May 2, 2022

Loyalty Programs Are Broken. Here's What To Do About It.

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Consumers love rewards, and they are more loyal to the companies that provide them.  That's why loyalty programs are popular among companies and consumers alike, and why they've been around as long as we've been able to earn, save, and spend money. Loyalty programs are so popular with national and global retailers, in fact, that it was estimated as of 2017 that there were approximately 3.8 billion loyalty memberships active worldwide.1

The problem is: with nearly 90% of retailers offering some kind of loyalty program, it has become more difficult than ever for businesses to compete.2  While loyalty programs were once a unique method of attracting and retaining customers, these days they're just another part of the noise. This is especially true when we consider that the average consumer belongs to 14 different loyalty programs, which means it requires even more effort for businesses to get our attention and retain our loyalty.3 

What can national and global realtors do to differentiate their loyalty program from their competitors?

Loyalty 2.0 - API Integrations

Top brands, including Starbucks and Sephora, have created seamless customer experiences by integrating their rewards programs into their mobile app.  Together, program transparency, easy redemption and the ability to connect directly with a consumer for a more personalized experience push these brands to the top of the best loyalty program lists.  

However, there is the potential for loyalty programs to deliver even more value to both consumers and companies.  The loyalty platform of the future will be driven by new and innovative API integrations from third-parties, allowing businesses to quickly enhance new or existing application functionality without the cost and complexity of research, design and development required to build new and complex software.  At the same time:

  • APIs provide flexibility over your data . With full control over the API endpoint , companies can easily secure, manage and monetize their loyalty data.
  • APIs provide more security and sense of ownership over your data : With APIs, companies can enforce stricter security measures and ensure their customers feel like they're in control over who gets access to their loyalty data.

Traditional loyalty programs are only able to engage customers on the basis of generic promotions or offers due to limited transactional and marketing data.  The result?  53% of customers abandoned loyalty programs last year.  Loyalty programs built with API integrations are more flexible, scalable, and customizable to the needs of businesses.  What’s more, in today’s competitive and increasingly digital environment, they provide valuable new data.  

Loyalty programs are designed to be a tool for customer retention.  Unless a loyalty program is personalized to each individual, they are less effective as a tool.  In order to obtain customer loyalty, marketers must ingest new data sources, generate new opportunities for customer touch points and provide additional value.  Why is this essential?  Brands and retailers that provide exceptional loyalty programs gain more customer referrals, higher customer retention, more sales and increased brand advocacy.4

The Sprout Open Health API provides national and global retailers with access to scientifically tested and market-validated features designed to enhance new and existing applications while enriching your current transactional and marketing data with health, behavior and lifestyle data. This more personal data layer enables you to better understand your existing customers and more accurately predict who will become new customers.

Learn how the Sprout Open Health API’s modular, scalable and extensible platform architecture can drive business outcomes that matter to your organization.  Book your discovery call today.

 

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References

  1. https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2017/customer-loyalty-programs-reach-3-8-billion-in-u-s/
  2.  https://www.shopify.ca/blog/loyalty-program
  3. https://www.statista.com/statistics/618744/average-number-of-loyalty-programs-us-consumers-belong-to/
  4. https://www.shopify.ca/blog/loyalty-program

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