Customers are more likely to recommend a product, service or brand if they have good experiences with customer reward programs, according to a new study. The Colloquy study, “Measuring Word-of-Mouth Activity Among Reward Program Members”, reveals that customers who have good experiences with customer reward programs are 70% more likely to recommend that product.
Of the 7000 respondents who participated in customer reward programs, 55% describe themselves as “brand champions”. A huge 68% of these “brand champions” say they will recommend a program sponsor’s brand during the year.
The survey also shows 73% of respondents enter loyalty programs to tell manufacturers what they think, 68% to “get smart about products”, 63% to get free product samples, and 61% to share their opinions.
Colloquy editorial director Rick Ferguson says marketers need to use these loyalty-marketing techniques to expand their business.
Businesses “should find brand champions buried within their program memberships, and build relationships that reward them for positive WOM (word-of-mouth) activity,” he says.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
