Carrot Rewards From Down Under
Move over, Bugs Bunny! There is a new rabbit in the land down under. His name is Buck, and he is the star of EB World, which is the customer loyalty program of EB Games in Australia. According to the company, Buck is a “loudmouth, cheeky bunny”. As the hero of EB World, he loves games and is on a mission to help customers find the best possible deals.
Of course, Buck trades in virtual “carrots”, which other customer loyalty programs refer to as points. Customers earn carrots. For every dollar spent on a new product the customer earns one carrot. And since everyone wants to go “green” these days, customers are rewarded by receiving double the carrots for each dollar spent when buying a preowned game or trading in a game compared with buying a brand new game.
Customers can also earn “bonus” carrots. The first section of bonus carrots refer to preordering a product, which results in 20 carrots. For pre-ordering an EB Games Exclusive product, customers earn 50 carrots. The second set of bonus carrots is awarded by providing additional customer information. For completing the entire customer profile or updating the “I have” games library the customer can earn 150 bonus carrots.
As the customer earns carrots, they progress through four different levels. The first level requires zero carrots and is similar to the basic membership. For those impatient to level up, EB World gives the opportunity to jump to Level 3 by purchasing a 1-year subscription to the magazine, Game Informer. As an incentive at Level 3, customers receive a $10 trade credit and a “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” deal, which basically covers the cost of the magazine subscription.
As with all games, as the customer progresses, the rewards increase. But in this case, the customer isn’t the only one winning. With EB World, EB Games is able to obtain more customer data than they would be able to otherwise in a brick-and-mortar store setting. According to a recent article,
“EB Games are tapping into their customer base’s existing affinity for the basic progress and reward structure they find in games with a scheme not too dissimilar from the very game themselves.”
And yes, rewarding customers with carrots is creating some very loyal customers.
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