Today’s marketers are increasingly seeing customer experience (CX) fall under their umbrella of duties. So much so that Harvard Business Review claims that customer experience “has become the new marketing…[because] it influences brand perceptions and impacts business performance just as strongly as traditional marketing.” The HBR got it right. CX programs are a new marketing approach that matches its predecessors—and its impact will only grow.
However, many still confuse CX efforts with traditional strategies like loyalty marketing programs. But there’s a fine line between the two—and marketers should be warned that this is a place where “similar” definitely does not mean “equal.”
In this paper, we’ll discuss the differences between loyalty marketing programs and CX programs, and why a CX mindset can empower your loyalty program.
What’s the Difference?
Loyalty Marketing Programs Versus CX Programs
Loyalty marketing programs refer to company-wide initiatives that is focused on growing and retaining existing customers by selling them more. CX programs help businesses understand the customer/brand relationship and what makes the customer loyal to the brand in the first place.
The key difference between the two is in their approach: loyalty marketing is selling—often through incentives—while customer experience focuses on the ongoing conversation with the customer to then drive a deeper sense of loyalty.
This is where a traditional approach to loyalty programs goes wrong: At the end of the day, your customers don’t want to be bought with coupons, infrequent freebies, and discounts. While customer appreciate them, those benefits do not make them more loyal to your brand. Customers want to feel valued and heard. If you look through the lens of customer experience, you can reset your loyalty marketing programs to take a more holistic, relationship-centric approach that will truly impress your customers.
How Do You Do It?
Three Ways a CX Mindset Takes Your Loyalty Program to the Next Level
Want to finish reading the full white paper and discover three ways the intelligence you gain from your CX program can help you fine tune your loyalty marketing program?
You can download the full piece as a PDF by selecting the button below, no strings attached! Enjoy the read.
Download
