Brands continue to invest more in loyalty programs, and enrollment has grown by 31 percent over the last four years. Despite success, opportunities to drive business results are still being missed.
"Consumers love loyalty programs and continue to join more every year, but active engagement rates have remained flat in the past four years, indicating that there's a tremendous opportunity to evolve 'same-old' programs to ensure members' expectations and needs are being met," said Bob Macdonald, president and CEO of Bond Brand Loyalty.
"Today's hyper-informed consumers expect personalized and shared interactions delivered through a combination of human and digital experiences," Macdonald continued. "By engineering the program with every asset of a brand's loyalty ecosystem and making adjustments to differentiate the member experience, brands can improve engagement and substantially increase program performance for gains in lift, retention and lowered marketing costs."
As customer experience increases in importance for consumers, evidence shows that Loyalty Program operators will be able to buy down the points or cashback dividend associated with their Program by providing better and more tailored member experiences. Based on data from the 2017 Loyalty Report, Bond has machine-learned and developed a proprietary tool to understand how certain member experiences and softer benefits can be introduced to offset the need to offer ever-richer dividends. This is key for program operators, especially in payments, who need to reduce their program's cost per point.
The Loyalty Report 2017, conducted in collaboration with Visa, is the largest study of its kind.
