Benchmarking your loyalty program

How do we think of loyalty beyond the well known (and always on) promotions and discounts? Every business needs loyal customers – customers who come back time after again because they had a great experience, found great deals, just liked what they see or any other reason. Loyalty is about several strategic issues. In today’s post I wanted to outline 3 key aspects of how an effective loyalty program can be structured. A few years ago, working with one of the best loyalty teams in the world, I learnt that loyalty is about 3 basic things: Aspiration: Can we set goals that our customers would aspire or journey towards as they engage with us? (e.g. the coveted platinum gold club membership, the trip to the Bahamas, status on the web community as “The Social Citizen” etc. – I made the last one up but I’m sure it’s coming). Its about long term engagement. Just like the airline miles cause people to plan and re-plan around their miles. the reward need not be monetary but something that gets people to desire either for own sake or even better, for someone else’s sake. Experiential value: Do your customers feel differentiated and can they brag about it to their peers? (e.g. the free valet parking, the reserved corner table for dinner, early access to concert tickets, the red carpet to board the flight). Bragging rights is a great form of feeling great about the brand, especially when we’re working towards a larger goal as well. Gratification: This is where […]

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