Digital Ranking Profile: BP (March 2019)
By Jackson Lewis on Mar. 07, 2019HOUSTON — The new BPme app makes the energy supplier one of only 13 brands on Stuzo’s digital ranking that provides mobile pay-at-the-pump capabilities.
BP’s current overall score is 2.19. The BPme app was released in early 2018 and includes a station locator, the BP Drivers Rewards program and pay-at-the-pump capabilities.
“We’re excited about how technology can really change the gas station experience,” said Nicola Buck, head of marketing for Houston-based BP. “The gas station experience hasn’t changed that much in many years. We believe technology can really help make that experience smoother for our consumers and ultimately for us.”
- Click here to see Stuzo’s complete online ranking.
The ranking covers 100 convenience-store chains, measuring each chain’s digital presence, including mobile commerce, connected car, website and social media. Stuzo ranks each company on a points-based system with a score of zero to 5 for each metric. Each metric is calculated using four more specific metrics. While this article examines the details behind the BP ranking, it is meant more as a profile than an attempt to compare it to competitors.
Click through for details on where BP stands in Stuzo’s c-store digital ranking and information on the brand’s digital capabilities …
Mobile Commerce: 2.79
App Performance: 2.4
Mobile Payment: 1.5
Loyalty Program: 2.75
UX/UI: 4.5
The BPme app allows consumers to preload credit and debit cards to pay for gas. Once the user comes close enough to a BP station, geolocation technology identifies them and allows them to choose the gas pump they would like to use. The app is also linked to BP’s loyalty program, allowing users to earn BP Driver Rewards and check their balance of rewards points.
“What we try to do is make sure that we really understand the pain point on our consumers’ journeys and think about how technology can just make that smoother, better, easier and more rewarding,” said Buck.
The app is available on the iTunes and Google Play app stores. Some consumers have complained that the app is sometimes slow to connect to gas pumps. Consumers are also eager for the app to connect to Apple Pay and other mobile payment platforms. BP is working to address these issues, according to Buck.
Website: 3.29
UX/UI: 4.67
Loyalty Program Promotion: 4
Personalization: 4.5
App Promotion: 0
The My BP Station website is well-designed, clean and easy to navigate, according to Sandra Sydlik, marketing specialist with Stuzo. It offers information on store locations and BP’s rewards program. It also gives visitors the opportunity to easily sign in and manage their BP Driver Rewards accounts.
The team at Stuzo, however, found the website difficult to find through a typical online search, which generally leads to BP corporate pages. Sydlik also believes BP could do more to promote the BPme app on the website by providing consumers with more information and links to download the app.
Social: 2.69
Brand Responsiveness: 3
Frequency of Posts: 4
Creativity of Content: 1.25
Level of Engagement: 2.5
BP shares posts with strong imagery and messaging, mainly about its projects, clean and efficient energy and fuel. Its followers rarely engage. BP mainly shares corporate-style information, rather than updates for the everyday consumer.
Sydlik said that writing posts made for the social networks on which they appear, making the posts less corporate and advertising the mobile app and rewards program more would increase consumer engagement.
Connected Car: 0
BP did not score in the connected-car metric, although this score is not unusual for c-store chains on Stuzo’s list. The metric is largely focused on the future. Stuzo predicts chains will put more resources into such initiatives as the industry evolves.
Connected car measures the chain’s use of a car’s “infotainment” system on the dashboard, which will become more common as the capabilities of car platforms expand further.
BP does not plan on staying put digitally. In an exclusive interview with CSP, Buck pointed to tests BP is conducting in New Zealand and China exploring preorder coffee and other similar features. Buck and her team also teased a new rewards program slated for the second half of 2019.
Houston-based BP is a global producer of oil and gas with operations in more than 70 countries. It has approximately 6,400 BP stations and 36 Amoco sites in the United States and recently reached an agreement to acquire Louisville, Ky.-based retailer Thorntons Inc.