During Tuesday’s Loyalty 360 webinar titled, “2013 Maritz Loyalty Report™: U.S. Edition – “Benchmarks, Trends and Lessons in Brand Loyalty and Customer Engagement,” Sean Claessen, Vice President, Creative & Strategy, Maritz Loyalty Marketing, touched on an interesting point related to brands and their customer databases: The databases are growing too fast!
This is a point that sheds some important light on the fact that some brands do a much better job connecting customer data to their marketing efforts. Claessen said during the webinar, which was presented by Maritz Loyalty Marketing, that databases have grown faster than the marketer’s ability to capitalize on the acquired customer data.
“Frequency and relevancy have to be dialed up simultaneously,” Claessen said. “We look at customers who enroll in loyalty programs early before being active and we take stock of what’s getting them to next purchase, and finding cues for consistency of behaviors, or knowing what signals to look for regarding attrition. That’s the utility with this type of data.”
Claessen and Scott Robinson, Senior Director, Loyalty Consulting & Solutions, for Maritz Loyalty Marketing, discussed the 2013 Maritz Loyalty Report released last month.
The report identified a link between personal value systems (the internal compass that guides human behavior, decisions, and perceptions) and loyalty program member engagement (satisfaction, the propensity to recommend and to re-purchase). Research contained in the report revealed 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 program members believe their values are aligned with the values of the programs in which they participate.
Claessen said understanding loyalty program members’ personal values helps “match the art and science of this work.” Balancing how brands deliver and explain loyalty program benefits with how those benefits reinforce a member’s personal values goes a long way in attaining and retaining customers.
“Can the loyalty program walk the walk connected with what the brand claims to be?” Claessen said.
Marketers need to identify and understand the extent to which the values profile of their specific brand audience and member base differs from that of the general population. Those differences hold meaningful clues as to the program elements that may be under- or over-represented, and guide program designers toward more engaging programs for their members.
What drives and sustains engagement between a brand and its customers is unique to each customer and, as Robinson said, marketers need that old-style barber shop 1-to-1 relationship to enhance their loyalty programs. Robinson said the “one size fits all” business model is outdated for loyalty programs.
Claessen said there is more of a demand for loyalty program differentiation.
Meanwhile, the report revealed that 94% of respondents indicated they want to receive communications from their loyalty program. But only 53% of respondents described those communications as relevant.
“This is a huge call to action,” Robinson said.
Although 46% of respondents want to receive communications from three or more channels, email (74%) is the preferred channel.
“And customers don’t want duplication of messages into three channels,” Claessen said. “Brands need to know what message is required through that kind of channel.”
Interestingly, given the high percentage of smartphone users, the mobile channel is preferred by only 37% of program members. Robinson believes there is a blurred perception among members between email channel preference and mobile channel preference since email is often read on a smartphone.
Consumers are members of 7.4 loyalty programs, according to the report, but are active in a little over 60% of them.
The most active loyalty program members fall into the Grocery (72%) category, followed by Financial Services (69%), Retail (64%), and Airlines (62%).
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.