Do you know what your customers – both the ones you have and the ones you need to acquire – enjoy most about loyalty programs?

Do you know what they dislike, or see as pointless, or so last decade?

The folks at The Wise Marketer have just compiled their list of 2020 Loyalty trends by identifying 6 important distinctions between how we might think of loyalty programming vs. how our customers really value different components of them. Not surprisingly, their observations reinforce a few fundamental truths:

• that, while “rewards” and points-based programs are still effective, they lose their power to establish true loyalty in the absence of perceived value and personal connections.
• and that, for most Direct to Consumer brands, a successful loyalty program strikes a balance between Customer Service, Customer Experience, and Incentives.

It’s a detailed but engaging piece and you can read it below.

If you’d like to drive greater loyalty through greater customer service, please reach out. We would love to talk with you about your business goals, loyalty challenges, and how we can deliver superior service to your customers.

Loyalty Trends in 2020: How Will This Year Be Different?

-By The Wise Marketer

We are fans of mapping out industry trends and predictions at the beginning of each year. It’s part of our mandate as the voice of the global Loyalty Marketing industry, but we recognize that our list is just one among dozens of others. So, how is our perspective for our loyalty trends in 2020 formed to make it worth your reading time?

Recently, we went through the exercise to identify key industry trends in Customer Engagement and Loyalty. A premise in our process this year was that quantitative backing to our ideas would carry more weight than just sharing our “experienced opinion”. For that reason, we drew insights from two areas of research:

• The2019 Delphi Report™
• The 6 Key Competencies of Loyalty Marketing™ (Module inCLMP curriculum.)

We believe that how we shape the future is grounded in our perspectives about the present. Through quantitative analysis of these reports, we identified a list of observations that we grouped into 6 trends. We had the opportunity to present the list below to a private group in December and the list endured the scrutiny of some pretty smart people.

The titles in the list are somewhat cryptic, so we’ve added explanations where needed. Here’s the list:

1. It’s not about theToaster (recall this reward?), but it might be about the Donuts(experience):
   • Trust is becoming the most important brand attribute, so experience is trumping rewards.
2. It’s not about thePoints, it’s about Perceived value:
   • Points are not dead, but customers are seeking so much more in a relationship with your brand. Holistic planning for great CX / UX is required.
3. It’s not about yourMobile app, it’s what you do with it:
   • The average American spends nearly 23% of waking time looking at a smartphone and has an average of 80 apps on board. Breaking through that clutter is an enormous challenge. What value will you create in your app to stimulate engagement?
4. It’s not about theTechnology, it’s about Human Capital and a dedication to execution:
   • No customer cares about our technology, they care about their experience using technology. Operations is important and people are critical to successful operations.
5. It’s not about the Data, it’s about whoOwns the Data:
   • If you don’t want the marketing arena to be “owned” by regulators, then managing perceptions around customer data is a key to success. There’s a huge leadership opportunity in play for 2020.
6. It’s not about theCustomer, oh yes, it is:
   • Thought we missed a beat … nah! Remember the importance of building deep, sustainable relationships with your customers. Start measuring “same customer value” in lieu of “same store sales”. Most businesses are not even at the halfway mark of the customer-centric marathon.

Read the entire article here >

 

-Bobby Matthews

Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Skybridge Americas
bmatthews@skybridgeamericas.com

 

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Find out how Skybridge Americas can help you delight your customers and grow your business.

We seamlessly integrate our superior customer care skills with your brand messaging. For more information, contact us at 763-299-4570 or submit our contact form.

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