Marketers are showing signs of trying to mature and expand their approach to customer loyalty beyond just points, discounts and incentives.
This is one of the findings from a recent Forrester survey of business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing decision-makers who own their brands’ loyalty strategy.
The survey also found that:
- * Engagement, retention, and acquisition are the top business objectives this year for customer loyalty initiatives.
- * 84% of respondents believe their initiatives are effective at boosting customer profitability, and a majority of them state that loyalty strategies are improving customer engagement, share of wallet, and customer advocacy.
- * 80% of marketers are planning to spend more on customer experience improvements, while 65% are planning to spend more on experimenting with innovative engagement strategies. This indicates their continued focus on expanding loyalty strategies beyond material value propositions.
- * 30% of respondents identified measuring the return on investment (ROI) of their loyalty program as a top challenge facing their loyalty initiatives.
- * 74% of respondents said they collect customer preference data, but only 45% use this data to personalise loyalty offers, communications, or other interactions.