Right now, in marketing departments around the world, loyalty is being re-prioritised and re-energised. Loyalty is shifting back up the marketing agenda as companies of all shapes and sizes deploy it as an effective vehicle for growth. 

Turns out looking after your existing customers (as well as chasing new ones) is a good idea after all. Who knew?!

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But, as we’ll reveal, loyalty is showing up in new ways and serving ever more business critical purposes… and it’s delivering the results. When times are challenging - and let’s face it, they have been recently - fostering customer loyalty has never been more important. If you’re not already, now is the time to start taking your customer loyalty seriously.

Since way back in the 1980s (with airlines leading the charge down the runway), loyalty programmes have been part of a healthy marketing strategy for lots of brands. With the increasingly competitive and challenging marketplace, unforeseen forces hitting the world like an unexpected uppercut from Mike Tyson, new dynamics between brands and audiences have emerged that have shunted loyalty back on the agenda in a big, and new look, way. This is backed up with eye-watering numbers as MarketsandMarkets forecast the global loyalty market size to grow from USD 8.6billion in 2021 to USD 18.2 billion by 2026.

However, this isn’t just happening elsewhere in far away lands. Here in our very own backyard, we’ve recently seen changes in the loyalty landscape, with a move to brands being masters of their own destiny when it comes to customer loyalty. For example, energy company Mercury has started to shake things up with the recent news that they are leaving a long-standing loyalty network to go it alone in order to better meet customer expectations now and well into their future. 

Mercury’s move is indicative of the changing attitude towards loyalty being recognised as a key driver for business success, which is empowering brands to give loyalty and rewards within their business a fresh new look.

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In addition, McDonald’s has launched its global loyalty programme, MyMacca’s Rewards (here in Aotearoa and beyond), to reward its loyal customers with, hmmm, more McDonald’s, of course! Choosing to sit in the MyMacca’s app, the points-based rewards are ideally placed to reward with every purchase. Plus, they have moved McCafé® Loyalty into the mix- keeping all rewards under one roof!  

In the UK, however, customers can choose to share the love and donate their points to one of three charity partners that will benefit local communities. So, it will be interesting to see if this happens in other territories too!

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Loyalty programs have long been a valuable marketing tool, and they continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of businesses and consumers alike. With a fresh new look, these trusty programs are poised to make an even greater impact in the digital age.

At Rapport Group, our team is experienced in developing and optimising loyalty programs that drive customer engagement and growth. If you're looking to develop a loyalty program for your business or want to optimise an existing one, we're here to help!

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Next in the series: The benefits of running your own reward loyalty programme

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