What’s The Point of Loyalty Programs when they’re not Loyal?
Want to join our loyalty program? It has a fancy name. It’s thanking you for your continued support of their business. There is a promise of discounts, freebies, and possibly a gift on your birthday.
So, of course, you sign up. Everyone is so nice at the store after all. They are being polite, helpful, and assisting you in filling up forms. Everything is going swimmingly well for you, because this is your favorite store and you have just become an exclusive member of a club that guarantees you returns in some form or the other.
Excitedly, you share your number, address and email, ready to reap in the rewards. The staff is all smiles and you feel like you’re some sort of celebrity.
Your first few purchases go well. People are nice, the procedure to collect points is simple, and you’ve already received a coupon for some off-brand headphones. But that’s okay. Even if you’re not going to use it, at least you know the rewards are coming.
Weeks later, after receiving yet another coupon for headphones you still don’t want, you begin to wonder how this system really works. What are the 100 points you collected, even for? You haven’t gotten that cashback yet. It comes when you reach a certain tier.
You haven’t gotten a coupon you actually want to use. So, you ask the cashier to help you explain what the points are, even for, and get waved off. A wave. Not a word. The most dismissive hand gesture ever!
But weeks ago, that cashier had helped you fill up the form. They had been smiling and giving you all that attention.
Now you have a dozen marketing offers in your email, but nothing relevant. In fact, you are considering unsubscribing because of the junkyard your email has become.
You try to get the cashier’s attention again, but they have moved on to the next customer. They don’t care about the loyalty program. And then it hits you: they don’t care about your loyalty either!
They just wanted your information so that they could send their dozens of marketing newsletters. They only wanted your email, your number, how you pay, and how much you pay.
That information is often sold to marketing. Your information is given to a third party, and you were not even aware of it.
Now, decidedly, not every store does it, and few actually try to help their customers by offering cashback and coupons, and genuine discounts.
But they are few.
So…what is the point of signing up for a brand loyalty program?
It’s there to fill up your phone with an app that will remind you of offers. It is there so that every time you make a purchase from that particular store, you get to give out your number in public for others to note down as well, and so that you can feel like you belong to a club.
After all, as humans, all we want to do is to belong, even if it means that we must subject ourselves to daily spam.
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