It’s one thing to catch the eye; it’s another to hold the gaze. In hopes of attracting the attention of today’s demanding customers, marketers often spend inordinate amounts of time designing the “perfect” loyalty program for their brands. But the same consideration is not extended to how the program will actually be carried out, how its success will be measured, or how the enthusiasm will be maintained. This short-term view of loyalty is the equivalent of spending hours creating and posting just the right online dating profile—without then using it to connect with others. It’s as true in business as it is in our personal lives: Relationships take ongoing commitment to thrive.
Before we arrive at some highly clickable “Top 10 List for Meeting and Keeping the Customer of Your Dreams,” let’s set the foundation with the latest statistics. Loyalty is a rapidly growing—and quickly changing—field. In 2015, customers were enrolled in an average of 13.3 programs, up from 10.9 in 2014, according to the Bond Brand Loyalty 2015 Loyalty Report. Brands increasingly consider loyalty programs, whether formal or informal, to be table stakes, or minimum requirements for entry in the marketplace. But this is not the loyalty of yesteryear, based solely on points and rewards. Leading solutions now build loyalty across the entire customer experience spectrum. With such proliferation of programs, customers are also experiencing loyalty program apathy and continue to expect more from their favorite brands. The statistics prove it—despite the increase in average enrollments, the average number of programs in which members are active (i.e., make a purchase) has not shown a corresponding increase to enrollment. It is clear that there is work to do to improve programs in the near future. More and more, customers seek consistency, relevance and personalization. One-size-fits-all is no longer a workable strategy—if it ever was.