Mobile Loyalty Program App Development: Montagut Case Study

Loyalty program app development means building a mobile app where customers collect points and rewards and come back to buy again. For Montagut, the French clothing brand, QPSoftware developed an iOS and Android loyalty app with badges, points, a store locator, WeChat, QQ and Weibo login and sharing, built with CEGID retail software.

Key takeaways

• A loyalty app keeps existing customers coming back, which usually costs less than winning new ones.
• The Montagut app for iOS and Android rewarded members with up to 20 badges and with points they could spend as discounts.
• A store locator, a purchase history, SMS verification and a secure barcode made the app useful in store.
• Login and sharing on WeChat, QQ and Weibo connected the program to Chinese social networks.
• The app was built with CEGID’s Business Retail software, which speeds up projects for brands that use the same point-of-sale system.

This case study, first published in 2017, explains why brands invest in loyalty apps, what the Montagut app does, and the key points of its development. Our iOS and Android app development team in Shanghai builds this kind of app for brands in China and abroad.

Why Build a Loyalty Rewards App?

It is often said that “Attracting new customers is (around) five times more expensive than keeping the existing ones”. Seen from this angle, it can seem a bit excessive, but is it? Just think about all the costs you have to cover to:

• Make your brand and products visible on the market
• Make your prospects aware of your brand and products
• Convince them to choose your products

These steps represent a heavy cost for the company. Just look at the first two: with these two, you did not even sell anything! So it is true that keeping your existing customers, by convincing them to buy again, is much cheaper than convincing a prospect who has never bought your products before.

Why Are Loyal Customers So Important?

Even so, companies usually invest more in attracting new customers than in keeping the existing ones. According to some studies, 44% of companies focus more on attracting new customers, against only 18% that focus more on retention. Moreover, almost 90% of companies see customer experience as a key factor to gain loyalty and retention among customers. Finally, the probability of selling to a new prospect is 5 to 20%, against 60 to 70% for existing customers.

Those numbers are even more true in the retail industry, because the competition is so fierce that it is easier and cheaper to invest in existing customers. That is why a company from the retail industry decided to implement a strategy to increase the retention of its customers, with the help of an external company. Let’s start the success story of this project.

Who Are the Actors?

Montagut

Committed to legacy and long-term quality, Montagut was founded in 1880 and first entered the Chinese market through its Hong Kong headquarters. Always preserving French style and elegance as its motto, the French clothing brand opened numerous stores across Asia, with hundreds of points of sale in China alone at the time of the project.

QPSoftware

Built on a philosophy of talented people and great results, QPSoftware is a results-driven, full-service digital agency specializing in website design, WeChat and mobile app development, and digital marketing. Founded in 2009, its mission has always been to create websites and digital solutions that help clients grow their business online.

Montagut’s Goal

Montagut’s need was to increase the retention rate of its existing clients, in order to increase the sales of the company, by developing a loyalty program through an application.

What Is a Loyalty Program?

A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed by companies to encourage existing customers to buy more in their shop by offering deals such as:

• Free merchandise
• Discounts on some products
• Rewards
• Early access to new products

How Do Loyalty Programs Help Your Business?

The main purpose of loyalty programs is customer retention: a large base of loyal customers is the best way to thrive in the global market. Loyalty programs are designed to gain the trust of clients and give them solid reasons to come back.

Loyalty programs are also a useful tool to know your customers and improve your communication with them. They gather the data provided by their members, so you can know exactly what they like, how and when. In this way, you can focus your marketing efforts on giving them the perfect experience.

More Than a Loyalty Card

The most famous loyalty program we know is the loyalty card, also called the points card. But Montagut looked further than a common loyalty card: the brand planned to follow the smartphone trend and use an application for its loyalty program.

How Did QPSoftware Help Montagut?

Loyalty App for Android and iOS

After a few meetings and some brainstorming between the two companies, they decided to develop a loyalty program application for iOS and Android to increase sales and improve retention. The app features a store locator, purchase history, and an earn and reward system, among other features.

Loyalty Rewards App Connected to Social Networks

Members who provide specific information and perform specific actions, such as sharing a picture on social networks or verifying their phone number and WeChat account, can earn up to 20 different badges thanks to a gamification system. As a loyalty incentive, QPSoftware believes that this is the future of customer relationship management, and that it can be a significant sales layer for Montagut.

A New Version of the Loyalty Program App

At the time of this case study, QPSoftware was already helping Montagut develop a new version of its mobile loyalty program app. The upgraded app was designed to link users’ points and rewards to their in-store purchases, and therefore entice them to come back for their favorite products.

Loyalty Program App Built on CEGID

Last but not least, QPSoftware built Montagut’s e-commerce website and mobile loyalty program app using CEGID’s Business Retail (CBR) multi-channel software solutions, which enable retailers of all sizes to optimize their business processes, efficiently manage their activities and ultimately improve the customer experience.

If you are reading this article, you might find our article about the latest e-commerce trends on mobile useful.

Loyalty App Development: Key Points for Montagut

To guarantee a smooth user experience and the best results in terms of performance and ROI, QPSoftware developed the app around the following key aspects.

Reward System

To generate more engagement from the app’s users, we designed and developed a reward system based on gamification. Users complete tasks or missions to collect badges, and the badges give them points that they can use as discounts on their next purchases. Designing this kind of engagement loop is part of our mobile app UI/UX design work.

Gamification

If you want a successful loyalty program, you need to integrate some gamification, applying typical elements of game playing, such as collecting badges and rewards, to motivate users to interact with the app and encourage their engagement.

Localization

When your loyalty program works with physical stores, the location of the stores is a valuable asset. Users can find the shops close to them, or close to a specific address, and combined with gamification and a reward system, your app will have a high chance of success.

Social

Social media integration is very important. It allows people to spread the word about your products or services, if you add a sharing function to the app and create a community around your offer. You can also integrate the social element from the very beginning, by suggesting that users link their social accounts to the loyalty program or app, which lets you collect the data you need about your users. This data is very valuable for your next marketing actions.

Features of the Loyalty App for Montagut

Let’s review the different features of the loyalty rewards app that QPSoftware developed for Montagut:

• Social login, sign-on and social network sharing on WeChat, QQ and Weibo
• SMS verification and authentication
• Social badge reward system
• Store locator
• Secure barcode generation and scanning
• News and promotional push
• UX strategy and UI design
• Transaction listing and history
• Loyalty program point tracker
• E-commerce website development using PrestaShop 1.6
• Migration from PrestaShop 1.5 to 1.6
• Bookmarking features
• Multi-language implementation
• Web design and development tutorial and FAQ
• Lock screen feature
• Interest targeting
• CEGID’s Business Retail (CBR) multi-channel software solutions

Who Can Use a Loyalty Program and a Loyalty Rewards App?

Basically, any company whose purpose is to increase its sales and improve the retention of its existing customers can use a loyalty program.

As for the loyalty rewards app that QPSoftware developed for Montagut, any company can use this kind of app, but one thing is sure: for companies that use the same point-of-sale software as Montagut, CEGID’s Business Retail (CBR), development and implementation will be faster than for companies that use another one.

What Is Your Next Step?

After reading this case study about the loyalty rewards app of Montagut, if you are interested in this kind of solution for your company, don’t beat around the bush: QPSoftware can develop your mobile app and help you reach your goals. Do not hesitate to contact us.

Frequently Asked Questions