British Gas pair-up with Nectar loyalty scheme improves public perception scores on BrandIndex
Energy giant British Gas has teamed up with Nectar, the nation’s most popular loyalty scheme, to offer the chance for customers to collect Nectar points on their energy or maintenance and repair accounts. The scheme sees British Gas replace rival EDF Energy as the loyalty programme’s energy partner.
As of January 31 2011, Nectar cardholders will be awarded quarterly points for being a British Gas customer and bonus points for switching to direct debit or paperless billing, and taking up additional British Gas services. Nectar points can be redeemed for money-off shopping at Sainsbury’s and Argos among many other retailers, as well as tickets for a variety of entertainment venues including Legoland and Vue cinemas.
After a tough winter of price increases and cold weather, the new incentive scheme and accompanying advertising campaign aims to benefit and reward the loyalty of existing customers as well as attracting new customers.
Scores for the brand already began to rise throughout January and the news of the partnership with Nectar gave British Gas a further boost in the recovery of their Buzz scores. On January 31, as the Nectar deal became available to customers, Buzz scores stood at -16.4pts, two weeks later consumers were feeling the love as scores had risen to -6pts on February 14.
The partnership between the energy company and loyalty scheme has also worked wonders for the British Gas’ Reputation scores. On January 31, scores stood at a low of -10.4pts, shooting up a massive 9.8pts to -0.6pts on February 14.
The deal will also be of benefit to the environment as Nectar boss Jan-Pieter Lips stressed: 'They will not be rewarded for using more energy – that’s not what British Gas want and wouldn’t be good for society.'
