Improving Loyalty Programs - Addl Inputs

Below are your key inputs on issues and solutions in regards to making loyalty programs consumer oriented in India. Kindly review and if you have additional inputs, please share.

We look forward to your participation!

Loyalty Programs - Key Solutions

1. Ministry of Consumer Affairs should keep a vigil over loyalty programs offered by different companies
2. Companies which have run bogus loyalty programs should be pulled up by the authorities
3. The consumer should be empowered to report bogus/extorting loyalty programs
4. The rules and regulations of the loyalty programs should be made transparent
5. The vendors must be forced by law to provide a detailed analysis of a customer’s loyalty program on demand via an internet/phone call based interface.
6. If a company scraps a loyalty program midway, it should compensate the customer for it
7. The changes in the rules/value of the loyalty points should be done by giving ample notice to the customers so that they could use their existing points before the change happens
8. Brands should allow the consumers to encash their loyalty points
9. No redemption charges should be applied on loyalty points
10. After the loyalty points reach a particular level, credit should be automatically given by way of reduction in dues/cost/price etc. instead of expecting to make a claim or linking it with purchase of something else involving additional expenditure.

Loyalty Programs - Key Issues

1. Many loyalty programs are bogus
2. These loyalty points are not useful to the extent of their attractiveness
3. Some loyalty programs are just made to extort the customer
4. The loyalty programs are very restrictive and they reward the vendor along with the customer
5. Customers are being lured to purchase/ consume more to get loyalty point and which can be redeemed to purchase something from a selected list, which is not helpful to the customer
6. Many loyalty programs become opaque after a while
7. It is tough to get a detailed analysis of your loyalty account from the vendor
8. Many loyalty programs are scrapped midway
9. Loyalty points and not standardised
10. The company keeps changing the value of each loyalty point without adequate notice
11. Some companies charge redemption charges which is an additional burden to the consumer
12. Some banks do not allow accumulation of points beyond a year and forfeit them
13. The customer service for the loyalty programs is worse than regular customer service
14. Sometimes it is more expensive to get an air ticket in exchange of mileage points than buying new tickets in other airlines
15. Loyalty points are almost impossible to encash for majority of the brands. more