Brand marketers want to know now more than ever—what makes customers loyal? And more than that, how can brands create the shopping experiences that consumers want—and how can they engage customers beyond their purchases? New research from omnichannel loyalty and engagement firmCrowdTwistexplores how loyalty programs can help drive better customer experiences.
The firm’s new report, The Marketer’s Guide to Loyalty, the first in a two-part series, provides recommendations for brands based on the general findings from their research, revealing the brands that consumers are most loyal to, and insight into what features make up the most popular loyalty programs in market today.
“This survey affirms the value loyalty programs provide—not only for brands, but for consumers,” said Emily Rudin, chief customer officer at CrowdTwist, in a news release. “The power of loyalty cannot be underestimated, loyal customers spend more, engage more, and help drive customer acquisition. Having a loyalty program isn’t enough to earn the hearts and wallet share of consumers, brands must ensure their program is designed to add value to the customer relationship. Consumers also expect brands to adopt an omnichannel approach and invest in the tools and technology to capture and apply data and analytics to power meaningful personalization.”
Key findings include:
87 percent of consumers are willing to recommend their favorite brand to their friends and family
Loyal customers help drive new customer acquisition.
71 percent are active in at least one loyalty program
Reward redemption is also comparatively high. Sixty-eightpercent of people redeem rewards at least once a quarter, and 25percent of those redeem at least once a month.
62 percent could be persuaded to choose one brand over another due to the presence of a loyalty program
Forty percent of respondents said their favorite brand has a loyalty program and they are a member. Twenty percent said their favorite brand doesn’t have a loyalty program but they would join if they did.
39 percent want free delivery, and 29 percent want special member prices and perks as a loyalty program member
Consumers understand the value of loyalty programs and are willing to pay for them. Fifty-nine percent of people are willing to pay for a loyalty program with valuable perks.
82 percent are willing to complete a survey as part of a loyalty program
This engagement activity helps drive better personalization by enabling the collection of unique and actionable first-party data. In addition, consumers wanted to be rewarded for engagement activities; 50percent wanted to be rewarded for visiting a company’s website, 47percent for playing a game, and 47percent for writing a review.
55 percent want personalized experiences from brands—but only 12 percent think their favorite brand executes personalization successfully
This indicates that brands are not effectively collecting or using data to successfully personalize experiences for customers.
While the majority (64 percent) prefer to shop online, 48 percent also enjoy shopping in-store
Brands need to invest in omnichannel marketing and seamless brand experiences across all channels. Loyalty membership is an ideal persistent identifier should brands be able to activate and execute across all consumer touchpoints.
Download the full report here.
