Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
- Leaders in Customer Loyalty: for those looking to deepen customer experience, engagement, and brand loyalty. Each episode features innovative brands, industry experts, and executive leaders who share actionable insights, proven strategies, and real-world experiences designed to help marketers and brand professionals stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of customer loyalty.
Leaders in Customer Loyalty, Powered by Loyalty360
#542: Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Supplier Voices | How adjoe is Redefining Loyalty Through Games and Entertainment
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Brands across nearly every industry face a similar challenge with their loyalty programs: how to give consumers a meaningful reason to engage more often that also keeps them coming back. For adtech firm adjoe, connecting mobile gaming to loyalty programs is an effective way for brands to drive engagement because it taps into something millions of people already do, mobile gaming, and connects it to rewards programs they already value and engage with.
When adjoe works to integrate major games such as Monopoly or Candy Crush into a brand’s rewards program, it will connect the brand’s currency, such as points or cashback, as it relates to a dollar. Based on what the gaming providers are spending, adjoe converts that spend into the brand’s currency so that users can transparently see how much they can earn from level to level. Once loyalty members hit a milestone, adjoe communicates back to the brand with the number of points to be added into their wallet.
Michael Corigliano, US Team Lead, Partnerships at adjoe, notes that the games actually fund the entire rewards experience. For mobile gaming companies, participating in a brand’s rewards program gives them a high-quality user acquisition channel.
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Digital Experiences Set The Bar
SPEAKER_01As customer expectations continue to rise, brands are increasingly measured against the best digital experiences that consumers encounter every day. From retailers and financial service apps to popular games like Candy Crush and Monopoly Go. Customers expect experiences that are intuitive, rewarding, and easy to use. Today we're joined by Michael Corgiano. He's a US team lead of partnerships at Agio. We're going to explore how gaming, gamification, and customer loyalty are converging to create a more engaging customer experience. In this conversation, we'll discuss how gamification can drive acquisition and retention, help re-engage dormant members, move beyond simple points and leaderboys to create meaningful customer behaviors. We'll also explore Agio's perspective on customer loyalty, the role of AI, and what the future of engagement looks like. With that, let's get started.
Meet Michael And His Loyalty Lens
SPEAKER_01Michael, thank you very much for taking the time to join us today. How are you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. Uh doing well. Perfect.
SPEAKER_01Uh start off, can you tell us a little bit about uh yourself? Uh maybe a little bit about your background and your current role at Agile. You know, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh so yeah, I help lead the U.S. partnerships team here at Ag Joe. So I'm helping brands really explore how gaming can fit into their app, their loyalty program, and their kind of broader customer experience. Before joining Agio, I actually spent several years working in the restaurant and C store space, um, loyalty space specifically, um, as well as in payments. So I think it's interesting because the consistent theme I've kind of heard across my career is really centered around the same question of how you give consumers a meaningful reason to engage more often and keep coming back to brands. Uh, and that's what made the opportunity at Agro especially interesting to me because we're taking something that millions of people do already with mobile gaming and connecting it to rewards uh from brands that users already engage with.
SPEAKER_01So can you tell us a little bit more about that? Uh gaming, uh gamification is very big right now. Uh in the state of customer loyalty uh research paper that we do every year, fourth year in a row, that I think gamification was number two of the areas that that brands, both members and non-members, want to do more with or enhance. Um can you tell us a little bit about that what you know gaming, gamification might mean to Agile?
How Mobile Gaming Funds Rewards
SPEAKER_00Yeah, in terms of what we do specifically around gaming, like the simplest way to think about it is that we connect mobile gaming with loyalty. So loyalty members within brands can discover major games. You think of ones like Monopoly or Candy Crush through a brand's app and earn the brand's rewards as that user plays and reaches certain levels within those major titles. And I think the thing that excites me the most, and that's the most powerful about the experience, is that the games actually fund the entire rewards experience. So it gives users actually a way to earn more of the currency, but also a new revenue stream for the brand and a new engagement channel for them as well.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So I'm sure brands would like to know how does the the game itself feed the currency, right? How does it feed uh kind of from a revenue perspective? How does that work?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So we we connect with the brand's currency, whether it's points, cash back, et cetera, as it relates to a dollar. Um then based on what the gaming providers are are spending, we kind of convert that spend into their currency so that users can, you know, transparently see how much they can earn level to level. And then once they hit those milestones, we're communicating back to the brand, you know, X amount of points to be added into their wallet.
SPEAKER_01Excellent. And is there an assumption that people uh I don't play a lot of those games anymore, but Candy Crush that that you have that you're kind of buying uh something within that game eventually as well, right? A certain or a certain percentage will kind of be uh an active participant just versus playing kind of the free version, and that's kind of how you get to the the revenue uh opportunity.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so these these are all free to play mobile games, yeah. But these mobile gaming companies, their main goal and how they see this, is that this is a very high quality user acquisition channel for them. Yeah. Um, so that's kind of their main goal throughout the process, is that they hope these users from whether it's McDonald's, Tripoli, etc., they're going to be loyal gamers of a Candy Crush, of a monopoly uh for a long time. That makes perfect sense.
SPEAKER_01So you talked a little bit about the gaming side. Um, you know, uh how do you talk a little bit more about what you do? Uh what types of brands you work with. You talked a little bit about Seastor, kind of your background. Uh is this type of gaming uh more prevalent or more advantageous in certain industries or verticals, or can it work for all industries?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's another exciting thing about you know our product is that it works across a myriad of different industries, uh, specifically for us. You know, some to call out QSR, uh finance is a really good one, retail, basically any consumer app categories, any brand that has a loyalty program, a currency, and then some sort of ledger or wallet within their app experience uh is a perfect fit for uh for our solution.
Best-Fit Industries And Competitors
SPEAKER_01Well, when you look at your offering, uh are there other technology partners that that uh are that you compete against in in this uh arena? Because obviously there's there's there's gamification, the people like the catabooms and and uh that that have kind of more of a you know swipe to win engagement. So it's not the game itself, right? It's just uh the opportunity to get zero-party data potentially. You know, who what what's the kind of landscape look like uh in your industry?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there are there are other competing solutions out there. I think gamification can mean a lot, uh, whether you reference some of them. It's you know, you think of the Starbucks model where come in X amount of times and then you know you'll earn more, et cetera, or maybe it's a spin-to-win, etc. Those, I would say those type of gamification measures are good, um, and they get users in and introduced to the program. But I think with mobile gaming specifically, it's it's really powerful because it's long-term engagement. Users can keep coming in, download new games, and it continuously keeps them engaged with the brand over time. That makes perfect sense.
SPEAKER_01Uh big discussion uh within our community, within the industry. Uh uh, you know, customers are changing, right? Uh, brands are having to keep up, whether it's new technologies uh or being able to uh make sure the the app is is top of mind. I mean, I think that was number three. Uh is brands from a technology perspective, they wanted to enhance their their app uh pretty significantly this year. Um but when you look at customer expectations, how are they changing when it comes to engaging with the brand and customer loyalty?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it's a great
What Modern Loyalty Must Feel Like
SPEAKER_00question. I think customers compare every digital experience with the best apps that they use and that are on their phone. So not and not only the ones that you know are competing in the same industry that they might be interested in. So they they expect experiences to be easy, relevant, and personalized. Um, I think the key thing is that they want to understand the benefit um and that the benefit feels attainable as well. So from a digital experience, I'm I told you I'm I'm a Boston native, so I'm I'm a frequent Duncan drinker. Uh, and I think they do a really good job from a digital standpoint, especially around their loyalty program with like behavior-based loyalty. So um, similar to Starbucks, you know, members who visit, I believe it's 12 times in a month, they kind of unlock a boosted status and they can increase their earning rate in terms of points to a dollar for a certain amount of months. So that's easy for the the user to understand. It gets them back in the door. From a digital standpoint, if it's a confusing program and for a user, if it's slow for me to earn, hard for me to earn, those programs and those digital ecosystems are easier to ignore, and naturally users will kind of go towards those more simple to understand, but ones that are actually providing value back to the user. Okay.
SPEAKER_01You talked a little bit about uh kind of keeping engagement, driving engagement. You know, brands can oftentimes struggle with regard to uh keeping the people in the customer loyalty program engaged, right? There's a cadre of brands who do a significantly uh solid job uh with uh you know brand engagement, but some struggle. Well, you know, what role can gamification, gaming, you know, play in addressing the challenge of engagement uh uh around the you know the loyalty program or the brand in general?
Progress Beats Points For Engagement
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think gamification can be powerful because it gives people a goal, you know, visible progress and a reason to return. Um I mentioned before when it comes to gamification, I think it can be more meaningful than something like a leaderboard or you know, a spin-to-win feature. I think those mechanics may create that quick interaction, but not necessarily like an ongoing relationship. Uh mobile gaming specifically, I think is compelling because progression, entertainment, and that sort of achievement are already built into those experiences with games like Monopoly and Candy Crush. So, you know, the brand doesn't really have to manufacture those type of elements. It can connect, you know, something customers already enjoy uh with its loyalty value as well. That makes perfect
AI For Personalization And Re-Engagement
SPEAKER_00sense.
SPEAKER_01Um when you look at AI, it's uh uh kind of the the focus uh with the hope to be the fulcrum for many brands and their customer experience, customer loyalty, brand engagement efforts. You know, where do you see the opportunities with regard to AI for brands pertaining to customer loyalty and customer experience?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think the lowest hanging for, I think the biggest opportunity for AI and loyalty is making the experience more relevant to each individual user. Um I think many loyalty programs already have a tremendous amount of data, and the harder part is kind of using that in information to utilize the experience. Uh I think AI should be used to determine what the right offer might be for a user, a reward. What messaging should you be sending to certain loyalty members, etc.? Um, but I think other opportunities that are interesting, you know, to me, uh with loyalty programs like dormant members are are huge. So I think utilizing AI as a way to maybe recognize signs of disengagement earlier instead of waiting until someone has been you know inactive for months is something that you know I could see becoming more relevant within uh within the space. Okay.
SPEAKER_01When you look at uh the brands you work with, or maybe even a sales opportunity, you're going in uh and you know, what are maybe one or two things that you see that brands could be doing better or must you know, kind of challenge they have, or if you were to give them one piece of advice to kind of address or ameliorate kind of the situation, you know, what would that be?
SPEAKER_00Yeah,
Don’t Confuse Activity With Loyalty
SPEAKER_00I would say high level, my advice would be don't confuse activity with loyalty. So I think brands can generate like a click or a sign up pretty easily with the right sort of promotions, but that does doesn't necessarily mean the customer has become more loyal at the end of the day. So before before choosing those mechanics, whether your program is built on points, tiers, etc., I think starting with two questions. I think one is what behavior are we trying to influence? And then why would the customer genuinely want to take that action at the end of the day? So I think from there, you want to make sure the value exchange feels clear and worthwhile for the user as well.
SPEAKER_01Excellent. Well, Michael, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us today. It was a pleasure getting to know you a little bit more, uh, your passion for New York sports, but also a little bit more about agile and kind of the gaming mechanisms and mechanics that you guys are are going to drive into the market to drive relevance and uniqueness in customer loyalty offerings. So very uh very interesting and obviously will be very advantageous for our audience. So thank you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me on.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
Wrap-Up And Where To Follow
SPEAKER_01Also want to thank everyone uh for tuning in today. Uh, make sure you check back every Tuesday for a new episode of our Leaders in Customer Loyalty podcast, the Supplier Voices uh channel. Uh make sure you subscribe and follow us on YouTube and across our social media channels listed below. Till then, have a wonderful day.