Those who know me know that I am above average interested in customer clubs and am a member of many. That's why it's sad that I'm mostly disappointed every time I join a new one. I find too often that I only get a digital version of the old newspaper I used to get in my mailbox at home. I rarely unsubscribe from a customer club again (you never know what can happen later), but usually end up activating the spam filter.

As a customer, I expect a customer club in 2024 to be something more than a joint newsletter that is sent out to everyone who has registered with their email address in the customer club. Often the stores know a lot more about me, at least if they want to. For example, they have access to my purchase history and have a lot of data about my digital behavior.

With 2.9 million members, Trumf is Norway's largest loyalty program and provides customers with benefits in NorgesGruppen's chains.

Work actively with personalisation

Personalised marketing and customer experience have long been one of the hottest trends in retail. A recent study from McKinsey shows that personalized marketing can reduce the cost of acquiring a new customer by as much as 50 percent, increase revenue by 5 to 15 percent, and increase the return on marketing investment by 10 to 30 percent.

So why aren't more customer clubs able to personalize the content I receive by email?

All stores that have a customer club should therefore work actively with personalization. But it is of course challenging to offer hyper-personalization across different channels, as it places great demands on how to collect, handle and use data.

I am passionate about relevance and the great value that lies in customer data used in the right way. Here are my three pieces of advice for those who do not have a functioning customer club today:

1. Get control of the data: Prioritize linking as much data (product data, purchase history and other customer data) as possible (remember to ask for consent from your customers) and make the data available to your customer club.

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   Invest in technology: Invest in technology that allows you to use data to personalize offers and other information sent out to your customers. Done right, this is an investment, not a cost. Because the value you get in return in increased conversion and sales will exceed many times the investment.

3. Think big, but start simple: Get started quickly, and instead increase the degree of personalization step by step. Then you don't lose so much time getting started, and you can measure effects along the way and make the right choices when adjusting and increasing personalization.

We have been lucky enough to contribute to the launch of Meny's new customer club - Meny More. As a member of Meny Mer, Meny's customers will get more of what they actually like. Based on previous purchases, they will now receive more and more relevant offers, as well as more tailored food inspiration.

Menu More is an example of a customer club that I believe works as expected in 2024.