Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Loyalty Programs Dole Out Rewards But Fail To Fully Connect With Consumers Says New CMO Council Study

January 25, 2010: summarized from Market Wire -- As more marketers turn to loyalty and rewards programs to spark business growth, a new report from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council report indicates that marketers are under-valuing these often costly programs even as customers give the perks, discounts, deals and additional service opportunities high marks. Both customers and marketers agree: deeper engagement and personalized contact drives loyalty, not mass blast communications and gimmicks.

Most marketers (61 percent) believe that loyalty program participants are the best and most profitable customers. So it is not surprising that an almost equal number of respondents (65 percent) view customer loyalty program investments as a very essential, or a quite valuable part of the marketing mix. Unfortunately, only 13 percent of respondents believe they have been highly effective in leveraging loyalty and brand preference among club members, and nearly 20 percent don't even have a strategy for this. Another 25 percent admit they have not mobilized brand loyalists to become active advocacy agents, either.

The study also reveals that marketers are mostly inducing loyalty with discounts or free products and premiums rather than quicker, better service or improved customer handling. Some 39 percent of respondents view discounts and savings as the key member benefits, 34 percent view free products and premiums as essential incentives, while 33 percent are committed to offering points for merchandise redemption as a further motivator.

When asked to outline typical customer complaints about loyalty programs, nearly 30 percent of marketers report that some customers see little or no added value to becoming a loyalty member; 24 percent indicate rewards lack substance; a similar percentage feel they don't get enough personalized attention; and 21 percent have problems with receiving too much spam email and junk mail. Customer complaints also touch on a lack of individualized communication (23 percent) and issues with redeeming points and miles (18 percent).

Online channels dominate expected investments as nearly 60 percent of respondents said they planned to make better use of the Web and new community and networking tools to grow and develop loyalty programs.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/9cBj23

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