Consolidate and Conquer

Interesting article by Susan Reda over at Store News:

How do consumers view loyalty and rewards programs? “Complicated” and “burdensome” are two words that come to mind, according to recent study of U.S, consumers conducted by ACI Worldwide. That’s got to hurt for retailers who have invested ample time and money in creating these programs, but the bottom line, according to the findings, is that retailers simply aren’t getting it right when it comes to their loyalty and rewards programs.

Customers find carrying card a burden. Our numbers indicate that of 100 cards that restaurants issues for their loyalty programs, they only ever see 8-10 of them back. The article further notes:

An even louder wake-up call lies in the fact that more than three-quarters, 78 percent of those surveyed, say easy online access to their loyalty memberships would make them more likely to shop those retail websites.

No wonder most loyalty programs fails. Its kinda hard for customers to be loyal to any brand/retailer/location if the loyalty program does not even tell then the score (when will they get what). We find that having online access to your program is absolutely critical, still though, once the customers walk out of a retail location, the percentage of people who will engage with your program from home etc. is small (high single digit to low teens).  We believe that retailers/local businesses really need to think in terms of mobile solutions if they want their customers to truly engage with their programs.

The opportunity is considerable. Three quarters of Americans, 74 percent, are members of at least one retail loyalty and reward program, and 27 percent are members of four or more, according to the study.

We at Punchh are excited to be working on building programs that address some of these problems and more.