Considering there are some 2 billion loyalty program memberships in US households and that a successful program can make up 20% of a company’s profits, the race is on to create loyalty programs that rise above the competitive noise and truly deliver on the brand’s promise.
Too often, though, customer rewards programs are launched without proper planning, delivery and execution. Bram Hechtkopf, Kobie’s Vice President of Business Development & Marketing, talks with Roger Williams of Loadfactor about some of the reasons why loyalty programs can fail, including:
- Insufficient C-level buy-in – that is, loyalty program support coming from the highest levels
- Lack of front-line commitment, or ground-level employee awareness of corporate culture, the particulars of a specific loyalty program and a lack of genuine customer understanding
- A loyalty program’s failure to evolve, resulting in staleness and reduced member engagement
Even if your loyalty program’s membership numbers look healthy and your program employs the latest rewards technology and de-silos data, the human factor remains critical. Also critical is the need to drive incremental value to customers as well as incremental spend, retention and share of wallet. Watch Bram’s short video, which examines these issues and their relationship to the loyalty success framework Kobie calls the Five ‘Es’ – Enterprise, Engagement, Economics, Experience and Execution.
In what ways can the Five ‘Es’ be adapted to your own program’s advantage? Tell us what you think and what are some other ways that loyalty programs can evolve and adapt?
