Canadian Loyalty Programs Reach 175 Million Memberships, 2017 COLLOQUY Loyalty Census Shows

Biennial report on loyalty marketing reveals 35% increase in program memberships nationwide

TORONTO, June 29, 2017 /CNW/ - Canadian consumers hold 175 million memberships in customer loyalty programs, according to the 2017 COLLOQUY Loyalty Census, featuring for the first time COLLOQUY's traditional audit coupled with consumer survey research.

COLLOQUY's biennial report continues to show an uptick in consumer membership as was reported in 2015. The 35% rise in memberships in 2017 represents a double-digit increase over the 8% growth reported in COLLOQUY's last Census in 2015, when overall Canadian membership totaled 130 million.

For the second consecutive study, membership numbers improved in every economic sector covered in the Census. Similar to the U.S. market, memberships in retail make up the majority of loyalty memberships, with 51% of the total.

The Census shows that memberships in the other loyalty sectors are as follows: 19% in financial services, 14% in travel/other and 16% in coalition.

"The membership increase signals that Canadians still find loyalty programs fun and rewarding. Successful programs today are bridging the gap between loyalty and great customer experience," said Melissa Fruend, LoyaltyOne Global Solutions partner and COLLOQUY Census author. "Retailers can't afford to become complacent. To sustain success, they still need to create more personalized and relevant experiences for their best customers."

The survey data shows the loyalty landscape is a lot to handle for many Canadians, with 32% reporting they feel overwhelmed by the number of loyalty programs available, versus 27% of the American respondents who said the same.

In other 2017 Census highlights:

• Coalition programs witnessed the highest growth at 78%, spurred by SCENE and other new coalition programs coming into the market. Additionally, MORE Rewards added a large national partnership in 2016, Petro Points, and partnered with Scotiabank Visa, now qualifying MORE Rewards as a coalition program. The coalition market is not only expanding but also diversifying into providing more types of rewards and experiences to consumers.
• Compared with Americans, Canadians are more skeptical of loyalty marketing with 46% saying loyalty programs are nothing more than marketing schemes, compared to 32% of Americans who responded the same.

The insights uncovered in the 2017 COLLOQUY Loyalty Census can help brands and companies create deeper loyalty and better experiences for consumers. To continue the discussion, COLLOQUY will host a webinar Wednesday, August 16^th with advice on turning the results into meaningful change. Registration information will be available on COLLOQUY.com starting July 19.

About COLLOQUY:

Now in its 27th year, COLLOQUY is a leading publishing, education and research practice, bringing together loyalty practitioners from around the world. A pioneer in the industry, COLLOQUY is the first publication dedicated expressly to the art and science of loyalty marketing and has since become the go-to resource for loyalty intelligence. Today COLLOQUY engages and educates loyalty marketers with its magazine, e-newsletter and timely and comprehensive loyalty-marketing website, colloquy.com. COLLOQUY also delivers industry-leading loyalty benchmarking reports and webinars. COLLOQUY is an independently operated division of LoyaltyOne.

To learn more, visit www.colloquy.com.

About the Author:

Melissa Fruend is a Partner at LoyaltyOne Global Solutions and a frequent contributor to COLLOQUY. Melissa has over 20 years of expertise in leading the development of consumer loyalty and CRM strategy solutions with specific emphasis on the research and strategies for Millennials.  As a Partner at Global Solutions, she is responsible for the Loyalty and CRM Strategic Consulting focus of the practice.  She manages a team of consultants and business analysts who offer innovative loyalty strategies to improve customer engagement through increased customer identification that impacts revenues for brands.  Industry expertise includes High Frequency Retail, Specialty Retail, Quick Service Restaurant, Grocery, Travel and Hospitality, Entertainment and Financial Services. 

For more information, connect directly at [email protected]

About LoyaltyOne:

LoyaltyOne is a global leader in the design and implementation of coalition loyalty programs, customer analytics and loyalty services for Fortune 1000 clients around the world. LoyaltyOne's unparalleled track record delivering sustained business performance improvement for clients stems from its unique combination of hands-on practitioner experience and continuous thought leadership. LoyaltyOne has over 20 years of history leveraging data-driven insights to develop and operate some of the world's most effective loyalty programs and customer-centric solutions. These include the AIR MILES Reward Program, North America's premier coalition loyalty program, Precima, the global retail strategy and analytics arm, LoyaltyOne Global Solutions, Netherlands-based BrandLoyalty, one of the largest and most successful campaign-driven loyalty marketers, and a working partnership with Latin America's leading coalition program, dotz. LoyaltyOne is also the owner of COLLOQUY, a group dedicated to research, publishing, and education for the global loyalty industry.

LoyaltyOne is an Alliance Data company. For more information, visit www.loyalty.com.

SOURCE COLLOQUY

Tim Sansbury, 513-977-2286, [email protected]