Latest Trends in Loyalty and How to Utilise Them

Written by Tom Peace

For our loyalty insight this week, Our MD, Tom Peace, has written a short article about the changing landscape in loyalty and customer engagement.

The loyalty sector is currently going through some very interesting trends, driven by powerful political and economic forces as well as changing customer behaviours.

We're all becoming a little Gen Z

Environmental and sustainability concerns are becoming very important to all customers, not just Gen Z. We also want some instant gratification in our programs. We don't want to wait 12 months for points rewards to mature into a valuable amount.

A digital-first and omni-channel engagement are table-stakes for today's tech savvy consumer. We are all looking for experiences not just loyalty rewards.

These are not just the behaviours of our youngest members - we're all becoming a little Gen Z - we need to adapt our customer strategy accordingly.

Creating emotional connections is key

Our loyal customers are looking for a connection with our brand rather than the traditional rational values associated with a loyalty program. Today’s successful strategies create strong connections with loyal customers around more than just points, cashback or airmiles.

By emotional connections we are not talking about a love affair or obsession with the brand (although it could be). These emotional connections could be around convenience, service, product quality, value proposition or even the brands sustainability credentials, which means that customer loyalty needs to be at the very heart of your business, not just an extension of your marketing team.

Customers will pay for instant benefits

Subscription or "paid-for" loyalty is the latest and fastest growing trend and customers are really engaging in this when the value proposition is right.

The key aspect of this approach is that the fee that the customer pays is perceived as less than the overall value of the benefits, and is easy to simply calculate. This strategy also enables members to access key benefits instantly, rather than having to "earn" tiered benefits over a long time.

This trend is in very strong growth but the value proposition must be carefully understood.