I recently received a mail from my favourite airline Jet Airways, that I have been downgraded! I am a member of their loyalty program for years now! And this is not the first time this has happened to me. It also happened in 2001 and 2002 too.

The letter read - "...since you have not had enough flights with us, you will be downagraded. Our Dynamic Tier Review (DTR) formula, unique to Jet Airways - DTR is an award winning, multi-period and multi-criteria-based tier review. It has no precedent anywhere in the world. With DTR, upgrade to the higher tier is quicker and tier renewal is easier. The DTR evaluates a member's tier based on Tier Points and Tier JPMiles earned....."

I was disappointed. As a customer, it did not matter to me if the DTR was award winning for Jet Airways! It surely did not work for me ( the downgrade letter was templated too with such high sound words and sentences!). 

It made me think about the structure of current loyalty programs across the world and their relevance when loyal customers like me are click away from the next best offer!

Here are some questions that came to my mind:

1. In a year of recession and tough 2 years for business, I was suprised how the DTR did not take care of this business environment. I did'nt fly so much as Jet would have wanted. So, Jet's view of my loyalty is transcational - fly more( at full price or premium prices and get rewarded more!). I too will behave the same way in the future, I presume. Question #1: Can't loyalty programs be flexible, adapt to new environment, and why reward only transactional loyalty?
2. Given the unsettling business environment that it was over the last 2 years, why would me even as a "fiercely" loyal customer, travel in Jet if the fares were not competitive. Finally, if there is no value, loyalty cannot be bought with points. Question # 2: When there is a challenge of intrinsic value in the product,  will loyalty progams deliver - No. It is better to focus on the product rather than upset customers. Companies must know, customers will move on in such circumstances!
3. I have been surprised with their loyalty program  not paying attention to customer experience, in spite of being a Citibank-Jet Platinum card member. Every time redeeming their upgrade vouchers was a pain. The little travel that I did in these 2 years, whenever I presented the voucher, I was told it was applicable only on full price tickets! Funny, not sure what world they were living in. Question # 3: Do companies that run loyalty programs pay attention to  such little details that affect customer experience? They took trouble  a few years back to invite me to their co-branded card, but forgot to look at my spends and credits to give me waivers at such tough recessionary period.The bank has no clue, whatsover.
   

Loyalty programs are still in their 1.0 version.  Imagine a product that has not changed for 25 years! They still are in an old world order - "spend with us to earn rewards". Sometimes they have to recognize the value that customers get when they are out shopping for options, may not justfiy the reward they earn everytime if they have to stay within these products/brands. They need to transform given the new environment and options in front of customers.

Customer seek value and surely are willing to pay premium for loyalty but recognition, surprises and instant gratification will need to be weaved into these programs - on the assumption value needs to be earned in the customer's mind & wallet.

Rest assured, this is not a rant but earnestly these are thoughts that I had in my mind and coming out of experiences I have had with such programs over time.  

Airtel in India launched a massive advertising campaign today for their India's first Mobile Application centre today. It has been in a soft launch mode for some time( 4 months) and Airtel claims there have been over 13 million downloads, over 71,000 apps and compatibility of these apps with over 780 devices.

Airtel is looking at this  App centre as a huge value-addition to their current customers.

How do consumers benefit?

• If am an Airtel subscriber, I can download a host of applications from the app centre for a price.
• If am new subscriber, may be some of  the apps look so interesting that I may want to prefer them over competitors if I need a new mobile connection.

The questions really for me are as follows for a mobile phone service provider w.r.t to Mobile Apps:

1. Do Apps for a mobile service provider increase stickiness?  Am not so sure as yet with these applications. If for example, Airtel had an App which constantly analyzed mobile tariffs based on  current usage and recommended the right tariff & savings, it would be far more subscriber-centric and valuable. This can lead to better retention, higher usage and lower churn. Also, not to mention strong word-of-mouth that it would generate. 
2. Is it just a buzz or is it truly differentiating given that fact that many consumers are still not GPRS/WAP savvy in India.  The jury is still out on this. Sure there will be a select few who could be interested but adoption is quite critical for widespread success of mobile apps.
3. What about non-Airtel subscribers? I am a not an Airtel subscriber. I tried to download the app and it denied the download . Would it not be far more beneficial for Airtel to have "Open Apps" compatible with any device. This can in fact become a "valuable lead"  for them as I could use it my Nokia or LG or Samsung or Blackerry Phone and also serve as a strong branding & communication platform. This is new world of mobile marketing. The key really here is that they lost my lead once the download was denied.

I am strong advocate of Open- Apps especially for Mobile Phone service provides and even device providers. The walled gardens need to break down. In fact, opengardens one of the top 10 mobile blogs do believe this trend is coming soon.

Imagine what OPEN-APPS, could have done to Airtel:

1. Why 13 million, what about the rest of the 100-200 million subscribers who are looking for an app to support their mobile lifestyle? Airtel automatically becomes a mobile service provider of choice - a preferred brand.
2. Imagine the millions of device owners who could have an Airtel App - It is a great branding and customer marketing/advertising opportunity that is waiting to be tapped.
3. Imagine the mind-market leadership that Airtel could gain out of this. It's quite incredible.

We  have always known the importance of customer service and how it can boost customer retention and better word-of-mouth. But, the fact that it can help increase spend is an interesting statistic.

In a recent study, it is interesting to see that Indians value customer service the most!

Excellent customer service can push customer spend - Indians will spend 11% more vs Americans at  9%!

According to the same report, a majority of Americans report that quality customer service is more important to them in today’s economic environment (61%) and will spend an average of 9% more when they believe a company provides excellent service. This average spending boost ties US consumers in third place with Italian consumers, only consumers in Japan (10%) and India (11%) have a higher average spending increase resulting from excellent service.

Here are some interesting additional highlights:

• Customers themselves spread the good news. Positive Service experience generates great conversations amongst customers and their friends.
•  48% felt companies are helpful but don’t do anything extra to keep their business!
•  21% believe that companies take their business for granted!
• When deciding which companies they do business with, it includes personal experience (98%), a company’s reputation or brand (92%), and recommendations from friends and family (88%).

It's time to put the customer at the center of customer service and do what it takes to keep  them surprised, engaged and involved. Not just satisfied. 

Joseph Jaffe makes some incredible points in his new book Flip The Funnel.

Most industries really forget existing customers in their strive to grow market share through new acquisitions. For example, the auto industry is no exception. He makes some fantastic points on how Automotive industry must focus on retention as a foundation for acquisition:

Instead of “ending” all outreach efforts at the point of customer purchase, why not use this moment of truth to kick relationship building efforts into high gear? For some reason, most auto brands become goldfish the moment their customers drive out of their showrooms with their new leased car. Out of site. Out of mind.

Here are some opportunities that he identifies:

Acknowledgment – everything from courtesy follow-up calls to period check-ins; calls on birthdays; updates on new accessories, technology patches. And then again there are the two most powerful words in the English language, “Thank you” (there’s also I’m sorry but that’s another story for another day). The other day I went into a local bank to apply for a loan. My contact made a point to introduce me to the owner of the bank. When last did you meet the owner of your local dealership? Do you even know who they are? Or more importantly, do they even know who you are?

Dialogue – Does your local salesperson have a Facebook page? Maybe they should? What about the brand itself: are they active on Twitter? Does that even mean anything? More importantly how do they escalate or route queries or concerns to the right and relevant parties?

In the automotive world, there is a gaping chasm between sales and service (support).

I could not quite disagree with him on this. Take a look a host of opportunities available for them

Not many companies or brands have mastered the art of treating retention as a form of acquisition. They neither have templates nor a  follow-up plan of how to leverage this. This either ends-up in poor investments in retention or even if they invest in retention programs, there is no organized method of  building a value out of the efforts that are put in. Hence, the results are neither measured nor made a part of the overall enterprise-wide initiative.

Remember, retention cannot be made a department responsibility or accountability but needs an organization-wide ownership. This has catalytic effect on acquisition because of better word-of-mouth, better customer experience, better customer feedback gathering and resolution across departments.

When is your company ready to treat retention as a form of acquisition? Make it happen today.