Marketing Pilgrim Published: “Loyalty Program Members Say they Shop More, Spend More and Share More” plus 1 more |  |
| Loyalty Program Members Say they Shop More, Spend More and Share More Posted: 21 Feb 2014 02:24 PM PST
There’s nothing subtle about loyalty programs. According to a new report from Forrester 71% of consumers belong to at least 1 program but the average consumer belongs to eight. It’s the next number that hits home:
Not only does a loyalty program influence their buying decisions, it influences so much that a lower price becomes secondary. 50% of people who use their loyalty cards regularly said they would be willing to pay more for products and services that saved them time and hassles and 37% were willing to spend more if they liked the brand’s image.
The willingness to spend more money is ironic seeing as the main reason people join a loyalty program is to save money. But Forrester found that customer also appreciate other kinds of perks. Experience rewards such as concert tickets, private lessons and event access are also highly valued. The report notes that The North Face saw an increase in customer visits and average order value when they started offering ski lift tickets, advanced skiing clinics and other experiences in return for reward points. I doubt any of this is new information and yet I’m surprised by the lack of loyalty programs among retailers, especially online retailers. The benefit of rewarding your best customers with small perk far outweighs the cost of the perk and yet most retailers don’t do it. My guess is it’s not about the cost of the perk, it’s about the time and effort it might take to administrate a loyalty program. I know there are third-party tools and apps that will handle all of the accounting for you but for a small business owner, it’s a lot to take on. Here’s another thing I don’t understand, loyalty programs that you have to pay for up-front. For example, Barnes and Noble. They charge $25 a year to belong to the club. If you buy a lot of books, you make that money back and then some, but considering how bookstore sales have declined, you’d think offering free membership would be worth it just to increase customer loyalty. When you’re in direct competition with Amazon. . . well, I don’t see how they do it. I also have an intense dislike for customer loyalty programs that price their perks way out of the reach of the average shopper. If I have to spend $1000 a year to get a 25% off coupon or a $50 product, it’s not worth it. Finally, (since this has turned into my personal crusade against poor customer loyalty programs) I really dislike programs that pretend to be a membership clubs but are really nothing more than a glorified mailing list. I was in a fast food restaurant recently that was all about their loyalty card. They had counter displays and a fancy gizmo for signing up. The cashier asked if I was a member and prompted me to sign up when I said I wasn’t. If I sign up, do I get points toward free or discounted food? No. Do I get monthly perks or special coupons? No. What do I get? You get an email when we run a promotion. So. . . the same thing I’d get if I just put my name on your email list. Right. If I don’t get special rewards in return for my continued and frequent support that’s not a loyalty club, that’s just email marketing. Want to learn more? Check out “The Loyalty Program Participant Profile” from Forrester Research.
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| Tweak Round-Up: YouTube, Pinterest and Twitter Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:08 PM PST
Pin It for Chrome Gets Smarter To encouraging more pinning, Chrome users will now see a Pin It button when they mouse over an image. If you don’t like this functionality, you can shut it off via options then use a right click to access the Pin It button. Two things jump out at me on this. First is Pinterest’s phrasing:
They use the word “save” instead of “share”. Even though I rePin images I want to save to my profile, I always think of pinning new photos as a way of sharing, not saving. Those few letters make a big difference in the mindset. For example, I never think about pinning an article I want to read later or a recipe I might like to try. I would bookmark those on my computer but with a Pin It button on the toolbar, pinning is just as fast and neater if you save a lot of stuff. The other think I like is their graphic. It makes me think of Star Wars. The Pinterest Death Star approaches! YouTube Gets Centered YouTube made a couple of small tweaks to the site today to make the site cleaner and easier to navigate. The main portion of your screen is now centered with white space on either side. It’s hard to tell from this small screengrab but you’ll notice it if you’re a regular YouTube visitor. Your two main navigation buttons are now above this center panel. “What to Watch” and “My Subscriptions”. Choose one and the center panel switches to that view. The sidebar now has links to all of your Playlists or the Playlists you’ve liked. You can close this bar by clicking the red drop down next to the YouTube logo. The center portion then expands to fill the page but there’s still plenty of white space. YouTube says they’ve made it easier to edit your playlists – true, you can now easily move videos up and down on the list and change the thumbnail but you can’t remove it from the edit page. That seems odd. Twitter Launches Marketing Platform Program
They also just welcomed two new Certified Partners into the fold:
There you have it. All the social media tweaks you might or might not care about. I just report the news, it’s up to you to use it.
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