Watch loyalty to loyalty programs

As interactive site teams I work with consider ways to increase engagement with consumers, I often hear requests for tools and methods to accomplish different forms of personalization and even loyalty programs.

You're no doubt familiar with loyalty programs. Retailers and service providers such as hotels and airlines seem to offer points/incentives/rewards en masse. But now comes evidence analyzed by Jim Barnes at CustomerThink that, though they may affect consumer behavior, loyalty programs don't lead to loyalty.

As Barnes says:

"Most customers are in it for the points and the rewards that come with them, not because they hold the company in especially high regard."

That said, a Web site loyalty program might drive interest to the program pages themselves (sign up, check points, claim rewards) but not necessarily the site sections or components where additional consumer use really drives our business.

Read past the end of Barnes' post for some astute comments from CustomerThink members, including this gem:

Are the less-than-frequent buyers, those who can't or don't buy often, any less valuable than the heavy buyer if they always buy from the same vendor? What rewards do these buyers offer to their vendors, such as word-of-mouth PR and low overhead service costs? How are they rewarded for these activities? Will the loyalty program drive away such buyers, like the acquisition programs that offer great deals to new buyers but nothing to loyal buyers?

Replace "buyers" in that excerpt with "users" or "visitors" and you get the idea.