{"id":4953,"date":"2020-03-19T15:02:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T14:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/?p=4953"},"modified":"2020-03-30T14:46:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T13:46:55","slug":"loyalty-programs-we-need-you-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/loyalty-programs-we-need-you-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Loyalty programs, we need you NOW"},"content":{"rendered":"

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19 March 2020<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the hit might be stronger than ever this time, it is certainly not the first shock the travel industry has to endure. But a shockingly repeating pattern can be observed with each such crisis: the dive into invisibility of most loyalty programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The\nCOVID-19 crisis is unprecedented by its global scale, even by far outpacing the\n9\/11 crisis, which mostly impacted the US market only. More recent memories\ninclude the MAX grounding, United’s incident on an overbooked flight or the\nuncertainty about the consequences of the Brexit. All these events have in\ncommon that they result in questions, but often fears by customers somebody\nshould reply to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loyalty\nprograms are at the heart of the relationship between the company and the\nindividual customers and are hence the logical element of making this\nconnection. But all what is happening now (I don’t actually recall who started\nthis, but everybody seems to copy it now without putting any thoughts into it\u2026)\nis that members get messages signed by the company’s CEO reassuring customers\nthat the planes and hotels are cleaned properly. And in absence of any viruses,\nyou don’t do that\u2026? [Okay, yes, when getting on a plane with certain companies\ntowards the end of the day, that is definitely the impression you get!] On the\nother extreme, there are programs\/airlines sending out their usual\nmarketing-style messages as if it were business as usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hear\nthese days often from loyalty managers that they are too busy handling the\nsituation and can’t therefore look into things with a more strategic view. Handling\nwhat exactly\u2026? You are – luckily for you – not in flight ops, sales or customer\nservice, which are definitely in the first line to handle the consequences and\ndaily evolutions. I am aware of only one rare forward-thinking case<\/a> saying, hey, I have basically\nnothing to do, so let me use the time to work on the redesign of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no\ndoubt that there is major financial pressure on programs with big parts of\nrevenue streams drying up, but keep in mind that you’ve only managed to build\nthese streams in first place thanks to your members and their engagement with\nyour currency. As you can’t change these things, programs really need to change\ntheir focus to the relationship part with their members (and partners, but that\nis a behind-the-scene activity, which is usually done properly).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, loyalty\nprograms should assume a completely different role in such context, mainly\nworking towards three objectives:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. First\nhand information<\/u><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only\nfactual information can really help to reassure clients. Inform them about any\ndevelopments first hand and in a transparent manner. Focus on that kind of\ninformation clients are really looking for rather than some general PR\nstatements. Ensure that you control the communication and content rather than pushing\npeople to look for half-truth information on the web. How difficult is it to\nidentify the home airport of a member\/his main routes and inform him\nproactively about any service reductions\/valid schedules?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.\nEngaging customers<\/u><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is clear\nthat there are external factors we can’t influence, such as a travel ban by an\nemployer. So, the traditional focus of loyalty programs, which is to secure the\nhighest share of wallet against competitors at the best possible revenue rather\nthan incentivising incremental travel, needs to change if the size of wallet\nbecomes zero. But there are various ways to engage customers even in such\nexceptional down times: think of credit cards, online partners, gamification\nelements etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.\nPreparing for the time after<\/u><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people\nwill return to travel, the offer will initially outpace demand as airlines will\nbe eager to bring their metal (and plastic nowadays) back into the skies –\nadditional capacity might even be added in case the MAX was finally cleared to\nreturn. Loyalty programs will play a crucial role here to reinstate quickly\nloyalty and assume (again) their traditional role as revenue drivers. There are\nobviously regional approaches required here since different markets will get to\nthat point at different times (e.g. China is already there) and timing will be\ncritical to secure an advantage of competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is\nlittle doubt that most programs manage the third point (with the exception of\nthe regional dimension) – but they might be wakening up to a harsh and\nunexpected reality if they will previously have failed in the first two areas.\nAs things have started with most programs, there is indeed a danger that the\nreal crisis for many loyalty programs is yet to come. People are experiencing\nnow that they can survive without travelling and are left alone by the programs\ntowards which they have showed commitment over many years. It might not be\nevident for everybody to renew such ties.<\/p>\n\n\n

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19 March 2020 While the hit might be stronger than ever this time, it is certainly not the first shock the travel industry has to endure. But a shockingly repeating pattern can be observed with each such crisis: the dive into invisibility of most loyalty programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4958,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953\/revisions\/4958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalflight.net\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}