News

More than half of Americans are unhappy with their loyalty programs

Ninety-three percent of U.S. consumers said the type of reward offered is a “very important” or “somewhat important” factor in their decisions to join a loyalty program and to remain engaged with a brand.

September 17, 2014

More than half of American loyalty program members (54 percent) are unhappy with the reward options offered by their favorite brands and 48 percent have experienced frustration during the reward redemption process, according to research results released today by COLLOQUY and FanXchange.

In another finding from the 2014 COLLOQUY/FanXchange Customer Engagement Survey, 93 percent of U.S. consumers said the type of reward offered is a “very important” or “somewhat important” factor in their decisions to join a loyalty program and to remain engaged with a brand.

Also from the research: American consumers rate live event tickets — concerts, sports or theater — as more appealing (56 percent) than airline tickets (44 percent).

Consumers said that in addition to unappealing rewards, the reasons for their frustration with the redemption process were expired points (43 percent), not enough points to redeem (39 percent) and the reward item not being available (37 percent).

Other key survey findings include:

• Once enrolled, 43 percent of American consumers have purchased more frequently because of reward offerings or customer-loyalty program membership.
• Within the live-event ticket category, consumers ranked concerts (44 percent) and theater experiences (44 percent) highest, with sporting events being the top choice of 37 percent of respondents.