Anatomy of a 360-Degree CX Award Winner

Kelly Hawkins, vice president of loyalty for Regal Entertainment Group, the parent company of Regal Cinemas, which successfully relaunched its Crown Club loyalty program in February, said that about 40 percent of all transactions come from the company’s 11 million loyalty program members.

“Make sure you give customers a voice,” Hawkins said.

Regal Entertainment Group has certainly done that, and continues to do so, evidenced by the prestigious Platinum 360-Degree CX Award it received during the third annual Loyalty360 CX Awards Tuesday at the 6th annual Engagement & Experience Expo presented by Loyalty360.

What’s more, Regal Entertainment Group won a Platinum Award in the Return on CX category; a Gold Award in the Customer-Centric Culture category; and a Gold Award in the Brand Messaging category.

Hawkins said the Crown Club loyalty program was revamped in February to offer members better rewards and unlimited credits, while also enabling rewards via the mobile app, MyRegal.com, or at the point of sale. Also, there is an online reward store featuring exclusive movie swag like T-shirts and hats, as well as aspirational rewards.

Before designing and implementing the mobile experience around its new loyalty program, Regal teamed up with WillowTree to take a user-centered approach to understanding customer needs and behaviors.

The first step in this user-centered approach was to understand the targeted audience. The team categorized potential customers by creating six high-priority personas. The research team then conducted 15 user interviews with people who matched these persona requirements to understand their needs around a movie experience and loyalty program. In addition to these interviews, the team also completed six on-site observational interviews in urban and suburban cinemas. Digital surveys were also distributed to more than 3,000 members.

Some examples of these high-priority personas and their loyalty needs include:

Oliver the “One Timer” is a non-member and needs incentives to register into the loyalty program.
Rebecca the “Registered Occasional” needs digital encouragement and personalized messaging to increase frequency, and needs to understand how she achieves rewards.

Constance “the Constant Moviegoer” needs to feel appreciated and recognized as a high-value member and wants to see her digital-worth reflected in the loyalty program.

Adam the “Collector Guy” wants to collect movie memorabilia and will complete any fan-related task to unlock rewards.

The first goal in the loyalty journey was to get all of the “Olivers” registered in the program and, hopefully, turn them into “Rebeccas.” The team then focused on optimizing the registration process for Oliver, making registration and sign-in workflows simple and quick.

The next goal in the loyalty journey was to convert “Rebecca” into a “Constance.” By clearly showing Rebecca her potential rewards and path to “leveling-up,” this type of user can be incentivized to visit more frequently.
Regal made sure that user empathy was at the forefront of creating a new loyalty strategy. By spending time interviewing, listening, and observing the targeted audience, Regal created a new and innovative experience based on “real world” problems that were observed outside the conference room.

What’s more, a “user journey map,” was developed which outlines the detailed events a customer encounters when going to the movies. For example, there are about 10 steps in a typical journey through the cinema that touch on the categories of thoughts, actions, feelings, and friction:

Movie Research
Activity Planning
Purchase
Arrival
Concessions
Theater Entrance
Pre-Entertainment
Entertainment
Post-Entertainment
Follow-Up and Merchandise

At Regal Entertainment Group, customer experience is the No. 1 driver of all business initiatives. All guests who purchase a ticket at the box office are incentivized to fill out a survey to quantify their visit. With such a large sampling and corresponding response rate, Regal Entertainment group can truly listen to the customer’s voice.

When Regal Entertainment Group determined to change the Regal Crown Club program, it leveraged  customer feedback and preferences to align, forces to keep things moving forward improve for the member. It all started with several ideation sessions and quickly evolved into extensive focus groups, which highlighted both pain points and areas for improvement. After all the feedback was digested, a massive joint effort from the marketing and IT departments went full steam ahead to update all of the technology, tracking, and rewarding of Crown Club members.

The Loyalty360 CX Awards recognize the pinnacle in customer-centricity. Using cutting-edge technology and creative strategy, honored brands are leading customers down the path to loyalty, one which is embodied by Regal Entertainment Group.

Recent Content

Membership and Pricing

Videos and podcasts

Membership and Pricing