Focus on digital customer loyalty: Efficient strategies with CleverKarte

Starting point and objectives

As a newspaper and magazine publisher, you must manage your customer relationships efficiently in a digitalized world. The competition for reader loyalty requires that added value be communicated transparently and comprehensibly. The aim is always to retain subscribers in the long term and actively prevent cancellations. The CleverCard can be used here as a tool to generate sustainable customer benefits through targeted savings and emotional communication.

Solution: Personalized annual review

In the VDL Talk, Keil presented various loyalty methods. He explained how digital engagement programs can be seamlessly combined with classic customer loyalty strategies. A central component is the personalized annual review, which the LZ has been successfully using for over ten years.

The review provides subscribers with a clear overview of the following key figures:

• Intensity of use: How often was the CleverCard used in the past year?‍
• Total savings: What financial advantage do readers get from using it?‍
• Emotional experiences: Which events and activities were attended?

“The LZ thus reaches its customers exactly when they are thinking about canceling — at the beginning of the year, for example, when households critically question their subscriptions. The digital review of the year shows in black and white the added value of the subscription,” says Keil.

Collaboration and practical implementation

During the lab talk, our Head of Sales Kevin Kallenbach discussed VDL-Speaker Stefan Waldschmidt and Keil on how publishers can function as central nodes in the local ecosystem through the cooperative approach in regional retail.

Kallenbach emphasized: “CleverKarte is a brilliant case because the cooperative approach with regional retailers makes the media house a hub for the region and allows publishers to play a key role in the local ecosystem. ”

In addition, integrating the annual review into the subscription life cycle does not require complex processes, as all relevant data — savings, transactions and event participation — is already in the loyalty management system of AVS be recorded. This data-based approach enables your publisher to communicate the added value of your subscription clearly and factually.

The LZ has been implementing the annual account statement for many years. There, subscribers who do not actively use the subscription card will also receive a message with the motto “You missed that.” This effective step motivates customers to use the card more in the future. Another example: The Süddeutsche Zeitung uses a content-related review that not only shows readers how many articles they have read, but also when they are most active and which categories and departments they primarily deal with.

In addition to the review, an outlook can also be integrated — a method that Netflix, for example, successfully uses. In loyalty programs, the outlook serves to show customers which other partners the subscription card also offers benefits, for example under the motto “Other readers save money there with the subscription card.” In this way, review and outlook form an effective combination to communicate the added value of the program even more comprehensively.

Added value for publishers and media houses

The measures described offer several strategic advantages:

• Transparency: Readers receive a comprehensible overview of their personal benefits.‍
• Customer loyalty: The risk of cancellations is specifically reduced through timely information and emotional communication.‍
• Innovative positioning: Publishers that include regional retailers are strengthening their role as key players in the local ecosystem.

The Landeszeitung's strategy for the Lüneburger Heide shows that clear, data-based communication of savings and usage patterns can not only strengthen the loyalty of your customers, but also contribute to the strategic positioning of your brand in the region.

conclusion

Through targeted use of CleverKarte and the integration of personalized annual reviews, efficiency and transparency in customer loyalty can be sustainably increased — a strategy that is becoming increasingly important in times of digital transformation. Particularly interesting for you: These and other loyalty programs can be seamlessly integrated into our digital platform.

Would you like to find out how Purple, as a digital-first publishing solution, can help you set up efficient and future-oriented workflows? Then schedule a demo now.

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