The Price of Loyalty: Incentives

This IDC Perspective looks at incentives including price incentives, metrics, and the cost to do business with loyalty programs. Retail loyalty programs permeate a majority of retailers that have invested in and implemented a loyalty program as a top marketing initiative at their companies. Loyalty programs can be complicated, but they drive several advantages for retailers. However, they are not created off the cuff, in an ad hoc process, or by accident. Loyalty programs require thoughtful review, intention, and deliberation on how to build and execute across many complexities, especially an incentive structure. The price of loyalty is certainly not free - learn about the incentive basis for loyalty programs in retail."Metrics establish where and how a loyalty program is functioning. Without understanding how your customers engage with your program, your firm remains blind to both the risks and opportunities that loyal customers present," says Ananda Chakravarty, VP, Research, Merchandising, and Marketing, IDC Retail Insights.