Research reveals the barriers to loyalty

Commissioned by The Point of Loyalty and conducted independently by First Point Research, the 11th edition of the annual Australian customer loyalty and loyalty program research study, For Love or Money 2023, has revealed that data security breaches are loyalty program members biggest concern and hurdle for sharing data and has found that connection and problem solving is key to keeping a relationship of loyalty between customers and retailers.

The research study, conducted in the first quarter of 2023, has found that 55 percent of loyalty program members are more concerned now about sharing their data with programs but will still do so, knowing they are gaining benefits and rewards from the program.

Recent data security breaches have left consumers across all industries concerned for their data privacy. Research by the OAIC has found that five of the 497 notifiable data breaches that occurred the from July to December of 2022 impacted at least 1 million people, most notably Medibank with 9.7 million people affected.

However, according to For Love of Money 2023, more than one in five surveyed consumers are still confident in with the security protocols of loyalty programs and are happy to share their data, knowing they are gaining benefits and rewards from the program.

Report author and CEO of The Point of Loyalty, Adam Posner said, “These results highlight two schools of thought in that loyalty program members’ awareness and sensitivity to sharing their data is heightened, however they’ll still share when there is a fair value exchange.”

As economic turmoil increases to concern Australians, loyalty programs are increasingly more valuable to members when they offer rewards or savings.  42 percent of loyalty program members become more actively involved with their programs during times of economic uncertainty to maximise rewards and savings. Posner says that while this isn’t surprising, it is a great opportunity for retailers to provide value. “With increasing inflation and economic uncertainty, it’s not surprising members are more engaged with programs they know and trust to earn more savings and rewards,” said Posner. “Known as loyalty program ‘double clickers’, these members are seeking to save money and programs have a great opportunity to be more loyal to their members by providing more value to them.”

He continued to say, “Loyalty program managers can step-up and find ways to engage with their members as they interact and transact more, and the business is rewarded with retention and repeat business”.

According to the report, members of loyalty programs are still looking for programs to improve in areas such as more surprise and delight offers and benefits, and should prioritise connection to produce what Posner has deemed “joyalty”.

“Programs providing rewards or benefits that are unexpected delights, go a long way to emotionally connecting members with programs and their brand,” said Posner.

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