Winner – Best Financial Services Loyalty Programme or Initiative
yellow, is a bank-wide loyalty program created for Small Businesses and professional people in Greece. It has been credited with making Piraeus Bank the leading loyalty bank in Greece and making it a “loved brand”. No mean achievement for a financial institution.
Piraeus Bank first launched its loyalty program in 2016, as a customer-oriented bank-wide initiative, but it rose to the challenge specifically to meet the needs of both small businesses and professionals with the launch of “yellow business” in 2020.
The figures are impressive. At the time of entering the International Loyalty Awards 2022, it had grown its membership base to more than 2.3 million and had enriched the product value proposition. At the same time, the program remained profitable for the Bank, and was credited with growing the Merchants’ network by 45%.
At the same time, yellow accelerated long-term goals faster than expected in order to benefit what Piraeus describes as the “wounded” backbone of the Greek Economy and created the “yellow business” which was the new pioneer scheme of daily reward for Small Businesses and Professionals.
Among the achievements during this two year period were digitisation of the programme so that yellow rewards could be earned and redeemed online, which was particularly important during covid lockdowns. This was followed quite quickly in 2021 with the yellow app.
Gains were significant and quickly felt. The Piraeus Bank organisation increased its market share of the Banking Loyalty industry to 49%.
This was the result of a sustained and well planned marketing program which included:
- 22 Above the Line corporate campaigns
- A significant number (confidential) of both Above and Below the Line campaigns
- A significant number (confidential) of Partners’ promotional campaigns
- More than 874 Facebook and 498 Instagram posts that emphasized yellow social media presence.
Yellow member benefits
Members enjoy exclusive offers and earn/ redeem yellows with business cards, loans and other business products & transactions such as e-banking payments.
A key element, which provided the yellow business with a competitive advantage, was the launch of “Shop in the Neighborhood”. It aims to provide incentives for consumers to choose small local businesses for their purchases, so that these retailers boost their sales and turnover. Yellow business provides the mechanism in order for the customers to be able to redeem yellows at the retailers’ POS.
Mission
yellow was tasked with one double mission: to create positive customer experiences for its members by rewarding most of their daily transactions and increasing cross-sell and rewarding behaviors. By so doing, it would increase “profitable loyalty” to the Piraeus Bank Organization.
Members enjoy exclusive offers and earn/ redeem yellows with business cards, loans and other business products & transactions such as e-banking payments.
New customers
Inflow of New customers who had not purchased during the previous year in specific industries.
- Supermarket: 30-35%% of members with a purchase in 2020-21 were new customers
- Gas: 36% of Members with purchase in 2020-1 were new.
- Retail / Shopping: 33% of members with a purchase in 2020-21 were new.
Turnover increase
- For every €1 redeemed in yellows an additional €3 to €8 turnover is “produced” (on average) for the Partner (depending on the Industry).
- 15% to 30% of the Partners’ turnover, includes redemption transactions- incremental turnover.
Customer effects:
- 15% to 20% on average of customers considered “new” for all the partners (no transaction at the partner during previous year)
- 30% to 130% increase of the average spent on year basis, is performed by yellow members (versus nonmembers) at the Program Partners
- 30% to 50% increase on the average spent during the promotional periods (versus same periods without promo).
Impact on Piraeus Bank
- +2.8m cards
- +1.7m winbank users
- +110,000 yellow app downloads (65% active users)
- yellow records as a key element of Piraeus bank brand equity
- establishment of a “love brand”, due to the strong communication campaigns
- positive experiences created for customers, due to personalized communications
- stronger customer-oriented culture of the Organization & selling potentiality.
The Piraeus marketing team commented: “The consistent results justify our mission: to monetize loyalty, which eventually leads to the overall activation of the Bank’s customers and the increased customer-oriented profitability.
Measurements of success
After 5 years, yellow Program outperforms in KPI metrics, retaining its leader position in the loyalty market. More specifically,
Registrations: 1.500 on a daily basis
% active Members: ~90% (at least 1 earn or/and burn monthly transaction)
Redemption Rate: 90% are redeemed on annual basis
Turning yellow into data gold
Since day 1, on a monthly basis, yellow members’ performance is measured using 70+ metrics, which contribute to the profitability of the Bank.
Program metrics reveal that there is a significant improvement comparing yellow members to a look-alike non-enrolled control group. Indicatively,
- +68% Χ – sell ratio
- +66% in core banking products’ possession & usage increase
- +37% Change in banking product balances
- +59% digital channels usage
- +54% cards’ usage.
What the International Loyalty Awards judges said: “The bank managed to include their whole business in the program, which is not usual, and they made the program very emotional by adding external partners, but maintaining the lad. A really well put together submission with clear and explanatory visual aids. Impressive use of 60+ metrics to track members’ performance. Great results for the bank and its merchant partners. 110,000 app downloads in 9 months, 65% active uses.”