How does the program work?

When does an Upside user become my customer?

 

We often hear questions from Upside retailers wondering when they will be able to stop paying for promotions and Upside profit-sharing fees on transactions from Upside users. These are great questions — and an important topic for us to discuss early on so you can feel confident about what you’re paying for. 

 

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First, it’s important to clarify that all customers who transact at your sites are “your” customers — Upside just incentives them to choose you instead of a competitor. However, even seemingly loyal customers may choose your competitors from time to time. In an analysis of a major loyalty program with almost 2,000 sites on Upside, we found that even the most frequent loyalty program members almost doubled their visits once they started using Upside. This means that half of their trips to the pump were previously going to a competitor. 

Your customer is also your competitor’s customer, and it's difficult to get them to choose you 100% of the time. That’s where Upside comes in, using personalized promotions to bring you more new customers and increase purchase frequency among your existing customers. Even when your bill goes up, you only ever incur program costs on proven, incremental profit — profitable transactions that wouldn't have happened without Upside. If we aren't driving incremental behavior, or if the customer is no longer incentivized by Upside’s personalized promotions, you are not charged. 

 

So I don’t pay if I’m not getting any incremental benefit?

Exactly! If Upside isn’t driving incremental sales to your business, you pay nothing. In fact, we find that many of the users Upside initially brings to a retailer’s business will eventually stop using Upside, but continue buying from that retailer. For many of these customers, our promotional offers become less compelling over time and they eventually stop using our app. In an analysis of one Upside retailer, we found that after 2 years, more than 60% of new users initially brought by Upside had stopped using the app and continued to shop at the retailer's business without needing incentives to do so. 

 

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Think about it — all of these new customers used to make all of their purchases at your competitors’ locations. Now, after being introduced by Upside to your station, these customers have fully transitioned to you, and you don’t pay us anything for them. 

 

In summary

  • Upside provides more opportunities to make more customers “yours” or even convert them into your loyalty program by reaching new customers who have never transacted with you before and driving your existing customers to choose your locations more often.
  • You only ever pay for proven incremental profit on Upside transactions. You pay nothing if Upside cannot drive incremental behavior.
  • Over time, many customers who first came as a result of Upside stop using Upside, but they keep coming back to your business!
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