If you haven’t seen it yet, PunchTab released our latest product, CRUSH, that helps websites measure social influence and improve website engagement. See the video from the Launch Festival from our co-founder, Ranjith. As a marketer, I was salivating because I was finally able to access the data that would help me calculate the difference in consumer behavior when incentives are introduced.
Because there are so many opinions out there about loyalty programs, what true loyalty is, etc. Let me state my position on loyalty first. PunchTab calls our platform a loyalty platform but in reality what we do is incentivize people to take an action. It’s up to you to make ‘em loyal with a great product, great content, great service and a great brand. We give you a platform and mechanisms to encourage your customers to engage and incentives that reward them for doing so. So when I say loyalty members versus non-loyalty members, I am speaking in the truest sense of the word. These are people who engage with a PunchTab powered program versus people who don’t.
This isn’t a controlled study. Yes, some of these people would have taken these actions with or without an incentive. There are a lot of factors and variables that impact these numbers, but without over-complicating things I just want to share the data because it’s still pretty darn extraordinary.
The Data Sample:
The data I pulled is based on 16M consumers across the PunchTab network of roughly 6000 -7000 sites:
Only 1% of the audience were loyalty members. Most sites will see anywhere from 2-10% of customers or users join the loyalty program (unless you are an online retailer). This number is lower because it’s pulling data from all of our sites including new sites that just joined and haven’t had a chance to build out their loyalty program. The 1% is important because…
80% of social activity came from that 1%. Yep! 80% of social sharing from 1% of the audience.
The Results:
Loyalty members
1. Share 1200X MORE
2 Comment/contribute to the conversation 200X as much
3. Visit 11X more often
4. Consume 16X the content…
…as non-loyalty members
I talk to a lot of companies from all walks of life every day and they are either looking to:
1. Build their social following
2. Increase their social or online presence
3. Increase acquisition or conversion
4. Increase engagement
5. All of the above
A PunchTab powered giveaway will allow you to do all of that in the short term and a loyalty program will allow you to sustain that in the long term. If you’re not sure how, read this post on a recent giveaway. If you need help doing this with your loyalty program, check out all of the actions you can reward users for taking to support any or all of your goals above. And remember, PunchTab is a tool for rewarding customers. It’s up to you create true brand loyalty. But I won’t lie when I say, loyalty programs are still running for a reason. Because they work. The numbers don’t lie.
I’d love to hear your feedback.
–Angela
