Retailing: From A to Z

Generally speaking, for rewards programs to be successful — which means generating more business through heightened customer loyalty — they must, at a minimum, fullfill these criteria: The program must be easy to use, the shopper can earn rewards that they consider valuable, and the amount spent to earn some level of a reward must be reasonable.

With the above in mind, consider this observation from bricks meets clicks, an online customer service and information consulting firm: “Walgreens is about to launch a loyalty program – Balance Rewards — that will reward customers for purchases and also participating in wellness programs. So far so good. ‘There will be thousands of ways that a customer can earn points,’ says company spokesperson Jim Graham in a Loyalty 360 article.  Still good. Shoppers will self-record their points-earning activities, but the retailer isn’t worried that people will falsify information because ‘it would be too much effort for the potential reward.’ Whoa! Right here is where they lose us. Did we hear that right – too much effort for the potential reward? This seems like a huge red flag. Given the competitive set, given the amount of time, energy, and confusion generated by rolling out a new program that will exist side by side with the company’s current Register Rewards program, perhaps Walgreens should rethink the overall approach.”

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