How Surprise and Delight Amplifies Loyalty Marketing Strategies
Crowdtwist | March 27, 2015

Successful engagement and loyalty strategies require brands to keep things simple and relevant, and offer customers value. In a world where competition for attention grows and where loyalty benefits are becoming commoditized, it’s essential for marketers to establish an emotional connection to consumers, drive repeat purchases, and increase revenue.

Enter the concept of surprise and delight, an approach that brands use to re-engage customers and reinforce messaging with unexpected rewards. These activities help brands differentiate their high quality loyalty initiatives from the competition, and also do wonders to generate buzz and Word-of-Mouth (WOM). The key to success is to incorporate these activities into a larger multichannel marketing strategy. By deploying surprise and delight offerings strategically, brands can move beyond the tactics of a publicity stunt to impact critical metrics such as engagement, customer acquisition, and retention rates.

What is Surprise and Delight?
Most consumers are familiar with traditional loyalty strategies that offer a certain amount of points that members redeem for merchandise or other tangible goods. Yet marketing continues to evolve. Today, consumers want to be engaged with their favorite brands beyond a transactional relationship. In a world where consumers are How Surprise and Delight Amplifies Loyalty Marketing Strategies bombarded with messages, consumers expect and need more from brands to stay loyal. As a result, companies are broadening their efforts by adding unexpected extras known as “surprise and delight.”

Surprise and delight is a strategy that gives customers unanticipated perks to renew interest in their products and services and to amplify messaging. The concept isn’t new, but brands are increasingly using these activities as a way to emotionally connect with consumers and build loyalty. Surprise and delight is not a replacement for traditional earn and burn loyalty initiatives, but the tactic acts as an additional vehicle brands use to “wow” their customers and encourage them to share their experiences online and offline. “By showing sincere appreciation with unexpected rewards, brands can build a greater connection to customers on an emotional level,” Scott Matthews, CEO, CrowdTwist, says. “If implemented successfully, brands can realize increased customer engagement, reduced churn, and greater ROI.”

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