US loyalty marketing agency Kobie (www.kobie.com) have released their findings of a research report which examines the state of loyalty among US consumers by gauging the role that timing, information and delivery channels play in their overall decision journey.
The most interesting insight from the report relates to preferences on where a join invitation is provided. Almost four out of 10 (38 percent) prefer being asked to join as they check out. Very few want to be asked upon arriving at a store (14 percent), and only one in five prefer to be asked in a follow-up email. And, Millennials have less patience than older generations. One in three Millennials say the process takes too long, compared to one in four Gen Xers and one in five Boomers.
The report recommends brick and mortar stores capitalise on this by ‘Highlight(ing) loyalty programs throughout the store to educate customers before they’re in the line — then make it easy for them to sign up at the point of sale.’
For a coalition loyalty program, point of sale sign-up remains a major member acquisition funnel, although it does have its challenges. Simply training sales staff to encourage each customer to join the program requires an enormous effort, with basic process compliance incredibly difficult to achieve. Loyalty & Reward Co recommend implementing a staff reward program to support the growth of the customer loyalty program, with staff able to earn benefits for signing up members. When supported by the right level of in-store promotion and compliance monitoring, acquisition rates can be increased substantially.
Read the full Kobie report here.
Philip Shelper is a loyalty management consultant based in Sydney, Australia who obsesses about everything to do with loyalty and rewards. His company Loyalty & Reward Co are a leading loyalty consulting firm.
Phil is the author of Blockchain Loyalty: Disrupting loyalty and reinventing marketing using cryptocurrencies. Buy the book.
www.blockchainloyalty.io is a global resource centre for everything blockchain loyalty.
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