As the world gets back on track post-pandemic, hyper-personalising experiences to win hearts and minds and carefully balanced value exchanges are key to winning back customer loyalty.
A further tactic used by leading brands today is strategically collaborating with third party partners, to further boost value propositions. In fact, some of the best loyalty programmes rely heavily on partnership models with third parties.
Recent Collinson-commissioned research, designed to reveal over 350 Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore-based organisations’ views on the future of loyalty, found that 64% of respondents see a seamless customer experience as the most promising way of increasing returns from loyalty programmes. By partnering with like-minded brands, the desire to reward loyal customers with more emotive, loyalty-enhancing offerings, such as special-access and personalised experiences (versus rational rewards such as points or air miles), is more readily obtainable.
Delivering value and loyalty by removing internal silos
Leading brands position loyalty as an important agenda item in boardrooms and an organisation-wide priority rather than a separate, siloed function. Every interaction a consumer has with an organisation – from initial brand awareness to product or service research, transactions, consumption and follow-up service – will contribute to their overall customer experience and the degree of loyalty they will feel over the longer term.
Increasingly, organisations are viewing happy, retained, loyal customers as their most valuable assets – devoting a significant portion of their time, investment and thinking to maintaining and maximising the satisfaction of these customers. Much investment is also being channelled into achieving a single customer view across the organisation, enabling the delivery of integrated, personalised, timely experiences at every relevant customer touchpoint.
The rise of blended loyalty ecosystems
Single-brand experiences are also becoming the exception rather than the rule. Leading organisations are already regularly collaborating with other like-minded brands, often across industries, to create blended loyalty ecosystems where compelling experiences are crafted to match the needs and specific lifestyle profiles of individual customers.
“The notion of brand integrity, and even the alignment of different brand images, will become less important than the ability to deliver the personalised experience each customer desires.”
The character of each ecosystem is fluid, taking the form of decentralised communities where each customer can curate the combination of brands they wish to interact with. The notion of brand integrity, and even the alignment of different brand images, will become less important than the ability to deliver the personalised experience each customer desires; as long as that experience maintains the loyalty of the individual to all the brands within the ecosystem.
Download Collinson’s complimentary eBook “From Siloes to Multi-Brand Ecosystems” for more information on how to better meet consumer expectations, deepen loyalty and increase retention.
About Collinson
Collinson is a global leader in travel experience and loyalty. Collinson delivers exceptional travel, assistance and insurance products that differentiate value propositions, and loyalty solutions that win deeper, more valuable customer relationships.
Collinson’s customer benefits products include the world’s leading airport experiences programme, Priority Pass, as well as travel insurance, identity assistance, flight delay, international health and travel risk management solutions. Its loyalty expertise uniquely combines strategy, award-winning technology and programme management to create greater engagement and experiences for their clients’ customers. Collinson is also the company behind Airport Dimensions, the developer and operator of airport lounges globally, including The Club and Club Aspire brands.
For over 30 years, Collinson has been chosen by the world’s leading payment networks, 1,400+ banks, 90+ airlines and 20+ hotel groups to craft customer experiences that win competitive edge. This enables them to acquire, engage and retain the most profitable, but most demanding customers. Collinson’s clients include Air France KLM, American Express, Cathay Pacific, CBA, Chase, Hackett, Mastercard, Mandarin Oriental, Radisson Hotel Group, RSA, Sephora, UnionPay, and Visa.
To learn more, visit www.collinsongroup.com
