The Challenges

1. Most members had never opened the app
   
   Most members had no app behaviour at all. The brand had a large pool of known customers and very little app data to work with.
2. The loyalty mechanic was changing under them
   
   Members were used to earning points at web checkout. After the relaunch, points could only be earned in the app, so the communication had to explain a change in behaviour without making members anxious about the points they already had.
3. Email reached people but did not move them
   
   The base had a long record of low email clicks. Sending more email was not going to solve a migration problem.

Key Objectives

1. Move existing members from web to app
2. Explain the points change before selling the app
3. Match each segment to the channel that moves it

The Solution

1. Segments built from the data already in Netcore
   
   Instead of one broadcast audience, the non-app base was split into cohorts, with a higher-value priority segment pulled out for a more direct channel.
2. A message sequence built around the member's question
   
   Explain the change and reassure members their points are safe, build familiarity with the app, introduce the rewards, then ask for the download.
3. Channel chosen by segment, not by habit
   
   WhatsApp for the priority cohort. Email for reach and reinforcement across the wider base.

Announcing The Change Before Pitching The App

The original campaign direction sold the benefits of the app. For a member who had never used it, an app-only deal was beside the point. Their first question was what would happen to the points they already had. So the sequence changed: tell members what was changing and that their points were safe, then build familiarity, then introduce the rewards, then ask for the download.

Results:
+67% opens from announcing the change, against pitching the app benefit to a similar audience

Neither send ran as a split test, so this is an observed difference, not a controlled one. And the extra opens did not become clicks: on every email send, clicks stayed close to zero. Better framing won attention. What held back action was the channel and the audience.