AFS Rewards Simplifies Guest Enrollment, Improves Data Collection
In January, the Associated Food Stores’ (AFS) IT and Rewards Team completed work with third-party partners to roll out a new feature in the AFS rewards program – text-to-complete enrollment. This is an incredibly important new feature that will reap major benefits for AFS and its participating retailers.
What happens with the “text-to-complete enrollment” feature is that shoppers who “quick enroll” for the rewards program in the checkout lane now receive a text shortly after their cell number is entered into the register. Prior to this feature’s implementation, store teams either had to encourage shoppers to complete enrollment while at the store or rely on the shopper to get home and then taking time to go online and complete enrollment. “Text-to-complete enrollment” now simplifies the enrollment process by sending new rewards members a text while in the store where they are much more likely to complete the process.
There are several key benefits that come with the completion of this new rewards feature. First, it reduces friction for the shopper – enrolling is easier than ever. Second, it allows the rewards team and stores to gather far more completed shopper profiles – one of the major benefits to the rewards program is it enables better understanding of who shoppers are and a completed profile is a key component of good shopper data. Third, with completed profiles, the marketing team and retailers will have access to even more shoppers who can receive digital communication.
“The idea of reducing friction for shoppers is key to winning today,” said Thomas Horne, AFS eCommerce, and omnichannel champion. “Shoppers are looking for the easiest and most intuitive online experiences possible.” Our marketing and IT teams are spending significant time in 2022 to make many of our digital solutions far more seamless.
The rewards team extends special thanks Wade Judd. This idea first emerged during an AFS Retail Technology Committee meeting. AFS retailers and team were brainstorming ways to improve the rewards enrollment process. Wade suggested the idea which then led to the team talking to BRdata (rewards solution provider) and RateNow (text marketing provider).
The initial test of the “text-to-complete enrollment” feature is happening at ARO. AFS will soon launch the new tool out to MRO retailers. “We have been working on this new tool for the past 3-4 months. I really want to thank our partners at BRdata and RateNow for their innovative and collaborative efforts,” said Jessica Cronin, AFS rewards leader.