In the last year, we have seen significant developments taking place in the convergence of travel loyalty programmes.
This came as brands looked to provide members with the maximum flexibility to earn, redeem or part-pay with points when shopping online and to also extend this to shopping offline.
NB: This is an analysis by Guy Deslandes, ecommerce sales director at Collinson Latitude.
In 2017, I believe the ability to earn and redeem both online and offline will increase dramatically.
Loyalty programme providers will look to further put the member at the heart of their programmes, with the aim of making loyalty a part of members’ everyday lives.
It is my belief that the three points below will be key in helping us all to facilitate this progression.
The increasingly intelligent use of data
Most of us are already aware of the importance of contextualised personalisation when it comes to loyalty programmes.
For rewards to truly appeal to members, they need to be reflective of the members’ lifestyles, and having insight into personal preferences is anchored in the more thorough use of data and technology.
With our recent research finding that only 38% of travel and financial services members believe their loyalty programme rewards are fully reflective of their lifestyle and hobbies, there is clearly a lot more work to be done.
Consumers will only continue to expect a higher level of personalisation – something which is a growing trend across industries.
This is why the utilisation of data for greater insights remains so key, whether it’s used to improve the customer journey when accessing a programme, drive the way in which it is marketed, or tailor the reward or retail promotion on offer.
Something of which we will begin to see more is how brands utilise data to tactically place offers and rewards in front of customers so that their behaviour is influenced at specific time slots.
For example, just as Uber practices surge pricing, there’s logic to suggest that loyalty programmes will soon start to introduce variable pricing, in order to be savvier and capitalise on the peak times members are engaging with their programmes.
The more touchpoints the better
Increased member engagement will only arise when loyalty programmes continue to find ways of naturally integrating new touch-points into the day-to-day lives of their members, allowing them to earn and redeem in a way that’s easy for them.
There are already many examples of excellent earn and redemption online loyalty platforms, such as those from FlyingBlue, Avios, Accor and Virgin Atlantic, but the real winners will be the brands that can effectively replicate this approach in an offline, in-store environment.
Our research supports this, with 61% stating that the ability to earn and redeem loyalty currency both in-store and online as important and or very important.
Finding new touch-points within the customer journey and tapping into them at the right point in time will be crucial in 2017.
It is also likely that rather than solely basing the marketing on driving consumers to online stores or malls, we will see programmes start to serve reward content dynamically and place it at other key customer touchpoints.
So, for example, a travel company could highlight the points a customer will earn by featuring the rewards they could then redeem around the booking sites to help increase conversion.
Demand visionary thinking
One thing 2016 has made clear is that technology needs to be built around the member.
While this may sound logical, in the past this hasn’t always happened – often due to outdated legacy IT systems or loyalty programmes not being at the front of IT development queue.
A true loyalty ecosystem gives brands the capability to grow around the members of their programme and, consequently, providers should look for suppliers who think beyond just the next six months.
One technology that has seen its star rise in the last year is virtual reality (VR) and while it may not be conquered by all companies in 2017, it does give a beacon of light into how we could all evolve.
Expedia, for instance, recently created its third VR-based tool, which allows consumers to explore the famous Flam Railway - billed as one of the most beautiful train rides in the world - before they get there.
The consumer demand for emerging technologies such as VR shows no sign of abating.
In fact, when we asked members about the importance of brands being seen as early adopters of technology, 71% of members agreed that they favour these innovative companies.
Travel industry brands need to be at the forefront of technology developments – if they don’t keep up, they can be sure that there will be those born out of the digital age capable of swooping in and stealing market share.
NB: This is an analysis by Guy Deslandes, ecommerce sales director at Collinson Latitude.
NB2:Beach heart image via FreeImages.