Increasing Revenues by Increasing Relevance in Your Loyalty Program
Everyone likes a great deal. Freebies even more. Most people love to play games that rack up points in their favor. From coffee shop punch cards to sophisticated frequent flyer programs, companies in highly competitive and/or commoditized markets commonly use loyalty strategies that leverage these features to maintain and grow market share.
But all is not well in the loyalty game. Recent surveys report a noticeable level of dissatisfaction among program participants. The source of this dissatisfaction is multipronged:
- Email communications from programs are being compared more and more to “spam” by email recipients.
- Many offers made by programs are not of interest to participants.
- Loyalty programs are not reaching participants with the same effectiveness anymore.
- Many consumers prefer communication channels other than email (e.g. social media, mobile).
This feedback indicates a need to rethink many loyalty programs. Companies must walk a tightrope to make sure (on one side) their loyalty programs stay on target with company goals and (on the other side) are attractive to customers who participate. Relevance and reach are critical success factors for both sides of the tightrope.