The STM launches a one-of-a-kind application to thank its clients

Press release

Today, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) launched a pilot project for an innovative loyalty program in the form of an iPhone app called STM Merci.

Montréal, May 7, 2013   – Today, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) launched a pilot project for an innovative loyalty program in the form of an iPhone app called STM Merci. Developed jointly by the STM and its technology partner SAP (Systems, Applications, and Products for data processing), this app will make STM clients exclusive, personalized offers based on their profiles and preferences. In addition to being based on an Apple application, the STM reward program is distinguished by the fact that it offers participants instant gratification without having to collect points. The pilot project will last six months or more.

The STM innovates to reward its customers
“Our customers are more mobile and connected than ever,” affirmed Michel Labrecque, Chairman of the Board. The STM aims to deliver 540 million trips in 2020, and improving customer experience is central to our strategy for achieving that goal. Innovation is key, so it was natural to look to a mobile technology solution to reward our customers for their loyalty. Our partnership with SAP provided us with a state-of-the-art technology, and STM Merci is truly one of a kind in the links it allows us to create between client data, profiles, and preferences and the offers made by our hundreds of partners. I encourage all our clients to download the app and give it a try.”

“Through our Co-Innovation program, SAP and the STM have been able to enhance the customer experience of Montreal transit riders”, said Mark Aboud, Managing Director of SAP Canada. “This unique combination of technology and STM’s partnerships allows riders a better quality of life while respecting their privacy and giving them the opportunity to choose how to interact with the Merci system. It truly puts the Montreal on the cutting edge of technology and customer experience practices.”

Something for everyone
Every STM client has unique needs, preferences, and travel habits. To ensure it can make participants relevant, personalized offers, the STM is working with an extensive network of more than one hundred partners, divided into twelve “preference areas.” Every client will thus receive offers meeting criteria they have established themselves, based on the profile and preferences that they to choose to indicate. The STM commits to never share this information with a third party or to use it without the client’s consent.

Partners are primarily in the fields of transportation, great Montréal events, and local businesses. Many other exciting partners are expected to join STM Merci throughout the pilot project. And since this is a smart device app, customers will be able to receive geolocated offers based on wherever they happen to be, making them all the more useful.

Merci: a new customer relationship strategy
STM wants to implement more measures to strengthen customer loyalty by increasing the appeal of public transit. With this in mind, the company will adopt a relationship marketing approach that focuses more on people, their needs, their expectations, and their preferences. This spring, it created the Thank you loyalty program, which incorporates all of the offers, benefits, and discounts already offered to STM clients, including offers for families, partner discounts, and the Maestro status. The STM Merci mobile STM app is part of this loyalty program and will offer exclusive benefits to participants during the pilot project.

By offering them discounts, privileges, and leisure-time activities, the STM aims to encourage its clients to keep contributing to Society in Motion, whether by travelling more often by bus or metro, by switching to an annual subscription, by convincing friends to use public transit, or by making greater use of the system for outings during off-peak hours.

To participate in this project
The application can now be downloaded from the App Store. During the six-month pilot project, the STM hopes to sign up 20,000 active users of STM Thank you to assess the appeal of the various offers and to test the user-friendliness and ease of use of the app’s initial version. At the end of the pilot project, the app may be improved and made available for downloading on an expanded basis and could also be made available in Android and other operating systems (OS) as well as on mobile Web.

STM encourages anyone using the app to use the Contact us tab to forward their comments and suggestions for improvement.

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