The Leaders in Loyalty: Feeling the Love from the Loyalty Clubs, released by The CMO Council and InfoPrint Solutions, is the first study the CMO Council has done specifically on loyalty programs. It was conducted by InfoPrint who polled more than 600 marketers who deploy loyalty programs and 700 consumers who participate in them and had some interesting results, reflect that perhaps marketers are not leveraging this customer relationship management resource as effectively as they could. More than three-quarters (78%) of consumers are satisfied with their loyalty rewards program experiences. However 54% of people said that if their loyalty program didn't give them tailor-made, relevant offers, they would potentially defect from the program.
I spoke with Sandra Zoratti, Vice President and Global Marketing Manager at InfoPrint, who indicates that the average American consumer is a member of about 14 loyalty programs, but only active in about six. American Express, American Airlines and Marriott topped the list of the best programs, followed by two UK loyalty programs: Boots and Tesco. Zoratti said, "It is not that marketers are not collecting the data; they are. But they don't aggregate and analyze the data to generate critical insights. About 70% have demographic and location information, but critical insights such as preferences, brand loyalty and attachment measurements are obtained by a much lower percentage. That is where the gap exists, and that gap needs to be closed. The voice of the consumer says, 'if you don't close that gap, I could defect from the brand or speak with my viral social media voice.' This ability to obtain and leverage critical insights becomes not a nice-to-have for marketers, but a need-to-have, getting to the point where it is an imperative. Consumers are telling us that they are overwhelmed with spam and impersonal messaging, and they won't tolerate it anymore."
A complementary Executive Summary of the study is available, and the full study sells for $199. This is a fascinating read, and any printing or marketing services company looking to better serve marketers should take a look.
Discussion
By Erik Haverstand on Feb 13, 2010
"However 54% of people said that if their loyalty program didn’t give them tailor-made, relevant offers, they would potentially defect from the program."
This just shows that thanks to social media, Web 2.0, and the abilities of things like variable data printing, we're getting used to being able to customize our lives.
If my supermarket's loyalty program does things like give me diaper coupons when my youngest kid hasn't worn them for 5 years, I'll think they don't care about me. But if they know that we have special dietary needs and gives me coupons related to the food we buy, I'm more likely to continue to shop there.
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