Chevron's ExtraMile Rolls Out Rewards Program
SAN RAMON, Calif. — Chevron Products Co., a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., launched the ExtraMile Extras rewards program on Jan. 4 at more than 700 ExtraMile locations throughout California, Oregon and Washington.
To take part in the program, customers only have to enter a phone number on the ExtraMile extras tablet near the cash register at a participating ExtraMile store and make a qualifying purchase. Each time they make a purchase, they earn one Shield; five Shields equals a free "Extra" item, such as a coffee, snack or fountain drink.
Qualifying purchases include any convenience store item, excluding lottery tickets, tobacco, alcohol, motor fuel, services, car washes, propane, restaurant-prepared food, phone/prepaid wireless cards, gift cards and charitable donations.
The program is the newest addition to a series of milestones that includes the opening of ExtraMile's 500th franchised location and the debut of its first mascot, ExtraMan.
The intent behind the ExtraMile Extras, which took approximately 15 months to go from conception to development, testing and execution, was to reward customers in a way that didn't require much effort from them, according to Ian Noble, district sales manager, Chevron.
"There's a lot of stuff in the background to make it this easy," Noble told CSNews Online.
During the development process, the two priorities were to give customers the choice of both what they wanted to purchase in order to earn rewards points and what they could redeem those rewards for, as well as to provide a convenient experience using the mobile app.
Customers need to complete their account registration through the ExtraMile mobile app or ExtraMileExtras.com in order to be able to redeem any earned Extras. Following registration, they can then track their Shields and Extras through the app or online. They will be alerted by e-mail or can choose to be alerted by text message when they are close to earning a free Extra. Shields expire 60 days after earning them and Extras expire 30 days after earning them.
As the rewards program developed, ExtraMile officials researched other programs both in and outside of the convenience store industry in order to understand what frustrates customers, and to make the program as easy as possible, Noble said. The company specifically chose not to tie qualifying purchases to specific brands or days of the week in order to avoid confusion.
The company's goal is to pay back existing frequent shoppers for their loyalty, while also giving new or casual customers a reason to visit an ExtraMile store. A year's worth of promotions tied to ExtraMile Extras are in the works, but the first few months of the program's existence are focused on building awareness.
"We're thrilled to be able to offer even more ways for customers to reap the benefits and product offerings of ExtraMile," said Brant Fish, vice president, Americas Products West, Chevron Products Co. "The ExtraMile Extras Rewards program will help us continue building relationships with our most valuable customers, giving them a great reason to keep coming back."