Customers love loyalty plans — but research shows they may not even be using yours.
Customers love loyalty plans so much they weigh down their wallets with cards and attach tags to their key chains. Most people are enrolled in almost eight loyalty programs, the Maritz Loyalty Report recently found.
Sounds promising until you hear this: Customers only actively participate in less than two-thirds of the programs they took the time to enroll in. And nearly half of the customers stopped participating in one or more loyalty programs in the past year, according to researchers.
With customers that fickle, it takes some special attention to create loyalty programs they want to join and continue to participate in, plus actually reward them for their loyalty.
What’s most important
Maritz found the most successful programs included these key elements that you’ll want to incorporate into yours:
- Values. Customers should be proud of their membership, experiencing clear signs that they’re special customers. Because the program is unique and their status is special, they want to brag about their membership.
- Mechanics. It must be easy to earn better treatment, and redeem points and rewards.
- Interaction options. Customers should be able to interact with the program, the company and customer service professionals through a variety of channels including the phone, a website, email and mobile applications.
- Innovation. It can’t get stale. Incentives and rewards should stay fresh. Customers should also get access to exclusive events and personalized experiences.
- Communication. Customers don’t want to work at this special relationship. Instead, the company and customer service should reach out with relevant, timely information at appropriate intervals.
