July 31, 2013
COLLOQUY: Will ‘Get Fit’ Incentives Work for Walgreens Rewards?
Through a special arrangement, what follows is a summary of an article from COLLOQUY, provider of loyalty-marketing publishing, education and research since 1990.
In April, Walgreens’ 75 million-member Balance Rewards program added "get fit" incentives for walking, running and other activities. Called the "Steps with Balance Rewards" program, it grants points to members for logging individual activities, which they can then redeem at any of its roughly 8,000 stores or online.
In addition, it offers a social component that encourages people to create a community.
"Steps with Balance Rewards" came just about a year after Walgreens entered into the loyalty space with Balance Rewards.
"When we originally thought about positioning a loyalty proposition, we had what I call the ‘late-mover’ advantage," Graham Atkinson, chief marketing and customer experience officer at Walgreens, told COLLOQUY. "So we looked around at immediate and not-so-immediate competitors, and then at what spoke to the DNA of Walgreens. We sought from an early stage to tie the program demonstrably to what the brand stands for, and that pretty quickly brought us to health and wellness: live well, stay well, get well."
At the same time, he said, Walgreens wanted to build on one of the pillars in its brand arsenal, which is a unique presence in the community.
"For instance, we had developed two years ago a regional program called Walk With Walgreens, for employees, which inspired a national campaign," Mr. Atkinson said. "Companies like Disney were interested in partnering with us on it. So when we committed to launching Balance Rewards, we decided to integrate the Walk With Walgreens concept into it to serve our customers, and also as a logical value-add for the program. We see it as a foundation of what you can do in that space, in terms of motivating consumers to pursue better health."
Members earn 20 points for each mile they log and 20 points when they log their weight at Walgreens.com/balance-steps (subject to daily and monthly limits). Members can also sync fitness devices from FitBit, Withings, and BodyMedia to log activity automatically. A balance of 5,000 points must be reached before rewards are gained but walking points can rack up quickly.
Members can also log their goals and track their progress, as well as earn badges and share stories with the Balance Rewards community to keep motivated.
"We have a lot of people connecting who didn’t know each other and actually started to walk together," Mr. Atkinson said. "The more functional part of it involves setting walking goals and you get a reward for that, so you hold yourself and your friends to account but you also earn points as you go. These points go seamlessly into your rewards balance and you can use them for pretty much anything in the stores — though not for subscriptions or dairy products, for regulatory reasons."
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Discussion Questions
What do you think of Walgreens adding “get fit” incentives to its customer rewards program? What do you think are the pros and cons of offering such point drivers?
Poll
This expressed commitment to health and well-being will resonate well with consumers. And I believe that incenting people to stay fit with a link to in-store rewards is a very savvy move. Other retailers will be watching the impact with keen interest and I anticipate some will follow suit.
The challenge for Walgreens is “sticking to it.” This cannot be positioned as a short-term promotion, rather this is a long-term commitment to consumer lifestyles.
I’m a rewards member and this is the first I’ve heard of it. So the message is not clear. Second, it’s open to cheating and the customer has to do all the work. Walgreens isn’t too exposed since the rewards are minimal. It will get people in the store and they will make up for the free points in no time, even with the cheaters.
Balance Rewards meets SparkPeople. Why not?
Too many times, the “natural tie-in” or “logical fit” of marketing concepts is forced at best and contrived at worst. This one actually works.
I just signed up. If I log in and honestly post my 3-4 miles a day, in about 2 months I will get $5.
Adding “get fit” incentives is an example of how Walgreens is making its loyalty program contextual. It has created a social currency based on activities beyond purchase transaction and also opens up opportunity for community interaction among members.
I also believe it was one of the few openings that Walgreens had to chip away at the early move advantage owned by CVS with its ExtraCare program.
The only downside I see is communicated somewhat tongue in cheek. Mileage rewards are limited to the equivalent of 50 miles per month. Walgreens apparently doesn’t want to see marathoners and other serious athletes gaming their system through high mileage posting.
That said, should there be tiers for members pursuing different levels of physical activity and with different goals? Maybe that is to come in the future, otherwise, the Walgreens message is “we want you healthy, just not too much.”
Love, love, love that Walgreens has found a way to incent their customers beyond promotions and in a way that actually benefits the customer outside the pocket book.
Also love, love, love the community aspect here. This gives Walgreens a chance to perhaps sponsor some kind of community challenge, host get fit fairs, walk-a-thons, the list goes on. What a great way to generate loyalty!
Nice, but not necessary. Very few will take advantage of this program. I believe they would get more out of making sure that ALL stores were in stock on sale merchandise. It appears to me that they forgot some of the basics. Like “management by walking around” and “the customer is number one.”
This is a great concept, but Walgreens is not the right vehicle to collect and drive the focus of this. A drug store is where sick people go, not where healthy people meet. Getting the US consumer past this will be difficult, and appealing to people who feel bad, to change their lifestyle and even “try” fitness, while meeting at or through a drugstore chain, goes against everything that the American consumer knows.
While this is interesting and ties into health/well-being which certainly links to Walgreens, it remains to be seen if this will take off. I am a Balanced Rewards member and also had not heard of this until today. So I’m not sure it is being promoted enough and also not sure that the rewards are sufficient enough for me to spend the time logging everything. And as someone else pointed out, any level of athlete beyond a low mileage walker need not apply!
“Get Fit” is in line with Walgreens’ Mission – A destination where health and happiness come together to help people get well, stay well, and live well. So from that perspective it is on message.
I also like the “Get Fit” program as a traffic builder. Consumers are earning points that can only be used at Walgreens. If a consumer earns something, they tend to want it. So that makes sense.
Finally, I like the potential social impact of the “Get Fit” program. Sharing stories and earning badges are wonderful ways to promote the brand through their customers.
Conclusion: “Get Fit” is a great fit!
It’s a good idea. Promotionally, it will create good will.
I have questions on how effective it will be reaching the “non-converted.” A few dollars reward will not persuade people to get healthier—how much money would they save annually if they became healthy?
On the pro side, if Walgreens becomes very successful in appealing to the health conscious, they can expand their product offerings and further differentiate themselves from the competition.
According to our recent poll of Balance Rewards members, “Steps” is one of the least used/known about features of the program.
It is not surprising. With the current rewards scheme, a member can walk/run 50 miles—or across the state of Rhode Island—and earn only $1 worth of points, the max for the month. You could get the same about of points in a recent circular for buying packs of Twizzlers.
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This expressed commitment to health and well-being will resonate well with consumers. And I believe that incenting people to stay fit with a link to in-store rewards is a very savvy move. Other retailers will be watching the impact with keen interest and I anticipate some will follow suit.
The challenge for Walgreens is “sticking to it.” This cannot be positioned as a short-term promotion, rather this is a long-term commitment to consumer lifestyles.
I’m a rewards member and this is the first I’ve heard of it. So the message is not clear. Second, it’s open to cheating and the customer has to do all the work. Walgreens isn’t too exposed since the rewards are minimal. It will get people in the store and they will make up for the free points in no time, even with the cheaters.
Balance Rewards meets SparkPeople. Why not?
Too many times, the “natural tie-in” or “logical fit” of marketing concepts is forced at best and contrived at worst. This one actually works.
I just signed up. If I log in and honestly post my 3-4 miles a day, in about 2 months I will get $5.
Adding “get fit” incentives is an example of how Walgreens is making its loyalty program contextual. It has created a social currency based on activities beyond purchase transaction and also opens up opportunity for community interaction among members.
I also believe it was one of the few openings that Walgreens had to chip away at the early move advantage owned by CVS with its ExtraCare program.
The only downside I see is communicated somewhat tongue in cheek. Mileage rewards are limited to the equivalent of 50 miles per month. Walgreens apparently doesn’t want to see marathoners and other serious athletes gaming their system through high mileage posting.
That said, should there be tiers for members pursuing different levels of physical activity and with different goals? Maybe that is to come in the future, otherwise, the Walgreens message is “we want you healthy, just not too much.”
Love, love, love that Walgreens has found a way to incent their customers beyond promotions and in a way that actually benefits the customer outside the pocket book.
Also love, love, love the community aspect here. This gives Walgreens a chance to perhaps sponsor some kind of community challenge, host get fit fairs, walk-a-thons, the list goes on. What a great way to generate loyalty!
Nice, but not necessary. Very few will take advantage of this program. I believe they would get more out of making sure that ALL stores were in stock on sale merchandise. It appears to me that they forgot some of the basics. Like “management by walking around” and “the customer is number one.”
This is a great concept, but Walgreens is not the right vehicle to collect and drive the focus of this. A drug store is where sick people go, not where healthy people meet. Getting the US consumer past this will be difficult, and appealing to people who feel bad, to change their lifestyle and even “try” fitness, while meeting at or through a drugstore chain, goes against everything that the American consumer knows.
While this is interesting and ties into health/well-being which certainly links to Walgreens, it remains to be seen if this will take off. I am a Balanced Rewards member and also had not heard of this until today. So I’m not sure it is being promoted enough and also not sure that the rewards are sufficient enough for me to spend the time logging everything. And as someone else pointed out, any level of athlete beyond a low mileage walker need not apply!
“Get Fit” is in line with Walgreens’ Mission – A destination where health and happiness come together to help people get well, stay well, and live well. So from that perspective it is on message.
I also like the “Get Fit” program as a traffic builder. Consumers are earning points that can only be used at Walgreens. If a consumer earns something, they tend to want it. So that makes sense.
Finally, I like the potential social impact of the “Get Fit” program. Sharing stories and earning badges are wonderful ways to promote the brand through their customers.
Conclusion: “Get Fit” is a great fit!
It’s a good idea. Promotionally, it will create good will.
I have questions on how effective it will be reaching the “non-converted.” A few dollars reward will not persuade people to get healthier—how much money would they save annually if they became healthy?
On the pro side, if Walgreens becomes very successful in appealing to the health conscious, they can expand their product offerings and further differentiate themselves from the competition.
According to our recent poll of Balance Rewards members, “Steps” is one of the least used/known about features of the program.
It is not surprising. With the current rewards scheme, a member can walk/run 50 miles—or across the state of Rhode Island—and earn only $1 worth of points, the max for the month. You could get the same about of points in a recent circular for buying packs of Twizzlers.