A few weeks ago The Met sent me an email asking me to renew my membership when it expires at the end of April. I was surprised. I thought it had already expired.
I read about the Met reopening a while back with different hours and reservations required. It occurred to me that it might be easier for members to get reservations so I went online to check it out.
Much to my joy I discovered that members do not need reservations!
Now that's a perk I can really enjoy. So I did. My visit to see the Alice Neel exhibit went so well that I did indeed renew my membership and am looking forward to future visits before it gets really crowded again.
I wish I could say I am as happy with the other loyalty programs I belong to.
Over the years I have watched the decline in frequency of my $5 off coupons (Duane Reade), free shipping come and go (Staples) and my personal pet peeve - discount coupons that arrive right after I have made a purchase (Silver Palate & Shutterfly).
None of these things make me feel more loyal. In fact, they trigger my loss aversion and make me mad. Clearly not the intended result.
Have you had negative experiences with loyalty programs? What were they? How did they make you feel about the company? Did you stop dealing with them? Switch to a new vendor?
Conversely, what experiences have you had with companies that have surprised and delighted you? What perks really matter? How did you respond when offered those perks? Did it pay off for the company?
5 comments:
Positive experience: Amazon Prime membership
After I subscribed to Amazon prime membership, I experienced that I did not get my package, but the tracking information showed the package is delivered to my home. I called them to discuss this problem and the Amazon assistant said they will refund my money within few seconds. I was so surprised. They were not suspicious of me and believed what I said without evidence. That was a cultural shock to me. In my country, when the same situation happens, I have to go through whole processes whether I am lying or not, and I have to prove I am right with evidence. So most people give up the process, and they just accept the situation. Compared to them, Amazon’s service for members was exceptional. That’s why now I only use Amazon when I buy things. I will maintain this membership even though whatever percentage they increase the membership fee.
Negative experience: Seamless membership
Seamless is a food delivery app, and when I purchased a membership, I could order food much cheaper because I can reduce tax and delivery fees. However, their membership is not helpful when a delivery problem happens. One time, I waited for my food for two hours. I was starving and upset. I contacted them when I can get my food the day. They said the restaurant already made my food and the delivery guy picked up, but the delivery guy is not a Seamless employee, so they can't control the delivery guy. The company assistant asked me to wait more, but they said they can't refund my money. In the end, one more hour passed, the delivery guy did not show up. I complained again, and Seamless gave me a $15 coupon that I can use for the next delivery instead of a full refund. And I had to use the coupon within two days. I couldn't deal with the company and deleted the app right away.
-Hanjo Mok-
Hi,
I was once a happy subscriber to Amazon Prime, especially for the required textbooks to use in school. I enjoyed the loyalty programs of discounts and sometimes free shipping offers. However, my experience became bad because I kept on getting my packages late yet they promise to deliver within 3-4 days. I was greatly disappointed because it made me delay getting the information and sometimes the class assignments required from the texts. I have not yet given up on them but I have also subscribed to Amazon to compare the efficiency and maybe change my membership.
I was quite surprised and also delighted by the services offered by Uber Eats. Since I am a student and I also work part-time, I mostly have no time to cook or am too tired to do so. Therefore, I rely on such food deliver services a lot. I have used Uber Eats for a while now, being a loyal subscriber and gaining from their perks of free delivery and even offers of discounts on some meals. I was happy when they offered such perks because it helped me make some savings on my meals while also benefiting the company by maintaining my loyalty.
Loyalty program has always been a big part in company brand building and customer loyalty building. But still most companies don't have a lot of benefits for their customers, they didn't learn that it is the best way to build customer relationship. A lot of negative experiences I have had with loyalty programs would be giving you a coupon if you spend this amount of money. But what if you don't have anything that you want to purchase right now, and the coupon expires. This type of action forces customer to purchase things they don't really want to buy. I would decide not to use this coupon. Such as one time at the RealReal, I was selling one of my item, and they give me a 200 dollars off coupon if I spend 500 or more in the same day. I come here to sell my thing, not to purchase another item, and the products in the RealReal are always not only 500. This only shows me the greedy side of the company and leaves a bad brand image.
Experiences with other companies that left me with surprises would be the Kiehl's. I have always been a loyal customer before I went to college, but I haven't still been purchasing their product. But the company would still send me great coupon deals only for diamond level customers, and would still send me birthday gifts every year. This is a good experience I would want to purchase their product again.
Belle Zhao
I was a member of a mixed martial arts gym where I was paying a large monthly fee. I signed up because I was told that some of the professional fighters that worked out there and owned the gym, along with their trainers would work with us at certain times. The pros and the trainers NEVER worked with us who were amateurs like many of us thought they would. In fact, we would be completely separated from their section of the gym and workout area. It made me feel resentful toward the fighters and toward that particular gym. I felt lied to, and to make it worse I was locked into a year-long contract that had a large penalty for breaking the contract. I stayed to finish out my contract and left when it was up. That experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth and sort of demotivated me to pursue that as a profession.
Conversely, I had a positive experience with a company that pre-boxed packages filled with food and hygiene when I was in a certain situation. They used to give loyalty members discounts on each continued package and first access to brand new items. Additionally, The company would occasionally pay for shipping fees. These features for loyal members made me feel appreciated and I used to attempt to recruit my friends to become members as well. I stuck with that company even during times when other companies had better prices and products.
I luckily have not had bad experiences with the loyalty programs I grew up with. MY father was a loyalty program master and we often would get very cheap gas from shopping at our local groceries stores. I have come to enjoy the subscription based services like netflix, HBO max and Hulu. Amazon prime and Spotify are so low I don't even notice them and I use those services frequently. I haven't gotten into the game of subscribing to products yet, where you receive products in the mail after a month or so. I would find it really concerning if I saw ordered tide on a regular basis and then after a while it started getting back logged on my shelves. I would say when it comes to subscriptions I have no problem paying for services, tv, shopping, music, and would not pay for product subscriptions.
The perk that I use the most actually is the prime subscription I get to twitch. It allows me to watch my favorite content creator without commercials every month for free. To me thats saving a $5 value for $12 a month, and I get the free shipping and prime video. Such a great value for me.
Post a Comment