According to an FMI study (covered by Supermarket news) almost 50% of retailers have a frequent shopper program and 90% of their customers participate in it.  84.2% of them claim a greater number of weekly store visits from program participants and 76.5% cited higher gross margins for shoppers holding frequent shopper cards. Typical benefits include automatic electronic coupon deductions (85%), points toward store discounts on any product (55%), donations to charities (40%) and points toward specific free products in-store (40%).

An Aberdeen survey (covered in RetailWire) that looked at this issue more extensively compares best-in-class retailers that are creating sophisticated multi-channel loyalty programs to (too many) others who still don't know and/or don't measure key loyalty metrics such as churn, retention, and customer satisfaction. Results show that 45% register customers via sales associate in the store, 41% at the point of sale and 41% online. 21% use "cross channel loyalty tools that align with cross-channel customer demand," with 34% planning to implement this capability within the next year.

• Top 5 Retail Loyalty Trends - Immediate rewards (accruing rewards immediately on sign up), targeted deals (customized incentives based on data such as personal shopping habits), souped-up membership cards (getting creative with the way loyalty cards work), manufacturer rewards (discounts via e-newsletters and rewards programs), point earning partnerships (retailer-online shopping portal programs).
  
  
• Cards Offer More Than Discounts - Loyalty card programs are becoming more sophisticated: tailoring offers to individual consumers based on actual purchase history; linking in-store and online purchasing histories; delivering relevant offers through a variety of communication channels; and sending out alerts when product recalls happen. For example, Price Chopper recently sent out recorded phone messages to loyalty card members who had purchased a product that was recalled to ensure their safety and security.
  
  
• Personalized Marketing Poised to Improve ROI - CPG manufacturers are starting to work more closely with retailers on personalized loyalty programs for two reasons: one, higher returns on their customer marketing investments and two, reductions in their product markdown expenses. But loyalty programs have mostly failed to improve results or even provide clear and accurate data due to numerous issues: limited data access, pay for access, no industry platform (different retailers/different systems), limited true collaboration, un-actionable data, and reliance on costly direct mail and coupons.
  
  
• Eco-Friendly Loyalty Efforts - 34 companies have added green rewards to their loyalty programs in the past year alone, and the number of brands tying customer loyalty programs to the environment is climbing by the month. Reward programs with a green component are most effective when they give back to consumers, as opposed to those that offer the chance to donate points toward green causes. A Colloquy study found that "more than 95% of consumers used earned points to reward themselves—and showed little interest in using points to reward other people or projects."
  
  
• Loyalty Marketing in Times of Economic Distress - Focus your efforts on marketing to the two core groups of customers who can most directly influence revenue - high-value customers you want to retain (give them special benefits and access unavailable to the general population to keep them spending at their current level) and high-potential customers you want to grow (give them offers to shop more often and spend more during each visit using targeted discounts and bonuses).
  
  
• 6 Steps to Assessing Your Loyalty Program - What makes a customer feel that a loyalty program is worth joining? What makes a customer loyal? Start here: Customers won’t participate in a program that doesn’t offer sufficient value. The six steps to assessing the value of your loyalty program from a customer’s perspective are research your customer base, capture qualitative data, maintain ongoing dialogues, make the program simple, reward (but not too much) and, finally, monitor and review on a variety of metrics (such as Net Promoter Score, RFM Model, Balanced Scorecard, ROI, Customer Satisfaction and program awareness.