Affiliate Management - What, Why, How?

Why run a membership?

For the retail industry, operating memberships is a revenue-generating, profit-generating method.

The revenue of the retail industry is new customers and regular customers. Membership is a marketing method that tries to turn new customers into regular customers and regular customers to increase their contribution.

Since he has already spent the cost to acquire a new customer for the first time, he must not only buy this time, but continue to repurchase to become a mature customer. In the life cycle, it is only possible to increase the contribution of this customer, that is, to increase the customer. lifetime value. (Extended reading: LTV (Lifetime Customer Value) - Every relationship has a duration )

In the face of market changes and competition, membership management is also the key to stabilizing the fundamentals of performance. The cost of finding a new customer for the first purchase is always much higher than the cost of creating a return of regular customers, even more than 7 times higher.

The more mature a brand is, the more it can see the 20/80 rule. The top 20% of members will account for more than 70% of a brand's performance, and these 20% of members are the main force of performance.

How to get members to buy back?

Membership is a relationship established between brands and consumers. To make consumers trust the brand and like the brand, there will be a good relationship when there is good interaction, and the two parties will continue to communicate with each other when there is a good relationship.

Brands need to create "perceived value" when consumers repurchase, that is to say, from the perspective of consumers, they feel that repurchase is beneficial to them, for example, because they can accumulate points, because they know the cabinet girl, and because the brand is cool , I feel very powerful because I buy a cup of coffee XD.

Just like running a relationship, it needs to be a win-win for both parties. Members feel that the purchases at the time of repurchase are "value for money", and they buy not only the products they originally wanted, but also good services, good experiences, and both monetary and psychological value. , members will naturally feel that the consumption experience is pleasant, and will naturally want to consume again.

How to manage members?

1. Membership List: Building relationships always starts with being able to connect with each other. It's like getting to know each other and exchanging business cards, or exchanging Lines. Turn the strangers who come and go into a contact list, and you can use the list to contact you later. Membership management will at least start from asking members to fill in information, swiping QRCode to join Line, and online allowing consumers to register accounts with Email, etc. The purpose is to obtain members and contact information.
2. Member consumption: With the basic information of members, we can record the consumption history of each member based on the basis. Each transaction will not be just a transaction, but become a member's transaction. With the members' consumption records, there is a way to better understand the members' shopping preferences, shopping frequency, and purchasing power (pocket depth). The connection of the relationship is stronger, and the understanding of each other will be more. Friends who understand each other's likes and dislikes.
3. Membership system: The more members who repurchase, the stronger the feedback will be. Just like the relationship between people, people who are really kind to you should sincerely reciprocate. When you come and go, the relationship will be closer. The membership system usually includes: membership rating, bonus points, and membership gifts (card opening gift, first purchase gift, birthday gift, etc.). The purpose is to let members with more contributions enjoy more discounts, so that members feel that their repurchase will get more returns, so they will want to repurchase more, forming a positive cycle. (Extended reading: Why do you need a membership rating system? )
4. Member recognition: The reason why a brand becomes a brand is that it has a certain number of fans. Fans' love for a brand is not because of the discounts given by the brand, nor the brand's membership system, but the value delivered by the brand itself. Member recognition is not just a member management issue, but a brand management issue.

What is CRM?

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is generally an information system used by brands to manage and manage members. CRM generally has the following functions:

1. Member information: join members, manage member information, query members.
2. Member communication: member communication plan design, communication effectiveness report.
3. Member transaction data: store and manage member transaction data.
4. Member grouping: search for members based on member transaction preferences, and provide accurate member communication and services.
5. Membership system design: membership level calculation, bonus points, membership gift setting and sending.
6. Member analysis report: understand the operating results of members and grasp the flow status of members.

Can I run an affiliate with Line?

Line is one of the channels for brands, just as Facebook is also one of the channels. Line fans are a list, not a membership, to a brand. You can use Line OA to connect with a group of brand consumers, and you can use Line to communicate with these consumers, but you can only communicate through Line.

Generally speaking, it is better to connect with Lina OA (official account) based on the brand's own CRM, so that Line's Fansi can be converted (or bound) into a brand member. For members, if you join a member from Line, the POS in the store should also be recognizable. It is also a brand member and can enjoy the brand's membership rights.

The members who join Line must be stored in the brand's CRM. The brand can use the CRM function to select specific members in groups, and can choose to communicate with Line, or communicate with members through SMS and eDM. Only in this way can you use Line's channel to manage members.

All social platforms, including Line and Facebook, are channels that brands can make good use of, but they must be integrated with the brand's CRM as the core and manage members through all channels.

(Extended reading: Nuclear fusion of OMO -integration of all-pathway members)

If everyone is running members, how can I grab members?

Generally, to attract members to join, various discounts will be used, such as designing first-time purchase gifts, or providing bonus points for members to accumulate consumption, etc., to attract consumers to join members while consuming.

However, if the brand itself is not attractive enough, the products have no special features, and there are more member discounts, consumers will not pay. Strictly speaking, members cannot be "snatched", and members are obtained by "moving". Just like the relationship between people cannot be forced, the relationship that is bought with benefits will be calculated clearly by others.

The story of Wang Yongqing shared earlier is a good example of using the warmth between people to gradually accumulate member trust and increase member recognition. (Extended reading: Wang Yongqing's story )

Do I need a CRM?

Most senior cashiers or shop assistants have a very powerful little book in their hands. The small book records the phone numbers and nicknames of the regular customers of the cabinet sisters. The nicknames will not be their real names, and there will be a bunch of strange notes next to them. Only the cabinet sister can decode the human flesh and understand his meaning.

Whenever the boss is chasing performance, the counter lady will open his notebook, make a few phone calls, and the performance will be pocketed. If there is a shortage of 50,000, it may be page 3. If there is a shortage of 100,000, it may be page 8. Missing 4,5,6 pages in a single month, and missing 1,2,3 pages in two months.

This small notebook of the senior cashier is like his CRM, and only he knows how to use it.

CRM is a set of information systems to put it bluntly, and information systems are tools for efficient and large-scale operation. Using the system does not guarantee the success of membership management, and the most critical factor for successful membership management will not be the system.

CRM can assist in managing member information, running member system, running member activities, and doing member communication. But CRM can't improve brand recognition, and CRM can't improve brand recognition.

CRM is just a bunch of system functions, operation functions without ideas, membership management is just a kind of promotional activities, operating CRM with ideas, membership management will have soul.

It's like the powerful one is actually not the small book, but the author of the small book, that is, the cabinet sister.

Why You Shouldn't Run Affiliate

Look at those really powerful brands, such as NIKE and Adidas. In fact, they don't have any membership system, and you don't need to be his member, but we just buy them and repurchase them automatically.

These brands run not members, but fans. The reason why a brand is a brand is because there is a group of consumers who love the brand.

Fans are people who love brands, fans are people who wear brand logos on their bodies, and fans are people who are willing to download brand APPs on their mobile phones. Fans love the brand, identify with the brand value, regard the brand as a label to show their personality, and stick it on themselves.

A good brand will strive for connectivity. When a good brand joins the channel, it will in turn help the new channel to drive the crowd. .

A good brand, the brand is the content, and the brand itself has a very strong ability to attract customers.

So if we go further, it is not the members that operate, but the brand. Membership is just a marketing tool, and improving brand recognition is the goal.

Perhaps the real question should be: how to run a brand?