It was really easy to set up the bonus program – everything was smooth and went very well. I had expected more problems and bugs at first, but everything went great.
I also got great help from Diller – excellent customer service!
“I would never buy a cash register system without an integrated loyalty program”
Rilo Zoo is a pet shop in Jönköping, Sweden that was established 50 years ago. Owner Maria Quarnström has run the store for the past 10 years, being the third owner of the company. Rilo Zoo has 9 employees and an annual turnover of SEK 14 million (2022). It is a store with many regular and local customers. We interviewed Maria to hear about her transition to Diller at the start of 2023.
Why did you start a loyalty program?
I set up a program back in 2015, because I wanted to promote our loyal customers, those who chose to shop with us again and again. I wanted my customers to profit from being loyal and get something back as a thank you.
You switched over to Diller 6 months ago – why is that?
I switched the cash register system to Yabie, and Diller was a part of the POS. For me, it was essential to have a good loyalty program included in the POS, and that they were fully integrated with each other.
We had a transition with only Yabie before we started up with Diller. We were without a loyalty program for 6 months. We used excel and other things to keep track of members during that period, and it was incrediblydifficult and cumbersome. That half year of manual handling was terrible – I’ll never go back! It was anhuge difference not having a loyalty program. Our customers were disappointed because it didn’t work.
I was really pushing Yabie in the buying process, telling them that there had to be a loyalty program included in the POS. It was an absolute necessity. I would never buy a cash register system without an integrated loyalty program.
How was the Diller onboarding process?
It was really easy to set up the bonus program – everything was smooth and went very well. I had expected more problems and bugs at first, but everything went great. I also got great help from Diller – excellent customer service!
The attitude from Support is always “no problem – we’ll fix this”. It’s fantastic, and I really feel like I’m getting the help I need.
What kind of results have you seen so far?
The biggest difference is from having a loyalty program to not having one. The half year of manual handling was terrible. What I like about our bonus program is that the customer’s bonus shows up as a kind of “lottery ticket”.
When we say they have a bonus to use, they’re so happy. It’s very, very positive. They say “I got a bonus from you again” and are so pleased.
In that sense, I don’t think that the bonus system is a direct reason for customers choosing us, but we are becoming much more “top of mind” to our customers, and become something positive to them. They chooseto come to us instead of others, and I think the positivity pays off in this way.
Do you think Diller works well?
Yes, I think so. If there have been any problems, it is because we ourselves have done something wrong. It really works great. Very smooth!
Do you have examples of successful campaigns?
We mainly run a bonus program, and it works great. However, we did one SMS sendout – a campaign for everyone with a 300 kr unused bonus – and it was very well received. We should probably do this more, because we see that customers like it and we connect with them even when they are not in the store. We will also send out a market survey by SMS, where everyone who participates receives points as a thank you, or a gift when they shop.
What do you think of the collaboration with Diller?
Five stars! Support is there for me and it works superbly. Diller has first class customer service.
How do you recruit new members?
We do that at the checkout. We ask all customers if they would like to join. The majority accept, because they like our points-based system. All employees are good at recruiting new members, since it’s so easy. Just press a button and a text message will go out to new members for verification.
How did you train employees in using Diller at checkout?
We don’t have to teach them– everything is self-explanatory in the system. The only thing they need to learn is which of our store items are part of the bonus system. If you have a coupon card, for example, you don’t get a bonus.
How will you develop your loyalty program going forward?
We will have more SMS campaigns and probably also have more coupon cards, plus we’ll be sending out market research via SMS. We will basically be utilizing the system more in the future, because it is so easy to use.
