Many marketers dream of turning their loyalty program into a profit center, especially when Finance is grumbling about Marketing being a cost center. In that context, fee revenue becomes very tempting and appears very feasible given the runaway success of Amazon Prime. There is often a knee-jerk reaction that charging a fee will not be a cultural fit with the brand image, but that can be finessed with enough creativity.
The truth is that charging a fee is always an option as long as the....