This week’s core masters course Management by Experiments once again lived up to its title with the visit of WU Alumnus Mario Rauch, managing director of the biggest loyalty club in Austria jö, who shared his insights on data-driven business decisions at jö.

The jö Bonus Club (implemented via physical card or jö äpp) is a multi-partner loyalty scheme currently holding 17 partners from various industries (ranging from Allianz, BAWAG P.S.K., BILLA, BIPA, Interio, LIBRO, mjam, OMV, PEARLE, PENNY, VERBUND and ZGONC) and allowing more than 4 million members in Austria to collect “Ös” and gain a variety of benefits.

Jö’s success is built on understanding their customers’ needs and preferences particularly in times of change and on tailoring their offers accordingly. To do so, Mario says, you need to create a culture of experimentation, that is, you need to systematically create knowledge through data-driven approaches and make this knowledge accessible within the company to fuel change and innovation. Offering several examples of A/B test that have been conducted at jö, Mario convincingly demonstrated how important it is for marketers to apply experimentation in their daily CRM operations. In addition to that, he talked about the current industry challenges, the importance of transparency and trust for establishing a data-driven business and the key factors that contribute to its success (such as an open leadership mindset and the respective technical infrastructure).