In many ways, the Canadian market serves as a benchmark for the development of loyalty innovation worldwide. It is home to one of the world’s most successful loyalty programs: LoyaltyOne’s AIR MILES Rewards Program, with more than 70% of Canadian households participating.
Canada is among the most mature, highly penetrated and sophisticated loyalty markets in the world. Despite a population of 33.5 million people, the nation counts almost 121 million loyalty memberships.
Yet the average Canadian’s sentiments about loyalty marketing and communications still reveal growth opportunities for loyalty marketers. For instance, according to the results of a recent study by COLLOQUY, only 10 percent of Canadian loyalty participants felt that it paid to participate in programs.
This just reinforces the fact that even established programs need to constantly be looking for new ways to engage their customers through the programs. Simply assuming what you’ve done before will keep customers fully engaged could be problematic. Continuous curiosity and activity is what’s required to keep programs fresh in the minds of consumers, even if you don’t change the value proposition.
COLLOQUY, a LoyaltyOne company and leading provider of loyalty marketing publishing, research and education, conducted its extensive study of attitudes about loyalty across six emerging and developed markets, including Canada and the United States. But, as is often the case, some of the most surprising results came from our own back yard. This graphic helps to break it down:
