Don’t Mistake Habit For Loyalty: 5 Trends Driving Loyalty Programs That Create Customers For Life

Loyalty programs are a dime a dozen. Consumers across every category are swimming in them. That makes any loyalty scheme they come across feel like part of a big, ugly pile-on. Sure, punch cards have progressed to swipe cards (woohoo!) and apps, but most of the programs powering the cards are still the same lackluster campaigns, only half-heartedly trying to retain your business. It makes you wonder–does this company, whose card I’m carrying, whose app I downloaded, whose points I’m keeping track of, really want me as a customer? Does my loyalty actually mean anything to them? To gain a unique, more human, emotional perspective on loyalty, Olson1to1 brought me and Sivo Insights on as research partners to unearth foundational truths, insights, and essential elements that drive loyalty and foster successful loyalty programs. To do this, we designed a multi-methodologic, holistic research strategy. We started with a broad look at industry and cultural trends, followed by an immersive exploration of the real-life consumer experience through ethnography. Then we did a quantitative study to measure the qualitative findings. Olson 1to1 then applied their deep loyalty expertise to these findings to create a final comprehensive report, Humanizing Loyalty: A Road Map To Establishing Genuine Emotional Loyalty At Scale, which you can read here. Working on this project, I examined the culture at large for the trends driving consumer loyalty and loyalty programs. I tracked down what’s happening in the world, tried to figure out what changing trends will influence loyalty and studied how people think about the loyalty programs they do know about. What separates memorable programs from forgettable ones? And how can companies create an unbreakable bond of true loyalty? Read more at Forbes.