Are women loyal to loyalty?

All this talk about loyalty programs and it begs the question; are women loyal to loyalty programs? Where are marketers missing the mark? And, where is loyalty when you need it?

Take a particular Canadian telco that will remain nameless. For now. In the last year, I have switched over both of my business phone accounts, set up a new business Internet account, switched over my home phone account and upgraded my wireless data account. In all, between my businesses and my personal and household telecommunications and data use, we hold 6 accounts with this telco.

Now, what would make good sense is that I would be rewarded and recognized for the total sum of business that I have with this company and will bring to this company over time (lifetime customer value). Yet, when I call, I wait on hold for more than 30 minutes (on my cell phone!), they often cannot find my account at all, and the technician doesn’t show up for scheduled appointments making me waste countless, valuable business hours waiting to give them business. I have complained many times with no acknowledgement.

Now here is my prescription for an ideal rewards and recognition program that would work :

· Discounts on monthly fees based on total business value (across all accounts)
· Consolidation of accounts- single view across call centers
· Front of the line service and recognition flagged for call centers (key codes reducing waiting time)
· Prompt resolution when problems arise

Are women loyal to loyalty programs? Essentially we need to separate the brand from the program. There are programs that we have an emotional connection to where a loyalty program may be icing on the cake but won’t ultimately affect the brand love. Then, there are brands that we tolerate and sometimes like where a great loyalty program can make all the difference. In short, loyalty programs need to:

1. Be highly usable (not creating extra work at uptake or for ongoing use)
2. Show immediate reward ($ off, front of the line recognition, other redemption opps)
3. Bring the consumer closer to the brand (increase switching costs, increase frequency of purchase and increase brand favour)

Women at the expense of men?

David Menzies wrote an interesting article in this month's Marketing Magazine titled "Excuse My Gender" where he laments about men and their negative portrayal in recent ad campaigns by Rona, Rogers and Royal Bank to name a few. I can certainly relate to the sentiment of the article. Perhaps the pendulum has swung to far for marketers trying to wave the flag for the female gender. As an agency who specializes in marketing with women I can sympathize and agree that good quality marketing and communication strategies do not have to come at the expense of men.

That said, is the message getting through at the retail level? With all of the mega bucks being invested by North America's big brands in search of winning the female favour, is this translated at all customer touchpoints of the sales experience? Sadly, I say no. Just walk into a retailer selling consumer electronics, try signing up for a new small business phone system or even purchasing a car, home or a vacation membership package and as a woman you will still have to sustain some good old fashioned gender discrimination.

So, perhaps these ad budgets should be allocated to gender specific sales training and operationalization of communication strategies across all customer touch points. Just a thought.