I’ve had to do a lot of thinking about customer loyalty lately, both for my book and more recently for client engagements. What’s interesting is how chaotic this market is and how many people are writing about it with very little data. There isn’t even strong agreement on the similarities and differences between rewards programs and loyalty. Are they the same? How? We’re all familiar with rewards programs such as frequent flier offers. You collect miles for your trips and eventually cash in the miles for free travel and upgrades.
The two seem interchangeable and just represent a means to keep customers exclusively. Not always a great deal such as my Shell gas card. If I buy from Shell I get 3 cents back per gallon. Sounds great until you realize maybe your Shell station is a bit higher then a station down the street. I remember back when I was a kid my Dad got Green Stamps which were literally Green Stamps you collected in books and could buy merchandise with. Generally I think people just like to feel they are special and get special breaks. Rebates, frequent flier miles, memberships, they all represent trying to keep the consumer from straying. They must work, because so many use them.
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Processing Customer Loyalty
Posted by: Denis Pombriant October 12, 2015 01:44 PMI’ve had to do a lot of thinking about customer loyalty lately, both for my book and more recently for client engagements. What’s interesting is how chaotic this market is and how many people are writing about it with very little data. There isn’t even strong agreement on the similarities and differences between rewards programs and loyalty. Are they the same? How? We’re all familiar with rewards programs such as frequent flier offers. You collect miles for your trips and eventually cash in the miles for free travel and upgrades.