In followup to my notes about AAdvantage Mileage Multiplier (American Airlines’ program to sell extra miles via airport check-in kiosks) comes Onboard Booking Bonus, one of the enhancements recently made to Royal Caribbean International’s Crown & Anchor Society. This bonus “offers members the exclusive privilege to book a future cruise onboard and receive an onboard credit to spend on the future sailing, which can now also be used with either a Crown & Anchor Savings Certificate or a Balcony and Suite Discount (the latter applicable for Platinum, Diamond or Diamond Plus members).” Once again, it’s a matter of converging customer relevance (they’re on the cruise) with consumer focus (the audience isn’t precisly “captive,” but the brand certainly has their attention for an established period of time). Throw in the fact that customers are seeing value (hopefully they’re having fun) in the activities they’re currently engaged in, and can easily picture enjoying more value in the future.
In some ways, like AAdvantage Mileage Multiplier, the advance booking is a top-of-mind impulse buy, and there’s another important factor in each: encouraging further engagement, not just for the purposes of additional transaction but, more important, for further interaction with the brand. The more interaction, the greater the chance of solidifying brand loyalty. This exemplifies COLLOQUY’s Relationship Chain model of customer engagement and building customer loyalty:
- Stage 1: Enroll the right customers
- Stage 2: Engage customer interest
- Stage 3: Stimulate active participation
- Stage 4: Trigger multiple redemptions
Read our “Forging the Relationship Chain” for further details.
