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- Case Study -

SoCal Explorer Transit Loyalty Program 


Discover how Metrolink's consumer transit loyalty program builds strong relationships with riders and increases ridership by incentivizing and rewarding both transactional behaviors as well as relational behaviors.

 

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increase in average monthly transactions by loyalty program members

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Active Engagement Rate among enrolled members

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increase over enrollment goals during a global pandemic

About

Metrolink is the regional passenger railroad for Southern California connecting six counties (Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, Riverside, and Ventura), and whose ridership grew to nearly 12 million annual boardings pre-COVID. As with other public transportation agencies, Metrolink’s ridership fell significantly in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Metrolink was traditionally a commuter rail service supporting riders of all incomes, but in 2020 Metrolink decided to pivot from a weekday commute business to a passenger railroad that customers use for all their transportation needs, from work to weekend recreation.

 

The Challenge

Metrolink wanted to create a loyalty program to help drive a closer relationship with their riders. Their goal was to design and develop a loyalty program that provides economic benefits to members for increased ridership, as well as social and green benefits associated with mass transit.

The objective of the SoCal Explorer loyalty program was to encourage people to integrate Metrolink into their everyday lives rather than just as a commute to work. With the loyalty program launching during COVID-19 pandemic, Metrolink wanted to provide riders with safe, reliable, sustainable, and affordable ways to travel all while earning valuable rewards for each ride.

Brandmovers and Metrolink partnered together to design and develop a user-friendly loyalty program that:

  • Drives an increase in ridership, improves rider retention, and attracts new riders
  • Enables Metrolink to better understand the purchasing patterns of both mobile and physical ticket customers, and utilize this data for new fare and pricing initiatives
  • Promotes the environmental sustainability benefits of taking transit
  • Connects and grows relationships with local communities, customers, and businesses


The Solution

Brandmovers created a loyalty program design for Metrolink that focuses on increasing ridership through beneficial incentives, valuable rewards, and customer engagement. The SoCal Explorer loyalty program features a robust branded loyalty experience that is integrated with Metrolink's business intelligence tools, email service provider, and ticketing vendors to allow for smooth and easy data transfer and collection. Brandmovers tailored the program analytics to display actionable reporting that Metrolink can use to see program performance and member activity in real time.

Members can earn points for miles ridden by connecting their loyalty account to the client's mobile app or by submitting their paper tickets through the loyalty platform. 

 

Ticket Scanning and ValidSpend Redemption

Using Brandmovers receipt scanning technology ValidSpend, the SoCal Explorer loyalty program allows paper ticket customers (which make up over 50% of Metrolink customers) to submit their physical tickets via photo, code-entry, or barcode scan, and earn points for miles ridden. This enables Metrolink to connect with these previously inaccessible riders and provides opportunities to further grow rider relationships. Effectively all loyalty member ticket purchases, regardless of whether they were physical (90%+ automated validation) or digital, are rewarded.

 
Data Integration

The Brandmovers loyalty platform combines Metrolink customer data across multiple silos (paper tickets, mobile app, CRM software) into one central location. Robust backend analytics makes it easier than ever for the client to identify and understand their riders on a more individual level. Metrolink is able to utilize this data to implement custom program rules that allow for fare-capping and other transit-specific fare and pricing initiatives; these customized rules help ensure riders can get more value from taking transit while staying within budget, and ultimately increase rider participation. 

 

Partner Program & Local Rewards

To connect Metrolink riders with rewards & offers from local partners, Brandmovers created SoCal Explorer Partners: a partner program that allows local businesses to offer discounts and other exclusive incentives to SoCal members in exchange for being promoted within the loyalty program. This partner program helps grow Metrolink's connections with local communities and creates more value for riders that motivates them to increase their public transit use.

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Carbon Footprint Tracker

To help promote the green benefits of public transit, Brandmovers built a Carbon Footprint Tracker that allows members in the SoCal Explorer loyalty program to monitor their Carbon Footprint reduction rates in terms of numerous metrics. From gallons of gasoline saved to pounds of coal burned and everything in between, customers can track their environmental impact each time they take public transit. 

Promotions and Engagement

Metrolink wanted to increase opportunities to connect and engage with riders both when they're taking transit and when they're not. Using the loyalty platform's Promotions Builder Metrolink can create special bonus promotions and member offers that incentivize riders to take public transit.

Metrolink can build, launch, and monitor digital promotions like sweepstakes, social media hashtag challenges, and scavenger hunt games that increase rider engagement. In addition Metrolink is able to use the platform's Communication Hub to send triggered email communications that deliver relevant news, updates, and service information to riders and ensures Metrolink stays in contact with their different audiences. 

 

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"The Brandmovers team helped us create an industry-first loyalty program for our rail system to engage our most valuable customers. This partnership opportunity has enabled us to reward measurable behaviors that increase the value Metrolink provides to its riders."
Mary Riemer
Director, Customer Experience at Metrolink

Loyalty Program Results

With the implementation of our Ticket Scanning Technology (ValidSpend) to validate physical tickets and associate these purchases with consumers, Metrolink now has access to rider data that enables them to understand purchasing patterns they were previously unable to capture. Additionally, they can now connect and communicate with “offline” paper ticket holders, which provides opportunities to grow relationships with these customer segments. 

  • 33k+ members enrolled since Q4 2021
  • 45% of members are actively engaged with the platform and submitting transactions
  • 43% email open rate among customers
  • 12% increase in average monthly transaction value for enrolled vs. unenrolled members
  • 8,456 metric tons of carbon savings measured

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