Loyalty 360 Presents List Of Trends For Loyalty Marketing Industry In 2011

Loyalty 360 (The Loyalty Marketer’s Association) predicts that 11 trends will dictate the direction of the loyalty marketing industry in 2011. These developments include a greater understanding by marketers that loyalty is an ongoing process and a strategic business objective, and that marketers will design loyalty initiatives that focus more on emotions and less on reason. Increasingly, companies will pay more attention to how customer relations and employee management interact to influence a company’s financial performance. Meanwhile, brands are likely to focus more on customer programs as a business strategy; while customers will increasingly demand loyalty programs that are relevant to their wants and needs. Mobile and online marketing will gain more strategic importance; and customer loyalty programs will be tailored to engage customers. Marketers will depend more on cause-related marketing and corporate social responsibility programs to target millennials, or customers who are 18- to 34-year old. Restaurants will invest more in loyalty programs; and marketers will revise their debit card programs and will adopt social gaming as part of their loyalty initiatives.