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Our clients count on us to help them deliver unmatched customer experiences using world-class AI and analytics.

We combine deep customer-facing business knowledge with extensive digital technology implementation capabilities across Design, Implement and Operate in AI, Big Data and Cloud computing.

If you choose to partner with us, you’ll be in good company:

Advance Guidance Clicks case study

Clicks

Problem

Over time, Clicks, South Africa’s largest pharmacy chain, has been experiencing a steady decline in customer engagement with their retail email communication. The marketing team responded by increasing the number of emails sent, which simply resulted in email fatigue and further disengagement. The retailer needed a fresh approach to increase conversions from email campaigns. They had the idea to send each customer a personalised selection of deals, but with more than 10,000+ items on promotion at any point, relevancy was a challenge.

Solution

AdvanceGuidance responded by developing a next product recommender model that took several unusual aspects of Clicks sales into consideration. These include the high seasonality of certain categories, mixing repeat purchases (e.g., toilet paper) with once-off purchases (e.g., air fryers), and Clicks’ extremely wide range of customer spend and shopping frequency. The model was then integrated with their email platform to insert the relevant products into personalised emails. Ultimately, this approach resulted in a 45% increase in engagement with the products in emails.

Advance Guidance Standard Bank Case Study

Standard Bank

Problem

Many African countries boast a thriving informal retail sector. However, merchants trading in this informal economy are often considered uncreditworthy by the majority of banks. This is as a result of the lack of an accessible credit history that can be used to underwrite risk. Consequently, a large portion of the African business community is excluded from accessing much-needed working capital and growth capital.

Solution

AdvanceGuidance worked together with Standard Bank and fintech provider Nomanini to leverage alternative data sources to build credit models in support of real-time lending to these merchants in the informal sector. Additionally, this data was used to profile merchant behaviour and power a tailored communication strategy to encourage adoption and enhance risk management. To date, more than 100,000 loans have been approved for over 10,000 merchants across three countries, with a default rate of less than 2%.

Advance Guidance Shell Case Study

Shell V+ Rewards

Problem

For a number of years, Shell has collected data on its V+ Rewards loyalty customers. However, in spite of sitting on this trove of data, they had never leveraged the data to gain a deeper understanding of their customer base, to drive the efficacy of marketing campaigns, or to personalise their offers and messaging. In addition, Shell also has an inherent problem of fraudulent customers on their loyalty programme who have thus far managed to fly under the radar.

Solution

AdvanceGuidance developed a customer data platform (CDP) to effectively unlock agile analytics and model development capability. The CDP enables Shell to apply personalised, targeted marketing through customer segmentation, visit prediction, and relevant retail product recommendation. The platform dashboard also provides visibility on market trends and programme health. AdvanceGuidance additionally used Machine Learning to identify fraudulent customers with a 96% accuracy.