May 06 2008
Loyalty card fatigue
Loyalty card fatigue reaches new heights, as over 50% of users think it takes too long to get rewards.
I have a wallet full of loyalty cards and I must have collected hundreds of pounds of rewards over the last few years and I can’t remember the last time I forgot to collect or redeem points. But it seems I’m in the minority, because the latest research from online rewards community Pigsback.com and loyalty management company Reward shows that patience is an overrated virtue when it comes to loyalty cards.
Over half of consumers (56 percent) believe it takes too long to earn meaningful reward points and only 25 percent think the redeemable items are worthwhile.
The research, which surveyed over 2000 Pigsback.com members, revealed that 98 percent of people have a loyalty card while 65 percent hold three cards or more, but many of these consumers are experiencing ‘loyalty card fatigue’ causing them to forget to collect and redeem loyalty points.
Revealing statistics showed that over a third of consumers are annoyed because they have too many cards to carry. This is reinforced by the fact that 36 percent are forgetting to hand over cards at the counter. A further 27 percent regularly have the wrong loyalty cards with them at the time of purchase suggesting that they don’t perceive the programmes as important enough to carry around.
Jo Malvern of Pigsback.com said: “Our research shows that the number one thing that our members are looking for in a loyalty programme is that it is easy to collect the points. We also found that many are tired of having to remember to use different loyalty cards when shopping on the high street. Working with Reward we have been able to tap into this sentiment, allowing our members to earn PiggyPoints (our online currency) when they use their existing payment cards across Reward’s retail network.”
Gavin Dein, Chief Executive Officer at Reward commented: “This backlash against loyalty is a real wake-up call to retailers. Forgetting to hand over loyalty cards is a symptom of two things: poor rewards meaning that many programmes simply aren’t important enough to remember and loyalty card fatigue meaning that people simply have too many to be bothered with or find them too much hassle.
“The loyalty concept is extremely important, especially in a time of economic downturn, but retailers and rewards sites need to make sure that they get their programme right in order for their members to reap the benefits. We have addressed consumer concerns by developing a programme for Pigsback.com that allows consumers to save with almost no effort and gives cash-back up to 4p in the pound.”
While I think it’s a little early to be describing this as a “backlash against loyalty” it is probably something you should consider before you look at a loyalty scheme for your retail business. Should you have a scheme, or do you just keep your prices keen and reward your customers in a different way? As always we’d be interested to hear your comments.
