Loyalty programs that can create feelings of status in their members fare better at driving deeper loyalty connections. Financial benefits and rewards can also be used to create deeper loyalty connections, but companies will need to work much harder to do so as effect sizes are weak.
To get customers to engage in positive WOM, companies need to nurture mainly how customers feel about the company, thus creating an affective CCI connection. (also known as calculative commitment).
Customer loyalty and its benefits, such as positive word-of-mouth, remains as a focal point for firms and organizations.
To connect with customers, firms are looking to drive a deeper relationship with them while using loyalty program mechanics.
A solution for this connection relies on connecting via what is called affective customer company identification (CCI). This means that how a customer feels about their relationship leads to that customer making their affiliation with the company part of who they are. Affective CCI focuses more on self-enhancement and the positive feelings that come along with such a relationship with a company.
Loyalty marketers and loyalty practitioners often compete for finite resources to improve and enhance their loyalty programs while at the same time being called upon to ensure that they’re driving deeper, more meaningful connections with customers. Because of the prevalence of rewards in loyalty marketing models, that is typically where these practitioners focus their resources. This study shows that by focusing on loyalty marketing strategies that create a sense of status instead of the financial rewards in the program, loyalty marketers will be better positioned to create the deeper connections they need along with all of the positive firm outcomes those connections will yield. Further, for those loyalty practitioners looking to generate positive word of mouth, this study shows that loyalty program levers can also be used to do drive an affective-based identification in members.
Based upon the following peer-reviewed manuscript: Slubowski, H., Munoz, L., & Stodnick, M. (2022). Do Customers Want to Think or Feel the Love? The Antecedents to Positive Word-of-Mouth in Loyalty Programs. Society for Marketing Advances Annual Conference Proceedings. *Best Conference Paper and Best Paper – Advertising track.