There are five significant loyalty themes that emerged from the 2013 Maritz Loyalty Report released last week in New York City that marketers should carefully consider when evaluating their member programs.
Consumers have an insatiable appetite for loyalty programs: The average consumer is a member of 7.4 loyalty programs. Research shows that 71% of members have room for more cards in their proverbial loyalty wallets.
Communications play an extremely significant role in member program experience: More than 9 out of 10 members want to receive communications from their loyalty programs in which they participate, and it is clear that satisfaction is tightly linked to communication relevance. Members who feel the program communications they receive are relevant are more satisfied with that program. This represents significant untapped potential for marketers, since only 53% of consumers describe program communications they receive as relevant. Marketers who solve this dilemma will differentiate themselves and strengthen the satisfaction and the brand loyalty they enjoy with their key customers.
Privacy and the use of personal information a concern to consumers: According to the report, 24% describe privacy concerns as a barrier to program enrollment. There is a paradox at play here between personalization and privacy. Increasingly, consumers are expecting personalized communications and experiences, yet they are also concerned about providing personal information.
Personal values and program values are connected: Maritz investigated the link between personal values systems (i.e., the internal compass that guides human behavior, decisions and perceptions) and member engagement ((i.e., satisfaction, the propensity to recommend, and propensity to repurchase). There is a tight link between member satisfaction and the extent to which a member’s values are aligned with a program’s values, and that only 40% of members feel their values are aligned with the values of the programs in which they participate.
Strong performance on the secondary drivers of satisfaction is how programs can differentiate: Maritz studied drivers of member satisfaction within loyalty programs and evaluated functional drivers, as well as service-related drivers. The research revealed that programs earning top marks for satisfaction among members performed similarly on primary drivers, but gained differentiation from next-best programs on secondary drivers.
The report surveyed more than 6,000 consumers and captured program-level feedback from more than 30 national programs across six industry sectors – Retail Loyalty, Grocery Loyalty, Credit Card Loyalty, Co-Brand Loyalty, Travel, and Hospitality.