One Essential Question for Every Loyalty Marketer
Within the first hour I talk with anyone new about customer loyalty, they inevitably ask, “What do you think is the best loyalty program out there?”
Sometimes they ask out of pure curiosity; other times they ask to see if I can produce what they already decided is the right answer. Either way, I think it’s the wrong question.
If you really want to understand how I look at loyalty programs (and how well I understand the true nature of the customer-brand relationship), ask me the question, “What is your favorite loyalty program?” This is the essential question for all loyalty marketers.
Why “favorite” and not “most successful” or “most innovative?” Focusing on “favorite” encourages you to engage your emotional brain and think about the program you enjoy the most, not the program you think is the best designed.
Neuroscience studies teach us that people are both rational and emotional, yet many loyalty programs are born from necessary, but purely rational conversations—segmentation, rule structures, liability forecasting, etc. True loyalty only happens when someone develops an emotional connection with the brand. Your favorite program is likely to be the one with which you have the strongest emotional connection. By naming it, you’re entering the right frame of mind to think about how to create a similar experience for your participants. You can’t get there if all your conversations focus on the cheery subject of cost-per-point analysis.
I recently posed the favorite question to a new colleague, and he immediately named one of the major airline programs. As a sales vice president, he travels frequently and earns a large amount of points. So, at first, he said he loved the program for the status. But when I asked what he does with his points, he visibly brightened and became more enthusiastic. He uses the points to visit his son who is away at college. My colleague initially answered the favorite question in a rational way, but when we dug deeper, we both found something more powerful—he loves the program because it helps him see his child more often.
When you look past the rational, you will find most people have an emotional context for why they connect to a program. For example, my favorite program is with a local tavern. I get recognition and rewards for trying every beer on the menu (132 in all). Do I like the status of getting my name on a plaque on the wall? Yes. Do I like trying beers with names like “Skullsplitter” and “Moose Drool?” Not always. But I do love engaging in this program once a week with my friends, and that’s my emotional connection. More than anything, that program represents time with people who are close to me.
When you can articulate why a program is your favorite—why you’re emotionally connected to it—then you’re ready to develop engaging programs for other people. Ask the question to everyone involved in the program’s development. Engage your team, the brand manager and the vice president of marketing. Find those deeper connections and start thinking how to roll them into your program design. Instead of cost-per-point discussions, you’re suddenly talking about creating enjoyable, memorable and sharable experiences for your customers. That conversation is sure to happen if you can go beyond the rational and answer one simple question: what’s your favorite program?
Barry Kirk is the director of strategic consulting at Maritz Loyalty Marketing. He can be reached at [email protected].
