of these machines back when all of our cameras were of this film that needed to be processed. And there were two things I learned from this job. The first was time management. You know, people would bring in film and say, I want my pictures in an hour, um, and I want them eight by ten, or I want them four by six, I want them five by seven. And so you got to change the chemical, you got to change the paper size, and you've really got to be uh multitasking to accomplish all of these tasks within the dedicated time. So I did learn very well how to be a bit of a time master in that job. And the second thing I learned was the importance of leadership. In this photo lab, there were some amazing leaders that asked the right questions that were very empowering, that were very supportive, that congratulated and recognized people who could rise above kind of the average production and that kind of thing. And so I would say from that first job until now, it's been amazing uh the exposure I've had to great leaders that has kind of informed my approach to leadership as well.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. When you look back at some of the challenges you faced in your life, uh, is there been, you know, one challenge that may have been bigger than others that uh may have influenced or shaped uh who you are today and and how you lead and manage?

SPEAKER_01:

This is such a good question. Um I've faced many challenges. I don't think there's one maybe to call out. But what I would say is at the time when I was facing these challenges, I don't think I realized how helpful that was in making me a stronger, smarter, more resilient person. And so I think if anybody's watching this podcast is kind of going through challenges or thinking about their challenges, for me, it's just the gratitude for those hardships and how they can build you into a per into the future person that you want to be. Um, I have this thing on my desk. It says, do something today that your future self will thank you for. And so when I think of the challenges, these are beautiful moments that come into your life that you face, that you can choose to crumble, you can choose to stay knocked down, or you can choose to say, I learned something, I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna do that again, and I'm gonna do it better. And so I've I haven't had any kind of big challenges worth noting, but I think the biggest thing about challenges is just receive them with grace and be thankful for them because I do think they can really help you get to greater in the future.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh absolutely, yeah, that's a good perspective. I think kind of be being cognizant of the present and and and looking for the past, and I think uh looking towards the future is is a great perspective for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, so this one may not be as applicable, but uh, if you could go back and change one thing uh about your life uh or career, you know, what would that be?

SPEAKER_01:

I think the thing I would change, and I have changed it over time. So it's about being bold. I think sometimes as we figure ourselves out, as we mature and grow into our careers, we might be more hesitant or looking around for the right answer or for someone to approve that you're going in the right direction. And I I would just say to go with courage and to be bold, to learn and back to the challenges is if you fall down, I think you're going to be able to learn earlier in your life if you take more risks and if you are more bold. And so I have learned that. And I think that is my approach to leadership today is let's be courageous. Like, what could we do that will disrupt? What's something that's really hard that we can take it on? Because I think if we then achieve it, we'll be more proud and it will make a bigger impact. And so to not hold ourselves back, I think that's where um I'm trying to build that into my everyday is to do bigger and better.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Kind of we like to wrap these up uh with advice for uh you know, someone who may be new to customer loyalty. You talked that you're very focused on mentorship and and and uh uh nurturing uh those relationships. But when you look at uh customer loyalty, someone who's started out uh who wants to elevate uh their experience and their success uh in the customer experience and customer loyalty arena, you know, what what would you suggest to them?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I I think being part of the association that you've created, Mark, I think is amazing. Like Loyalty 360 allows you to look at other industries and other businesses and how they're doing it, to be curious, ask questions, and to always be wondering how to do um what you're doing better. I think internally to your organization, if you're working in loyalty, it's really about understanding two things very clearly. The first thing you need to understand very clearly is what are you serving the customer with? What is what is your offering or product or service to the customer? What do they want? And how can you give that to them? And then, yeah, what are you going to do and what what tools do you have to drive growth in your business? What are your business objectives to match what the customer wants? So I think if you if you know what the customer wants, if you know what your business is trying to accomplish and what you have to engage that customer. And then if you look outside to organizations that help you see best practices or how other companies are doing it and asking great questions, I think that you'll you'll be very, very successful. It's always helping curious, right?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm a big fan of curious reading, uh always uh to trying to read as much as you can, I think, and looking at it, uh you mentioned earlier from another's perspective, right? How are other industries looking at customer loyalty? And I think that's one of the things that we do a good job of, and I enjoy is just looking at customer loyalty, customer experience, new technologies, what's working, what's not working. I definitely think you can take uh pieces from you know other industries that are working, and also you can uh you forewarn yourself about challenges that may exist within other industries that you may not have thought of. So I think that kind of group think uh is is is very very fun to be part of. Uh well now we have our our quick fire questions. Uh I know you've done this before, but this is a different group. So uh, you know, how would you describe your work life?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh exciting.

SPEAKER_00:

Excellent. Uh if you have a day or a week off from work, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm cycling or traveling with my family.

SPEAKER_00:

There you go. If you could live in any city, any country, where would you live?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. Maybe maybe Paris.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Uh if you go back to school, back to university, uh, what would you study?

SPEAKER_01:

I think medicine. I think it's it's needed.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Is there a facet of your job that uh you really like, you really enjoy, that you'd like to know more about?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I would say artificial intelligence.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And is there a facet of your job that uh you maybe would like to know maybe a little less about, not not to be as involved in?

SPEAKER_01:

I love this one. Uh legal terms and conditions or legalities, and and there's a lot of legal that kind of comes with this type of a program.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Uh what motivates you when tackling challenges at Petro Canada?

SPEAKER_01:

That we every day get to serve one million Canadians and and I want to help them keep going in the best way possible.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. And what do you draw inspiration from? You know, what lights your fire?

SPEAKER_01:

I get out of bed every day wanting to make a difference.

SPEAKER_00:

There you go. Uh what's one skill you you would like to learn?

SPEAKER_01:

I would love to learn how to play the guitar.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Excellent. Well, manage.

SPEAKER_01:

You didn't see that one coming, did you, Mark?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I did not see that coming. Uh I have a couple in the basement you can have that I don't play anymore. So uh the Ah, there you go. Yeah, um, well, great. Well, thank you very much for taking the time to join us today. Uh it was great having you on the Executive Spotlight. I think uh your passion that you shared for mentorship and kind of just nurturing relationships with both employees and uh your customers uh came through very clearly and strongly. So it was uh great to hear you know all the different things you advocate for and have the passion for.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for having me, Mark. Nice to see you.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And thank you everyone for taking the time to listen today. Uh join us every Saturday for a new Executive Spotlight interview. Until then, have a wonderful day.