Setting the Stage for Loyalty for IDEO
Repeat business or behavior can be bribed. Loyalty has to be earned. —Janet Robinson, CEO, The New York Times Company
Read or comment on the event blog or download the PDF worksheet.
Loyalty is a term that’s getting a fair amount of use in business today. And beyond its verbal weight, loyalty as an idea is a code word for many organizations for protecting market share and driving growth. But what exactly does loyalty mean in the business context? What does it mean for strategy and design?
We’ve found in today’s turbulent economy that customer loyalty has become a major focus of our clients and, in turn, our design work. Beleaguered by tightening budgets, companies have fewer opportunities to make headway, so providing customers with experiences they can rely on and trust is more important than ever.
What we’ve learned at IDEO New York is that loyalty is not a program. Loyalty, at its most distilled, is the result of an implicit relationship. If we understand how the different parties in this relationship—people and companies, in this case—think about loyalty, then we can begin to design for them, and it.
The purpose of this workshop was to take a human-centered approach to loyalty and reveal what is needed to build substantial relationships with customers. Even in a downturn, earn-and-redeem programs aren’t going to replace the need to deliver meaningful experience. Designing distinct and relevant offerings is a way to mitigate the cost of acquisitions, defend against the proliferation of competitors and rewards programs, assuage the skepticism of savvy consumers, and achieve differentiation.
With a user-based starting point, we’ve found that you can design for loyalty in ways that go beyond traditional rewards programs. By pulling such brand levers—or motivators—as identity, experience, and incentives, companies can engage consumers in trusting relationships over the long term. Combining these motivators in authentic and unique ways helps to design and enact programs that align with companies’ values, resonate with consumers, and that are sustainable.
In working to determine the most powerful loyalty levers in today’s economy, we’re striving to answer the following questions:
- What makes people loyal to experiences, products, and brands?
- Why do people decide to change their behaviors and defect from their old favorites?
- What experiences might we design to earn trust and commitment from people?
Repeat business or behavior can be bribed. Loyalty has to be earned. —Janet Robinson, CEO, The New York Times Company
Read or comment on the event blog or download the PDF worksheet.
Loyalty is a term that’s getting a fair amount of use in business today. And beyond its verbal weight, loyalty as an idea is a code word for many organizations for protecting market share and driving growth. But what exactly does loyalty mean in the business context? What does it mean for strategy and design?
We’ve found in today’s turbulent economy that customer loyalty has become a major focus of our clients and, in turn, our design work. Beleaguered by tightening budgets, companies have fewer opportunities to make headway, so providing customers with experiences they can rely on and trust is more important than ever.
What we’ve learned at IDEO New York is that loyalty is not a program. Loyalty, at its most distilled, is the result of an implicit relationship. If we understand how the different parties in this relationship—people and companies, in this case—think about loyalty, then we can begin to design for them, and it.
Project date: 2009
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