Pets at Home loyalty launch case study

Leading UK pet care retailer Pets at Home wanted to create a loyalty club to reward its growing base of loyal customers both online and at its 300+ stores nationwide. The objective was to tailor communications to its customers needs, improve customer engagement and stand out against the competition. So Pets at Home decided to launchThe Very Important Pets (VIP) Club loyalty programme.

Solution
To ensure the club was successful, GI Insight set to work with Pets at Home to create a single customer view database with a CRM system at its core. Customer and pet information is captured and held and then linked to customer transactions and campaign responses.

Rather than provide a straightforward money-off reward, Pets at Home chose one that tugged at the heart-strings of its animal-loving customers and provided them with anemotional benefit. Customers earn points called Lifelines that directly benefit the customer’s chosen animal charity. The points are collated and once a quarter are turned into money-off gift cards, which are given to the chosen charities. These charities can then exchange the gift cards for food, bedding, and anything else they need from Pets at Home, leaving them to spend other donations on core charitable work.

Launch
The VIP Club was launched in-store and online. In-store included roadshows with stands and balloons, displays on the terminals and dedicated Pets at Home colleagues encouraging registration. The animal charities that had been approached prior to the launch also got involved, raising the profile of the programme with their fundraisers and donors. This gave Pets at Home two million additional social media alerts.

Customers can register in-store and online through a microsite, created and designed by the GI Insight team, which requests their pet's details and their preferred animal charity. Customers who had responded previously to email communications were sent an invitation email and subsequent emails thanking them for registering and offering further exclusive offers. Registered customers receive a Welcome Pack containing a thank you and a personalised plastic card and key fob.

Results
In the first five weeks Pets at Home achieved 48% of its target for the whole year and achieved strong incremental revenue. Its customer engagement continues to improve with the net promoter score (NPS) score showing 7% higher from VIP than non-VIP members and members spending an average of 20% more per transaction.

A total of 300+ stores are operating the programme and Pets at Home recruited and engaged 350+ local and national pet charities who are now beneficiaries of VIP Lifelines. Pets at Home is now operating a successful rewards club which is engaging customers, delivering incremental revenue and gathering vital business insight.