As 2019 winds down, I’m getting more questions about what’s going to be new and next in loyalty in the coming year.
Most marketers understand that earning loyalty is bigger than rewards programs and incentives, that it’s important to treat different customers differently. And they agree that a loyalty program should deliver the best content, offers, and experience that a brand has to offer.
But making the shift from loyalty as a standalone marketing practice to something that is tightly integrated with the customer experience is hard. And companies struggle with many of the fundamentals that make it possible — such as understanding customer interactions across channels, delivering a consistent experience, and collaborating with internal groups like e-commerce and customer service.
Enter Nike.
Membership in NikePlus, which it bills as “the very best of Nike,” is at the center of Nike’s direct-to-customer growth strategy. The 170 million members of the program get benefits for both shopping and using its family of apps. There are three things that set Nike’s approach apart:
Nike may be setting a new standard for loyalty, but the uptick in retail loyalty program revamps I’ve seen in the past 18 months tells me that other retailers are paying attention and investing in program evolution, too. Stay tuned — you’ll be hearing more from us about retail loyalty in 2020.
Emily Collins, principal analyst at Forrester, wrote this article, which can also be found here. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CDOTrends. Photo credit: iStockphoto/miroslav_1