When it comes to building customer loyalty, Dani Cushion believes that the creativity is in the data. In her role as CMO of Cardlytics, she and her team work under the power of "purchase intelligence," or the ability to know where your customers are buying when they're not buying from you. As Dani has learned throughout her career as a marketer, it's all about defining who is loyal and figuring out why.

On this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite, Drew and Dani discuss why defining your existing loyal customers can help you understand where you're missing profits, as well as why using insights on aggregated data doesn't mean creative marketing is dead. As Dani admits, "it ain't sexy," but working to have a extraordinary customer experience will result in unmatched loyalty.

Get to know your customers by following this advice - listen here. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts - Stitcher - or Podsearch

What You'll Learn "Defining your loyals" is step one in the process of building repeat business

Dani explains the importance of "defining your loyals" on this episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite. She shares that one of Cardlytics' clients earned an additional $6 million in sales, simply because they identified and retargeted a segment of their existing repeat customers. By knowing who your potential loyals are and the problem they're trying to solve, you can tap into a new area of business.

Gathering insights from your data doesn't equal the death of creative marketing

Cardlytics' success is built on their ability to combine purchase data and creative marketing. In order to build customer loyalty, marketing teams need to use both strategies. Just because you're aware of your customer's data does not mean you should stop reaching out to them with engaging and creative marketing stories. Drew and Dani both agree that "the creativity is in how you use the data."

2 do's and 1 don't for CMOs looking to build customer loyalty

Dani's top 2 "do's" for CMOs seeking a greater ability to build brand loyalty are to always look at the broad picture of loyal customers and to listen to what they're saying. Without an accurate picture of what your customers want and their past buying habits, you won't make much progress. She also encourages CMOs to never be scared to try something new. The most innovative marketing strategies to build loyalty only began because someone was willing to take a risk - and that someone can be you!

Timeline

• [0:30] Loyalty and customer acquisition are both essential topics on Renegade Thinkers Unite
• [1:51] Dani's Renegade Rapid Fire segment
• [15:54] The importance of building loyalty into your marketing plan
• [20:00] Digging into the purchase behaviors for your existing customers
• [25:35] Using analytical insights to understand customer loyalty
• [33:13] Dani explains Cardlytics' in-house loyalty program
• [37:30] 2 do's and 1 don't for CMOs looking to expand their customer loyalty knowledge

Connect With Dani:

• Dani's CMO press release
• Connect with Dani on LinkedIn
• Follow Dani on Twitter

Resources & People Mentioned

• BOOK: "Chesapeake: A Novel"
• BOOK: "How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know"

Connect with Drew

• http://renegade.com/
• On LinkedIn
• On Twitter
• On Facebook
• On Instagram