The State of Customer Loyalty

Colloquy just came out with its Annual Loyalty Census Report which informs retailers about top loyalty trends. The data in this report (which you can download free at the link above) is important for retailers to view and understand as it reflects the changing attitudes, desires and effectiveness of loyalty marketing, incentives and programs. In fact, this year had some pretty interesting results. 

 

  1. While loyalty program membership increased to 3.8 billion consumers, the growth rate (15%) was considerably lower than 2015, when it was more than 10% higher at 26%. Colloquy attributes this decrease to large mergers and acquisitions consolidating some of the larger retailer’s loyalty program memberships. However, consumers are still signing up for and want the benefits these programs bring. 

 

  1. Retail has by far the largest piece of the loyalty program pie with 1.6 billion members (42%) followed closely by the hospitality industry with 1.1 billion members. 

 

  1. According to Colloquy, most consumers are driven towards companies because they love the brand, retailer, or service. This is the consumer’s main reason for participating in the loyalty program.  

 

  1. Over half (53%) of consumers surveyed stated they liked the program due to ease of use. 39% were in it for the discounts and 37% because the program was easy to understand. 

 

  1.  51% of loyalty program members felt that they could trust the companies with their data, which is a little surprising given the recent high-profile hacks and security issues some major retailers suffered. 

 

  1. According to 57% of those surveyed, the key holdback to participating in a program, or problem that causes consumers to abandon the program, is that it took too long to earn anything that mattered. 

 

Take these points to heart and check your dealership as far as how the customer experience you provide impacts participation in your loyalty program. You would be wise to also check with customers if they are happy with the rewards offered and whether the length of time, amount of money spent or other factors are satisfactory to them or not. According to the survey, that’s the largest motivator for, well, not caring about your program.  

 

The best loyalty programs are designed around ease of use and provide customers with an end-goal of an attractive reward that doesn’t seem impossible to reach. However you set up your loyalty program, keep these two things in mind. Of course, if your customers don’t love your service, your loyalty program is meaningless to them. 

 

Consumers are enrolled in multiple loyalty programs across the retail sector. Some they use simply when they visit a retailer, and some they will go out of their way to visit because of the rewards, along with the fact that they truly enjoy the service and experience. Those are the types of customers you want to attract and then treasure with your rewards program. Frankly, these customers are why rewards programs have flourished and spread across retail in the first place.  

 

Find that sweet spot in your business that provides an excellent experience and rewards loyal customer and your loyalty program will catch on fire.  

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