• DD-Square-Logo_resized
  • ATTEND LAS VEGAS
    • Attendee
      • Registration & Pricing
      • Agenda At-A-Glance
      • Exhibitor List/Floor Plan
      • Sponsor List
      • Hotel & Travel
      • Hosted Dealer Program
      • FAQ
      • Mobile App
    • Exhibitor
      • Exhibit/Sponsor
      • Advertising Opportunities
      • Exhibitor Resources
      • Exhibitor Tips
    • Education
      • Overview
      • Show Schedule
  • ABOUT
    • Conference Overview
    • Best Of Awards
    • Become a Speaker
    • Press Inquiries
    • Partnership Programs
    • Health & Safety
    • Contact Us
    • Get Updates
  • RESOURCES
    • Webinars
    • Downloads
  • NEWS
    • Auto Retail News
    • Digital Editions
    • Press Releases
    • Submit Editorial
    • Subscribe
  • .
  • ATTEND LAS VEGAS
    • Attendee
      • Registration & Pricing
      • Agenda At-A-Glance
      • Exhibitor List/Floor Plan
      • Sponsor List
      • Hotel & Travel
      • Hosted Dealer Program
      • FAQ
      • Mobile App
    • Exhibitor
      • Exhibit/Sponsor
      • Advertising Opportunities
      • Exhibitor Resources
      • Exhibitor Tips
    • Education
      • Overview
      • Show Schedule
  • RESOURCES
    • Webinars
    • Downloads
  • ABOUT
    • Conference Overview
    • Best Of Awards
    • Become a Speaker
    • Press Inquiries
    • Partnership Programs
    • Health & Safety
    • Get Updates
  • NEWS
    • AUTO RETAIL NEWS
    • PRESS RELEASES
    • DIGITAL EDITIIONS
    • SUBMIT EDITORIAL
    • SUBSCRIBE

Las Vegas: Oct 17-19, 2023

REGISTER NOW EXHIBIT / INQUIRE
Q

NEWS:

Dealer Management | Dealer/GM News | Trending Industry News
June 20, 2016

Don’t Let Your Loyalty Program Backfire!

Posts:
Dealer Management | Dealer/GM News | Trending Industry News
June 20, 2016

Don’t Let Your Loyalty Program Backfire!

The intention of a loyalty program is to show your customers that they are appreciated and encourage them to choose your business over any competition. These programs can create value and generate lifetime relationships with customers — as long as the experience remains consistently pleasant.

However, a trend currently rearing its head in the loyalty program space, while seemingly grounded in fiscal common sense, is alienating customers and actually making previously loyal customers less loyal.

An excellent article on Forbes.com discusses a trend in travel, hospitality and retail, where businesses revamp their loyalty programs to favor customers that spend the most money – not necessarily in total — but with each transaction.

Airlines are an excellent example of this trend. In the past, most major airlines’ loyalty programs rewarded customers with points based on the number of miles flown, flights taken, or both. The recent trend delivers a double whammy to customers as these airlines have shifted their loyalty programs towards money spent on airfare, which favors business travelers that tend to book flights last minute, paying premium fares for their flights. A traveler that booked their ticket in advance, or took advantage of a sale, could even be seated right next to the business traveler who paid a premium price, but that customer would earn less points for the same travel.

The second change involves how many points it takes to redeem rewards. Airlines have increased the number of points needed to earn free flights and made it more difficult for “normal” travelers to earn rewards.

While on the surface these changes make economic sense for the airlines – reward those who spend more per transaction – this strategy might just be backfiring. It would seem reasonable to project that the majority of travelers are NOT business travelers who book at the last minute and pay higher rates. But rather those “less-important” customers who plan ahead and take advantage of fare sales. If that’s the case, doesn’t this strategy of making it more difficult for the majority of your customers to earn rewards and, by default, making them feel less appreciated, mean that, in the long run, airlines could find that they’re actually losing money?

And don’t feel like this phenomenon is limited to the travel and hospitality industry. Just research the recent backlash that Starbucks encountered when it revamped its loyalty program in the exact same way. Rather than rewarding customers for visits, now their loyalty program points are earned by dollars spent. And consumers did not take it well — at all.

Every customer is valuable. While it is certainly understandable that businesses want to reward their best customers, it may be a bad move to do so at the expense of others. That normal (or frugal) traveler today, may just get a new job and become that business traveler airlines so covet. Yet, when they were a normal traveler, they were treated as somewhat less desirable customers… at least that’s what the airlines loyalty program communicates to them. Because of that, they now base their travel decisions on convenience and price, rather than loyalty to the airline.

Consistency in how appreciation is shown to your loyalty program customers is imperative. Designed correctly, your loyalty program should reward customers who spend and visit more by default. Those customers will find it easier to earn rewards simply because they’re doing more business with you. And that’s exactly what a loyalty program is designed to accomplish.

Dealer Management•Dealer/GM News•Trending Industry News

SHARE

Share on Email
Share on Linkedin
Share on Facebook
Share on Pinterest
Share on Twitter
← Previous Article Next Article →
Posts Industry Press Releases

One View Integrates with Autosoft to Enhance Document Digitization for Auto Dealerships

One View becomes certified partner of Autosoft’s Partner Program – providing seamless integration between both systems One View, an auto industry-specific data solution specialist, announced the integration of its document management system with
Posts Marketing & AdvertisingTrending Industry News

How Does Google Analytics 4 Impact Call Monitoring?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is here, and Universal Analytics (UA) is a thing of the past. So, what is the big difference between GA4 and UA, and what does it mean for dealerships and their automotive call monitoring solutions? Universal Analytics (UA) o
Posts Industry Press Releases

One View Integrates with Autosoft to Enhance Document Digitization for Auto Dealerships

One View becomes certified partner of Autosoft’s Partner Program – providing seamless integration between both systems One View, an auto industry-specific data solution specialist, announced the integration of its document management system with
Posts Dealer Ops & LeadershipTrending Industry News

Three Key Areas to Focus on for Fixed Ops Success

A well-managed BDC can significantly impact sales, raise service profits, and increase retention, but achieving success in this field requires three key ingredients: Focus, People, and Consistency. Without these elements working in tandem, even the m
Posts Dealer Ops & LeadershipTrending Industry News

Astroturfing: What it is and Why Your Dealership Should Avoid it

Astroturfing is organized activity that is intended to create a false impression of a widespread, spontaneously arising, grassroots movement in support of…something…that is in reality initiated and controlled by a concealed group…or corpora
Posts Uncategorized

Cracking the Code: Driving Team Action Post 1-on-1s

Ever left a meeting whether it’s with your team or a 1-on-1, on cloud nine, believing your team was all set to conquer the world, only to find their enthusiasm fizzling out days later? The challenge lies in converting intentions into actions amidst
Posts Sales & Variable OpsTrending Industry News

How End-Of-Year-Sales May Impact Auto Finance Digital Transformation Strategies

Following a challenging sales environment in 2022, a noticeable recovery in the automotive sector has stabilized in 2023. This year, even as supply chain problems subsided, new challenges emerged, such as the persistent risk of a potential recession,
Posts Industry Press Releases

Mopar and Petra Automotive Products Partner to Launch New Maintenance Products to Dealers Across North America

Petra Automotive Products, the fastest growing premium automotive products manufacturer in the world, is proud to announce 11 of their best-in-class products will be launched under the Mopar® brand for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep®, Ram and FIAT® dealers

NEWSLETTER

SUBSCRIBE

DEALER MAGAZINE

Dealer Magazine March/April 2023 Issue Featuring an Interview with NADA 2023 Chairman
MAGAZINE
Digital Dealer Logo White
FOLLOW US ON
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
© 2023 Emerald X, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
ABOUT    CAREERS    AUTHORIZED SERVICE PROVIDERS   DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION   TERMS OF USE   PRIVACY POLICY