Customer Loyalty: How to kill two birds with one stone

Ask the average adult to open up their wallet and take a look at the number of loyalty cards that spill out. Loyalty programs have been growing in popularity since the early to mid twentieth century which saw the introduction of ‘gold bond stamps’ as mentioned in a CBS article by Kevin Hechtkopf. As Kevin describes, these methods have been around for awhile and have helped contribute to customer loyalty. It was once believed that cash/store credit was the most powerful means with which to reward customers, but some retailers have found that consumers value the ability to collect points, save them up, and trade them in for special items. There are a combination of rewards used today such as coupons, gift cards, early bird specials, etc that all go to ‘loyal customers,’ but retailers are not offering up these lucrative deals without some benefit to them.

On top of gaining loyalty through their programs, retailers are learning critical information from their customers from each swipe of the loyalty card. Catalina Marketing Corporation, has led the way with innovations that help to collect consumer insights and guide retailers in their additional marketing efforts. The benefit that the company receives from their customer loyalty programs and information technologies may not be something that can adequately be represented on a balance sheet, but it is an asset that continues to translate into growth and sales for those who have come to understand and master analyzing the data put forth.

This blog post was written by Katie Tretter, Cassie Wolcott, and Mack O’Connell