Hannah: Hi everyone. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to join us today. We’re really excited to share the details of the updated app with you all. A lot of work has gone into this new version, as well as a lot of feedback from all of you, which we’ve appreciated over the years.

It’s now been a couple years since we’ve launched the original version of the app and there’s been a lot happening since. So, we hope you’re as excited as we are to dive into this today. I think I’m familiar with most of you on the line, but my name’s Hannah, I’m the group director of client services for the Loyalty and Incentives Division of Allegiance Group. With me today is Joanna West, president of the Loyalty and Incentives Division. And we’re going to take you through this webinar today. We’ll have a little sneak peek at the new branding, which I’ve alluded to in a couple of my email communications. We’ll take a look at that and then get into the features of the new app and all the things that you can expect from us going forward, the timeline of that launch, details, things of that nature.

So, this is a look at the new branding from an app standpoint. On the right-hand side, you’ll notice the current version of the app on the left is the app with the updated MemberCard branding. So, that little happy logo you see there, that’s part of the new MemberCard logo. Later on in the deck, we’ll see what that looks like on the physical MemberCard and on your directories, there is a redesign of the directories.

So, we’ll get into all that. This is just how the app will appear. A much cleaner look. One of the things we’re most proud of is a sleeker look, a more user-friendly experience overall for that.

The MemberCard app is of course still free to download on Apple and Android devices. And will feature again, much improved user experience and onboarding. So, members will just need to enter their name, their email, their zip, and then that access code, just like they do now.

Codes will be found on the front of the cards. Again, just like they are now. If you’re a digital only client, those codes are being either sent to you or directly to members, so that will remain the same and they will need that code to access those benefits. Within the settings on the app, they’ll be able to add a code to their existing account, and also, they’ll be able to add multiple codes to their account.

One thing I’ll mention now, and then reiterate is that all the details of a user profile will be ported over to the new app, but they will need to delete the current version of the app and install this new version. And we’ll get to that a little later on, but that is a key point here.

The app of course, will also be branded for your organization. Throughout this presentation, you’re going to notice we use Virginia’s Home of Public Media as the example. So, you’ll be able to get an idea of how your branding will look with the new app.

So, again, the app will be easy and convenient way for members to redeem their MemberCard benefits. It’s similar to how it is now. Show your phone redemption. This savings tracker that we mentioned, that’s something that is in the works. It will be ready soon with the next version of the app. And when a member redeems their benefit, they’ll get a prompt asking if they want to track their savings.

At which point they’ll be able to type in the value that they saved with their two-for-one offer and the app will be able to track that. So, they’ll really be able to see the value of their donation to your organization and how it relates to the app. So, we’re pretty excited about that new feature.

Personalized notification settings will live right in the app. So, one of the important ones is that they agree to push notifications. Down the line this is going to allow you to have way more communication with your merchants, very personalized communication. So, they can adjust those settings right in the app. The other one is location services. So, this will relate to the mapping of the benefits.

This will also come into play with geo-fencing. As a reminder, that is when someone is walking by a benefit, they’re nearby a benefit and they’ll get a notification that says that Joe’s pizza accepts the VPN MemberCard. So, just another way to get your organization out there and in the face of your members.

Along the lines of the location services being turned on, again is for this mapping feature. So, members can adjust their radius up to 200 miles, to explore not only their local benefits that you’ve always had, but also the national deals that we introduced within the last couple of years. So, now those all live in one very easy-to-access place.

All the benefits are super easy to redeem, step-by-step process. And the map is interactive so they can scroll in and out of their location to see benefits pinned right on the map. And you’ll see this in the next slide as well, but the categories that these benefits fall into very easily identifiable through the map version.

So, in addition to searching via the map, they can of course search by benefit category. These six categories that you see on the screen here will be across the board. Everyone’s app will have those six categories. Where it differs is the sub-category. So, this new app will have hundreds of sub-categories.

If you have a category like Pets or Green, those will fall under Shop. Things like Breweries and Golf will live under Arts. You can see in these screenshots, the Dining will have all types of foods, so they can really narrow down the search with that Dining sub-category. If you have a benefit of the month program, those will be listed as featured merchants, and they will also be flagged in the category that they fall under.

For example, if you have a museum, a local museum, that’s offering two-for-one tickets for the month of May, that will be flagged under the Arts category as a special benefit of the month offer. We will also be sending the benefit of the month push messages. Those are going out now, those are going to continue. On the first of the month, members who have their notifications turned on and have a benefit of the month, are going to get a notification about where they can use their special benefit that month. This is also going to be the place, and this is something fairly new for this, where if you have a featured merchant or an underwriter that you’re working with, a special event coming up, we can take that information into our portal and make sure that it shows on the app.

So, just another way to be able to help tie into the things that you’re featuring. And another place for members to kind of see those offers. If you’re interested in doing something like that, definitely get in touch with me. We can work with you on it. We’re not at the point where you could set that up on your own through the portal, but we’re getting there. I’ll talk about that a little more as well.

The other thing on this list that is new, is going to be that Favorite Merchants and Offers. So, you’ll be able to favorite merchants and have them all in one place, it can kind of act like a bookmark. If you’re going out to dinner this weekend, you have a restaurant in mind, favorite it, and then you can come back to it. It’ll all live in one place.

So, this is the redemption screen that we’re looking at here. So, when a member clicks on a benefit, they’ll be prompted, are you ready to redeem the benefit? Are you in the establishment? Similar to how it works now. We want to make sure that they’re ready to redeem that offer. From here, they can also get directions to a location, they can visit the website, they can call the restaurant. This is also where they can link to the frequently asked questions and those relate to using the card and the app. They can also get in touch with the customer service team from there. So, if they have questions about redeeming a benefit, they can feel free to get in touch with us that way.

The last item on this list, to see all redeemed offers in one place. That’s something that’s coming a little bit later, but similar to the favorites, it’s going to be a place where you’ll be able to see all the benefits that you’ve redeemed in the past.

So, communication with members. So, those in-app notifications that I talked about earlier, those are the push notifications. We’ve had people use this for event promotion, pledge drive reminders, even a simple thank you message can be sent out to everyone. Right now, those will need to be set up through me. If you’d like to schedule one, I can set that up. We’ll talk about a date and a time that you want it to go out. Eventually you will be able to log into a portal and set those up yourself. But again, for now, if that’s something you’re interested in, when the app launches, be sure to get in touch with me.

This welcome email. So, when members sign up for the app, they will receive an email, welcoming them. Thank you for downloading. our customer service information will be included there. Similar to that, we can set up email campaigns that are going to be customized to you. Again, talking about if you have an event coming up and you want to send an email regarding that event to everyone who’s downloaded the app, we can help facilitate that.

So, if that’s something that interests you, again, let me know. We’re happy to help that help set that up. Just another way to reach out and, you know, make sure that you’re touching base with all of your members.

Lastly, the renewal reminders. This is a big one. We’re real excited about this. So, when a member is using the app and they’re approaching their MemberCard expiration date, they’ll get a notification saying that their member benefits are going to expire, and they need to renew.

They will also get a notification if their card has already expired. So, say their card expired last week, they’re trying to redeem a benefit, they’ll get a message that says you need to renew your membership with this organization in order to continue using the benefits. This will include a link to your donations.

Once we get the new app launched, I’m going to be in touch with everyone, making sure that we have the correct links, making sure that this is functioning properly. We just think there’s a lot of value in this portion of the app. So, we’ll make sure that everyone’s good to go and that this is functioning correctly for everyone.

Reporting. This is something that we just have believed is really important to the success of the app. We’ve gotten a lot of questions about reporting over the years. These reports will be available to you so you can see who’s downloading the app. So, email addresses of the people that are downloading the app, as well as where they’re redeeming benefits.

So, we’ll be able to see that seven people, seven active users redeemed their benefit at Joe’s Pizza. So, you’ll know which organizations or which merchants are getting the most attention. These reports will be sent out through me. I know there’s some of you on the line that already get these reports on a monthly basis. If you’re interested in that, again, that’s another thing you can get in touch with me and we’re happy to get that set up for you.

So, what to expect from here. The mobile app is set to go live at the end of the month. As I mentioned before, current details will be ported over. They will be able to log in to this new app with their same credentials, however, they will need to uninstall the old app and get this new app.

We are going to help facilitate this by sending a push notification to all app users ahead of that time, to let them know how they can take these steps forward to get the new app. There will also be a prompt once the current app is no longer live, which is going to be two weeks after the new app launches. And that prompt will let them know that they do need to uninstall this app and get the new one in order to continue.

When it comes to the new branding. You’ll see here, these sample images, there’s a card image with the new logo, as well as the new directory. The app positioned right up front on the new directory, really encouraging people to download and utilize that app.

We will be getting in touch with you when we’re ready to roll over to the new card art, just making sure everyone has updated logos. If you need new buck slip designs, we’ll make sure you have everything you need to represent that new branding. Also, something that I know is very important to all of you is making sure that we’re communicating this to the merchants.

So, all of your participating merchants, they receive our quarterly newsletter. We’re in the middle of the renewal process with all of our merchants right now, and we will also be in touch with them about the new branding and the app. So, they will be well-versed in all this information. If your members have questions about getting the new app installed, they can always call our customer service line.

Everyone has that information. It’s on the website. They’re welcome to call and get squared away with all of that information.

And that’s the run-through. Do we have questions lined up? I hope we do.

Joanna: All right. So, question one. Will we be sending assets to use for promotion? Yes, we absolutely will. we’re going to start those communications next week, I think Hannah. And we’ll continue that through the launch of the app. So, expect a lot more communications from us. If there’s anything in particular you need or you need it ahead of that time, definitely reach out to us and we’d be happy to help you with that.

Similar, can we provide communication points to use to address the app update with members? Yes, we absolutely can. We will send that information forthcoming. And, in addition to what we’re doing, we welcome you to communicate with your members too. The more people who get information about this, I think the easier the transition’s going to be.

Hannah: Yeah, that, you know, just to echo what Joanna said about asking for the assets that you need, if there are specific things, if you want copy for on-air or you need something different for your website, make sure you’re asking. We’re happy to provide you with that. If we can help sort of make this a turnkey approach to making people aware, we want to do that.

Joanna: Do members need the activation code from their card to log into the new app if they’ve already activated? No. So, as Hannah mentioned, all of their credentials will be ported over. That will include their current access code, so they will not have to reenter it. The only time they’ll have to enter it is if it’s new or if this is their first time logging into the app, then they will need to enter it. But if they have an existing account, then that information is already going to be ported over and is linked to their email address.

We have a question about automatically linking if a member renews. At the moment, that’s not a functionality that we’re going to be rolling out, at least in this phase. And the reason for that is we don’t have a way to reset the redemptions, and we don’t want to kind of cheat your members and not be able to provide them a new, you know, full year’s worth of benefits once they renew. It’s something that we’re aware that our clients are looking for. So, we are investigating some ways to work around this. But for at least this short time, if not a little bit longer, it will work the same way it has been where they will get a new code every time they renew, and then they’ll just need to enter that code into the app in order to reset their benefits.

So, on the app, this is a great question. So, asking about deleting the whole application. So, on the app store, they can do an update and that’s fine, just as you would update any other app. On Android though, it works a little bit differently and they will have to actually uninstall the app on Android in order to re-install it.

So, it’s just a little bit of a different process really based on the platform, not the app itself. But on the Apple side of things, so if you’re using an Apple phone, you will be able to just do a regular update on the app.

How quickly to canceled benefits get taken off the app? Almost immediately, right now it’s within 24 hours, but it’s actually going to be within minutes of the new update. We’re rolling out a whole backend for the app as well, and that’s going to be able to facilitate real-time updates to the app.

So, while it was pretty quick to start, it’s going to be even faster with the new update.

A question about, B roll in new video roll-ins to use on air and in pledge. We don’t have anything to start, but let’s connect on this cause we might be able to work with you on some things. We certainly have a lot of imagery to use, no videos at the moment, but it is something that’s on our radar.

So, let’s connect on that. If anyone’s looking for something to use on air or in pledge, we can definitely try to facilitate that for you.

A question asking how we make sure that the app is branded for each organization? So, in the screenshots, Hannah, I don’t know if it’s worth going back to one of those. So, your logo will be front and center on each of the app pages. So, similar here, to, how the VPM logo is shown, yours would be in that same spot.

In addition to any communication that goes out, whether it be push notification or email notifications, those will all include your logo and/or your organization name on there as well. So, this will be as branded for you as we possibly can. It’s similar to how it operates now. That’s something that’s very important to us.

It’s something we know that’s very important to you. So, something we wanted to maintain with this new app moving forward,

Jason, uh, looking for instant gratification capabilities like with passport. So, we have some ways that we can do this. We had some clients who are working with us on what we call our welcome series. Hannah, I don’t know if you want to talk a little bit about that and what those capabilities are.

Hannah: Yeah. So, we can set up an email that will be deployed to your members when your cards go out.

So, right now we have, a few clients who, when they submit an order to us, they also include a list of email addresses. And when the cards are sent to your organization, we send out an email to all those members saying that the cards on the way, here’s how you’re going to download the app, here’s how you’re going to use the app.

And then we send a follow up to that, making sure that people are downloading. Another option is if you were going to submit something to us that tied email addresses, or if we’re already doing your fulfillment, Jason, you submit that file to us. We can send that email with the code already in the email so that people are getting it instantly, and then the cards on the way as soon as we can get it out the door. Our way of facilitating that instant gratification is to set up an email series like that. That’s another thing that, if you’re thinking you’d like to do something like that, definitely get in touch with me and we can set up something that works for you, whether it’s just the email encouraging people to download, or you actually want to include that, access code in the email.

Joanna: A question asking about new website link for users. Nothing will change from that perspective. So, your MemberCard websites will remain just as they are now. The links to the apps will remain the same. So, there won’t be any changes from that standpoint. Lisa, if there was something specific that you were looking for, definitely let me know, but as far as general MemberCard website addresses or the app addresses, that won’t change.

Asking about if the individual MemberCard costs will change. No. So, I want to make this very clear, while we’ve made a very significant investment in this app, we are not passing that along to our clients. There will be no additional charges for the app. Everything is going to remain exactly as it is now. So, don’t expect any pricing changes to come from this. It’s just going to be included as part of your overall package, so no change there.

Okay. Darla is mentioning that Iowa PBS’s MemberCard videos a couple of years ago, we know, we love those, offering to do some more. So, Darla, we will definitely be in touch on that. Um, appreciate, appreciate the offer there.

A question about what happens if a member doesn’t have an email address?

So, assuming that you’re still getting the card and directory, we will be updating the directories to make sure that there are accurate mentions of the app. Obviously there are now, but we will update those to make sure that they’re reflective of the app, the new app, the new changes that we’re rolling out. So, all of that will be included in the directories. We also have an option of including buck slips too. So, if that’s something that you’re interested in, we do have a number of clients now who include those as part of their fulfillment kits, and we could certainly work with you on that as well.

All right, Jason, we will, be looking forward to talking to you about that. That sounds great.

Oh, a how-to video. Yes, we will. So, right now we do have a how-to video on how to access the app. That is in the works of getting updated. So, we will launch that, probably shortly after the new app launches, just given timing. And so your members will have access to that. They’ll actually have access to that in a couple different ways now.

So, it will still live on your websites, your MemberCard sites, so they can access that information there. There will also be an FAQ, a really easy to navigate FAQ in the new app that will include just some frequently asked questions, a direct communication to our customer service team, if they’re having any trouble and they need some help.

And it will also include a video on how to use the app. It will include how to download, assuming somebody already has that figured out, at least if they’re in the app and using it. But we will be updating that too and making sure that that’s readily available for your members.

A question about when graphics and buck slips will be ready. We can really do these on demand for you. So, if this is something that you’re in need of right now, please reach out to us Spencer, and we can definitely facilitate that. We do have some plans communication happening next week around this.

So, we can address it then. But if you need something sooner, definitely reach out to us ahead of that time and we will, help you with that. I would say expect a lot of communications from us over the next month, probably. As we get ready to launch, we want to make sure that you have all the assets you need in order to make that successful.

And then certainly after launch, we’ll be communicating with you on that as well.

I think we came to the end, Hannah. Those are some really great questions. So, thank you all for sending those in.

Hannah: Yeah, appreciate all the feedback. Just to reiterate Joanna’s point, if there’s questions that come up in the next few weeks, you know where to find me, please reach out. Otherwise, do expect to hear from me in the coming weeks.

We’ll keep you updated every step of the way, and we can’t wait for you all to try out the new app. So, we’ll be talking soon. Thank you again for your time today. We really appreciate it.