Growth of Customer Loyalty Strategies Raises Bar on Innovation
13th annual release of The Loyalty Report™ Data reveals key insights and direction for brands seeking customer growth from loyalty and engagement programs.
TORONTO and NEW YORK, June 22, 2023 /CNW/ - Bond, in partnership with Visa™, today released the findings from The Loyalty Report™, revealing both the predictive power of the in-depth report and the clear opportunities for improvement among US Loyalty and Engagement programs. The top three improvement areas impacting customer growth in programs are:
- Access: Human moments of delivery within loyalty and customer engagement experience.
- Time: Seamlessness of experience across digital and in-person touch points of the customer journey.
- Know Me: Continued importance of personalization, tailoring the member experience.
This year's report also reflects both the volume and the pace of growth in efforts to retain and expand loyal customers. Not only are there more programs than ever before, but participation and enrollment have also increased. The 2023 data shows that membership programs are at the highest levels in the last five years. In the US, consumers are, on average, members of 18 programs and actively participate with 50% of the programs they are enrolled in, surpassing pre-pandemic enrollment and activity rates. Similarly, Canada also experienced an increase in enrollments, jumping to approximately 15 program memberships per person on average and an even higher active participation rate within those programs of 57%. Active engagement in a program is showing an increase at record high levels, indicating increased competition for brands.
As a result of this growth, the industry is also seeing customer loyalty programs advance and evolve at a much greater rate. "The bar is raised on the pace of play, and the 'adapt or die' industry conversations now extend to loyalty strategies," according to Sean Claessen, Chief Strategy Officer at Bond. "Customer-centric leaders deliver innovation faster, forcing everyone to lift their game. Brand programs that didn't exist three years ago are now leading the world in volume and importance."
Forward-leaning growth leaders are more hands-on with The Loyalty Report™ data, better leveraging the industry-wide data set for more practical application. "The robust nature of the data and analysis dramatically accelerates a brand's ability to convert insights into action," said Claessen. "A rich body of data is accessible for advanced learning, scenario planning, and real-world use. Sharing what customers want naturally brings forth more competitive customer-centric innovation, which is good for everyone."
The Loyalty Report™ 2023 data spotlights:
- A deep dive on over 340 programs, enabling specific presentations and action planning against program objectives.
- Affordable ways to increase growth through evolving personalization and CX techniques learnt from customer behaviors and attitudes.
- Ranking of the best programs and associated learnings.
- The future of loyalty solutions:
- Optimizing Loyalty Currency: Understanding customer needs in a time of economic pressure.
- Linked Partnership: The growing influence of brands with shared customer bases.
- ValuESGains Index™: An examination of values alignment as a loyalty currency.
- Loyalty within Financial Institution: Impact of earning common rewards currency across interactions with financial institutions.
Produced by Bond—a leading global data-driven customer growth firm— in partnership with Visa™, The Loyalty Report™ is regarded as the most comprehensive, longest standing data set on the perceptions of performance of active loyalty and credit card programs, tracking a quarter-million consumers and more than 750 brands in dozens of industries, across more than 30 countries and every type of loyalty strategy.
The Loyalty Report™ has helped Bond design some of North America's most successful programs driving customer growth. For more information, visit our webpage to learn more or reserve a copy of the Executive Summary and request a personalized report.
Bond generates growth for clients by creating enduring relationships between people and brands based on intelligent connections and engaging experiences. Guided by insights from advanced research and practical commercial application through the Bond Behavioral Institute, and enabled by technology through its proprietary cloud Synapze platform, Bond serves clients globally with customer experience and loyalty solutions—enabling brands, customers, employees, partners, and the communities they serve to experience the benefits of growth. Headquartered in Toronto, Bond has more than 800 people and eight offices across North America and Europe. For more information, visit us at bondbl.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
SOURCE Bond Brand Loyalty ULC
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