Latest / Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360 / #546: Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories | Circle K is Rewarding its Loyalty Members One Visit at a Time

Transcript

#546: Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories | Circle K is Rewarding its Loyalty Members One Visit at a Time · Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Good afternoon, good morning, Mark Johnson from Loyalty 460.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's a Thursday, so welcome back to the Leaders in Customer Loyalty Podcast.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to have you with us every Thursday.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today, we are excited to have feature Carly.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: She is the head of customer loyalty at Circle K.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Circle K is one of the world's leading convenience and fuel retailers.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: They serve millions of customers across more than 20 countries.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Under Carly's leadership, Circle K continues to evolve its customer loyalty strategy, leveraging customer insights, personalization, partnerships, and innovative reward experiences to create more value for customers every day.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to explore how customer expectations are changing, the evolution of Circle K's newly refreshed inner circle rewards program, the role of data and customer feedback in shaping experiences, engaging younger generations, and also what the future of customer loyalty looks like for one of the world's most recognized industry and leading brands.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Carly, thank you very much for taking the time to join us today.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: I am good.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for asking.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing well, thank you.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh to start off, for those who may not be familiar with Circle K, can you give us a brief overview and introduction to the company, what you guys do, how you do it?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Circle K is a global leader in the fuel and convenience space with a presence of thousands of stores worldwide.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Our mission, our goal is really simple.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: We want to make our customers' life a little bit easier every day by providing uh fast and friendly services, by providing fresh food, uh refreshed drinks, reliable fuel wherever our customers live, work, and commute to.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: We uh really work hard to evolve ourselves to meet the changing needs of the communities we serve.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: We joke about it as circle K, right?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like our customers, their needs, their behaviors are always changing, and the only thing that's not changing is the change itself.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: So through everyday essentials, um, through loyalty rewards, digital experiences, we really focus on creating a seamless experience that helps our customers to get to where they are going.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you know you and and the um the listeners to to the the video, the call here have the experience of stopping by Circle K, whether it's getting fuel, getting a fuel app, getting a cup of coffee, grabbing lunch, or you know, getting snacks and drinks on the way to sports practice.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely uh one should be quite familiar with uh Circle K.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think you mentioned you've been at that organization for five years.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh would love to know a little bit more about your role at Circle K, what you do, how you do it.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, of course.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: My role and my job, I have a really interesting and fun job at Circle K.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's challenging and it's it's inspiring.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: My role at Circle K is the head of loyalty, CR imprecisation, and partnership.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: My responsibility, what my team and I work work on and think about every day is to get customers to know about Circle K, to use our services, to think about staying in touch and connect with us.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, what does that mean?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: It means that we are focused on growing our member base, we are acquiring new members, engaging with our new members, engaging with our existing members, and retain our members.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: We do so by delivering value, delivering ease, delivering fun and engaging experiences to make our customers feel that they are recognized, appreciated, rewarded every time they choose to stop at Cycle K.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look at your role, uh you obviously have a very important role in driving customer loyalty, driving engagement throughout the brand.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And what is the biggest challenge or maybe the biggest opportunity you face in your role?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that we think about it as to your point, like opportunities and really where we are spending our energy and our time.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: The the the the the place or the the point, the area we're spending our energy and time is really around how we make it easy and the simplicity of the program and then and the experience.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like you and I, like everybody, we are all so busy with our life.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Our customers have told us that they don't want the loyalty program to become something else, like in addition to what they are really doing that they have to manage and deal with.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we spend a great deal of energy to find ways to fit our program and the experience into what our customers are already doing today, how they already shop with us, how they already engage with us.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we really look to find ways that to fit into fit ourselves into their routine, into how they engage and how they want to engage and how they want to manage their life and what they are already doing today.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Our goal is not to ask them to make it one extra step or to change what they're doing today.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you talked a little bit about uh keeping Circle K at the forefront, making sure it's uh recognized and understood by all your customers.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Customer loyalty programs are changing, customer expectations are changing.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what is Circle K doing to keep the customer loyalty program up to date, to you know, keep up to date with what the customers are looking for?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: We hear a good deal, I'm sure you do as well, about the right channel, right message, right offering.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how are you engaging with kind of a changing audience base?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like like we talked about earlier, the only thing that doesn't change is change itself.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we definitely work hard to stay on top of like what our customers are doing, what they're thinking, what they are telling us.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: A really big part of where I spend my time is to go through customers' feedback and to really hear from their words like what they are telling us.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um that that voice of customers, we stay on top of what they are saying and take their feedback seriously.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: On top of that, we are also always constantly monitoring how our customers are engaging with us, what what they are doing.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, in addition to what they're telling us, we monitor and respond to what they're doing.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: One of the uh the upcoming changes that we are very excited to share with our members is this uh enhancements, this physic-based currency we are adding to the program.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: This was also born out of the feedback we are getting from our customers, the voice of customers, the campaigns and the personalized challenges that we have tested with our customers and the feedback, the engage, the interactions, the engagement they have shown through what they are doing with us.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And we are really working hard to your point, finding the right audience, right offer, right time, right channel.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, again, coming back to what I mentioned earlier, we want to make what we do, what we deliver, fit into our customers' routine.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that means we have to work really hard to recognize the routine, to find the small but genuine moment to make it better for them.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Loyalty is really an opportunity to earn our customers' trust.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we have to show up and earn that trust one visit a time, and really to earn that through making their lives a little bit easier and making their visit come a little bit better and come more and give more value to them.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about a new currency, some enhancements to the program.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I would love to hear about them.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: What are the new enhancements you've made to the program, uh, the app, the customer loyalty offering, and how are your customers uh you know uh responding to that?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's uh it's an upcoming change that will sh will be available to our members in the next uh next couple of days and weeks.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the exciting part of this change is that our customers, they already visit us today, right?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: We have millions of members, they make you know uh multiple transactions a day with us.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: We at Circle K are really fortunate that we get to see our customers multiple times a week, sometimes multiple times a day.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: They come in in the morning to fill up their car and grab their breakfast, they stop by again for their lunch break, uh, and then they come uh at the Circle K in the evening on their way home, grab dinner, or quick snacks and drinks on their way to sports practice.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: That frequency and the choices, the selections that our customers made to pick circle K on their way to somewhere else, that is truly a gift.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: And with that, we are also looking to find to give more value to our customers who are visiting us today.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: So the idea that every visit comes was born out of this uh desire to give more to our members.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: We know they are visiting us already.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: We know for some customers, they visit us multiple times a week, multiple times a day.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: We want those visits to really come and give them more value.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So that's really the concept of the visit-based currency was born with the visit-based currency.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: It comes with the new app experience that will be available to our members.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: No uh changes or no efforts is required.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Not no changes, no efforts is required from our members.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: They will be able to see the visit currency show up, the experience show up in the app.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, then they will be able to track visits real time.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: They will be able to cash in their visits for the rewards they want at the time they want to use the reward.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they will also be able to receive personalized challenge again based on what they are really doing today.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: We want to reward them for the visits they are already making.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And for that, we want to give them value and the ability to choose the value they want to use.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the rewards that fits them the best for that day and the time when they want to use it.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about uh listening to your customers, uh understanding the feedback.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what is one of the most interesting things that maybe a customer has asked for or something they would like?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Something is something kind of off the wall.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: They want a puppy, they want a horse, they want uh uh a new Lamborghini.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: What's the kind of the most off-the-wall thing or most interesting thing a customer has asked for?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we definitely, so interesting enough to to uh follow up on what you said, but we definitely in the emails that I've read, I've seen customers asking for a boat uh as as an addition to the rewards they can receive.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um so obviously our customers, like for the most part, they they want to find value in everyday savings.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of what we are seeing and what we are working hard to respond is to deliver value savings and pump, right?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: So saving, um getting savings up to a dollar off a gallon is part of this new uh new program refresh that our customers will be able to get the reward.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: So the main thing we keep seeing and hearing from our customers is really savings.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: So savings, few savings, savings on everyday items.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like we know kind of the inflation, the economy, like the way it goes, like everyday savings means how much that means and matters to to to everyday family, right?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: To families every day.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of what we are seeing the most.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the most crazy ask.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the bow thing is probably like the the most crazy ask we uh we have received, we have that on our list.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully one day we will we will get there.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be definitely a very experiential reward if they could uh earn a boat.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: It'd be probably a lot of fuel purchases.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: So with with uh with companies like yourself, uh understanding the fuel industry is very interesting, right?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: You have a front court, you have a backcourt, uh the front court is where the fuel is expensive, the backcourt is the store itself, the convenience store.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think most of your stores are mutually branded circle K, correct?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that obviously enables you to do some things that uh maybe some of the legacy fuel providers can't do, right?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: They may be providing the the fuel at the pump, but they don't have control of the sea store or the backcourt.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um as you kind of navigate the industry and navigate uh the customers and the app and the value you have in the currency.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Are there some challenges to getting people to engage with both the front court and the backcourt?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it using data effectively to be able to understand kind of what the interests may be?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think you you uh nail like the you definitely identify a key advantage or differentiator, I should say, that Sokoke has.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: In most of our stores, we we own the four core and the backcore.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: So we are able to deliver values across like the fuel purchases and the convenience purchases.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think the to your point, um, we think about this in the sense that what our customers are looking for, right?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we have customers who come to Circle K regularly just to fuel up.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: We are on their way to work, they are in a rush, they stop by, they get the gas, and they keep going.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: For those customers, we we observe their behavior, we understand what they're looking for.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Our job is to deliver fuel and to our customers, reliable fuel at the best price.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: So that's for them like the journeys, the missions that we have in mind for customers.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: We meet our customers where they are.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: We obviously have customers who come into store regularly for pull-up pop, for their drinks, for their snacks, for their food.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: We understand their trip missions, we understand their behavior.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Our job is to meet them where they are, deliver value on the things that matter to them, on the products they're looking for, at the same time, giving them an opportunity to get more savings if they choose to go from inside to outside or full core to in-store.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we deliver value for them to be able to try and we deliver to try new things from circle.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: We also deliver those values, we look to deliver them in a gamified and interesting and fun way to them.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, aside from customers who have you know tribmissions outside of store, tribmission inside of store, we also have a good portion of our customers who go between inside and outside.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: For those customers, we also want to make the transition from going, uh, going from the full core to the store easy.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: And again, all coming back to seamless experience, more value to our customers for what they are really doing.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: And every visit inside or outside should both count because they make a choice to fill up a circle K, and then they make a choice to go inside to pick up a meal, that should also be rewarded.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: Our customers should get to um get value from what they are really doing today.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about this a little bit as well.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, value is very important.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, at LOLT360, we look at value in a number of different ways, value to the program internally, right, from the organization, value to the customer, and uh, and also uh, you know, a value to the brand.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: When you talk about value, how are you looking at value?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is it is it offering the products and services at a discount or uh in in the right channel that they want, especially for someone who may be coming in once, twice, three times a day.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, maybe there's a little discount there that that helps them uh you know afford uh or uh the the product that they may not have potentially purchased before.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how are you looking at value holistically?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because it seems that you're looking at it uh in a very diverse and proactive manner.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that is a really, really good question.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think we talk about value and we have to talk and talk about value in the context of ease.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: So value, when we look at value in the context of ease, and that's really a combination of the value of the product and service that they pay for, right?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we want to make our customers feel that they are getting rewarded with the discount, with the rewards, with the ability to get more from what they are, like what they pay, right?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: What they are purchasing.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a purely like more like monetary value perspective.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: But when we look at that value, look at value in the context of ease, that comes back to like meeting our customers where they are.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: We have customers who are always in a rush.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: And for them, at that moment, the most valuable thing to them is saving time.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: They want to be able to go through in and out of the store as fast as they can.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: They they are they are in a hurry to pick up their kids.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: At that moment, saving time is most valuable to them.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: So the way we think about value, even though when I say value, it's more a savings, like it's discount, it's rewards, it's what you get.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: But we never look at value in isolation.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: We look at value in context with the east and we really look for uh the way to deliver quote unquote value to our customers based on what they're looking for and what matters the most to them.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Do you ever have a customer that's really not looking to spend more time with their kids?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like they want to spend more time in the store and hang out and talk to the rep behind the counter.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: We do, we do.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mentioned, yeah, I mentioned earlier, like one of the things I like to do the most at Circle K is to read customers' feedback.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: It helps me connect with customers in addition to just spending time in the store, talking to customers.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: It helps me to see customers from all the different places and hear what they are saying to us.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: A good portion of those feedback are really a detailed account of their interactions with the store employees.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: So loyalty is interesting here, kind of to your point around we have customers, the reason they come to Circle K, in addition to locations, product, and services, the biggest factor for them to choose Circle K ever over and over again is the person in the store.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: They come here, they want to hear now, they want to talk about, you know, how are your days?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: How's your kids?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: How how how is everything going?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: For those customers, that genuine connection between them and our store employees is what's valuable to them.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: And what we want to do is also deliver and find ways to extend that connection above and beyond the time they spend in the store, but also helping our store employees to serve our customers better.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: And this is where loyalty comes in to help earn trust from our customers, not just through the digital connections, but also through the people-to-people interactions.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: That makes perfect sense.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you talked about this a little bit as well.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh understanding, engaging younger generations, Gen Z, uh younger, you know, oftentimes they want to make two transactions with the store, right, and be treated like a gold or platinum uh tier uh individual, right?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: They want surprise and delight, they want gamification, they want uniqueness, they want you to know them at a level that you know you know your parents.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, when you look at engaging uh or reaching Gen Z and younger generations, how are you doing that and doing that so effectively?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the the thinking like as you described, like the young, the Gen Z, the younger generations, they they are they look for the immediacy, like look for the mobile first experiences, and definitely have high expectations for how much the brand should know them, serve them, and value them.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think it comes back down, uh comes down to the Gen Z.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: What we find interesting is they're they're um they're they are really responsive for fun experience for gamification.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where uh this activity, this activation of gamification activation can really help us achieve a better way, the way to serve Gen Z the way they want to engage with us.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it's mobile first, it's gamifications.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: The a good example is the um the scratch and wing, the summer uh gamification, the gamification we just did uh over the summer.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: It really helps to for our Gen Z and younger generations to come into the mobile fast first, right?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: So come into our app, engage with us, and get value, the instant rewards when they check in and play again.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: So that gives them kind of the gratification that they are winning something and they are getting value from the brand, right?
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: So, like to your point, they're making one visit, they're making two visits, they want to see value from those visits already.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: And in the game, Identification, right?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: In addition to like actually giving our customers the ability to earn rewards by making business, we are also giving them the ability to earn rewards just by checking in with us in the app.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I think going down the path of like thinking through the instant gratification, the gamification, and really delivering rewards every time they show up and do something with us is really the way, the kind of the guiding principle for us to engage with the younger generation.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think we've had a number of member meetings.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh meetings every week with our brand members.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about different topics and you know, the endowed progress effect.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you're familiar with that.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a checklist, buy one, get uh, you know, buy five, get one free.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you start them off at one, especially the younger generations, you know, they they find that very valuable because they feel like they they they're a step ahead of others.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um in different ways, gamification, uh, doing them uh and rewarding them for non-transactional type opportunities are very important as well.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you it's really good uh point you just made.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's this this group of customers we we see, they like the the idea of like they're beating the system, right?
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: So like they like to feel like they are a step ahead, they feel like they are quacking the nut that no one else does.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, like again, coming back to like meeting our customers where they are and finding relevant value, experience offer based on what's most important to them.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's perfect.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we talked about this a little bit, uh, kind of the the the launch of the kind of the new program, some of the new things are coming up.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what prompted some of those changes?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about voice of the customer, uh, listening to customers and make sure you're providing value.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you move from a point-space system to a visits-based model.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, you know, how how do you communicate that to customers as well?
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, talk about some of the changes you made to the program.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, first is really again like building around what our customers are doing.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: So they're visiting us today.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: We want them to be able to see their visits and be able to track their visits and be able to cash in their visits to get rewards up to a dollar off per gallon.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that's on average$10 savings in one fuel up.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: So the the changes is really around the ability to now think about the visit they make and know that every visit comes and that they will be able to get value, the rewards, savings, just by visiting Circle K.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: The way we communicate to our customers is really to help them understand what a visit is, right?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: So customers know I'm making visit today, but what is a visit?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like a visit is really just a way for you to then see that as a currency and redeem cash-in currency for rewards you want.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: So that is also very similar to in like how loyalty program works today.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think the key difference here, so this is the insights we got from voice of customers, got from customer research, but also got from our uh our research and our communications with our employees.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: When our employees, that genuine connection I mentioned earlier, when they talk to our customers, they talked about a visit.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: They talked about come see us again tomorrow, right?
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: But in the sense of like talking about loyalty, the currency, and a genuine like conversations with our customer, it is a lot easier and natural to say, come see us again tomorrow, you get a visit, right?
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Then that visits stack up and you will be able to cash in your visit to get a dollar off per gallon fuel savings.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: A visit is also a lot easier for customers to come mentally.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: They know I go to circle K in the morning for my morning coffee in the fuel op, that's visits.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: I know those visits, like I know how many times I go to Circle K, so I can easily, like in my mind, understand, okay, I have this many visits versus points.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit more complicated, right?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like one point equals a dollar spend equals a point.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: I spend five dollars.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna buy a coke, coca's$3.50 makes some, so it becomes the math becomes complicated.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: That makes perfect sense.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Personalization is very important to all successful customer multi-programs.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: We just launched our uh our new customer loyalty or readiness index uh for brands, uh it uh kind of rank brands on how ready they are with the organization, but personalization is one of those things that are very uh significant to customer loyalty, customer experience efforts.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh your uh your new inner circle reward program, you know, includes personalized challenges that you talked about, tailored to individual shopping habits.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how does that enhance customer experience going forward?
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that really helps us to again like meet our customers where they are and give them value uh that matters the most to them, right?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I we have customers who come in only to fuel up.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: They never come into the store, but they are come into Circle K every week to fill up.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: For them, like the fuel savings and the ability to fill up faster, like in and out faster, is important and reliable fuel to know, like I when I am not on my daily routine, where should I go to fill up to find a circle c to fill up?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: So all those things are are relevant and personal for this particular type of customers, and we are able to get them more value based on how, again, how they engage and how they shop with Circle K today.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: For customers who shop in and out of the store, like they fill up and they go into store.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: We understand that in addition to fuel savings, they are also looking for savings on meals, and they sometimes bring their kids in.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: So the surprise and delight comes in, right?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: So we can deliver like uh kids' meals and kids' quadras and like surprising delight, sports drink for the days we know they are stopping by Circle K to go to the sports practice.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: So personalization, personalized challenge is really the way for us to become relevant for our customers.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not, you've probably heard this, you know, a million times, like it's not one size fits all.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: We want to make it easy for our customer to give value.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the way to do that is by identifying, recognizing the routine that our customers are doing today and fit ourselves into that routine to give them value that matter to them.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Probably, you know, one of the most impactful trends we're seeing right now in customer loyalty within our membership, especially the ones who have successful market leading programs, is the idea of leaning in to customer loyalty, using the data, using the insight, using it as a fulcrum within the organization.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you've touched on this a bit throughout the interview, how important the customer loyalty program is.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell us a bit more about your new inner circle fuel days and what that means to your members and how that's an example of how you are leaning into customer loyalty?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: So the the fuel prices, right, like are always top of mind for drivers.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: We have been doing fuel day for quite a while now.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: And every time when we have fuel days, the savings up to 40 cents per gallon, where we have those types of savings that customers can get immediately, real time, at the pump, that relief at pump is really what we are looking to deliver to our customers.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: To your point, we are really leaning in, leaning into inner circle, leaning into loyalty.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: We recognize that loyalty is not given, it's something we have to earn.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: And to earn by loyalty sometimes means we are given some of, you know, to your point, cutting to the profit, cutting to the the um the savings that we have, but we want to be able to deliver um the real-time savings and the relief at pump because we know how important it is to our members.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: And again, we want to be able to meet our customers and deliver the value that's most relevant for our members.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you talked about this a little bit, uh, I'd love to revisit this.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: How do you keep reward members engaged between trips to the pump?
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we we definitely think about kind of like the the challenges, personalized challenges, the way we reach out to our customers, right time, right channel, and the in that promotions, as well as the gamifications that we mentioned earlier.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Those are all kind of things we have we have done and seen great success with.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: We know our customers, they are busy.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: They don't maybe have time to stop by Circle K every day, but we understand their routine.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: We know when they will be thinking about trip planning, we know when they might be on the roll and they need, you know, on a road trip or on a road driving somewhere.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have our mission is to help them get where they need to go.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's a quick stop, it's like okay, so they have what they need to keep going.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: In the sense of like how we keep them engaged, it's really through like understanding their routine.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we know the right time, right channel to service the right offer, and then giving them an opportunity to engage with us in the app on our digital channels through gamification, through like, you know, playing a game to get a reward that they can use on their next trip.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know Circle K announced uh a partnership last month with Pepsi, uh, Free Olay.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, from a customer loyalty standpoint, how do partnerships uh like this fit into the inner circle uh ecosystem?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we are always so the yeah, the the new partnership we announced last month really is to like deliver new flavors and this this flaming hot bone uh boneless uh chicken wings launch.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is really interesting, um interesting launch and really relevant for our members because the the conception of the idea and this partnership was really again born out of like what we see our customers are looking for.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: It came directly from listening to our customers.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: They are telling us they're looking for you know bolder, spicier flavor options.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really an execution, an extension, extension of that same philosophy behind inner circle.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: We we we have to earn our customers' trust, loyalty user earned.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: And with that, we have to pay attention to to hear what our customers are telling us and respond and react and bring forward uh what they are asking.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of what builds and brings out the partnership.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Last question, uh second last question, actually.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, what uh what's next for Circle K with regard to customer loyalty, customer experience, brand engagement?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what's what's on the horizon?
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we have a lot of exciting things that are coming.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, obviously, the the first milestone, the the big milestone this year is the the addition of the visa-based currency.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: We are also working tirelessly, and you have heard, and you mentioned um the partnership with Fred Olay.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: We are looking to introduce like partnership, more partnership in the space.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: But really, when we think about what's on the horizon, the way we approach uh new experiences, new enhancements to the program is coming back to the the the sentiment that I mentioned earlier.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's about recognizing our customers' routine and making those small and genuine moments better.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of what's coming is in like testing, learning, and seeing how our customers are engaging with our program and doing the uh optimization to improve how our customers can engage with us every day.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: So those small moments are the times, the opportunities that we can to uh we have to earn trust from our members.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Trust us earn one visit at a time, one interaction at a time.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of kind of our energy will continue to focus on making everyday experience better, showing up in the everyday small moments, but also all those small moments and improvements add up to the big milestone, like the visa-based currency, like the upcoming partnership, and more rewards and more exciting uh challenges and personalization, personalized challenge, as well as uh in-app gamification.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: So those are all areas we're working on.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: More exciting things will come in all those areas uh based on what we've heard from our customers.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: And last question, you know, what can Loyalty 360 do to help you and your team in your customer loyalty efforts?
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think loyalty 360 has been really uh really important in how we think about loyalty and how we think about engaging with our customers.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of like the insights we read from your publications, um, kind of to your point, the the customers' loyalty index research, the uh the insight that will come out to help us understand, in addition to our own voice of customers, in addition to our own data, we get to hear from you know the industry perspective, like you have the opportunity and to talk to all the people in the space, like different brands, different types of customers, and help sharing that insights and and helping us to see like what matters, the the research, the customer's voice, and why you guys sing the trends are really helpful.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: Carly, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was great getting to know you and also learning more about the innovative Circle Kate and our Circle Reward program.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like great job updating it, uh unique enhancements, and uh the focus on the customer is uh resounding in everything that you guys do.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for the interview and thank you for all you do for customer loyalty.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: I also want to thank everyone else uh who tuned in today.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you join us back every Thursday for a new edition of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty podcast.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh make sure that you are following us on YouTube and across all of our social media channels so you don't miss an episode.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: The uh way to join is right down here in the comments section below.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: Until next Thursday, have a wonderful day.