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Loyalty Programs

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In 2012, I drew a cartoon of a shopper emptying her purse at checkout, saying “wait, I may have a card showing my loyalty to whatever store this is.”

The loyalty program arms race has only accelerated since then — partly driven by brands trying to collect more first-party data. The checkout ask for an email address or phone number has gone from awkward to aggressive.

According to BCG, the average US consumer now belongs to more than 15 loyalty programs. BCG also found that as the number of loyalty programs has increased, the less engaged and loyal consumers actually are.

A recent report from Media Culture found that only 13% of consumers value loyalty programs, while 85% value price and 38% value convenience.

Marketers frequently overstate the phenomenon of brand loyalty. Generally consumers don’t think about our brands nearly as much as marketers think that they do.

A good reminder is the classic observation from market researcher Andrew Ehrenberg:

“Your customers are really other people's customers who occasionally buy you.”

New Cartoon Collaboration

This is the fourth of seven cartoons from a new collaboration with Confluence by Atlassian on how their product helps set knowledge free.

We’ve all tripped over document hurdles that stall our momentum and get in the way of doing our work.

Cartoon from the archives

And here’s the cartoon I mentioned I drew on Loyalty Programs in 2012. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

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Thank you for all of your support (and cartoon material)!

-Tom

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About Marketoonist

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of me, Tom Fishburne. I first started drawing cartoons as a student in the Harvard Business School newspaper (not quite as well-known for humor as the Lampoon) and later started this newsletter from a General Mills cubicle in 2002. The cartoons have followed my career ever since. I poke fun at the ever-changing world of marketing and business because I believe that laughing at ourselves can help us do our best work.