The First Value Exchange - Lessons from The Deep End

The First Value Exchange, before I knew what it was

In 1999, I launched my first Value Exchange.

I didn’t know that’s what it was called at the time. I was just in my second year after opening The Deep End, a 600-capacity live music venue in Hillsborough, Sheffield, and trying to compete with the handful of working men’s clubs and brewery pubs around us.

It was simple: a membership scheme. Customers paid £10 a year and got member pricing across a variety of wet products (we weren’t doing food yet).

But there was more to it. We offered the local community access to our audience, letting neighbouring businesses offer rewards to our members, adding value for everyone.

Comms went out by Royal Mail (thank Bill Gates for early mail-merge). We branded it around the Deepender Card, offering ticket discounts and exclusive invites to the Millennium celebrations.

And it worked.

• Increased visit frequency
• Positive community sentiment
• A way to compete on more than just price

Fast forward to 2003

We launched the first iteration of Airship (then called PowerText). Over the years we iterated, stabilised, added channels, rebranded as Airship, and eventually spun out Toggle in 2018.

The Value Exchange concept hasn’t changed. It’s just got easier.

The Value Exchange, today

It’s simple: you offer customers something in exchange for their data.

Data sources fall into two camps:

• Passive: WiFi logins, bookings, stays, feedback, vouchers, tickets, pay-at-table
• Active: website sign-up (boring), loyalty, rewards

Some of these bring in EPOS basket data, which enriches profiles and helps you understand ROI and lifetime value. Almost all contribute to PoP (Proof of Presence), the key to understanding visit frequency and triggering surprise & delight.

How I build them with operators

I start with their website; I pick 5 things they already do that drive spend: private dining rooms, gift cards, free nights, online sales, function space, and so on.

Then I wrap it in a name: Club, Family, Friends, Treats… The marketing team builds outbound comms around it, it simplifies things and makes it easier to talk to your customers.

• ALL data is treated equally
• Automation delivers the promise made at sign-up
• Customers remember what they were offered, and respond in kind

The result

• Increased visit frequency
• Higher lifetime value
• Better email delivery and inbox placement
• Loyalty that grows naturally, especially when you connect around key life occasions (as long as you deliver operationally)

A loyalty app doesn’t need to be the starting point. It can be layered on later when you understand the value from your CRM, as an extra step for an already engaged audience.

That’s the Value Exchange: still as powerful now as it was back in Hillsborough in 1999.