Phat Perks (not the real name) is a mid-sized SaaS tech company that provides a rewards and recognition program tailored for small and medium-sized merchants, aiding in customer acquisition, retention, and expansion. The program is offered through three monthly subscription packages. In competitive markets, rewards programs serve as a potent tool for differentiation.
Their cloud-based rewards and recognition solution, available in both digital and physical formats, can be distributed virtually or physically to recipients. Through an intuitive online platform, merchants can log in, set up promotions, distribute cards digitally or physically, and monitor program effectiveness.
The industry is mature, with a few dominant players and numerous smaller startups offering mobile app alternatives to online platforms. While the barrier to entry is high, competitors continue to emerge. Recognizable brands hold significant market share and brand recognition.
In the fintech sector, trust and reputation are paramount. Given integration with accounting systems or point-of-sale terminals, the platform must boast diverse integration capabilities, maximum uptime, minimal compatibility issues, and robust security measures.
Brand perception profoundly influences success in this industry. While customers are price-sensitive, they prioritize security and reliability over lower costs.
In recent years, minimal investment has been allocated to building the brand, with the belief that the sales team’s ability to generate leads and secure conversions was sufficient and did not require more investment in brand-building.
However, as established competitors increased their investments in marketing and strategic partnerships, they gained traction, capturing larger market shares and fostering greater mind share. Leveraging reputation-building strategies such as testimonials, referrals, and social proof, competitors effectively conveyed the superiority and value of their platform to prospects.
Suddenly, Phat Perks’s sales team found themselves in direct competition with rivals, targeting the same prospects but encountering rejections following the demo stage. While Phat Perks had long relied on their business longevity as a value proposition, this alone was no longer sufficient to sway prospects.
Recognizing the diminishing comparative value of their offering and the lack of brand recognition, Phat Perks faced challenges with winning against their competition. Converting potential customers became increasingly arduous for the sales team.
In recent years, minimal investment has been allocated to building the brand, with the belief that the sales team’s By contrast, competitors who had invested in brand visibility and reputation were adept at quickly converting interest into consideration through compelling messaging and powerful calls to action.
To address the impact of new competitors on Phat Perks’s declining revenue, we devised a campaign dubbed “Battlefront Blitz.” This initiative started with a comprehensive competitive analysis program aimed at understanding the market dynamics and the reasons behind competitors’ success in winning businesses.
Our analysis revealed that many businesses were concerned about security issues, reliability, performance of their rewards platforms and potential data breaches. To allay their concerns, many of Phat Perk’s competitors pivoted to promote their message of security, reliability and peace of mind and some who were already focused on security, were viewed as the brand to trust.
Addressing customer concerns about security issues was critical to alleviating potential hesitations and objections that deterred new customers from seriously considering and trying the rewards programs.
Recognizing the need to change customer perception, we developed a campaign that addressed the various use cases and customer concerns weaving those into digestible narratives that resonated with their potential customers.
In addition to this brand campaign, we also offered a competitive promotional price to incentivize immediate sign up. The Battlefront Blitz campaign encompassed various organic activities, including email newsletters, social media posts, and prominent placement with their key new messaging on the corporate website.
We allocated some budget to PPC advertising and purchased search terms related to competitors to ensure Phat Perks’s visibility alongside them in top search results. We crafted compelling, persuasive messages supported by video testimonials. We also experimented with a new look and feel that resonated with their target audience and used A/B experiments to optimize conversion..
As a B2B focused organization, we leveraged business social media tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find the right decision makers and aggressively launched an email outreach campaign to promote their offer and value proposition.
The Battlefront Blitz Campaign increased new subscriptions by 20%.. The conversion rate of new customers rose from 5% to 10% and within one month we generated an incremental $10k in MRR at the new promotional subscription price.
The campaign helped Phat Perk acquire new customers while minimizing churn of existing customers and ultimately edged off an eroding market share.
The combination of a brand campaign that addressed customer fears and concerns coupled with the introduction of a promotional price offer designed to encourage quick enrollment, was an effective approach.
Launching both organic and paid ad campaigns helped to expand reach without breaking their wallet. Leveraging owned media like Linkedin, X and their website to promote their message and offer, optimizing their conversion by using A/B test landing pages and purchasing keywords to enhance their page rank results was a winning combination for Phat Perk.
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