Challenge
Already operating successfully in China, CUR was ready to expand into the North American market but faced several issues. China and the North American market are vastly different; the way consumers buy and spend, demographics, as well as rules and regulations for marketing and developing a loyalty marketing program needed to be taken into consideration. CUR had to adapt their existing business model to fit the US market. CURs differentiating factor was that all of a consumers loyalty rewards from multiple vendors were managed through a single portal and app which enabled users to convert points into cash.
Solution
To successfully introduce CUR into the North American market, we needed to understand as much about CUR, including its business model, core values, value proposition, service offerings, target markets, etc., and the loyalty rewards market in North America as soon as possible.
In-depth research
FLD performed in-depth market research of CUR’s competitors, industry, target markets, etc., conducted a SWOT analysis and more. We determined that CUR would most appeal to “Smart, Young Urbanites” and “Savvy, Visionary, Millennial SMB Owners”. Commonalities between these two segmentws included:
- Their use of a variety of media and apps.
- Their loyalty to brands that provide valuable experiences and put customer needs first.
Targeted Messaging
CUR had to appeal to the target markets shared values of honesty and authenticity, as well as their need to have control over their own experience and partnerships with well-known and trusted brands. For messaging to resonate with these target markets, FLD created a brand identity and messaging that was fun, relevant to their needs, easy to understand, and that aimed to help them feel understood and more fulfilled as individuals as they view brands as a form of self-expression. In addition, the CUR program model was fairly complex, their messaging needed to be simplified to ensure consumers and business owners could easily understand CURs value proposition and service offerings.
Websites
Since CUR offered solutions to two audiences with very different needs, a website needed to be created for each; one for consumers and one for business owners. Working with CUR developers to build the websites, FLD created the layouts, sitemaps, brand, design and content. The consumer website contained information on current and upcoming tools to help them shop, earn and invest more wisely, new vendor and merchant partners, provided social media links and more, while the merchant site focused on how users could utilize CUR to grow their business and earn more revenue through the program.
Both sites were created to be responsive, strategically designed and organized so that users and visitors could find information easily and were optimized to be “search engine friendly”, ensuring they would come up in organic search results when users were looking for content using keywords such as: “loyalty program” or “rewards program”. The sites also had analytical capabilities and content that easily explained how the loyalty program worked and its features.
App
FLD and CUR developers worked to create the UX/UI of the custom mobile app. The app allowed both consumers and merchants to easily create and switch between either type of account. Through the consumer account, users could earn, track, spend and share their loyalty reward points, as well as invite friends to join and more. Merchant accounts allowed users to create and market their loyalty point offerings to consumers, as well as keep track and create reports of how their offerings and business were performing. CUR could also utilize the app to market their memberships and other offerings.
Results
CUR now has two informative websites that can grow with their business inclusive of a CMS system enabling them to easily update content and perform online marketing efforts in-house, as well as an app to streamline their users’ experience.
With a brand that resonates with their audiences and illustrates how they are different from competitors, CUR was market ready and instantly began selling their loyalty program solution to businesses and consumers.
Our final solution also included a logo, creative, brochures for consumers and businesses, a pre-launch registration landing page, a sales pitch deck and other supporting marketing collateral.
