Last year, Amtrak officials wanted to revamp and simplify their Guest Rewards loyalty program. Those changes will become effective later this month.
Loyalty360 caught up with Vicky Radke, Senior Director, Amtrak Guest Rewards to learn more about the company’s thinking behind the revisions to its loyalty program.
Can you talk about Amtrak’s efforts around CX, customer loyalty, and customer engagement and how they have changed in the past year or two?
We know customers expect a lot from their travel experiences and we are investing in improving their journey with Amtrak from trip planning through the in-station and on-board experience, providing further proof that Amtrak is simply a smarter way to travel. We recently changed how our customers manage their Amtrak profile to make booking faster and managing their Amtrak Guest Rewards account easier. We also expanded capabilities on Amtrak.com and mobile to provide customers with more options for modifying their trip. Later this month, we will introduce changes to the Amtrak Guest Rewards program that will simplify the redemption structure, eliminate blackout dates, and introduce new ways to earn more points.
In addition, we are piloting new programs in several markets to enhance the travel experience such as business class on some long distance trains, our new Pets onboard program, offering day passes to our clubs, creating new space for bringing bikes along, and providing free digital newspaper access for Business class and First class travelers.
How important is listening to your customers at Amtrak, and how do you leverage those insights for any of your CX/customer loyalty/customer engagement initiatives?
Customer feedback is very important at Amtrak. In addition to conducting surveys that help us understand customer satisfaction and where we need to improve, we also use focus groups to gain insights and test new ideas. Prior to introducing the changes to our loyalty program, we conducted research where we asked current members and Amtrak customers who hadn’t joined the program – what they knew about it, what they liked about it, what they didn’t understand and what they loved. And based on that feedback, we put together a new program structure that will continue to deliver an exciting and engaging experience to our current members but also will broaden the appeal and value to new members and will expose the benefits of the program to a greater segment of our customer base across the Amtrak system.
How do you define customer loyalty and how has that definition changed or evolved in recent years?
Customer loyalty means that our customers put our brand high in their consideration set, and choose Amtrak whenever possible. In more recent years, customer loyalty has expanded to mean loving the experience a brand consistently delivers. We know our customers are very loyal to Amtrak because they enjoy the freedom and comfort of traveling by train, along with the great value and benefits they receive as members of Amtrak Guest Rewards.
We are all on the customer service team and are focused on meeting the ever-changing needs of our customers across our nationwide network of 500 destinations. At Amtrak, we are committed to delivering a great travel 
experience for our riders. Inevitably, there are times when we may not be able to deliver a flawless experience. So we work to nurture a deeper relationship with our customers. And because of that relationship, our members will look beyond any single experience and trust that we will do our best to make up for it and remain focused on continuously improving their experience with Amtrak.
What trends do you see or foresee regarding digital customer engagement themes?
Customers are expecting more from their search and purchase interactions and are easily turned off by any friction they encounter. They want the interaction to be simple and intuitive – anticipating their own needs and expectations. If we can go even further and offer additional “surprise and delight” with suggested travel experiences and relevant offers, we are more likely to keep the customer engaged and coming back to us for their travel needs.