A Fresh Look at Loyalty, and Its Marketing Power

This episode of The Whole Idea podcast by DCG ONE shines the spotlight on loyalty marketing. A marketing mainstay for decades, loyalty marketing showed its heroic power for thousands of brands and retailers scrambling for business in a pandemic economy. In the last 20 years, loyalty marketing has grown with the times and with technology to become one of the most powerful tools in any marketing tool kit. We’ll talk about the evolution of loyalty marketing and hear best practices from veteran marketing consultant and loyalty marketing expert Matt Garrett.  

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Transcript

Air date: March 14, 2024

Transcript: The Whole Idea Podcast

Episode:  A Fresh Look at Loyalty, and All its Power 

Greg: 

Greetings everyone. It's time again for another episode of The Whole Idea Podcast by DCG ONE. I'm your host, Greg Oberst, senior writer at the agency at DCG ONE. This episode, we're turning our attention to loyalty marketing. We have ONE of the foremost experts in that field as our guest today, I'm happy to welcome independent marketing consultant Matt Garrett. In the last 25 years, Matt has led loyalty campaigns and marketing initiatives for companies in the travel, hospitality, financial services, and CRM industries, and for brands such as Nike, Adidas, Adobe, and American Express. Matt has also led consumer marketing and consulting practice teams at the international loyalty solutions provider Bond Brand Loyalty. And Matt is also a recent guest author on the DCG ONE blog, his story: Navigating the Marketing Landscape from Loyalists to Fans. Matt joins us via Teams from Denver. Hi Matt, and welcome. 

Matt:

Morning, Greg—how are you doing?

Greg:

Doing great, thank you. Let's start with this. It's been a challenging few years for marketers to say the least. What with the pandemic, supply chain issues, a bit of inflation, and among all that, changing consumer behavior. So I'm wondering what impact, if any, has all that chaos had on the popularity and impact of loyalty marketing?

Matt:

Yeah, it's a, it's a really interesting question and I think like everything, it's evolving. Um, if I go back to kind of the trigger point of the pandemic, what we saw there is a big push in a quick push to, uh, for loyalty, uh, changing priorities where loyalty marketing, all of a sudden, as we've been pushing uphill this big boulder for years and years and years to try to drive urgency and, and make, make sure marketers and brands understood the value of, of really strong, uh, loyalty marketing strategy, all of a sudden it, it pivoted like most things, right? Because what happened is brands immediately stripped, had a dynamic change. They really had to focus on connecting with their best customers as quickly as possible. And, and consistently and loyalty marketing became that engine. And so we had a lot of outreach, you know, in, in our consultant work, consulting work for, uh, brands and companies and clients that we were working with all of a sudden lean right back in and say, actually, we're going to shift our priorities.

Matt:

We've gotta move quickly with our launch of our loyalty program, you know, capture as much of our existing transaction activity and start a direct dialogue, and our loyalty program's gonna be that device. 

So all of a sudden it became a huge priority and we dropped it, which was great. Because a lot of our clients initially during the pandemic just stopped all spending as they really tried to understand, you know, what were their priorities. And what came out of it was leadership said, Hey, you know what? We need to, we need to wrap our hands around our customer. Traditional channels aren't going to work. We have to go direct. We have to connect relationships with them and our program's going to be that thing. And then along with that, as our, the, the buying habits, uh, and the channels that we could use to kind of interact with the brands change, because I couldn't just go to a, my retail store anymore, the loyalty program and then associated assets like a mobile app or, you know, a digital, uh, sorry, display experience, my e-commerce platform, those became my interaction channels. And so loyalty was woven into that as, uh, a trade off. And that's carried on as you looked at like the following impact of supply chain where products became, you know, really difficult to get your membership in. The loyalty program was, was your doorway into getting, you know, inventory, getting product. If you're a member of loyalty, some brands prioritize their best customers vis-a-vis their loyalty program as first to gain, uh, delivery of products. So it be, it, you know, loyalty became certainly a big important factor, a big tool for most brands.

Greg:

Matt, in the loyalty marketing customer journey, have goals shifted recently or are they still the same?

Matt:

I mean, if you go back and, and loyalty, marketing's been around for, you know, 70, 80 years and different facets and different versions. Um, but ultimately loyalty marketing finds its space with, at its core, it's about, you know, a mechanism for brands to start to develop habit with their new customers, right? So it's a carrot that just helps new customers make sure that they return per for purchase outside of just, you know, the general customer experience that they would have, um, becomes this inherent incentive that, you know, sometimes it's just simply just a transactional financial proposition that encourages new customers to come back and try again. For experienced customers, it becomes this incentive that ultimately tries to deflect attrition. Uh, because there's, there's now ongoing kind of cumulative value created in traditional kind of loyalty programs. Um, and that's the way it's worked, right? It's been primarily focused on post initial transaction, you know, as a way of, of reinforcing and making the customer comfortable with their initial decision, but an entree into that call to action to come back and buy again.

Matt:

And, and with the idea that if there's enough momentum there, we can solidify habit. And once you get habit, then you can start getting in. You deflect any of that concern around, you know, attrition. You focus on retaining your customers, and then you start getting an opportunity to understand what potential real value that customer has. And that's where loyalty's played, right? It forces identification of customer, and in that identification, it opens up a really effective CRM strategy, but with an inherent value proposition of loyalty that becomes this incentive to stay engaged. So that's its plate in that, you know, in that space for a long time. I mean, a lot of different variations of people are taking different tactics of, of how does that care work? Do I offer cash back? Do I give points, right? All these different currency mechanisms for trying to drive that.

Matt:

But ultimately the same, the goal's the same drive ongoing purchase activity inside that and purchase activity, customer consumer develops habit with the brand and it solidifies that relationship. And we feel good about that. And that's what ultimately what loyalty marketing's trying to do. And then, you know, with this simple-eyed concepts of, Hey, if I buy more, I get more. And, uh, you know, or back in the day, you know, even the simple things, the punch cards where it's like, I buy 10 and I get my 11th coffee or salad or burger, what have you free. And that's been its traditional roots. Um, but it, but, but ultimately that's kind of where I think it's people have viewed loyalty marketing and have stayed in that view. And I think a lot of innovative brands are now thinking beyond that. And that's where they're really thinking about, Hey, actually loyalty marketing is actually a platform that certainly solidifies and establishes habit for customers, but it also then allows me to understand the relationship that I have with that customer and understand more about them and understand how I grow them, not just in the relationship that I have with them on a transactional basis, time in, week in, week out, what have you, but how do I actually gain more information about the type of relationship that that customer wants to have with my brand?

Matt:

So if I think about product innovation, who would I go to? Would I go to an unknown customer who doesn't really understand the brand, or I go, I start with my best customer who really understands the brand proposition, but wants to then help my brand grow? And that's where loyalty becomes this really good platform that moves me beyond just, you know, making sure that my week over week sales doesn't drop and actually becomes this platform for me to innovate my product offering or innovate my brand and actually also move into this next stage, which is really the last stage of the customer journey, which is an area of advocacy or endorsement. And I think that's where strong loyalty program and program loyalty marketing strategy has to be in place. It'll allow you to then reach into this, how do I now mobilize and, and monetize the asset of my loyalty members in a way to promote advocacy and endorsement of my brand? That's where I think is really interesting when we think about the customer journey, this next phase of where loyalty marketing advances as a key business asset is in that area of how does it gain momentum around developing advocates for my brand.

Greg:

So let's dive deeper into that thought brand advocacy that would seem to me to be the holy grail or the end game for, for brands.

Matt:

We've spent so much time, and I've been in the business of loyalty for a little over 15 years in just loyalty marketing. And, and so much of it was just getting brands to understand the value of customer identification and then developing, you know, pathway inside loyalty to develop a relationship, and then using things like lifetime value calculations to direct investments in customers, and almost viewing their customer as almost like a, you know, investment part of their investment portfolio. And how do they want to mature and grow that the end game is, is certainly securing your revenue streams through, you know, engage, retain customers, but also is knowing that the investment that you've done as a marketer, and I'm just it through the lens of just being a marketer, I've made a ton of investment in the, in driving brand awareness that facilitates consideration, that motivates trial.

Matt:

You know, that in that trial, it now develops a more of a brand comprehension of what, what I can do for customers as a retailer, a service provider, what have you. And then I move in the mode of now I want to continue, uh, to have that customer, uh, understand and lean in and invest in my brand through ongoing relationship. But there's this point where now I've made a ton of expense and getting them that to that point and, and just made sure that they're now a hap a habitual customer, loves our brand, loves our products and services, what ha you know, et cetera. But I've invested all that money and getting in there. Now, there's a point where if I'm a marketer, I have to continue to invest in the marketplace to gain share. So I continue to go to media, I continue to spend, you know, and, and broad based media and acquisition marketing, growth marketing.

Matt:

And that's just an, you know, that's a never ending cycle. But I have this asset now, which is a loyal, engaged, highly educated customer base that the last part is what I mentioned before. It says, how do I move them into advocacy and endorsement? 'Because when I move them that way, in an authentic and effective way, I start developing, leveraging and, and mobilizing them for the, for the growth of my brand. So if in, if I do that properly, now my advocates or my, my highest value customers are representing my brand on, on my behalf into their communities, which will then drop ultimately at scale, start dropping my cost of acquisition or my cost of brand marketing because they're carrying my brand on my behalf, and I don't have to spend as much. And then that, then that drives efficiencies and acquisition percentages. So my, you know, my conversion rates start improving, you know, and so forth and so on.

Matt:

So I gained efficiencies in the marketing enterprise by developing a very strong engaged customer base. And I enable them with the right brand tools where then they start advocating and building community, or start building my brand in their own existing communities. And I achieve that benefit by seeing it kind of come full circle back to improving the basic metrics as marketers are evaluated today, which is market share, ROI, uh, cost of acquisition, what, you know, et cetera. That to me, I think is the holy grail. That's where we want to keep driving and evolving loyalty marketing,

Greg:

Right? And as you mentioned in your article, this is where the idea of self-congruence comes into play.

Matt:

Yeah, no, I think it's, it is a really interesting concept. And so as we get into understanding brand loyalty and what, how that differs from, you know, where, where a lot of, a lot of brands are focused today on just transactional loyalty. You know, brand loyalty gets in this point where I now m move my relationship from, you know, a financial or transactional basis, a rational basis into actually this emotional engagement where I actually feel connected with the brand and what the brand's message is, and whether that's, you know, their outward statements or just the way that they, uh, help represent who I am. Uh, and so, you know, I've been kind of building that in my mind over the last couple of years and really, and, and been fortunate to work with some brands who allowed us to kind of reach into that way because they actually had, you know, very heavy emotional connection with their customers.

Matt:

Brands like the Pittsburgh Steelers, right? You know, they're their brand fans. You knew exactly who they are, they wear the gear, they have it all over every aspect of their identity, their home, their cars, you know, they're the ones who are wearing their Steelers jersey outside of a Sunday. They're really connected there. And so this becomes, it's really interesting because it really does come to this point around self-congruence. And so a concept certainly that I'm aware of, but it really hit home. I was reading some stuff this summer. There's an, uh, a book that, uh, Marcus Collins, who's a professor at University of Michigan, ironically, he's also, uh, head of strategy at Widening Kennedy. So he has a nice dual role of practitioner in, in academic. Uh, he wrote a book that I read last summer called For the Culture.

Matt:

One of the aspects that he talks about is this idea of self-congruence, where there's this alignment with me and my individual concept of how I view myself through the lens of brands or the products or services that I choose. And that concept I think is really interesting and it becomes a nice benchmark and a target for marketers is how can they authentically get to that point where their best customers start to identify and define themselves through, uh, brand representations. So for me if you spend any time with me, you'll, you know, you'll see this come naturally. Uh, I, there are certain brands that I just passionate about and not, not just because of their, you know, I, you know, I like their products or services. They're just, there's a, there's a core, uh, alignment that I have on the, my values as an individual that I associate with them.

Matt:

So Nike, uh, is one that I can do a tour of my closet, and there's swoosh shoes and hats and gear all over the place. It, it really comes out of a core of just, you know, I like what they stand for as, as of certainly now, especially in the last five to, you know, eight years as a father of three women. You know, I like what Nike stands for rep and, and how they pivoted towards really making sure that sport is defined on for everybody. You know, everybody is an athlete in the eyes of Nike. And I think that, you know, and all the benefits of being an athlete, uh, what it does to help drive your own personal value and your, your perspective of who you are, um, I like that. And so I represent that, and there are other brands I represent, but that, that idea of self-congruence is really what becomes the foundation for evolving loyalty marketing and enabling a pathway to allow your customers to have that outreach, have that sense of identity and connect with the brand, and then give them a chance to, to represent that.

Matt:

Now, it could be just logo gear, it could be, could be a number of things, right? It could be events that they're involved in. It could be, uh, help sponsoring initiatives that they're also involved in. Those are all opportunities allow me to take the brand and represent that in my community, and that's what brand fans really do. So this idea of self-congruence is really a stepwise into, you know, recognizing that, hey, you're a brand fan, and the power of being brand fans is great. And so, um, I really, I, there's so much of that ident that that message, certainly a lot of what Marcus Collins writes about, resonates in this area of really challenging and providing a pathway for, uh, loyalty marketing to move beyond just being a by 10, get the 11 three into a substantial business enterprise asset that needs to be built and leveraged.

Greg:

Once again, I'm speaking with veteran loyalty marketing expert, Matt Garrett. Matt, why don't we take a minute and talk about the role that technology has played in loyalty marketing.

Matt:

There are a lot of debates that we've been in with big brands around the role that technology and loyalty marketing play. Certainly simply just being able to identify the customer at every touch point, both in retail, you know, so when I walk in the store, you know, do I have a, a geotag that's enabled through my app that allows the customer to be identified and I, you know, and connected as part of the, their, their loyalty value is there? And do they know what do I just my service model in store, because I know I have a high value customer that just walked in. Um, and when you go into a hotel, simply check in. Um, whether I do that through my mobile app or through the, the front desk, being able to quickly identify and establish recognition of value to that, of that customer to the brand, and then become, you know, start to adjust the customer experience at that point of inter intersection, that's technology driving, um, a customer experience that is essentially shaped through loyalty marketing.

Matt:

But, but I think one of the big things where technology has enabled and, and sustained and can help drive the power of loyalty marketing is certainly through mobile apps. Most loyalty programs done well. The line between loyalty marketing and a mobile app is indiscernible. Is it, you know, is it a map? Uh, is it a mobile app that allows you to do e-commerce, or is it a loyalty program where you can buy pot buy products and services through that interaction? That combination now sits to help redefine the customer experience. And that's where, you know, loyalty marketing now starts providing incremental value where it starts setting and changing and help drive change in the customer experience. I go back to Target as an example, you know, inside my Target app, when I'm in the physical store, uh, I have to define myself a bit just personally as I'm not a shopper, I'm a buyer.

Matt:

I tell my family that all the time. I don't really go to stores to walk the aisles. I'm pretty defined about what I'm there to do, and I get that done, I buy.  But in that process, what's interesting is if I'm given a list of things I need to do and pick up at Target—Target's got this great, their app, because I'm a member, their app will tell me exactly what aisle a given product is, and even the position of what that product is inside the, the shelf itself, which makes my experience as a buyer so much more effective, right? So it's the integration of the technology into loyalty marketing that delivers a heightened customer experience. It just makes my effectiveness and the enjoyment that I have as a buyer, not a shopper, far more. And I will go back to Target because of that experience, more so than binding the other retail. And so did they achieve anything in their loyalty marketing on a points basis or through a incentive or promo? Nope. They achieved me as a loyal customer because of the experiences then so much more efficient. I gained so much more value in my time because of the use and intersection between technology and loyalty marketing,

Greg:

Right? When you can customize that experience for loyalists, now you have the potential to really transform the relationship.

Matt:

Yeah. And, and ONE interesting thing, Greg, you know, one of the things we developed 10, 12 years ago, we, we got in this mode of, we saw some consistencies in client engagement after client engagement around what, what we were building to engage customers. And what came out of that was research and effort that ultimately produced what we call the a loyalty driver model, which is basically understanding what motivated customers and brands to connect. And there were basically five fundamental drivers of, of that would, uh, that would enable an open loyalty between a brand and customer. ONE of the key drivers is, and actually, and we, we forced it in research time and time again, we ask consumers out of these five drivers, once we establish them, what's the most important ONE? And we force them to choose and rank it, you know? And one of them was like, money and access and like some element of ego, hey, you know, where if you were to, to be identified or recognized and you know, by a brand, and, but time, time by far, year over year became the most important factor.

Matt:

If you had to choose between any of that and your brand customer relationship, what would be, it would be consumer said, I would just want time. Give me time back, make my purchase you experience faster, more efficient, more enjoyable. Uh, which I think is fascinating, right? And that's where I think that that, you know, we don't think about it. And that because it speaks to the customer experience. And am I willing to, you know, how does that move from marketing into store operations? A lot of brands don't do that, or, you know, into my hotel operations. How do I actually make sure that I do what's best for my best customers? It's a really interesting aspect of the dynamics of building a really comprehensive loyalty strategy.

Greg:

Matt, how do you think about demographics within loyalty marketing?

Matt:

The design of the program will determine and dictate the demographic of the customer that, that weans in. And the way that I would view demographics, really almost like value seekers as, as one type of purchase segment, wouldn't call them a demographic as much as maybe a psychographic. You know, a value seeker is always going to engage in, uh, loyalty programs, right? Because most loyalty programs, as I said earlier, are constructed on this idea that we're going to provide transactional value, buy more, get more. My wife is ONE of these, like, she's a value seeker who, who joins in programs just for the idea of like, I can save 10% or 5% or whatever on a transaction over time, which is great, but that's where a lot of brands start in their relationship. They go to, how do I, I achieve, you know, I try to get the value seeker in that, but a lot of brands aren't value brands, so they're not going to necessarily go down that path.

Matt:

But what's interesting is that I think in, there's a stat, it's like, basically in the us the average consumer in the US average person in the US has, is a, is has membership into 16.7 different loyalty programs. The, the main carrot in that is, you know, value. How do I, if I'm doing access, I'm going to get, you know, I'm going to get more, I want to get more back from them. But what happens is over time is that transactional relationship, as you get into habit, the value exchange that I get in a transactional relationship where I'm just focused on the value exchange, where I want to get money or things back, start to drop off, and, and that, you know, you have to now evolve it. And so we would always see clients come back to us two or three years inside a launch of a program because the program performance starts dropping off.

Matt:

Beause the value of that exchange when it's purely transactional financial starts to lose, lose its impact on the business. And so you have to start exchanging that. So the, the dynamics of the demographic change as the experience in the program grows and you'll move. You always have value seekers who jump in, but what happens is, is after time they actually stop the effectiveness of the offers through the loyalty program start dropping because that's not what the, a mature customer wants. They want to elevate and extend their, their relationship. If you're not there to build more than just a simple percent off each transaction, it becomes less important and less valuable. So then the dimensions change, and you get people who want, like, not value seekers, but experience seekers. They want a better and more efficient process. They want to feel like they're known by the brand. Those aren't value seekers. Those are people who are actually willing to actually pay more, to just get more, and that get more is a better experience, more consistent experience. Allow me to skip the line, allow me to get my delivery at home in a more prioritized way, a faster way. I mean, those are all, you know, less, less about dollars off, but they're looking for an experience. So you get those two types of demographics, if you will, value seekers and, and experience seekers where they become more mature with the brand.

Greg:

And of course, there are other forces at work that evolve or even sidetrack a brand relationship competition, for example, or changes in the sector environment, which speaks to the need to get that customer to that point of fandom. So you're in a better position to manage change.

Matt:

Well, when you think about that, that's a really good point, Greg. I think you, if you think about it, it's really easy for my competitors to match my financial transactional value proposition in a loyalty program. Really easy for them to do. That becomes way more difficult when I actually create an elevated experience that's unique to the brand that my best, best customers realize. It's really difficult for them to do that because that's, that goes to now the core of who I am as a brand. And that a lot of times those, those distinction between competitive brands are quite large and it's tough to model in creative value proposition that is equal to the best competitor in space.

Greg:

Matt, what advice can you offer brands looking to start or energize their loyalty marketing programs?

Matt:

I think it's important to start and understand what are you trying to achieve? What, what business metric are you trying to influence inside your loyalty program? Are you just focused on retention? You know, are you focused on time between transactions? If that's your end goal, you can certainly embrace that in a program, but you understand the economics, you know, that are involved in loyalty programs. You, you dive in. It's interesting because, uh, a lot of technology, you know, CRM technology or e-commerce technologies come with an embedded loyalty component that sets up these programs. It's simple, a couple clicks, and you've got a loyalty program. What happens is in inside that marketers don't understand the economic commitments that they are they making, when they put in and follow the loyalty program in a box L aspect, they haven't developed a loyalty p and l to understand when they're giving away discounts, right?

Matt:

And that's all. So I think ONE of the things that people need to understand when they develop loyalty programs early on, what you essentially are doing is giving margin back to your customers, which is fine, but I think that that is something that once you make that commitment, you are committed to over time and it's very difficult to turn that back and start taking away that from your customers. And that creates all other kinds of types of programs. So, we are thinking about building a loyalty program, I would ask you to pause and make sure that you're building an economic model that understands we're going to make this investment. How long do we care that investment? And how do we then make sure that the return that we get in that investment is at time going to build to a point where it's going to provide us with broader enterprise economic value.

Matt:

So that's the ONE thing I think I would recommend. I think what's interesting is to see how really good brands, and an example of a brand that's done that early on and now continues to evolve and innovate is what Amazon Prime is doing and how they've now built this platform. That's a massive, sizable asset, but they started with the economic, the, the simple economic proposition Now that was garnered and positioned as a membership program, which again, is this a different flavor of a loyalty marketing program, but it was still around a membership where costs were upfront and the value exchange was then you're getting this type of financial benefit, experiential benefit, what have you. And, and it allowed them to separate and distinguish different types of customers. And then now they've evolved that where actually creates a totally different type, type of customer experience between whether you're a prime member or you're not.

Matt:

Right? And even to the point where they continue to add and increase the cost of membership year over year and are holding still in that area of 92 to 95% retention year over year as they move their price 10 or 15% annually. And then you look at the economics of that, their membership program or their loyalty marketing program in itself is a sizable hundred to plus million dollar enterprise on its own just from the membership fees. Not a, not connected to the products or services selling through it, but just in its membership fees alone. It's a great example of understanding how to build a loyalty program and build an economic p and l around that to drive value and create an asset that now they're doing, I don't know if you've, you've seen that, Greg, their products and services that only prime members can get. It's a really interesting dynamic on how they're engaging in their customers. I think it's a, a, it's a, a really good model to watch and, and determine why they're doing that. They just didn't stand up a loyalty program for the sake of doing that. They actually thought about it as we're building an economic model here.

Greg:

Okay, aside from profit and loss, how else am I measuring success?

Matt:

I think it's important to, as you understand and invest in loyalty marketing, you understand the right types of KPIs that you're trying to influence. And don't get too caught up in some of these more complex, uh, measurements that you know are, that consultants are out there pitching around, you know, best way to, to really quantify your customer asset as X, Y, or Z. It's should be going back to how am I building this program that influences most of my near term marketing KPIs, then that will those that are tangents you, our connected KPIs, and ultimately how are they leaning towards improving my overall marketing enterprise? And so I think the audience who should be driving loyalty marketing itself inside most businesses should be inside the marketing house, not outside, not in operations or in financials. They're all influencers, but ultimately this is about a marketing investment and it's got to be something that is owned by marketing and ultimately through this ongoing investment and loyalty starts to create an annuity that improves marketing KPIs across the, the journey. When we think about it and wear our hats as, as pure marketing leaders, that's important to really understand, understand your KPIs, don't make them so complex that you, that they, they aren't guiding principles and provide the north star to allow you to innovate.

Greg:

Matt feels to me like loyalty marketing is not just stronger than ever, but more important than ever.

Matt:

You know, and I think if you're a brand marketer, um, that is not understanding where loyalty plays or you view it as not necessarily part of your, you know, mandate, uh, I would ask you to check yourself and look at what you know, leading brands like Amazon or Nike or Adidas or, you know, I could go on for a while or join relative to making sure that they're, they're creating elevated brand experiences through their loyalty programs. Can't beat them. Look at, look at how they're performing on Wall Street. There's a direct correlation there.

Greg:

Matt, this has been terrific. Thanks so much for catching us up on the state of loyalty marketing today.

Matt:

Yeah, thanks Greg. You're welcome. I appreciate the time and opportunity.

Greg:

That's veteran marketing consultant and loyalty marketing expert, Matt Garrett. 

My key takeaways in this episode about loyalty marketing. The ultimate goal for loyalty marketing should go beyond repeat customers to brand advocates, fans who are aligned with your brand values and become a voice for your brand. 

To that point, many brand fans are looking for brand experiences that recognize their loyalty and a way to represent their favorite brands as much as they are looking for a discount or a freebie. 

Technology has pushed loyalty marketing to new heights with its ability to personalize experiences that can change your day. 

If you're new at loyalty, be sure to understand what you're trying to achieve and the economic commitments, are they sustainable for the long run? And know your KPIs - don't make them too complex. Oh, and the average consumer has 16 loyalty memberships. That alone might tell you something about loyalty's, well-rooted place in the marketing landscape. 

My thanks again to loyalty marketing expert Matt Garrett. Check out his story on our blog at dcgone.com. If you have questions for Matt or would like to talk to DCG ONE about a loyalty marketing program for your brand, write us at podcast@dcgone.com. 

Thanks very much for listening. The Whole Idea podcast producers are Mandy DiCesare and Kelcie Brewer. I'm Greg Oberst. Watch this channel for our next podcast and more expertise, insight and inspiration for whole idea marketing. Take care.