Loyalty Marketing Does Not Always Equal A "Program"

Sometimes a traditional, points-based loyalty program is a perfect fit and sometimes your best strategy is to have no program at all.

The conventional definition states that Loyalty Programs are structured marketing programs that reward customers based on buying behavior. From the earliest days, merchants have rewarded customers based on transactions. This approach has become the paradigm with nearly 90% of Americans participating in some type of rewards program (and most are enrolled in more than one).

Today’s consumers have a decreasing attention span and less bandwidth to deal with cumbersome programs. A Loyalty “Program” isn’t always the best fit. Entitlement programs are only one example of a loyalty strategy. It is important to distinguish between rewards-based (i.e. transaction) loyalty and genuine (i.e., emotional) brand loyalty. The latter is always better and more profitable. We believe in doing more than measuring customer commitment purely based on transactions. A well-crafted loyalty strategy needs to account for customers’ profitability, up- and cross-sell, referrals and being advocates for your brand.

If you believe loyalty is not just about rewards, you need rDialogue. To us, customer loyalty is about:

• Building trust and developing long-term relationships
• Providing the right value proposition for your customers and your company
• Leveraging the things about your brand that can't be duplicated by competitors
• Tailoring the customer experience to pay off the brand
• Doing it in a measurable and profitable way

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