Strategies behind Emotion with Loyalty by Travel and Transport

Loyalty by Travel and Transport is a loyalty solutions company based out of Omaha, Nebraska, and an operating division of Travel and Transport, Inc. Loyalty by Travel and Transport delivers valuable customer experiences that result in increased engagement, acquisition and retention. They create customer-centric reward programs customizable to their clients’ goals.
 
Michelle Holmes, Senior Director with Loyalty by Travel and Transport, sat down with Loyalty360 to discuss emotional loyalty, functional loyalty and how to find a healthy balance.
 
How does Travel and Transport create an emotional connection with its customers?
 
Listen to them. Gain a deep understanding of their current business needs. Embrace their brand; share their vision. Learn about the emotional drivers of the company and their customers. Recommend solutions and enhancements in tune with those emotional drivers.
Deliver on your promise and solution. Be effective and efficient.
 
How do you measure emotional loyalty?
 
Customer survey results speak volumes about emotional loyalty. By making the surveys short and sweet, it increased participation and feedback, activity (usage, spend, site visits, redemption) and retention rate (more members engaged longer) and the number of members.
 
How has the loyalty strategy within T&T changed over the last five years? Do you see it this trend continuing?
 
Our focus transitioned to reaching millennials and implementing the solutions they look for in a loyalty program. We’ve increased the number of campaigns to keep members engaged such as featured items with point reduction, burst incentives (spend and get), etc. We also focus on philanthropic elements, which tie into emotional loyalty.
 
In your opinion, do you see emotional loyalty completely overtaking functional loyalty from a B2C standpoint in the next few years?
 
Both functional and emotional loyalty are important elements in a program, and we think it will stay this way for the next several years. Functional loyalty is a staple, and emotional loyalty complements it. That being said, we see a heavier emphasis on emotional loyalty in the near future.
 
How does Travel and Transport find the balance between functional and emotional content?
 
Loyalty by Travel and Transport’s primary focus is delivering rewards that are important to our clients and their customers, with an easy-to-use rewards site and emotional content to draw them further into the program. We work with our clients to include elements such as a merchant-funded offering or specific charity, which members can elect to participate in. 
 
We engage with our clients and constantly look at enhancements to our programs that speak to the voice of customer surveys, transactions and world dynamics.

Recent Content

Membership and Pricing

Videos and podcasts

Membership and Pricing