Podcast 93 – Loyalty Is Growing. So Why Is Engagement Getting Harder

So, Charlie, can you give us a summary now of what your research findings and what it tells us about customers' needs?

Yeah, absolutely.

The white paper is available completely for free to download if anybody would like the detail, but the headlines are as follows.

So we are seeing really high and consistent loyalty membership across all 24 European markets.

So we've got an average of 63.3% of adults across those 24 markets who are members of at least one loyalty program.

And we've seen a largely positive upward trend in that.

with some markets kind of hitting extraordinary numbers of memberships, almost 9 in 10 adults members of at least one programme.

So it's a highly engaged continent.

Luckily, we also really love loyalty programmes in Europe, which is great.

So 59% of adults think it's a great way to reward customers.

43% will join them whenever they're given the chance, which is fantastic because we've had an explosion of new loyalty programs across the markets.

And 49% actually think every single brand should offer one, which I think is a really interesting indicator of saturation.

and a continued kind of desire and ambition for loyalty programmes.

And then the other side of the coin is, well, do they work? Do they affect consumers' behaviour? Do they affect consumers' hearts? And actually, again, it tells us a very positive story.

So 41.9% say yes, it does make them more loyal.

34.5% will say that it makes them refer and recommend.

33.3% say it makes them feel more emotionally connected to the brand.

And a critical factor for all the CFOs listening, 35% say it makes them spend more.

And I think the behavioral data that we see that then underpins this research would prove to us that those are true.

And we have seen those across the market.

So I think we've got a highly engaged continent who really like loyalty programs and want more from them.

We are seeing some slight measures kind of flatten off.

Spend is a really interesting metric as we look at that across all the markets.

And when you deep dive into that, I think the ability of a loyalty program to get people to spend more in a cost of living crisis is challenging.

So I'm sure we're going to come on to talk about the rising importance of value in loyalty programs.

So, Charlie, can you give us a summary now of what your research findings and what it tells us about customers' needs?

Yeah, absolutely.

The white paper is available completely for free to download if anybody would like the detail, but the headlines are as follows.

So we are seeing really high and consistent loyalty membership across all 24 European markets.

So we've got an average of 63.3% of adults across those 24 markets who are members of at least one loyalty program.

And we've seen a largely positive upward trend in that.

with some markets kind of hitting extraordinary numbers of memberships, almost 9 in 10 adults members of at least one programme.

So it's a highly engaged continent.

Luckily, we also really love loyalty programmes in Europe, which is great.

So 59% of adults think it's a great way to reward customers.

43% will join them whenever they're given the chance, which is fantastic because we've had an explosion of new loyalty programs across the markets.

And 49% actually think every single brand should offer one, which I think is a really interesting indicator of saturation.

and a continued kind of desire and ambition for loyalty programmes.

And then the other side of the coin is, well, do they work? Do they affect consumers' behaviour? Do they affect consumers' hearts? And actually, again, it tells us a very positive story.

So 41.9% say yes, it does make them more loyal.

34.5% will say that it makes them refer and recommend.

33.3% say it makes them feel more emotionally connected to the brand.

And a critical factor for all the CFOs listening, 35% say it makes them spend more.

And I think the behavioral data that we see that then underpins this research would prove to us that those are true.

And we have seen those across the market.

So I think we've got a highly engaged continent who really like loyalty programs and want more from them.

We are seeing some slight measures kind of flatten off.

Spend is a really interesting metric as we look at that across all the markets.

And when you deep dive into that, I think the ability of a loyalty program to get people to spend more in a cost of living crisis is challenging.

So I'm sure we're going to come on to talk about the rising importance of value in loyalty programs.