It's never easy keeping up with the changing needs of one's customers but leading film exhibition company Ster-Kinekor have developed a digitally driven Customer Relationship Management system that knows and understands the Ster-Kinekor's customers and their needs.
Cinema customer attendance has grown between 8% and 10% and most of this has been achieved by Ster-Kinekor and its year-old customer relationship management initiatives have certainly contributed to the achievements.
"We see our customers as individuals with personalities and preferences. The traditional cinema business was based on the idea of 'bums in seats' but we have encouraged a paradigm shift away from such thinking. Ster-Kinekor recognises that our customers have wants, needs and desires," comments Odette van Wyk Ster-Kinekor Marketing Executive.
To fulfil the customers needs Ster-Kinekor introduced a range of initiatives from a state-of the-art customer call centre and personalised web offering, to personal interaction at catering counters and ticket queues. "Our aim is to deliver a single view of the customer at every point of contact," states van Wyk.
Ster-Kinekor's Movie Club, which was re-launched just over a year ago has attained one million members, up from 260 000 in this period. The astonishing growth has been achieved on the back of what van Wyk calls "a really good offer".
"Our added benefits to our customers work because they are based on sustainability," reiterates van Wyk. For a once off activation fee of R30.00 members get a complimentary movie ticket, half price entrance on Tuesdays, a free ticket for every 10 purchased, invitations to special movie-related events including premieres and the chance to enter into specialised competitions.
"We recently hosted a R100 000 shopping spree competition, where 5 lucky winners won a shopping experience of a lifetime wining between R5 000 and R40 000 to spend on anything they wanted! This drive was exclusive to new movie club members and five lucky people went home not only with their Gold Movie Club membership, but also with the added benefit of being allowed to shop till they drop!" says van Wyk.
Regular information updates are sent to movie club members via email and short message service, ensuring they are always aware of the latest exciting cinema entertainment offerings Ster-Kinekor presents. "Another objective of our CRM strategy is to build and strengthen relationships with customers through tailor made and personalised offerings thereby ensuring we engender loyalty within our customer base."
Unique membership tiers mean customers obtain exclusive benefit based on their frequency of visits and their loyalty. The highest tier, Platinum, entitles holders of this lofty status exclusive VIP service including complimentary movie tickets on their birthdays, exclusive invitations to Platinum premieres, dedicated queues at the box office and personal greetings from Ster-Kinekor Guest Relations officers.
The call centre fields on average in excess of 60 000 calls a month which indicates that Ster-Kinekor's customers find value in the service. "A lot of companies that 'do; customer relationship management often annoy their customers. But we have found just the opposite. We are careful not to overdo things and implement very strict policies on spam and privacy. We won't talk to customers who don't want us to. But we generally find that people are eager to know what's happening in the movie world, what the stars are up to, what new releases are coming up and so on," comments van Wyk.
Ster-Kinekor's strategic alliance with Discovery Health's Vitality programme resulted in about 200 000 Discovery members signing up for the Vitality offer and getting to see any movie of their choice at any time for just R8,00. Vitality members are enjoying the special benefit that their medical aid affords them in the form of the Ster-Kinekor offer.
"We endeavour to make the movie experience a pleasurable one for our customers, and initiatives like the CRM strategy give us the opportunity to add to that experience. The rise in customer attendances indicates to us that amongst other factors, the CRM strategy is making an impact. We want to offer our customers not just a movie but two hours of sheer escapism," says van Wyk.
"Our goal is to make our business customer centric - and CRM is assisting us in realising this goal. Customer focus is no longer an initiative; it is the way we do business."
