Telltale Signs That Your Loyalty Program Needs a Renovation

The state of customer loyalty is moving fast and brands must be ready to know when their loyalty programs need renovation, and what key elements should be included during any relaunch.

On Tuesday, Loyalty360 hosted a webinar titled, “AgileLoyalty—Get Rapid Ready for the New Loyalty,” which was presented by Bond Brand Loyalty.

Scott Robinson, vice president loyalty solutions, Bond Brand Loyalty, Sean Claessen, executive vice president & executive creative director, Bond Brand Loyalty, and Maria Pallante, vice president loyalty solutions, Bond Brand Loyalty, discussed with attendees the telltale signs that your program is in need of a renovation.

Some of those telltale signs include:

Your loyalty value proposition does not reward non--purchase activities (64 percent of loyalty program members are interested in earning rewards for non-purchase activities).

Your program needs a renovation when your loyalty value proposition is anchored in discounts. Loyalty’s misuse as an undifferentiating discounting mechanism is prevalent. “Loyalty shouldn’t just be a discounting mechanism that lives next to the branding experience,” Robinson said.

Your loyalty program needs renovation when customer experience is a different department in your org chart.

Your program isn’t aligned with your brand. (The extent to which the loyalty program fulfills the brand promise and embodies the attributes of the brand).

Your program is yielding diminishing returns for the organization

Some loyalty design principles include brand aligned customer relevant, operationally effective, and financially incremental.

Here are some key facts to consider:

Traditionally siloed marketing disciplines are converging quickly

Tending to members at every interaction eases and enriches their experience

People-to-people interactions drive positive emotions.

Program satisfaction is 2.7 times higher among members whose program representatives make them feel special and recognized.

Pallante outlined the operational and CX rapid readiness must-haves for your loyalty program relaunch:

Validating Concepts: Prototyping: To make sure you’re building the right “it” before you build it right.

Team Structure: Structure A (Enterprise Loyalty Team; embedded); Structure B Departmental Loyalty/CRM Team (consultative/advisory); Structure C (Cross-Departmental Steering Committee; end-to-end)

Automation & Controls: How to balance automation implications (automated email communications, reward redemption, points campaigns, chatbot)

Your Frontline: This is critical. You can galvanize your staff to support change (strategy change and management plan; employee pilot). It can’t be a one-and-done thing. It has to be sustained over the long term. Lean on your strengths as an organization and those can be used as a competitive differentiator.

“All marketing is loyalty,” Claessen said. “Everything we do builds brand loyalty.”

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