Kobie delivers market-leading, end-to-end loyalty solutions that are designed to craft customer loyalty experiences for some of the world’s most successful brands. The team at Kobie does this with a strategy-led, technology-enabled approach that gets to the core of what drives customers to be loyal on an emotional level. Ultimately, Kobie works with clients to grow enterprise value through loyalty.
As part of the Loyalty Expo Speaker Preview Series, Loyalty360 interviews presenters who will lead dynamic sessions at this year’s Loyalty Expo in Orlando, Florida, from June 4–6.
Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty360, spoke with Dr. JR Slubowski, Associate VP of Strategic Consulting at Kobie, about the upcoming session he will present in June. Dr. Slubowski also leads Kobie’s center of excellence, where research is conducted on behalf of clients, including loyalty, loyalty experience, program features and benefits, and program construct research. His session will discuss Kobie’s 2024 Consumer Research Report and how members are craving choice in loyalty programs.
Kobie’s 2024 Consumer Research Report analyzed data from over 4,000 North American consumers to understand how loyalty programs are perceived and why (or why not) they feel connected to the brand. Briefly, can you share a little more about the findings you’ll discuss during your presentation?
Slubowski: The presentation will focus on five key areas of exploration that we concentrated on in our most recent loyalty study. During a previous study, we collected a broad set of information—we cast a wide net. In this one, we knew there were some specific topics we wanted to dive into. Those will be the focus of what I plan to talk about at the Loyalty Expo.
We’ll look at what consumers want when it comes to loyalty programs—from a communications perspective, features and benefits, etc. We’ll also look at how they perceive personalization. This was a big topic we wanted to understand more thoroughly from a consumer perspective. We’ll talk about ways to engage them between transactions, which is something we’re hearing more frequently from our loyalty marketing clients, particularly if transaction frequency is lower.
Finally, we’ll examine status and tier structures and then round out the discussion with some new loyalty innovations and their potential to drive loyalty—either positively or negatively.
Who would most benefit from attending Kobie’s session at the 2024 Loyalty Expo?
Slubowski: This session would benefit any loyalty marketing practitioner who wants to geek out over consumer research and its underlying psychology or psychological theories. It will also benefit those who just want to learn what loyalty program members are thinking. Attendees can use these insights to focus their efforts as they manage, optimize, or evolve their programs going forward.
What are a few key takeaways attendees can expect to learn by attending your session?
Slubowski: Participants can expect to learn that they might need to focus more on optionality in their programs. This is a trend we’ve tracked for a while. Above all else, we see members craving choice in the programs they engage with the most but also in the ones they engage with casually. Understanding how to infuse some optionality into the experience is one of the things people will learn. Attendees will discover they may need to think about finding appealing alternatives to cashback.
We know that consumers want cashback. They say they want it in every single survey I’ve conducted, but that doesn’t mean that, as loyalty marketing professionals, we want them to want it. There are signs of how cash operates in programs, creating a transactional mindset that can do a disservice when it comes to trying to drive engagement and loyalty.
Finally, another big takeaway will be around tiers and how we can get smarter about using them within the context of programs. Loyalty professionals know that status and tier structures are some of the strongest loyalty levers they have to drive a deeper, more emotional kind of loyalty. However, we still need to use them intelligently to amplify the emotional loyalty of members. Attendees will also learn ways to think differently about tier structures and how to use them in ways that aren’t going to undermine their whole purpose—which is driving a deeper level of engagement.
--
For more information on this year’s Loyalty Expo, including the event agenda and registration options, please visit LoyaltyExpo.com.