#LEAwards 2021 highlight: Singtel's loyalty programme dashes to success

Singtel Dash did not have a loyalty programme that could reward, retain and engage users for their everyday purchases. This worsened as the mobile wallet landscape grew in recent years and became a highly competitive market in Asia. To ensure its consumers will continue to actively use the Singtel Dash app, Singtel wanted to become a holistic rewards programme the masses will be able to enjoy, by providing all-in-one inclusivity for the everyday folks.

Dash Rewards provided much better incentives than before and partnered with merchants to get free vouchers in exchange for advertising the brands on their platform. This allowed Dash to “sell” these vouchers at a lower rate as compared to its competitors. Singtel’s wit in joining the rewards foray with Dash, while ensuring it has a competitive edge, impressed the judges and secured them the gold award for Best Loyalty Programme – Launch / Re-Launch at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s Loyalty & Engagement Awards 2021.

Challenge

Since its launch, Dash did not have a loyalty programme that could reward, retain and engage users for their everyday purchases. Users were instead prompted through tactical promotions such as 5% cashback, but such promotions were limited to certain merchants and had a capped spend during specific promotion periods.

With greater adoption of digital payment and digital commerce in recent years, the mobile wallet landscape had become highly competitive across Asia. With over 27 digital payment solutions in the industry, major players have introduced new ways to reward and incentivise consumers to drive customer loyalty. As such, the challenges faced by Dash included: difficulty in attracting customers who have other use cases and spends at other merchants, difficulty in attracting higher spend and loyal customers, and retaining customers especially when bigger players who have deeper pockets are able to offer higher cashback.

On 14 August 2020, Singtel’s Dash launched its first-ever loyalty programme, Singtel Dash Rewards, designed and developed to reward and engage loyal customers beyond tactical promotions. The all-new Dash Rewards programme enabled consumers to earn points on all payments and overseas remittances to redeem instant rewards. Dash Rewards is envisioned to be a holistic rewards programme the masses will be able to enjoy, by providing all-in-one inclusivity for the everyday folks. Its overarching goal: To establish consumer loyalty and enhance user stickiness across various activities over time.

Strategy

To address these challenges, Dash explored a customer-first centric culture to understand what matters to customers first, before developing the programme and identified three key focus areas: ease of earning points, motivation and recognition, and attractive relevant catalogues which are easy to redeem and instantaneous.

1. Driving adoption and stickiness through ease of earning Dash Rewards points

While most financial loyalty programmes focus on rewarding consumers on selected payment transactions, Dash Rewards aimed to create an inclusive rewards system that provides greater convenience and options for customers to be rewarded at their preferred merchants. With no restrictions on how and where reward points could be earned, customers would find greater value to use Singtel Dash in their everyday transactions.

With Dash Rewards, users can earn unlimited points with every dollar spent at over 200,000 merchant points islandwide, and millions of global markets online with a Dash Visa Virtual Account. Dash Rewards also partnered with Fave. Besides proving users with more options to pay, users could also enjoy double the rewards by earning FavePay cashback and Dash reward points at over 12,000 FavePay merchants.

In an inclusive step to reward its foreign users, the reward programme would allow foreign users to earn 100 Dash rewards points for every remittance transaction made. Along with competitive remittance rates and few players having a curated loyalty programme serving remittance customers, this provided a great incentive for its remittance users to choose Singtel Dash over other channels for their transactions.

2. Recognising high spenders with Platinum status and motivating customers to use Dash more frequently to level up

To grow stickiness and reward high spenders who are active, Dash introduced a tiered membership system. Users in a higher tier can accumulate points at an accelerated rate, providing an incentive for customers to move up the membership tier through their monthly spend, feeling more acknowledged and invested in our brand.

3. Developing an attractive, differentiated rewards catalogue relevant to consumers with instant redemption

Dash’s target audience was a mix of payment and remittance users who hail from many different countries. In addition to having a variety of vouchers that are relevant to various segments including youths, PMEBs, families and foreign workforce; a key differentiator that had set it apart from the rest was it leveraging on Singtel’s brand. Dash users would be able to use their points to redeem for Singtel’s service plans, mobile accessories, sales vouchers at Singtel Online Shop, entertainment and exchange their Dash rewards points to Singtel StepUp points as well. This not only attracts existing Singtel customers but enables cross-selling of Singtel services to non-Singtel customers as well.

Execution

1. Functional: Agile development on functional benefits based on pre-launch MVP feedback from beta users to post-launch survey respondents with ongoing improvements based on feedback and data

Prior to its launch, Dash had invited users to sign up as beta users and test the Rewards programme. The trial began in mid-June that year and lasted for about a month. Dash then incorporated final changes based on customer feedback before officially launching the Rewards programme in mid-August last year.

In differentiating from key competitors and having had the advantage of the building of creating a new programme from scratch; over 92% of beta launch users found it easy to use and were able to locate the Dash rewards programme easily, with 89% of respondents having positive feedback and increased usage of Dash. Based on closed-looped feedback, three key focus areas of improvement were implemented pre-launch and along the way. These were the ability for users to check on their expiry dates for their rewards and points, showcasing active rewards in a separate tab from expired rewards, and allowing instant access to redemption codes that can be copied with ease.

By achieving a significant variety of vouchers across various top brands onboard its Rewards catalogue within a short span of time; Dash was able to quickly build its volume of rewards with the Dash catalogue. Whilst Singtel rewards remain as the key differentiating factor, three other strategies were executed post-launch to improve the attractiveness and variety of the catalogue.

Differentiated vouchers were introduced against competitors in lower denominations, catering to users who were not able to earn as many points, but would still be rewarded with Dash Rewards. Dash also expanded its Singtel services redemptions with its points exchange programme.

In addition, fostering strategic partnerships with key, popular brands such as Foodpanda, Shopee, and Pomelo, enabled Dash to offer time-limited sponsored vouchers in exchange for marketing efforts. Dash further launched discounts and flash sales to reduce the points required for these vouchers and create excitement.

To drive acquisition, new Dash users were rewarded 800 points upon their successful sign-up with Dash and a minimum transaction of SG$2. Dash also re-engaged with inactive users by giving out free points to entice them to use Singtel Dash again.

In addition to leveraging on Dash owned payment channels and base with over 200,000 merchant points islandwide; Dash also leveraged on the key strength of Fave’s 12,000 merchants and monthly active user base to increase reach, engagement, use cases, and influence decisions when people are making purchases.

Other than payment merchants, tapping onto Dash’s top-up partners – such as SoCash, AXS, and ShengSiong - enabled the platform to further increase the footprint and reach to consumers. With over 400 outlets islandwide, including minimarts, convenience stores, mobile shops, and money changers, Dash’s partnership with SoCash allowed communications to be targeted towards the foreign workforce; where flyers were translated to seven languages.

To reward customers for being active and engaged with the brand while educating and inspiring them what they can redeem with the points they won; a series of social and engagement activities and tools were also organised to create a community of brand loyalists and user-generated content.

Results

Overall, Dash Rewards was highly successful in engaging and attracting consumers with its goal of enhancing consumer loyalty to Dash. Singtel Dash’s March 2021 Brand survey revealed that more than two in three users were happy with the app, with over a third of users increasing their usage of Singtel Dash after being aware of Dash Rewards.