Love it, hate it, or don’t understand it, NFTs are one of the hottest topics for marketers today. And they stay here. Technology that just a year ago seemed unattainable to all but the most elite of investors, today his NFTs are being used to engage consumers at every level.
Loyalty360 CEO Mark Johnson sat down with PolyientX Head of Product Nick Casares to learn about new technologies in NFTs and how brands can make the most of them to drive customer loyalty.
Casares has been involved in software product strategy for 15 years and has a diverse industry background, including public safety, marketing analytics, and commercial real estate. Today, he is the product lead for his PolyientX. PolyientX is his Web3 technology company that uses NFTs to help businesses engage with their customers.
As a custom development agency and software platform, PolyientX’s mission is to help brands create, sell and engage with NFTs. Its no-code platform allows brands and creators to integrate her Web3-powered rewards into their own her website, app, or custom branded pages.
Understanding NFTs
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are not magic. They’re not the fantasies of billionaire tech moguls. Most importantly, it’s not unattainable. Simply put, NFTs are digital collections. With the advent of blockchain technology, NFTs allow people to collect and own digital items that were once impossible.
When customers join your loyalty program, they do so using their phone number, mobile app, or in-store with their loyalty card number. It lacks a personal touch. There is nothing that ties members to their loyalty numbers. it’s just a number. But adding NFTs to the mix offers new opportunities to take ownership of items associated with brands. Customers own it and therefore have a more personal attachment to it.
“NFTs represent a new touchpoint for brands to develop a more personal relationship with their customers. It opens new doors for deeper conversations with consumers.”
The NFT’s primary value is determined by several factors, including whether the owner purchased it outright, was a promotional giveaway, or was a reward for participating in and redeeming the program. For example, commemorative NFTs don’t have much intrinsic value, but their value can be. On the other hand, NFTs that unlock VIP events are valuable from the start.
There is secondary value attributed to NFTs in terms of rewards and loyalty points. For example, NFTs connected to loyalty programs earn rewards and points that are redeemed for rewards, savings, and experiences. Traditional loyalty programs lose points and rewards when members leave the program. NFTs allow owners to capture resale value and bring secondary value to consumers.
Stay ahead of the blockchain learning curve
As with any new technology, there are many pain points marketers can face when offering NFTs to their customers. The first is technical. Since NFTs are powered by blockchain technology, this requires a whole new set of skills. The talent pool continues to grow, but is still in short supply, and this is a new skill that the marketing team has yet to master.
Next, Casares explains that NFT culture relies on community engagement. Marketers are now facing a new learning curve on how to engage with this community. The message board that hosts the NFT community was originally designed with gamers in mind. Discord and similar servers are uncharted territory for many marketers as well as their consumers. This requires yet another new set of community building and maintaining skills that marketing teams may not have mastered.
Investing in great technology partners is the best way for brands to overcome these challenges.
Today’s customer loyalty initiatives require unique and personalized content, and NFTs can be a way for marketers to incorporate this special kind of personalized incentives at scale and exclusively. .
At this point, most brands are treating NFTs as top-notch tools and using them in very creative ways to attract customers. But Casares predicts that they will multiply in new ways. “I think in five years the consumer will have a wallet full of his NFTs that represent their interests,” he said.
These tokens will be a true indicator of consumers, the brands they buy from and their interests, making them a valuable tool for marketers. As gathering insights and customer data becomes increasingly difficult, costly, and compliance risky, NFTs, at scale, are a valuable way for marketers to capture the value of that insight. will be
Navigating Web3 with Technology Partners
Within organizations that have adopted the use of NFTs, a dedicated internal evangelist (usually someone on the marketing team) is interested in using NFTs and wants to move it forward. At other companies, CEOs and top-tier leaders often see opportunities in new technologies and want to implement them.
Passion often takes precedence over profit, so brands with a personal interest in NFT technology have a head start. But how will the brand “sell” on his NFT opportunity – is it a marketable opportunity?
NFT opens the door to longer customer relationships. Loyalty programs improve customer engagement and retention, but NFTs aren’t his one-time perks. This is an extension of an existing loyalty program to reach new customer segments. At first, it may have been a small group of new customers, but as the technology continues to grow and become more widely accepted, customers will be drawn to it.
Brands interested in incorporating NFTs into their loyalty programs should start with a strategy. “Find a trusted partner who can navigate your Web3 strategy,” says Casares.
For most marketers, simply launching an NFT won’t make a difference. They need to understand what works, upcoming trends, and how to avoid pitfalls. This really requires the expertise of a learned partner.
“The experience is there,” says Casares. “Seek guidance from the experts and hone in on your technology partners. Understand what they can bring to the table and how it fits in with your existing resources. don’t try to do it.”
Even with a trusted technology partner and a general understanding of the technology and community, brands do their best to test to understand where the value is and where the opportunities are. Casares cites examples of brands that have successfully executed his test-and-burn campaigns with NFTs:
Alexandre Arnault, Executive Vice President of Products and Communications at Tiffany & Co. (see Hands-on Top Tier Leadership above), wanted to bring the CryptoPunks NFT into physical form. In this case it was a rose gold pendant. Soon other members of the CryptoPunk community wanted a physical representation. The two brands have partnered to offer a limited-time NFTiff collection of customized CryptoPunk pendants branded by Tiffany & Co. The project sold out in his 22 minutes and raised $12.5 million worth of funding.
But it’s not just specialty retailers with high-end consumers who have successfully tested this strategy. Legacy brand His Bicycle Playing Card recently entered the game with the launch of the main collection 8008 NFT, which includes both an animated card tuck case and an exclusive physical deck. A San Diego car wash chain used a different approach by targeting existing customers and using NFTs to make repeat customer rewards available.
Powerhouse Starbucks may be the most prevalent brand to incorporate NFTs into loyalty play. The Starbucks Odyssey program is marketed as his Web3 experience, allowing members to collect his NFT “stamps” along their coffee journey and earn rewards in the digital community.
As more and more mainstream brands embrace technology, Casares said:
technology is here
Brands looking to incorporate NFTs into their marketing plans are unwise to jump on the bandwagon, so to speak.
Using NFTs to enhance existing loyalty programs is one of the best ways for brands to embed technology and add value. Show stakeholders how NFTs can be used to engage with customers in new ways, treating technology as an extension of a long-term program. As the adoption and acceptance of technology continues to increase, brands that get their foot in the door early on will benefit from doing so.
PolyientX gives brands the tools they need to bring NFTs into their own loyalty programs. The no-code platform allows marketers to create customized rewards experiences for NFT holders using PolyientX’s extensive rewards library. In addition, the brand can integrate rewards into their own website or custom branded billing page using the look and feel of a natural extension of the program.
The company simplifies the learning curve and helps brands create strategies to bring their NFT projects to market. Its consulting and development services include NFT mining services, Web3 education and onboarding, rewards-based of engagement strategies.
Simply launching an NFT is no longer a viable way for brands to engage with Web3 from a marketing perspective. Initially, the NFT’s launch generated significant revenue, but it became an even more hollow promise for collectors who purchased NFTs without knowing where the brand would take him.
Casares offers this advice. “Brands wanting to become familiar with NFTs need to think beyond sales and how they map NFTs into their overall engagement strategy and how to turn that into long-term wins for their customers. We are confident that this technology will take hold.”
