Marketing Strategies for your Campus Card Program 2016 Canadian Campus Card Conference Anthony Barbisan

Agenda

• Introduction

• Marketing Fundamentals

• Promoting Your Card Program

• Loyalty Programs − Administering a Loyalty Program − Supporting Other Institutional Services and Initiatives

• Measuring Results

• Q&A

The YU-card Program

• YU-card implemented in 2006 − eAccounts online account management − Retail/Dining (approximately 100 points of sale) − Cash-to-card machines (11) − Vending machines (65) − Residence laundry (27) − Sequoia iValidate (3) − Nebraska Bookstore interface − PaperCut Print/Copy interface

• Launched DESFire EV1 cards in June 2014

− Door access integration with ProWatch

Marketing Fundamentals

• It’s about more than just advertising

Campus Card

Program

Product

Place

Price

Promotion People

Process

Physical Evidence

Marketing Fundamentals

• Can students use your card where/when they want? − Add services that build use – not just financial − Potential exclusivity for the campus card

• Are your services easy to use and reliable?

− Convenient payment methods to add funds − Devices are working properly

• Are your card office processes efficient and effective?

− Easy to obtain a card − Capitalize on time spent with each cardholder

Promoting Your Card Program

• Develop your card program’s brand identity − The essence of what your program is about, including personality − Align with institution’s branding, policies, guidelines, but have fun − “Brand Leadership” by David A. Aaker

• Consistent branding/messaging across communications

− Helps ensure your card program is recognizable − Reinforces your central brand promise

• Define your objectives − Increase card deposits − Increase general adoption of the card

Integrated Marketing Communications Plan

• Think broadly and be creative

Direct Mail Postcard

• Mailed to first- and second-year students • 34% increase in online deposits in the first year

Promotions

Digital

• Have clear objectives for your digital presence

• Pick your platform(s)

• Ensure that content is relevant and balanced − Subject matter and frequency

• Proactively monitor activity and respond to questions/issues in

a timely manner

Digital

• The YU-card has a presence on Facebook and Twitter

• All content drives back to the website and online deposit page

• Share engaging content relevant to the entire York U community

• Works collaboratively with @YorkUFood accounts (Instagram and Twitter)

Loyalty and Rewards Programs

• Do you need to do it?

• What’s the objective? − Capture spend for your card − Promote a location − Encourage participation in a

program or activity − Change behaviour e.g.

sustainability initiative − Develop better data for

analytics

• Are you providing something students will value?

Considerations

• What type of rewards? − “Cash back” or points? − Social badges/achievements

• Who funds the rewards?

• Financial controls

− Who can post “free” items?

• Program terms and conditions

− Earn, redeem, expiration

Design and Administration

• Various methods are available depending on your campus card system, IT resources, etc. − Stored value accounts for dollar, points or coupon based rewards − Attendance/event functionality for points or coupon based rewards

• Choosing the right method depends on the type and design of

your loyalty/rewards program − Limited time only vs. ongoing? − Dollar award vs. points? − Complexity of rewards scheme – consistent % vs. tiered benefits? − Single merchant vs. multiple merchants participating?

• Automate when possible for consistency and efficiency

Examples

• Two cases where we had a desire to use the YU-card to administer a loyalty/reward program − Bookstore Rewards Program − National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Incentive

• Both programs were implemented with minimal effort

• Timeline for implementation in both cases was short

“Scholar Dollars” Bookstore Rewards

• York U Bookstore wanted to provide a rewards program − Bookstore’s objective: compete with other merchants and demonstrate

competitive value for students − Collaborative desire to also increase overall use of YU-card

• Wanted a process that was easy for students to use

− Also wanted minimal administrative work (sign-up process, redemptions, etc.) so as not to impact wait times at registers

• Wanted to provide students with rewards in a timely manner

and enable students to monitor and save their rewards over time for additional bonuses

“Scholar Dollars” Bookstore Rewards

• Pay with your YU-card and earn 5% in Scholar Dollars − Scholar Dollars can be redeemed

toward any Bookstore merchandise

− Save up $100 Scholar Dollars, and your reward is doubled

• Scholar Dollars are funded by the Bookstore

• Advertising shared by both Bookstore and YU-card

“Scholar Dollars” Bookstore Rewards

• Automated processes calculate the rewards amount earned by the cardholder, and post the funds to a dedicated Bookstore Rewards account − Students can view their rewards balances online

• Needed to address potential “gaming” of the program

− Redeeming rewards earned on items that are subsequently returned Rewards are earned 35 days after the purchase date Refunds are posted the next day Possible for student to be temporarily “short” on reward dollars if they

return merchandise

“Scholar Dollars” Bookstore Rewards

• Steady but gradual increase in use of the YU-card at the Bookstore − Awareness is an issue

• Over $200,000 in Scholar

Dollars has been awarded

• $48,000 has been redeemed by students

Year % of Boosktore Sales

2011-12 0.9%

2012-13 2.4% 2013-14 3.6% 2014-15 4.8% 2015-16 15.0%

“Scholar Dollars” Bookstore Rewards

• Lessons learned

− Not surprisingly, more time was spent resolving the business rules than developing the program concept – the devil’s in the details

− Need to have a good reconciliation process, even if the rewards are not funded

− Give careful thought to the expiration policy up-front

NSSE Incentive Program

• NSSE collects information about first-year and fourth-year students’ participation in programs and activities

• Senior administration highly values the data obtained from NSSE and wanted to improve York’s 2011 participation rate of 16.9% to an ambitious target of 35% in 2014

• In addition to a comprehensive communication campaign, the institution wanted to provide students with an incentive to complete the survey

NSSE Incentive Program

• Wanted to provide students with something that had the “value of a latte” but had limited funding

• Wanted a simple process with easy redemptions − 18,500 eligible survey participants − Target 35% response rate or 6,475 students − Research suggested 1/3 of rewards would be redeemed

• Distribution of physical coupons was seen to be onerous and it

was felt that this would be less enticing for students

NSSE Incentive Program

• Leveraged partnerships to have rewards donated − On-campus mall: $5 gift certificates − Dining provider: free beverage at Starbucks or Tim Hortons

• Used the YU-card to issue a “virtual coupon” to students that

could be redeemed for one of the rewards

• Automated process loaded the “coupon” for students who had completed the survey − Daily file received from NSSE − Student received an email after the coupon was posted thanking them for

participating and providing redemption instructions

NSSE Incentive Program

• Success! Participation increased significantly

• 16.9% 2011

• 27.8% 2014

NSSE Incentive Program

• York had Ontario’s 2nd highest participation rate increase − University with highest increase (19%) attributes $5 card deposit − Need to assess the cost/benefit of a given approach

• Final reward redemption rate was 30.6%

− 65% of redemptions were for Starbucks − 31% for the campus mall

• Positioned YU-card as a service platform and an enabling

technology for other departments − Same process used in 2015 to promote participation in the National

College Health Assessment survey − Now using YU-card to post $5 rewards for other surveys

Measuring Results

• It can be difficult to correlate results to a specific marketing initiative

• Variety of qualitative and quantitative tools and data available to provide insights − Transaction analysis – overall, specific locations, etc. − Social media monitoring – followers, likes, retweets, etc. − Surveys and focus groups

Measuring Results

• Beware of unanticipated consequences − Competing initiatives (bursaries vs. online deposits) − Customers getting hooked on a promotion

• Some things are beyond your control

− Enrolment, economy, other institutional priorities, labour disruptions, etc.

Q&A

• Questions?