Channel-partner engagement and customer engagement are closely linked in terms of challenges and tactics. Writing recently for Fast Company, author and customer engagement guru Don Peppers noted that loyalty programs have become omnipresent in a variety of industries, risking over-use. Last year in the U.S. alone, researchers tallied more than 2 billion loyalty program memberships, which means the average U.S. household belongs to about 18 different loyalty programs. Peppers says evaluating a program should be based on two issues: 1) Under what circumstances will a loyalty program generate incremental repeat business? and 2) How valuable are its other benefits, including the chance to gain insight into individual customer/channel partner needs and preferences? If you want to avoid wasting money on your company’s loyalty program, ask yourself these basic questions:
- How much of your business comes from the top 1% or 2% of your customers/channel partners?
- Is it possible to identify and track your customers’ or channel partners’ individual purchases even without a loyalty program?
- Do your customers/channel partners have diverse needs and preferences? and
- Are you prepared, organizationally, to treat different them differently?
To learn more about CPG and methods to engage your customers, contact Nick Conyngham at nconyngham@cperformancegroup.com
Read the full article at www.fastcompany.com/1822468/when-loyalty-marketing-programs-are-a-waste-of-money