“If I gave you a 1% or 2% or even 5% discount on my services, and that not as a straight price-off, but as points to club over 20 or 50 or even 100 transaction to get one free additional transaction, will you shop with me often, and be very loyal to me?”

Most of you would laugh away my question. Many of you would be offended that I really thought I could make you more loyal by such a meager and convoluted price off.

However, that seems a common expectation among many organizations when they speak to us on loyalty program design! And some even believe that the overlay of a birthday and an anniversary greeting (via SMS, or email) should pretty much guarantee undying loyalty for life!

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Three pointers for reflection:

1) Customers offer their patronage (and emotions) to a brand if the values of the brand, resonate with their own.

2) A loyalty program design exercise attempts to create a two way exchange – invite clubbing of sufficient frequency, value and velocity, to in turn gain meaningful insights to serve customers better.

3) Only serving customers better, in alignment with brand values, will result in loyalty – not the mechanics of the program.

Thoughts? #loyaltyprogramdesign#marketing#empathy#pointsforpeople#strategiccaravan