Had Enough "Rewards?"

What ever happened to customer loyalty?

Maybe rewarding customers can yield some return business, because most companies have an incentive program. It doesn't matter that you just spent all you wanted to spend. They want your bucks next time.

The more bothersome type of "rewards" plans are the kind that send you countless emails and texts for you to sort out. To them, your email, not serving you, is gold.

Have you noticed that everyone providing a service wants you to tell them how great their service was? Go to our website, we're told, from there you can access a freebee if you complete another survey. Churches too, can fall into this trap. It's important to know how people regard you, it's just changing a negative or even lukewarm first impression that's so difficult.  

Rewards in and of themselves do not necessarily build any kind of brand loyalty, nor can they motivate any recipient to evangelize other potential customers about your product or service. The guru of brand loyalty says that satisfaction is nothing; loyalty is the one and only gold standard. 

But loyalty, dedication, and commitment is more internal than external. You come back for more of  what you liked- without any added perk drawing you back. You cannot buy loyalty. You build it by setting no limits on what can be done for those you serve.

The goal is to impress on the first try, not to pester people by asking for more information- or asking customers to log on to your lame website.