So Donatos launched a new loyalty program powered by Cheetah Digital by Marigold. It replaced the original points-for-free pizza model with one designed to collect zero-party data combined with order history and preference data. The result was an ability to know customer-specific details like favorite menu items, dietary preferences, and other data that led to offering on-demand rewards customized to each account.

In today’s digital landscape, consumers have quickly become the driving force of how businesses conduct their marketing and customer-facing operations. As such, it is essential that brands stay abreast of consumer expectations in order to keep up with the changing times.

To help marketers navigate consumers’ changing viewpoints, Marigold – the newly relaunched global relationship marketing pioneer (formerly CM Group) – recently released new research that uncovers what consumers expect from the brands they do business with online, the channels they want to connect on for more personalised experiences. The 2023 Consumer Trends Index data also uncovers the formats, services, and behaviours customers expect from brands in advance of a potential recession

CM Group CEO Wellford Dillard introduced Marigold, which brings together the company’s global, cross-channel email and martech solutions, technologies and services under one brand.

Cheetah Digital, a loyalty marketing solutions company, has identified ways QSRs can build loyalty programs in an increasingly competitive environment.

The relationship between customer and brand has changed dramatically over recent years. In a recent consumer trend report by Cheetah Digital, 55% of consumers are loyal to brands with great products and services, and 39% are loyal because they feel safe to buy from, but only 34% attribute their loyalty to the brand's loyalty program.

CM Group—the martech company behind Campaign Monitor, Cheetah Digital, Emma, Sailthru, Selligent and Vuture—just announced its new name: Marigold. The rebrand is timed to the release of the company’s Consumer Trends Index 2023, the latest edition of its annual global survey of more than 6,000 consumers (more on that below).

Among consumers worldwide, 52% have made a purchase directly from an email they received in the last year -- a 4% increase YoY according to the 2023 Consumer Trends Index, a study by the newly rebranded Marigold in connection with Econsultancy.

Specifically, 38% of consumers have bought something from an email on mobile device -- a 3% hike YoY -- while 25% have purchased directly from an SMS.

“We are thrilled to introduce Marigold, which perfectly reflects who we are and why we exist: to drive growth for our customers. By nature, marigolds are growth catalysts for other plants, and as Marigold we are focused on partnering with our customers to help stimulate their growth,” said Wellford Dillard, CEO of Marigold.

As old tools for ad targeting dry up, marketers are getting savvy about owning relationships with consumers. Instead of reaching customers by banner ads or renting that reach on social media alone, brands are finding ongoing direct relationships can be more stable, lucrative and mutually rewarding, according to a new study by Marigold that looks at the perceptions and attitudes of more than 6,800 consumers representing eight countries

"We're dramatically increasing our [research and development] investment this year, at a time when we see a lot of tech companies cutting back in that area," Dillard said.

The potential for a recession was one factor spurring the Cheetah Digital deal to completion.

With new technology and government regulations disrupting the old ways of collecting consumer data, marketers are in need of new ways to efficiently reach and consistently engage customers at scale.

Relationship marketing offers opportunities to drive revenue, create personalized experiences, and deliver a unique value exchange across the entire customer lifecycle. Here’s how four companies have recently implemented this strategy in each of the four stages:

Email continues to be an effective marketing tool. Of consumers surveyed by CM Group last year, 45% made a purchase based on email engagement, versus 33% who acted on a banner advertisement and 22% who acted on an SMS message, writes Tim Glomb, vice president of content at CM Group.

Based on the campaigns conducted on its platform, CM Group saw a 62% increase in open rates in the first quarter. Unique opens grew by 92%, while total clicks rose by 5% and unique clicks increased by 9%.

Email is only a format. The key to effective email marketing is in the message delivered, says CM Group's Tim Glomb.

Don’t call it a comeback. Email may be an old format, but it continues to be one of the most effective marketing channels brands can use to drive revenue - if used correctly (and that’s a big if).

What all these companies’ strategies have in common is zero-party data. They’re not buying data from someone else; they’re not sharing it with someone else. Their customers know that they’re opting into a two-way relationship with Kamera Express, American Airlines or PepsiCo, and they know that they’re going to be receiving something in return for the information given. A mutually beneficial value exchange.

Engagement programs have also proven a smart way for financial institutions to form a bond with their customers. Campaign Monitor reports more emails are sent on Black Friday than any other day of the year and securing consumer attention in this timeframe can be extremely difficult. But having a program and rapport in place makes it more likely people will pay attention to correspondence from banks they are already engaged with even beyond the holiday season.

Magnolia Bakery is one business that progressed from emailing customers on an adhoc basis to running measurable and impactful email campaigns tailored to its customers. Working with Sailthru — part of CM Group and the leading personalized marketing automation SaaS solution for retailers, publishers and media— and its suite of connected data and tracking capabilities, they have gained both insight and sales from their marketing activities

If that calendar speed-up is the bad news, the good news is that a marketing shift should lead to consumers being partners in building a stronger bottom line. Tired of being tracked all over the internet by ads for products they don’t want, consumers are willing to help brands “meet them where they are.” Imagine a world in which you knew what your customers planned to buy in the future because they told you.

Wendy Werve is CMO of CM Group, and has over 20 years of experience developing, leading, and executing growth-focused marketing strategies.

Jillian Dimoff, Strategic Account Executive at Cheetah Digital, recommends the most logical first step might be to do an asset inventory analysis. She asks, “What do you have that has a low cost and a high perceived value in your arsenal that we can leverage within the program?

In 2011, I joined Mark Cuban’s team and helped rebrand and digitize the marketing efforts for AXS TV, the largest independent TV net in NAmer. I then joined SUN Microsystems co-founder Svott McNealy’s startup Wayin by developing social intelligence and content feeds for news, entertainment and other media properties. I now sit as head of global content at the CM Group telling the stories of marketers using our relationship marketing platforms to engage hundreds of millions of consumers across email, SMS and loyalty.

Jillian Dimoff, Strategic Account Executive at Cheetah Digital, lists these indicators to test if a loyalty program has become stagnant:
Customer churn: are customers disengaged and not seeing the value?