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Loyalty Isn’t Always About Frequency

I spent a good part of my weekend getting ready to send my son back to school next week. He is going to be in second grade this year. I asked him what he was most looking forward to. His answer was a two-parter. First he was excited about recess, so he could see his best friends. I asked him who his best friend was and he proceeded to name off a list of the boys he plays with at recess every day.

Hearing him talk about these boys that he has not seen, or even really talked about, all summer like they were the most important people in the world was great. It made me think about my own childhood and the guys that meant that much to me. And, as many times will happen, I started thinking about loyalty. In this case, how loyal to each other children are. They can go away and come back and time does not matter. He is your friend and that is not going to change.

Loyalty Quality vs Quantity

Today, as adults trying to generate loyal customers, we also need to think in that way. Not every customer is going to come in every day, but they can still be loyal. Think of it like this: for every person that flies around for work there are hundreds that do not. So the business traveler shows their loyalty by flying monthly, weekly, or even daily with a particular airline. Now, the non-business traveler may only get on a plane once a year or less. These travelers are not any less loyal, just less frequent.

You can have this in any business. I get my hair cut about every three weeks, my wife every three months. We are both loyal to the people who cut our hair. BBQ dining out for me means  always the same place – Hard 8 in Coppell,  though we don’t eat out for BBQ often because I usually make it myself. The bottom line is that if a person decides to use the goods or service you provide exclusively, then they are loyal.

The question here is, who is more loyal, the business traveler who flies with you once a month, or the leisure traveler that travels with you twice a year? The easy guess would be the once a month. What if in fact he takes 4 trips a month? One is with you and the other three are with other airlines. Then the leisure traveler who takes two a year and both with you is truly the loyal one.

Loyalty Programs for Both

The point is,  just because someone doesn’t use your service as much as someone else it does not mean that they are any less loyal. They should never be treated as anything less than important to you. Coming up with ways to reward them is just as important as rewarding the one who comes in all the time. The tier approach to loyalty is the perfect way to do this. It rewards those who come in less, while rewarding the ones who come more often more. By doing this, one great side effect is that people do want to move up and get to that next tier. Giving people extra ways to earn when they cannot use your main service will get them to that next tier faster. That infrequent, but very loyal customer will be grateful.  And, we all know, a grateful customer is a loyal customer.

 

For more information, contact:

Kyle Tidwell, Director of Loyalty Consulting and Partnerships

ktidwell@dbgloyalty.com

469-706-3318

 

DBG Loyalty is a leading innovator in loyalty and rewards marketing. DBG was founded in 2002 because the industry was looking for a trusted technology leader who could develop and establish consumer loyalty programs. DBG has customer relationships which span from the time of inception.

DBG Loyalty

DBG Loyalty

DBG Loyalty is a leading innovator in loyalty and rewards marketing. DBG was founded in 2002 because the industry was looking for a trusted technology leader who could develop and establish consumer loyalty programs. DBG has customer relationships which span from the time of inception.
DBG Loyalty

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