Upsell & Bundling Powered by PACE Methodology Principles for Creating and Encouraging Valuable Customer Interactions
NextBee Media [email protected]
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 1
NextBee’s PACE Methodology is a systematic way of pursuing actions, which keeps focus where it
belongs: on your customers. The results of extensive field experience will be discussed throughout the
following pages. Best practices for achieving success and examples that demonstrate the methodology’s
use and practice will be offered. By following the principles laid out by the PACE Methodology, you can
expect to have a strong grasp on an action-oriented approach to your customers – an approach which
can be successfully implemented in nearly any situation, for nearly any type of business.
Contents
METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION – PERSONAL. ADAPTIVE. CONTROLLED. EXCITING ................................... 3
CREATING A PERSONAL PROGRAM – WHY IT MATTERS, HOW IT’S DONE ..................................................... 4
DESIGNING YOUR PERSONAL APPROACH............................................................................................................................. 4
HOW TO KNOW WHETHER YOUR PROGRAM TRULY CARES .................................................................................................... 5
CREATING PERSONAL CONNECTIONS (THAT GROW WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS) .............................................................................. 6
Empathize (with your customers’ experience)........................................................................................................................ 6
Ask (your best customers why they support you) ................................................................................................................... 6
Respond (as your customers’ needs evolve, so should your program) ................................................................................... 6
KEY PRINCIPLES OF AN ADAPTIVE APPROACH .................................................................................................. 7
SEVEN KEYS TO AN ADAPTIVE PROGRAM ............................................................................................................................. 7
A SOLID STRUCTURE AND A MALLEABLE CORE ..................................................................................................................... 9
IMPLEMENTING CHANGE (EXACTLY WHEN NEEDED) ............................................................................................................. 10
Review (how your program is used)...................................................................................................................................... 10
Refresh (your approach to engaging your customers) .......................................................................................................... 10
Change (as you grow, and keep up with your program’s users) ........................................................................................... 10
SMART CONTROLS – HOW TO CREATE AND USE THEM ................................................................................. 11
CONTROLLING LIFETIME VALUE ....................................................................................................................................... 11
CHARACTERISTICS OF A WELL-CONTROLLED PROGRAM ........................................................................................................ 12
BEST PRACTICES (FOR INCREASING LIFETIME VALUE) ............................................................................................................ 13
Customize (for your customers as much as you can) ............................................................................................................ 13
Map (the journey of your best customer) ............................................................................................................................. 13
Plan (ahead, so you’re ready when it’s time to re-engage) .................................................................................................. 13
AN EXCITING EXPERIENCE AT EVERY TOUCH POINT ....................................................................................... 14
INCREASING CUSTOMER EXCITEMENT ............................................................................................................................... 14
THE PROGRAM STAYS EXCITING, YOU IMPLEMENT SOLUTIONS ............................................................................................. 15
YOUR CUSTOMERS’ EXPERIENCE (AND HOW TO ENGAGE IT) .................................................................................................. 16
Specify (the experience you expect your customers to have) .............................................................................................. 16
Executive Summary
NextBee
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 2
Distill (your program goals into distinct activities) ................................................................................................................ 16
Motivate (with incentives that provoke an intrinsic value) .................................................................................................. 16
AN UPSELL & BUNDLING PROGRAM WITH PACE ............................................................................................ 17
YOUR CUSTOMER’S LIFETIME VALUE ................................................................................................................................ 18
TOP FOUR WAYS OF ENGAGING CUSTOMERS .................................................................................................................... 19
COMPLETING REMARKETING’S FRAGMENTED PICTURE ........................................................................................................ 20
THE CHANNEL IN YOUR CUSTOMERS’ POCKET .................................................................................................................... 21
SOW THE SEEDS FOR YOUR SUCCESS ................................................................................................................................ 22
Appendix
NEXTBEE’S FEATURES ........................................................................................................................................... I
PRICING PHILOSOPHY ........................................................................................................................................ III
NEXTBEE’S PRICING ............................................................................................................................................ VI
PROGRAM BENEFIT ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................................... VII
SOURCES .............................................................................................................................................................. X
DOCUMENT LICENSE .......................................................................................................................................... XI
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 3
NextBee created the PACE Methodology to distill its experiences in the field into an easy-to-follow guide
for shaping the success of nearly any business, in nearly any situation. We know that every product,
service, and customer-base is unique. What is needed is not a marketing gimmick that will work in the
short term, but a method of approaching customers that will carry you through nearly any scenario.
This is what we have designed the PACE Methodology to provide.
NextBee has worked with over 300 leading brands, both large and small, to engage their customers,
employees, and affiliates, reward positive behavior, and create or increase a strong base of dedicated
program users. In the following pages, we will develop these points further to fully flesh out this
methodology, and then we will share a few real-world discoveries that have informed these methods.
Personal
•Nurturing a strong personal relationship through your program requires activecollaboration with your customers. This helps them establish emotional touchpointsand provides them with a sense of purpose, which will keep them feeling fullfilled.Offering a personal relationship through your program is one of the best ways toprovide a quality experience and earn support.
Adaptive
•Designing a structured program which can adapt as your customers progress leads toboth stability and growth. Listen as your customers' actions tell you what works.Discover the rewards and incentives that inspire them. Focus your best efforts onbringing the program to your customers. Both your program's functional operation andits design should continuously match the demonstrated preferences of your customers.
Controlled
•Extensive tracking of program user activity allows you to maintain momentum andcontroll over your customers' engagment in the most effective way possible. You cancontinually optimize the effects of customer activities while significantly increasingtheir lifetime value. This approach also ensures secure data with automated protectionprotocols to guarantee that the ingegrity of your program is never in question.
Exciting
•Keeping your program fresh, intuitive, and fun works to increase excitement and helpsyour program users remain engaged. Developing a strong focus on both how customersinteract with your program, and why, requires a constant dedication to clarity andconsistancy. By following how your customers use your program, you can developincreasingly addictive activities that your customers will return to again and again.
NextBee
Methodology Introduction
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 4
Designing Your Personal Approach Every program requires an emotional investment on the part of your customers. Your early program
adopters must be motivated to demonstrate a genuine passion in order to be effective. The presence of
the activities themselves will spark an interest. In order for that interest to develop into a passionate
commitment, the program must interact with your customers on a very personal level.
When your program demonstrates that you care, it encourages your customers to share the quality
experience that you provide to them with their friends, loved ones, and colleagues. The more personal
the experience you give to your customers, the more likely they are to share it with those nearest to
them as well as to the wider world around them.
Using your program to identify your customers’ preferences and favorite activities, and developing more
of the same, is how you prove that these relationships matter to both yourself and your base of
customers. It is how you maintain their interest and increase their activity on your behalf.
How responsive are your customers to email? How active are they on social media? When does their
engagement in a mobile game begin to trail off? When do they prefer to be contacted? Does offering a
discount for 20% off on the anniversary of their first purchase affect their actions? What about on their
birthday? When should the program forward a polite ‘thank you,’ and when should it trigger ad-hoc
points for remaining active in the program?
These questions delve into the personal nature of your program’s relationship with your customers by
placing the program even more firmly into their lives. An integrated process of reviewing the
effectiveness of your program’s functions is not intended to invoke reinvention. Your program will not
act like a traditional marketing campaign. It does not aim to bring a new message to a new audience.
Instead, it seeks to expand your audience through the natural interactions we all have every single day.
Your program is a personal approach meant to inspire your customers to think of the experience your
program provides them, as well as its incentives and rewards, whenever they think of their friends.
NextBee
Creating a Personal Program - Why It Matters, How It’s Done
“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential...these are the keys
that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”
-- Confucius --
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 5
Image attribution: ABC News
abcnews.com
How to Know Whether Your Program Truly Cares At first, it may seem odd to equate business goals with relationships. Extensive real-world experience,
however, demonstrates that doing so keeps focus where it belongs, which is on designing a program
that can interact with and motivate its users on a personal level.
As we will continue to state: the customers’ experience is key. Knowing what that experience is like
inside and out, and improving it at every possible interaction, is how you continue to innovate and
expand the ways your customers value your program.
A personal program is ready for deployment when it can demonstrate the following features and
approaches:
Memorable – You must always seek the details that can make a moment last. It is those
personal touches that always get noticed and embed themselves within our memories. They can
occur during any and every interaction.
Pleasant – Each experience must encourage the next. This is the heart any program. They must
all form a near-endless tapestry of positive interactions featuring favored products. When your
products become embedded into the positive memories of your program users, they will remain
committed to your program for a lifetime.
Addictive – You want your customers to spend more time taking part in activities that benefit
your product or service, and to engage those around them in doing so as well. Make your
program habit-forming, and they will do all of these things and more.
Sharable – Make every tool available to your customers to make sharing as effortless as
possible. Allow them to share a high score with just one click. Make it easy for them to generate
images to share with their friends. Allow them to track the progress of other players at a glance.
Every program’s primary objective is to increase sales, maintain customer satisfaction, and improve both
the quality and quantity of new leads. To gain the success you seek, you must also create an
environment which makes your program memorable, pleasant, repetitious, and sharable. This is how
your primary goals will be achieved.
To demonstrate how a program can effectively engage
with its users in a highly personal manner, we offer a
recent example of Twitter teaming up with NBC
Universal and Comcast on a remarkably innovative
approach to engaging and leveraging their users,
viewers, and customers.
1Launching in early 2014, the three technology giants
are enabling Comcast Xfinity cable subscribers to
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 6
change the channel on their TV, and begin watching select NBC programming, by clicking on a tweet.
In addition to allowing viewers to quickly and easily tune into their favorite shows on television, this new
in-Twitter app, dubbed ‘See It,’ will make it easy for Comcast subscribers to watch live broadcasts on
their phones and tablets, as well as to set their DVRs to record.
Twitter fans will now be able to recruit their followers into watching their favorite shows with a simple
retweet. The potential for increasing viewership is enormous.
Creating Personal Connections (that grow with your customers) Making your program truly personal involves following three important steps:
Empathize (with your customers’ experience) Make every effort to walk in your customers’ shoes. Go through the process of purchasing a product,
joining the program, contacting customer service, and any other touch points where your customers
interact with your company. At each point, explore the different incentives and forms of encouragement
that could deepen the relationship.
Ask (your best customers why they support you) Think of your favorite customers. Whomever just came to mind, reach out to them. Offer 10% off their
next purchase if they’ll spend 10 minutes on the phone with you. Discuss their favorite features. Inquire
as to the effect these features have on their quality of life. Encourage open discussion. Let them tell you
what kind of engagement they need. As the program grows, regularly send special surveys to your top
program users to help maintain momentum and ensure a strong relationship with your brand.
Respond (as your customers’ needs evolve, so should your program) Seek out ways of demonstrating that you both listened and heard. If customers offer thoughtful
perspectives through a survey response, use them in your next promotional campaign. Thank your
customers, perhaps publicly, and offer a small reward. Nearly every action your customers take should
result in a response that recognizes their contributions.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 7
Seven Keys to an Adaptive Program Everyone constantly changes. Your customers’ preferences will be driven by both internal and external
factors that evolve over time. Adaptability means growing in a way that meets your customers where
they are, instead of asking them to come to you. The benefits are seen in a program that is able to
evolve to meet the expectations of an ever-growing base of enthusiastic customers. NextBee’s
experience finds that consistently designing a robust and adaptive program requires following seven
specific key principals.
1. Novelty People often find great enjoyment in a rewarding routine. An adaptive program understands
that leverage exists in popular rewards that can be used to encourage greater participation from
already active users. In other words, instead of merely providing rewards, use them to prod your
customers into taking action on your behalf.
You can even use this leverage to adjust retention activities in ways that provide for a new
experience. For example, a program could significantly increase the monetary value of a popular
reward while also turning it into a community achievement. Knowing that another program user
is relying on your actions in order to achieve a popular reward encourages effort and
commitment. A novel approach leads to an increase in your program users’ efforts.
2. Social Influence Beyond making everything your program does easy to share, it also must inspire your customers
to want to share. This is where your own expertise will come into play. Work to provide your
customers with valuable or interesting information. Develop story-form content that tells of the
journey of your company, and that of its products, and invite your customers to turn it into a
video. Keep an eye out for interesting information related to your industry, and offer customers
incentives to share.
Social influencers value their positions within the personal networks a great deal. Your
program’s activities should be designed to encourage the expansion of both their personal
networks and the perceived value of that network. When a customer needs your program in
order to sustain their social standing, they will remain loyal for a lifetime.
NextBee
Key Principles of an Adaptive Approach
“You have to be fast on your feet and adaptive or else a strategy is useless.”
-- Charles de Gaulle --
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 8
3. Program Lifecycle Market conditions change. Customer attitudes change. Your program’s goals do not change.
Your program does not have to either. Remember, a quality program is not about reinvention
and marketing ploys. It is about forming those deep relationships that can adapt, and even
grow, when conditions beyond our control forces change.
With a program that regularly adapts its incentive structure, including which events trigger
rewards, you are better positioned to anticipate disruptive change. Your program makes you
ready for anything the market throws your way. Adaptation in nature is about resiliency and
growth. This is how a robust program benefits you and your business as well.
4. Product Purchase History Adaptation makes your program approachable and intelligent. It is what allows you to use your
program to anticipate the need to change incentives and rewards, in order to keep pace with
customer expectations.
What is it about your product that attracts your customers to begin with? Is it the products
utility and design? Is there a perceived social benefit to being associated with a brand? What is
the essence that sparks their interest? Keeping focus on what already captures your customers’
loyalty helps ensure incentives and rewards remain based on their preferences.
5. Customer Profiles Use your program to develop a robust customer profile that identifies the preferred incentives
and rewards of your top program users. Providing exactly the right encouragement, in the
manner most likely to be acted upon, is where adaption proves its worth. It’s a process that
begins with a program user survey, and lasts through the life of the program.
Many of the most effective segments are created by leveraging key characteristics of your top
customer profile. Recognizing and acting on which segment of customers prefers an incentive
during the shopping experience, to encourage a sale, and which segment responds to a reward
after the sale; is an example of adaptation in action.
6. Pricing and Margins Customers who interact with a responsive program know their activities are being valued,
because the incentives adjust in response to their activities. You can use your program to find
the value that excites your program users the most, and mimic it when developing new
products, especially under brands where they are already loyal.
Discover popular product bundles, and even product/rewards bundles, by analyzing your
product sales in conjunction with program rewards data. With product bundling, you can often
spend a small amount of margin dollars on one product, while increasing the overall profit
margin of the bundled product.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 9
7. Incentive Responsiveness For a program to engage customers and generate loyalty, it must structure its incentives around
future actions, accomplishments and goals. Unlocking a program level that allows access to
better rewards might include a new profile badge, and should include 3-5 tasks that follow a
progressive path towards the next level, and greater recognition.
The path the program takes must be customized to reflect your product and services, program
goals and the profile of your top program users.
This also requires an understanding of what incentives are not – compensation. Incentives are
meant to motivate future behavior. Compensation is merely payment for past activity. The
difference can become slight, but it is important to note.
A Solid Structure and a Malleable Core Within your overall program’s architecture, you must adapt at the personal level previously discussed.
Far from being a challenge that must be overcome for your program to be successful, adaptation should
be an integral part of the approach itself. It should be seen as the end result and primary benefit of the
program’s features, while expressing the following characteristics:
Flexible – As your customers interact with your program, elements should change and evolve to
meet their needs. The acceptance and use of both retention activities and rewards should be
automatically analyzed for patterns of preferences, while it should be understood that a
meaningful reward for a new customer is different than for someone with a much longer
relationship.
Inquisitive – Using surveys and contests, program users should be allowed to choose their next
reward from a selection of options. Other innovative ways of exploring core desires should
motivate user-behavior to ensure that your program remains ahead of the curve.
Alert – Regular updates and program adjustments should continually fine-tune your program’s
approach to your customers to encourage, in turn, a robust response. The more you use your
program to react to your customer’s needs and wants, the greater their loyalty and willingness
to act.
Approachable – Adaptation is serious business. The program, overall, still needs to maintain a
friendly demeanor. Though you must respond to your customers with haste, never lose track of
your program’s voice. Be polite during all interactions and learn to deploy humor effectively,
when appropriate.
For an illustrative example of a company proving the ethos of adaptability, consider Netflix. This is a
company that started a mail-order DVD business which became so successful that it drove the iconic
Blockbuster rental chain out of business. It has since transformed itself into a content creator that
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 10
develops and streams its own programming, along with that of other partners, on a platform available
nearly anywhere there’s a screen.
2In 2013, Netflix surpassed HBO in number of subscribers at 30 million and
its programming was nominated for, and won, a slew of Emmy awards and
Golden Globes. So how did this mail-order business turn itself into a major
Hollywood playmaker to the delight of its millions of subscribers?
They accomplished this by never resting, always testing, and staying
focused on their subscriber’s quality of experience. The path was not
always smooth, but their success is undeniable.
3Netflix began research and development of video streaming services in
2001. It was not until a full decade later that streaming was finally offered
as a standalone product completely separate from its mail-order offering.
Throughout that decade of development, Netflix continuously tested its services and abilities on small
segments of customers. Once quality streaming became a reality, Netflix continued to follow their
customers where they wanted to go: content, content and a lot more content.
Implementing Change (exactly when needed) An adaptive program gives you the insight needed to know when to move, where to go, and how your
customers currently prefer to be engaged. Building your program from the ground up, so that it always
contains elements in transition in support of greater growth, helps ensure that your program remains
relevant for the long-term. Keeping your program fresh and adaptive means developing it from the
beginning around a framework of best practices:
Review (how your program is used) Schedule at least one hour per week to review all relevant data regarding your customers with your
team. Include information beyond program activity data, such as interactions tracked through your CRM
or POS system.
Refresh (your approach to engaging your customers) Aggressively schedule program updates. If an initial test of a new message, incentive, or reward on a
particular segment demonstrates a potential for success, quickly implement it across every channel and
segment. Encourage all stakeholders to pursue ways of reducing friction and increasing engagement.
Change (as you grow, and keep up with your program’s users) Always have your program doing something, even if it means going with your gut. This does not mean
inventing busy-work. Change should be highly automated. It does mean taking risks in pursuit of
optimization, but of course you should always minimize exposure whenever possible by testing ideas on
segments before introducing them to a broader audience.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 11
Controlling Lifetime Value Program growth is regularly generated through a careful balance between the creativity and initiative of
a program’s users, and the needs of the business. A balance maintained through smart program controls
that influence the interactions of multiple stakeholders to encourage the continued use of activities that
benefit your brand. This allows program managers to use incentives as leverage to gain desired
behaviors and activities.
In other words, mostly use carrots, but don’t be afraid of a little stick.
A smart program focuses on building the relationships that lead to a lifetime of value. It means using
your customers’ first names at every opportunity, knowing when major anniversaries might soon be
approaching, and inserting the date of their first purchases in every email you send (and thanking them
each time). A well-controlled program can even recognize the birthdays of customers’ extended
families, which can play a role when planning targeted promotions.
These features encourage greater engagement from your customers and encourage a lifetime of long-
term program buy-in, as does insisting on a series of 3-5 tasks before promoting customers to a higher
program level with more prestigious rewards. The same goes for polite messages informing customers
that bonus points await them with every third activity complete, especially when they already have two.
Smart controls provide just the right type of push, exactly when needed.
Customer-tracking abilities have grown enormously in just the past few years, creating an opportunity
for developing highly specialized segments of customers and channel sales in a way that simply was not
possible just a very short while ago. These capabilities allow you to control the growth and momentum
of your program by offering targeted and timed incentives and rewards to keep your customers excited
and engaged.
There always remain market forces beyond the reach of any data analysis. There is no amount of data
that will allow your program to anticipate every potential occurrence. Fortunately, this inherent truth
also illuminates a valuable aspect of any well designed program.
Going through the process of personalizing your program and keeping it adaptive also serves to
strengthen the relationship you have with your customers. You can always exert influence and control
over the relationship by keeping your program engaged. This approach to retention can help those
relationships endure during more challenging times.
Smart Controls – How to Create and Use Them
“If you can't control your peanut butter, you can't expect to control your life.”
-- Bill Watterson --
NextBee
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 12
Individually, attention to the types of details that allow you to exert ever-greater control over your
program may seem no more than a polite way to conduct business. As the number of customers
participating in your program increases, patterns will begin to emerge that can help illuminate the most
valuable direction a program can take, as well as offer insights on how to encourage your customers to
take you towards growth. While the value of a controlled program can be immediately apparent, its true
worth becomes demonstrated over time.
Characteristics of a Well-Controlled Program Taking advantage of the opportunities these patterns represent requires a systemic approach to
program control. This means agreeing to guidelines on what does, and does not, qualify as actionable
information that can be used to direct to program’s growth:
Tracked – Whether through a robust, tagged, tracking system, or advanced browser-based
tracking, you must always make every effort, within reason, to expand the number of ways you
follow your customers as they interact with your brand. Though assumptions can often prove
correct, it is better to not have to make them at all.
Persistent – Though a small bump in activity from one-off promotions can certainly prove
valuable, real momentum is created with consistency. A strategy must not only work to be
effective, it must work repeatedly. Otherwise, the needed ROI simply will not break through.
Sustainable – Some aspects of your program will be set on auto-pilot from the moment it is
initiated, such as a brief ‘thank you’ message for joining the program. Others will require a
greater level of attention from the program administrator or other team members. As new
opportunities create new tasks, you must ensure the resources are available to ensure their
success.
Reliable – When program customers see that their actions have an impact, they will stay
engaged long-term. Through their actions, they demonstrate a desire to form a strong
relationship with your product or service. So long as the program stays relevant, they will
actively seek to nurture the relationship’s growth themselves.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 13
Best Practices (for increasing lifetime value) Knowing which tracked information is valuable, and which represents a momentary spike that will not
be repeated, is often referred to as ‘Hearing the signal through the noise.’ By developing and following
guidelines for reviewing your customers’ activity data, you can understand the difference between those
signals for yourself. From customers who indicate action should be taken, to the statistical noise that
represents momentary concerns, but no long-term pattern.
Observing how your customers interact with your program, and creating guidelines for using relevant
program activity data, requires the complete integrity of your program, including the security of your
customers’ information and data. Following industry-standard security protocols and exceeding best
practices guarantee that you will make program decisions based on accurate data, while assuring your
customers that you value their information and protect it.
Developing and using you own guidelines is how program control can be maintained. Those guidelines
should, in general, follow three important tenets:
Customize (for your customers as much as you can) You should consistently be looking at your segments and discovering more. Basic demographics are both
the standard and just the beginning. Segmenting by rewards preference may indicate something
interesting that can be further explored. You simply do not know until you try, and segments allow you
to always be trying, without the risk of testing new ideas on your entire customer base.
Map (the journey of your best customers) Know the path you want your customers to take. Sketch out how they join the program, what they do
first, what they do next, how long you expect it to take to gain the first reward, and more. Create unique
incentives for each interaction, and know that not every interaction requires one.
Plan (ahead, so you’re ready when it’s time to re-engage)
A controlled response is always a well-prepared one. Familiarity breeds acceptance, and success leads to
even more support. It is easy to find fans of a sports team when the team is winning. Likewise, many of
those customers who demonstrated little interest during your program’s launch will become much more
interested as the program’s success becomes more and more apparent. As your base of customers
continues to expand the use of the engagement tools available to them, seek to leverage their activity
by returning and re-engaging your original base of customers.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 14
Increasing Customer Excitement Every program involves tasks in pursuit of a goal. Both the design of the tasks, and the rewards,
contribute to the overall enjoyment of the program. The best programs make all of their tasks so fun
and exciting that completing them becomes addictive.
Effectively using your program to generate excitement is part learned intuition and part smart design. In
many ways you already know how. Whenever you interact with one of your best customers, that person
usually knows it. Your approach, demeanor, and behavior changes to fit the preferences of the
important person before you.
From your program’s perspective, every customer should be afforded the same attention, not just your
best. Each customer holds the potential to be a fantastic advocate on your behalf. The significance of
engaging with customers appropriately is clear since their lifetime value to the company is so great.
When you engage your customers on this intimate level, they become excited.
Do your customers mostly communicate with their friends through email or social media? Would they
prefer a coupon on a future purchase, a discount on the current purchase, or points towards a larger
reward? Do they interact more with a clean interface with different sections behind different tabs, or do
they want just one big page with all the information they could possibly need readily visible?
With the understanding of these questions firmly in hand, you can build a strong base of customers who
are demonstrably excited to actively engage their friends, families, and associates for the benefit of your
product or service.
By designing your program to engage early and often with early adopters, in an effort to excite those
who demonstrate an active willingness to support your program, you lay the groundwork for aggressive
expansion and growth. These early program adopters typically demonstrate an influence that matches
their number of contacts. Friends, and many others, often look to these types of program users for
information, ideas, and products that can genuinely add value to their lives. Their opinion is held very
highly among those in their networks. When they get excited, so do their friends.
We do not mean to suggest that you should seek to become friends yourself with active program users.
Generating excitement must be smart if it is to be successful. Though some individual interaction may
occur - such as a direct follow-up to a survey response - individual interaction is not the goal. The goal is
to make the program better.
An Exciting Experience at Every Touch Point
“Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others.”
-- Helen Keller --
NextBee
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 15
Typically, a user reaches VIP status, or its equivalent, through regular purchases. In other words, those
who spend the most money receive the most attention and get the best deals. Your program offers the
ability to engage with a different VIP. Someone who may not regularly commit to outsized purchases,
but who does demonstrate an outsized influence.
Leveraging this influence on your behalf, and being rewarded for it, achieves the same effect as the
traditional VIP – only instead of one person making many purchases, it is several people making several
purchases. Many of these customers will also demonstrate an ability to influence the preferences of
their friends, thereby creating virtuous cycles of new customers who become active referrers, leading to
higher sales, greater program growth, and more new customers – which continues the cycle.
The Program Stays Exciting, You Implement Solutions Understanding the need to engage more directly with those program users who demonstrate preferable
attributes, and defining what those attributes are, can be two very different things. Often created from
a mixture of demographics and activity data, the segment that represents your VIP customers regularly
shares the following characteristics:
Social – Your top program users will engage across two or more social networks in addition to
regular email. They may not be heavy users in all of them, but they do demonstrate a regularity
that shows a high comfort level with each. Your program must meet them where they are,
everywhere.
Positive – Top program users always go above and beyond with regularity. They’re always up for
a good time with their friends. They fill out surveys, take an active role in contests and
sweepstakes, drive group achievements, and go out of their way to encourage others to do the
same. Use their responses to understand which activities will be broadly popular.
Engaged – Top program users will often make the effort to add additional information in
comment boxes. In fact, the purpose of comment boxes in surveys may be solely to identify
those who are likely to become power users of your program. Those who use comment boxes
indicate a willingness to be more involved with the growth of the program.
Consider the popular subscription program, Amazon Prime. Typical subscription models of retention
offer a discount on a product or service if the customer agrees to a regularly occurring purchase. The
value is in the product. The value of the subscription for the customer is the product at a cheaper price,
plus the ease of a regular schedule managed by someone else.
Amazon did not follow this model when developing their Prime program. Instead, they viewed the
entire customer experience holistically. Customers were already receiving a discount on most items
when compared to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Doing more of the same – providing a greater
discount – was viewed as providing a reward for behavior that was already occurring, instead of an
incentive that would encourage greater engagement.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 16
Instead, Amazon placed its incentive in the
context of what would excite their
customers the most: time. By offering
“free” two-day shipping on most items,
they created a successful engagement
program that placed its value in the online
shopping experience, and then offered an
incentive that increased the attractiveness
of that experience.
6Amazon’s Prime program has been an
enormous success since its launch in 2005.
By the end of 2012, it had an estimated 10 million users. Amazon reports that its members are their best
customers, regularly purchasing twice the number of products when compared to the company’s non-
Prime member customers.
Every business is, of course, unique. No one will be able to replicate Amazon’s, or anyone else’s exact
path to success. Nor does anyone need to try. You are already well aware of the process involved with a
new customer who is making a purchase, since you already know the steps they have to take and the
overall experience they have while making a purchase.
Your Customers’ Experience (and how to engage it) You know your customers’ experience already. By making use of their activity data, you can come to
understand what, within that experience, they value. Creating this opportunity for a systemic increase in
customer engagement generally requires following three important steps:
Specify (the experience you expect your customers to have) Make certain that you retain complete focus on the value you want to bring to your customers’
experience. Explore where that experience can be improved. Always ask yourself, and your top program
users, how the essential elements of the experience you offer can be leveraged for greater engagement.
Distill (your program goals into distinct retention activities) Focus the goals of you program and separate each of them into different engagement points. Develop,
deploy, and test different incentives for each engagement point. As you continue to progress and
engage across multiple platforms, and in multiple ways, look for methods of streamlining your approach.
Motivate (with incentives that provoke an intrinsic value) Provide incentives that invoke an intrinsic value you share with your customers. If unsure, then make
this a point of inquiry when asking your favorite program members. Then combine that intrinsic value
with the inherent value of the incentives you choose. It is often a balance between the intrinsic value
and perceived monetary value of different incentives and rewards that drives customer activities.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 17
Increasing you wallet share of every customer with an upsell and bundling program is about more than
discovering the right combination of products to entice your customers. It is about providing the best
experience and establishing your brand’s identity. You want customers to be drawn to your brand and
identify with your product on a personal level. This is what motivates customers to pursue your brand’s
every incarnation, and will ensure their loyalty for a long time to come.
Quality matters. You want your customers to
know that when they purchase a product or
service from you, they are getting the best use
for their hard earned money. This extends well
beyond the product itself, to the experience you
offer your customers during their entire time
shopping in your store or on your site.
This means personalized offers to program
participants and a customized shopping
experience based on their demonstrated
preferences. Continuously making your products
and services more enviable will help you realize
the full lifetime value of each of your customers.
Before they even make their first purchase, you can connect with them and lay the groundwork for a
powerful relationship that will only continue to increase in value.
A smart program deepens the relationship you have with your customers by tracking and recognizing
their communication preferences, which social media platforms they are actively involved with, the
types of engagement activities they like to participate in, and much, much more. It can also do the same
with the incentives and rewards options. Making it possible to create an irresistible combination of
product, message, activity and incentive that your customers will respond to again and again.
Traditional marketing programs can expand your number of new customers, but they do little for the
customer experience. By having an upsell and bundling program in place, you can be sure to capture
every customer for the long-term.
An Upsell & Bundling Program with PACE
“Maintain customer loyalty and increase sales volume from your existing base is always a
worthy goal. Identifying and promoting value to your customers is at the core of every successful
approach to business. It is how you demonstrate your understanding of your customers.”
-- NextBee --
NextBee
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 18
A Customer’s Lifetime Value When a program automatically reacts to your users’ activities, by either thanking them, requesting they
do it again, or offering a more valuable reward, that user knows their participation mattered.
Such examples of controlled interaction have proven to be major drivers of increased participation. The
program’s rewards will almost always get the most attention from your customers. By adding a layer of
interaction that adapts to the evolving needs of your customers, you create additional value that did not
previously exist.
Your program users will also quickly grow fond of favorite activities, look forward to doing them and
expect to be rewarded for their participation. Use their demonstrated desire as leverage to motivate
behaviors and activities that help you meet and exceed your program’s goals. Control the direction of
your customers’ energy and harness it to be as effective on your behalf as possible by structuring the
program’s approach as follows:
Goal: Measurably increased engagement
Method: Do it, do it again, do it more – When you see a pattern that indicates a popular
activity, encourage its expanded use. If your users enjoy posting images to
Twitter, tweak the incentive so they post to Pinterest as well.
Goal: Growth of per-customer purchase amount
Method: Offer a well-timed push – Use your data to discover the average final price you
customers regularly pay. Then offer incentives that trigger as your customers
near that price. Provide a discount on a future purchase, or some other form of
incentive, if they spend $5 more than the average. As soon as a new average is
established, repeat the process.
Goal: Move a higher volume of product
Method: Develop granular opt-ins – Allow your customers to create alerts for specific
product categories, and even specific products. As your program identifies
popular categories and products selected by your customers, you can develop
specific incentives to encourage more purchases.
Developing a truly robust program is a primary key to success. It is what will establish emotional touch
points that lead directly to program users taking action.
Customers know that personal service is better service. They value it a great deal. When they know that
their activities and actions have a real impact on their own experience, and not just your bottom line,
they react. We all find activities more worthwhile and fulfilling when we receive both a response and a
reward. Your customers benefit both emotionally and financially from participating in an advocacy
program with you. The more they become involved, the more likely they are to remain valuable
customers for a very long time.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 19
Top Four Ways of Proactively Engaging Your Customers Ready to move beyond growing a large number of followers and start converting customers? A robust
program helps you learn your customers’ preferences while deepening your relationship with them. To
begin, follow these four suggestions for activating your customers.
1. Encourage the Sharing of Personal Opinions Develop a testimonial contest where you choose the winners and every entry leads to a
sweepstakes drawing. This can be an energetic driver of customer engagement. It also helps
create the perfect face of your company – that of your customers. Consider a rolling monthly
contest where new testimonials are solicited and publicly displayed.
2. Adapt Quickly to New Social Networks Follow your fans wherever they go. Do not concern yourself with the size of a new network.
Arriving early on a new platform allows you to establish your presence ahead of your
competitors, and likely earn followers you may not have otherwise. Remaining engaged with
your followers is always key. If they demonstrate an interest in taking part of activities on other
platforms, your response should be encouragement.
3. Use Social Engagement to Control Program Growth From small birthday celebrations to national events, social media is the perfect place to
celebrate. By using analytics to closely track the preferences of your customers, you can
anticipate which events are likely to trigger engagement, and even plan targeted incentives for
specific segments and channels. Every day is special to someone. Now you can know who.
4. Generate Excitement through Immediate Impact Put a spin on the one-question survey by creating voting opportunities using social media’s
functionality. Place a pro/con or this/that argument on one of your social media feeds. Invite
followers to ‘share’ if they want to vote one way, or ‘like’ if they want to vote another. For
example, they could ‘share’ if they enjoy Coca-Cola, or ‘like’ if they prefer Pepsi. Your customers
will be able to see the impact of their vote immediately, encouraging greater participation. Be
sure to thank everyone, and perhaps offer a coupon code for participating.
The most important thing you can do is ‘something.’ The vast majority of activity taking place on social
media is the sharing of content generated by others. The number of those actually creating the content
can be few, particularly within a specific market or industry.
Merely by contributing meaningful content, you increase the likelihood of creating a new customers
through engagement. You also intensify the value of your brand’s identity by establishing yourself as an
expert on popular public forums. Leading to the likelihood of others viewing your products and services
as the premier offerings within your field.
The PACE Methodology is always focused on the experiences of your customers.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 20
Completing Remarketing’s Fragmented Picture Remarketing strategies have proven to be an effective means of placing a product’s message in front of
the eyes of interested customers. It helps keep customers engaged with their desire and leads directly
to increased sales, at least when it’s the right message and perceived to be a good deal. Attaining insight
into the preferences of your customers and the incentives they respond to can increase the
effectiveness of your remarketing efforts dramatically.
Your brand advocates will always demonstrate what your most interested customer prefers. Do they
spread messages that speak to your products utility or the lifestyle it suggests? On which platforms do
they interact the most with their followers? Are they motivated more by a big reward or a valuable
discount? How far off into the future can the reward be placed?
The actions and activities of your brand advocates can answer these questions, and more.
Everyone seeks a more complete understanding of their customers’ motivations. The ability to combine
multiple data streams into one easy-to-use dashboard for quick and deep analysis can rapidly improve
anyone’s approach to every customer interaction. A program that which seamlessly integrates with all
major CRM systems provides a deeper look into the approach, incentives and offers that increase sales.
Recruit social influencers – understand which potential customer needs product remarketing
and which would respond to a discount for sharing their purchase on social media
Know how to follow – use an analysis of your program’s engagement levels over time to
ascertain exactly when, where and how to present a product to a new customer
Encourage a sense of competition – Instead of displaying a product that has been viewed
through remarketing, keep a running tally on how often that product has been both purchased,
and shared on social media
A PACE driven Brand Advocacy Program can deepen the relationship you have with all of your
customers, and even those who have only just visited your site for the very first time. Tracking for
remarketing efforts has always focused on what products were viewed. Now with a robust Brand
Advocacy Program they can include the reasons for a new customer’s first purchase.
A remarketing program can even become a reward for your Brand Advocates. You can encourage your
advocates to take the lead on developing targeted messages that speak personally to a potential new
customer. When their efforts result in a successful new sale, the advocate can earn a small reward. The
incentives for your users can reset monthly, to encourage a continuously refreshed message; or last
throughout your customers’ lifetime, to inspire commitment and loyalty.
As technology advances, and customers themselves become more sophisticated, targeted marketing
efforts that combine multiple data streams with the ability to track and follow potential customers
throughout their entire buy-cycle, will only increase in their ability to automatically target the right
people at the right time with the right message and a great incentive.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 21
The Channel in Their Pocket Push notifications are set to drive engagement and interaction like never before. The power of placing
your program in the purse and pocket of every one of your customers cannot be overstated. By pushing
your message directly to the most compelling screen in use today – our phones – engagement has
become more direct, personal and relevant than ever before.
Providing a branded engagement app that automatically integrates with every popular social media
platform increases the reach your customers have with their followers and places your products and
services onto the largest number of screens possible.
Now, when you send an important message out to all of your fans and followers, including content on
new products and services, push notifications provide greater promotion penetration than ever before.
Beyond superior promotion control, a branded mobile app with push notifications gives you the ability
to interact with your program users in a highly personalized manner. Allowing your program to leverage
an entire community of engaged customers.
Stay in touch across multiple platforms – send automatic notifications when a customer’s
program related post on social media is liked and shared by their friends, family and colleagues
Push motivational updates – automatically inform every program member whenever there’s a
change in the top 5 leaderboard positions of a contest
Creatively use innovative features – develop geo-targeting related activities and games, such as
rewarding customers merely for checking into a certain store or area on social media
Program customers rely on their smartphones to keep them connected to the most important people,
activities and events in their lives. It’s the best platform for fostering a close personal relationship that
will provide a lifetime of value for both the customer and your program. Instead of encouraging your
program customers to interact with the program through your website, you can push important
information and activities directly to them.
When new rewards are added or earned, you can automatically push an image of the reward out to your
customers. When their one social engagement away from earning bonus points, your program can push
a one-click method for achieving the incentive. If you want to form your customers into teams and
entire cities into game boards, you can push your imagination to the limit of the possibilities that mobile
enables.
Mobile platforms continue to develop innovative ways of facilitating activities and tracking your
program user’s preferences. By relying on an equally adaptive cloud-based platform, and by designing
many brand advocacy program features as plug-and-play software modules, NextBee remains well-
positioned to continue to merge the newest technologies with advanced features.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 22
Sow the Seeds for Your Success Many of the suggestions offered above track closely with the first-quarter action plan NextBee provides
to all their clients. Many more strategies remain for promoting your program to a growing community of
dedicated customers. No matter the strategy, we often encourage our clients, as well as ourselves, to
keep the following points in mind:
Display a Sense of Humor – Note: this is different than, ‘Be Funny.’ It essentially means
provoking laughter while also being nice. Humor that mocks can, and will, quickly backfire.
Provide an Ego Boost – Go out of your way to design a program that reminds customers what a
great decision they made by joining the program. When customers consider your brand, it
should work as a mirror which reflects their best characteristics back to them.
Remain Useful – Offer important information, and keep your customers updated on current
trends. Work to develop a program that becomes a true resource for your customers by helping
them to remain up-to-date and connected with what matters in their lives.
Controversy –A program that is afraid to ruffle feathers in pursuit of its goals does not inspire
confidence from its customers. Make bold decisions and stand by them.
Be Dramatic – Especially on social media posts. Write with a flair you normally wouldn’t and
reference events in flamboyant terms. It’s amazing!
Aim for the Heart – Humor works well because it provokes socially acceptable emotions. Pulling
the heart strings with a touching message can have a similar effect.
You do not need to take this general approach and posture always, though it is often effective to deploy
a healthy mix of many of these suggested items. If you have solid messaging that works, but suddenly
starts to go stale, it’s a good list to remember to ensure you are still following core principals.
Preferences, however, change over time. Some segments of customers will always prefer to
communicate through email. Others will migrate to social media platforms and expect their favorite
brands to meet them there. You return your customer’s demonstrations of loyalty when your program
establishes the adaptive ability to react positively to change and grow along with your customers.
Excitement in affiliate programs often centers on the rewards. Whether a grand prize, or public
recognition, it is the incentives that your program deploys that will maintain your customers’ excitement
for as long as your program runs.
An incentive does not necessarily have to translate into something with a clear monetary value. The
right incentive, or series of incentives, involves three primary characteristics:
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page 23
Thoughtfulness – The incentive should express a deeper than casual knowledge, much like
choosing a gift for a significant other.
Understanding – A shared point-of-view demonstrates empathy beyond the mere knowledge of
what your customers’ value. An incentive can demonstrate an outlook on the world that you
and your customers share. Sometimes, the real reward is helping others.
Reflection – Your customers, clients, and employees must see themselves in the incentive. The
rewards must invoke those values you actively wish to see expressed in this world.
Incentives are an investment. They induce future behavior that will be profitable. Keeping your
incentives fresh is how your affiliate program will remain relevant in the lives of your customers.
Again, this does not mean providing always-greater rewards with an increasingly expensive price tag. An
engaging incentive can be a badge on a profile, special access to VIP offers, public acknowledgement
and encouragement, or something as simple as a one-phrase, hand-written, thank-you note sent to a
single random program user each and every month.
An abundance of attention to detail is typically required when designing a new program. It needs to be
technically integrated and aesthetically pleasing; it needs to offer initial messaging and include
incentives that grab the attention of casual customers and long-term customers.
When designed well, a program will almost always create excitement and gain some of the needed
attention on its own. A strong plan and solid execution will accelerate results.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page i
NextBee’s Upsell & Bundling Program Features
Key Motivators for Program Participants
Expert recommendations on which product offers will most likely achieve success when bundled and bought together
Special discounts offered in-cart for promotional bundles defined by a customer’s previous shopping activity or the habits of similar shoppers
Granular opt-ins to create specialized customer alerts for offers on specific categories and even individual items
Automatically reward bonus points for upsell activity by providing points for reaching a specified order amount, with the ability to adjust and test upsell
Targeted broadcasts to offer first-to-know access and sharing on a customer’s favorite line of products and new items of similar value
Social status rewards publicly grant access to a specialized category, i.e. ‘Elite Customer’, for activities such as buying all products in a series
Guaranteed Results through Smart Controls
Regularly send special offers and coupons for upgraded or bundled purchases based on your criteria and your customer’s profile
Analyze customer purchasing habits by segment and create bundled offers targeted at specific segments with our analysis tools
Optimize and revitalize regularly bundled purchases by providing promotional incentives based on previous customer shopping activity
Place upsell products in a bundle and automatically send regular reminders for follow-on purchases to extend the value of product promotions
Easily import and deploy upsell suggestions in your current email and display ad systems with NextBee’s seamless integration
Turn delivery into a reward with automatic triggers on free or reduced shipping based on a customizable criteria, such as a specified purchase amount
Appendix
NextBee
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page ii
Best of the Breed Technology Platform
Flexible upsell configurator can create bundled promotions targeting specific goals, such as customer acquisition, using variables like product category, SKU, and brand
Baked-in API support to easily export and import upsell suggestions, so you can quickly adjust the configuration of any special product offer
End-to-end integration with your current shopping cart creates a seamless experience for every customer - everything just works
Support for customer account adjustments based on returns, refunds, charge-backs and other program issues that may arise
Admin ability to monitor bundled products and manually override upsell offers during any step in the sales process
Personalized opt-out and opt-in settings for each of your customers increases buy-in by extending control over the bundles and offers they receive
Commitment to Success of the Program
Expert guidance during the set-up of initial offers, with positioning and placement of bundles and upsell items
Easy set-up of regular, automatic monitoring with the ability to quickly adjust all product bundles and upsell offers made to your customers
Integrated A/B testing allows you to create and test a variety of upsell offers and product bundles to gain an understanding of what works best with your customers
Custom segmentation of both shoppers and products based on the rate of upsell adoption, including multiple types of product bundles
Professional design of custom interstitial pages, including multiple banners, with the right mix of visual cues and incentives
Professional copywriting services provided for all auto-triggered emails and other targeted messages
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page iii
Pricing Philosophy
How Do You Measure Potential? It can be hard to account for the cost of a customer or client that is not there, just as it can be difficult to
ascertain how much more valuable a skilled employee or team might become with the right incentives.
A comparison between the value of a repeat customer and someone one who only buys once is slightly
more straightforward. Even then, however, the definition of ‘repeat’ must be carefully considered or the
average value risks becoming meaningless.
When NextBee is approached, the question forms in many ways. How does NextBee structure its
programs to ensure the investment is worth the cost? What methods are used to measure success?
When can the company expect to see a return on its investment?
No matter how it may be framed, how quickly our programs becomes ROI positive is the most important
question we are ever asked.
No one can see the future, and there are always risks to any endeavor. However, we hope to provide a
‘behind-the-scenes’ look at the value received when compared to the costs of deployment, as well as
the additional value you should expect to receive from the implementation of the programs themselves.
The NextBee Guarantee
Unlimited Tech Support – Days, nights, weekends, and holidays: we’re here for you, always, at
no extra cost.
One Platform, Forever – All upgrades, enhancements, and new features can be made
continuously available for your program’s use.
No Price Increases – Stay within your program and most new benefits become yours at the
monthly price you pay now.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page iv
Pricing Considerations
NextBee looks at a variety of factors when determining the cost of a program. Every client is unique.
Some are quite capable of handling their own customization needs, while other clients rely on NextBee’s
expertise extensively. Either way, you will only pay for what you need, nothing more. NextBee is focused
on what works – for our clients and for ourselves.
Campaign Duration (numbers quoted are leveled to $100 for comparison)
Short Term - 75% less than the cost of doing it yourself*.
Long Term - Equal to 25% of your first year returns.
Customization (numbers quoted are leveled to $100 for comparison)
We provide the API for you to customize for FREE.
Back End Customization - 75% less than the cost of doing it yourself*.
Front End Customization - 90% less than the cost of doing it yourself*.
Service Level (numbers quoted are leveled to $100 for comparison)
Accessing and using our tools after training is FREE
Monthly Checkpoint Program Management - 90% less than the average salary of a Marketing
Manager**.
Weekly Checkpoint - a dedicated Account Manager providing status reports as frequently as you
want them - 75% less than the average salary of a Marketing Manager**.
A clear understanding of your own goals in any program is necessary for a true cost analysis to be
conducted. NextBee prides itself on working closely with its clients to help ensure ROI expectations are
met and exceeded.
By keeping the implementation costs low, the additional value generated by increased sales, more
frequent sales and more productive employees occurs quickly. The growth is often measurable in a very
short period of time.
*NextBee has a team of highly skilled in-house programmers. We know the general cost of an experienced programmer and
make use of economies of scale to greatly reduce this cost for our clients. The cost comparison is based on our experience and
experiences may vary. In fact, that’s why we offer you the API for free.
**The average salary of a Marketing Manager in the United States as reported by Salary.com on 01/15/2014
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page v
The Value Received
NextBee’s pricing structure must reflect more than the base cost of deploying a program. It needs to
encompass the full value of the service NextBee provides, as well as the considerable time, effort, and
talent demonstrated daily by NextBee’s employees. Consider the following:
A study conducted by Goethe University’s School of Business and Economics found the average
value of a referred customer to be 16% higher than a comparable customer.
Inc.com recently ran a report noting that repeat, loyal customers spend 67% more on average
than new, first-time customers.
A similar study conducted by Mainspring on behalf of Bain & Co. concluded that it was actually
impossible for ecommerce companies to earn a profit from one-time shoppers.
CBS reported on a review of 31 case studies that showed the average cost of replacing an
employee to be the equivalent of 20% of their base salary.
An analysis of a business survey conducted by Gallop found a 50% increase in productivity for
companies that engaged their employees with incentives the most vs. those that did the least.
NextBee’s programs can create repeat customers and clients made more valuable through regular,
repeat, purchases, along with engaged employees proactively improving the company’s bottom line. All
programs include baked-in tools designed for quick and easy analysis, allowing you to see exactly how
well your program is working in real time. These are the benefits NextBee considers when designing our
pricing philosophy.
How those benefits translate to your specific situation and unique business depends on an open and
honest discussion of your current abilities, limitations, and goals. NextBee prides itself on the flexibility
of its approach and the scalability of its software. We remain committed to providing incentive solutions
to companies of all sizes, in every industry and market.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page vi
NextBee Pricing The following pricing reflects general categories and does not represent the specific build that will be
required for your program. Please visit NextBee.com to contact one of our Senior Sales Executives for
further details on our competitive pricing structure.
Standard Access This license suits the needs of most businesses that have a presence across multiple channels (such as
web, social, and mobile) but whose marketing initiatives are managed by central marketing teams.
Program with Web Only Integration $1500/per month
Program with CRM Integration $2400/per month
Program with Channel Specific Settings $3600/per month
Program based on a Custom Build $6000/per month
Teams Edition This license is built for the needs of organizations that have multiple brands or agencies responsible for
managing multiple accounts, each with its own technology stack and targeted audience.
1 to 3 Portals $5400/per month
3 to 10 Portals $9600/per month
10 to 25 Portals $15,000/per month
25 to 50 Portals Custom Quote
Corporate Bundle This license caters to the specialized requirements of businesses with franchises, or organizations where
regional or vertical industry specific marketing teams operate independently.
For 1 to 5 Command Centers $8400/per month
For 5 to 50 Command Centers $12,000/per month
For 50 to 300 Command Centers $18,000/per month
For 300+ Command Centers Custom Quote
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page vii
Program Benefit Analysis No two clients are alike, and neither is their base of customers. That does not mean it is impossible to
know the value your program provides. You brand advocates reach will be both far and wide. However,
it will not be all encompassing. Each will have their focus and specialty. Any ROI analysis should focus on
three specific impacts that will actively contribute to your program’s success.
*1st Impact – All Current Shoppers
Current average number of regular shoppers _____
Percentage of customers who will reliably upgrade to the next version of the product
_____%
Percentage of customers who will adapt their behavior to reach an elite tier of users
_____% Impacted by Incentives
Percentage decrease in returns (_____%)
*2nd Impact – Active Deal Seekers
Current number of customers who only purchase when a deal is offered
_____
Percentage increase in sales volume due to personalized offers
_____%
Percentage improvement in deal margin and structure due to smart analytics
_____% Impacted by Incentives
Percentage increase in customers adding premium items to their shopping cart
_____% Impacted by Incentives
*3rd Impact – Email Subscribers
Current number of active email subscribers _____
Percentage increase in conversions from email _____% Impacted by Offers
Percentage increase in email opens due to granular opt-ins on categories and products
_____%
Percentage increase in email forwards and tracked social media shares
_____% Impacted by Incentives
*Figures used for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to reflect the performance of any particular program. Results
vary based on market conditions and program features.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page viii
Document Sources
1http://a.abcnews.com/images/Technology/ht_twitter_comcast_ll_131009_16x9_992.jpg 2http://www.inc.com/peter-cohan/3-start-up-lessons-from-netflix-master-of-adaptation.html
Netflix Graphic:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303902404579149883903402974 3http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2011/03/17/how-netflix-innovates-and-wins/ 4http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Twitter-Use-Rises-Across-US-Age-Groups/1010119 6http://www.geekwire.com/2013/amazon-prime-10m-members-counting/
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page ix
Document License
I. REQUIREMENTS ON BOTH UNMODIFIED AND MODIFIED VERSIONS
The Open Publication works may be reproduced and distributed in whole or in part, in any medium
physical or electronic, provided that the terms of this license are adhered to, and that this license or an
incorporation of it by reference (with any options elected by the author(s) and/or publisher) is displayed
in the reproduction.
Proper form for an incorporation by reference is as follows:
Copyright (c) <year> by <author's name or designee>. This material may be distributed only subject to
the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later (the latest version is
presently available athttp://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).
The reference must be immediately followed with any options elected by the author(s) and/or publisher
of the document (see section VI).
Commercial redistribution of Open Publication-licensed material is permitted.
Any publication in standard (paper) book form shall require the citation of the original publisher and
author. The names of the publisher and author shall appear on all outer surfaces of the book. On all
outer surfaces of the book the original publisher's name shall be as large as the title of the work and
cited as possessive with respect to the title.
II. COPYRIGHT
The copyright to each Open Publication is owned by its author(s) or designee.
III. SCOPE OF LICENSE
The following license terms apply to all Open Publication works, unless otherwise explicitly stated in the
document.
Mere aggregation of Open Publication works or a portion of an Open Publication work with other works
or programs on the same media shall not cause this license to apply to those other works. The aggregate
work shall contain a notice specifying the inclusion of the Open Publication material and appropriate
copyright notice.
SEVERABILITY. If any part of this license is found to be unenforceable in any jurisdiction, the remaining
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page x
portions of the license remain in force.
NO WARRANTY. Open Publication works are licensed and provided "as is" without warranty of any kind,
express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness
for a particular purpose or a warranty of non-infringement.
IV. REQUIREMENTS ON MODIFIED WORKS
All modified versions of documents covered by this license, including translations, anthologies,
compilations, and partial documents, must meet the following requirements:
1. The modified version must be labeled as such. 2. The person making the modifications must be identified and the modifications dated. 3. Acknowledgement of the original author and publisher if applicable must be retained according
to normal academic citation practices. 4. The location of the original unmodified document must be identified. 5. The original author's (or authors') name(s) may not be used to assert or imply endorsement of
the resulting document without the original author's (or authors') permission.
V. GOOD-PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS
In addition to the requirements of this license, it is requested from and strongly recommended of
redistributors that:
1. If you are distributing Open Publication works on hardcopy or CD-ROM, you provide email notification to the authors of your intent to redistribute at least thirty days before your manuscript or media freeze, to give the authors time to provide updated documents. This notification should describe modifications, if any, made to the document.
2. All substantive modifications (including deletions) be either clearly marked up in the document or else described in an attachment to the document.
3. Finally, while it is not mandatory under this license, it is considered good form to offer a free copy of any hardcopy and CD-ROM expression of an Open Publication-licensed work to its author(s).
VI. LICENSE OPTIONS
The author(s) and/or publisher of an Open Publication-licensed document may elect certain options by
appending language to the reference to or copy of the license. These options are considered part of the
license instance and must be included with the license (or its incorporation by reference) in derived
works.
N e x t B e e C o r p o r a t i o n - F o l s o m , C A - U S A
Page xi
A. To prohibit distribution of substantively modified versions without the explicit permission of the
author(s). "Substantive modification" is defined as a change to the semantic content of the document,
and excludes mere changes in format or typographical corrections.
To accomplish this, add the phrase `Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is
prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder' to the license reference or copy.
B. To prohibit any publication of this work or derivative works in whole or in part in standard (paper)
book form for commercial purposes unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder.
To accomplish this, add the phrase 'Distribution of the work or derivative of the work in any standard
(paper) book form is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder' to the
license reference or copy.