Shell: The Shell App

 
Campaign Summary

Shell aspires to improve the relationship it has with its customers by making their lives easier. Several years ago, it created a multi-purpose app to offer its rewards program digitally and solve many of its customers’ concerns. This year, Shell added two innovative features to its app: “Fill Up & Go” and “Shell Drive.”

Strategy

Objective and Context:

Having a mobile channel can provide a positive influence on a brand’s bottom line by creating a new way to engage customers with relevant offers and enable brands to collect data from customers to facilitate improved strategic decision-making. Shell created the Shell App to actively engage and provide relevant services to its consumers by enhancing the driving experience and helping motorists on the go. It added two innovative features that went live this year: Fill Up & Go and Shell Drive.

Target Audience:

  • The 700 million vehicle owners who have a smartphone in the 30 countries throughout Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, and Australia, where the app is live
  • The 16 million active Shell loyalty card users around the globe who are mostly using a physical loyalty card
  • The 20 million Shell loyalty members who do not actively use a card because they forget it or leave it at home
  • Shell customers and Shell business card owners

Creative Strategy:

At the beginning of the year, Shell introduced the Fill Up & Go feature on its app. With this implementation, Shell was the first fuel retailer to allow mobile payment at the pumps across the U.K. With Fill Up & Go, customers can use PayPal, Apple Pay, or Android Pay to easily pay for gas by scanning a QR code at the pump. In addition, Shell added a second feature, Shell Drive, which records and analyses customers’ journeys with a custom-built framework that uses a smartphone’s GPS signal and accelerometer to retrieve driving behavior data. This system allows motorists to track and monitor how their driving behavior contributes to fuel consumption. Through the use of gamification, motorists can compare their performance with other Shell Drivers, earn badges, collect points, and participate in challenges with a chance to win great prizes.

Execution

Overall Campaign Execution:

The Shell App was designed and created as a package of different business modules, each with their own customer value proposition. The business modules are presented as different “cards,” each presenting a different functionality. These functionalities include personalized offers, station locators, news and products, and Shell station feedback. This approach allows Shell to easily tailor the content for each country and solve for the different requirements of each market, ultimately enabling the brand to better fulfill the needs of its consumers.

Mobile Execution:

Mobile is a channel that enables brands to instantly connect with their end users. The Shell App offers services anytime, anywhere. Loyalty members can use the app instead of a physical card, view their point balance, receive personal offers (based on preferences and loyalty status), and locate stations.

Results (including context, evaluation, and market impact)

With these two new features on its app, Shell enriched the user experience, increased engagement, and made a stronger connection with consumers. Since the beginning of 2015, the Shell App was downloaded over 3.5 million times and the active users have increased by 300 percent. The mobile offers are very successful, with an activation rate of 25 to 35 percent.


Categories: Mobile Payments/Commerce | Industries: Automotive | Objectives: Mobile Payments/Commerce | Awards: Gold Winner