News: Survey points to loyalty card ‘fatigue’

Many consumers are suffering from “loyalty card fatigue”, with over half believing it takes too long to earn meaningful reward points, according to new research.

While 98 per cent of respondents had a loyalty card of some kind, only 25 per cent of them thought the items they could redeem them for were worthwhile.

The research was carried out by loyalty management company Reward among 2,000 members of Pigsback.com, an online community that rewards consumers with offers when they interact with brands.

Of this audience, 65 per cent had three or more loyalty cards, but 36 per cent admitted that they forgot to hand over cards at the counter while 27 per cent regularly had the wrong cards with them when they made a purchase.

A third of respondents said they were annoyed that they had to carry so many loyalty cards.

Gavin Dein, chief executive at Reward, said: “This backlash against loyalty is a real wake-up call to retailers. Forgetting to hand over loyalty cards is a symptom of two things: poor rewards meaning that many programmes simply aren’t important enough to remember and loyalty card fatigue meaning that people simply have too many to be bothered with or find them too much hassle.

“The loyalty concept is extremely important, especially in a time of economic downturn, but retailers and rewards sites need to make sure that they get their programme right in order for their members to reap the benefits.

“We have addressed consumer concerns by developing a programme for Pigsback.com that allows consumers to save with almost no effort and gives cash-back up to 4p in the pound.”

Jo Malvern, marketing director of Pigsback.com, added: “Our research shows that the number-one thing that our members are looking for in a loyalty programme is that it is easy to collect the points. We also found that many are tired of having to remember to use different loyalty cards when shopping on the high street.

“Working with Reward, we have been able to tap into this sentiment, allowing our members to earn PiggyPoints, our online currency, when they use their existing payment cards across Reward’s retail network.”