Since March 2020, South Africa has experienced an unprecedented state of lockdown in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. For Sanlam Reality – the loyalty programme of the Sanlam Group – COVID-19 posed serious challenges for its business.
The challenge:
- Many of the benefits of belonging to the Sanlam Reality loyalty programme, such as discounted cinema tickets or gym contracts, became inaccessible during lockdown. The big question: how do we help Sanlam Reality continue to drive value and engagement, and ensure there is no spike in cancellations or lapses, during this lockdown period?
What we did:
- We got to work, thinking hard—and differently—about what our consumers were after in the ‘new normal’.
- We conducted market and consumer research and discovered that as the current coronavirus pandemic forced more members to work from home, webinars were booming in popularity, and were not only a powerful tool for showcasing thought leadership and increasing brand visibility but were best suited to support lead generation.
- We helped Sanlam Reality brainstorm and conceptualise a webinar that would speak to the immediate needs and concerns of our audience, and align to Sanlam Reality’s brand purpose: to empower its members financially during uncertain times, and be able to live with confidence.
- We got Nicolette Mashile, founder of financial education initiative Financial Fitness Bunnies, host of the Sanlam Moola-Money Family Game Show and bestselling author of “What’s Your Move?” A Collection of Ordinary Financial Lessons to host a webinar and provide tips to our members to help members grow their money confidence during challenging times. Mashile also shared stories from her own life and her journey with money to redefine personal finance management.
The results:
- The launch newsletter announcing the webinar performed well above financial institution benchmarks for both the open rate and click rate.
- Approximately 1500 people registered for the event, with 80% of members updating their address, mobile number and email address and opting in for further communication.
