Why Do Customer Loyalty Programs Fail?

Engagement is the life blood of any loyalty program. The higher the engagement, the better your program looks to those from the outside. You could hire consultant after consultant and do focus groups all day and night to build the greatest program ever. Next, you could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build this shrine to loyalty. Imagine, you get excited as the launch grows near. You are about to be heralded for building the greatest program mankind has ever seen. Then it launches … and nobody joins … and nobody uses it. It is a failure.

Your biggest competitor hires no one and spends next to nothing to build theirs. They pay for development of the platform and monthly maintenance. They find a partner with knowledge and experience. They launch a month after you and their engagement is through the roof. How can this be? They are not as big as you and their program in nothing compared to your amazing program. Somehow they are the superstars of the loyalty battle. How can this be?

Only As Good As Your Customer Engagement

To me the answer is getting more and more clear. I talk with people who are looking to start their program, but more importantly, I speak to people who are dissatisfied with the way that their program is performing. I talk to large companies who have some of the lowest engagement you can ever imagine. Sometimes it is the program itself that is the problem, but many times it is not. I have seen programs that are average at best yield great results. The program is only as good as the engagement you get.

Customer Excitement

The biggest difference between the two is excitement. The excitement has to be generated. Some people will just stumble upon a program and fall in love. They may even tell a few friends about it. That group will not make your program great. Marketing is what makes a program great and leads to engagement. You have to tell people about your program as often as possible. It is a fine line between telling them enough and telling them too much. The good news is consumers will tell you. Give them options on how often you will tell them about it. Give them options on how you will tell them about it.

The other part of excitement is the program itself. Make it fun and useful to your customer. Make them think that they would use your program even if they were not getting anything from it. Make it something that enhances their feelings towards you. Show them that you are trying to make their life better and that as a company you value their loyalty and that you are loyal to them.

Build it, tell them you built it, wow them, engage them and you will have customers that will continue to come back and tell others about it.

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.